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Trump's Tough Immigration Stance; Saudi Arabia Ends Ban on Women Driving; A Colorful World Cup Rivalry. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 25, 2018 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:00]

CYRIL VANIER, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: We cancel out all these people to invade our country, the words of U.S. President Donald Trump as he calls to the deportation of undocumented immigrants. In Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrates reelection, and this one comes with sweeping new powers. Plus the right to drive, CNN is in the car with Saudi women as they hit the road legally for the very first time.

Live from the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Cyril Vanier. It's great to have you with us.

So U.S. President Donald Trump again tweeting tough words about immigration, this time suggesting those who come to the U.S. illegally should not get due process, meaning court hearings or other judicial involvement. Instead he says, "deport them immediately." This comes as more than 2,000 children of undocumented immigrants remain in U.S. government custody, separated from their families. CNN's Boris Sanchez has more.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump digging in his heels on Sunday, going a step further than he had previously with his harsh rhetoric on immigration. The President of the United States suggesting that a segment of the population, that immigrants should not receive due process. The president tweeting out on Sunday morning, quote, "we cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no judges or court cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and law and order. Most children come without parents. Our immigration policy, laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting online for years. Immigration must be based on marriage. We need people who will help to make America great again."

To clarify that suggestion that immigrants should not be placed before a judge or have typical, legal proceedings is not something that we've heard from the president before, something likely to draw criticism from some across the aisle. Further, we should point out that the president has not done much to clarify how he wants Congress to act on immigration. Just last week after weeks of negotiations by House Republicans, the president essentially told them to not worry about working on a sort of more moderate immigration bill that had been in the works for several weeks, essentially telling them to punt until after the midterm elections. Then on Sunday, the president tweeted at Democrats telling them to stop resisting and to help fix this problem. There is supposed to be a vote on that more moderate immigration bill this upcoming week in Congress after being postponed twice and the White House having to clarify where the president stands on that bill. No mention yet as tp whether the president is looking forward to that vote or how he expects Congress to act moving forward. Boris Sanchez, CNN, at the White House.

VANIER: And some U.S. lawmakers have seen firsthand the conditions of the facilities where these children are being held. Senator Elizabeth Warren, no fan of President Trump, describes to CNN what she saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), M.A.: This is disturbing picture. There are children by themselves. I saw a six-month-old baby, little girls, little boys. There are mothers with their babies and with small children. Family units are together if it's a very small child, but little girls who are 12-years-old are taken away from the rest of their families and held separately and little boys. And they're all on concrete floors in cages. There's just not a way to describe it. They're big, chain link cages on cold, concrete floors and metal blankets handed out to people. People are all just waiting and frightened. We are people who believe in the world every single day, and we do have a system of laws in this country. And when woman comes to you with her four-year-old son and says, "I am asking for amnesty. I have been threatened by gangs in my home country," we should at least give her a hearing. And that is the least that is required (inaudible) country (inaudible).

(END VIDEOCLIP)

VANIER: So what does the law say about all of this? What's allowed? What's not allowed? Let's ask Holly Cooper. She's the Co-Director of the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of California Davis School of Law. Holly, the president tweeted that when somebody comes in we must immediately with no judges or court cases bring them back from where they came from. Is that possible?

[01:05:00]

HOLLY COOPER, CO-DIRECTOR OF THE IMMIGRATION LAW CLINIC, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS SCHOOL OF LAW: It's not possible unless he wants to violate Supreme Court precedence and the Constitution because both require that immigrants are given procedural due process. And especially when you're seeking asylum, you have rights to pursue your claim to relief in front of the asylum adjudicating officer as well as the immigration court.

VANIER: OK, so tell us about the specific case of asylum seeking. I'm not sure all our viewers know the difference, but when you are seeking asylum, usually you're claiming that you're fleeing violence or there's some form of persecution. That puts you in a special category. And that is the majority case for these people crossing the border. What are their rights? COOPER: That is correct. So it depends on how the person enters. If they enter through a point of inspection and ask the individual officer who's expecting them for asylum, then they're given a credible fear interview with the asylum office. If they pass that, they're allowed to go before an immigration judge and pursue the claim -

VANIER: What's a credible fear interview?

COOPER: A credible fear interview is almost like a little litmus test. It's a test to see if the person has a claim to relief. And if the asylum officer believes that they do, then they'll allow them to go before and immigration judge to pursue that claim with a full hearing.

VANIER: Back tot the president's point. He wants to fast track this. How can that be done?

COOPER: I don't think that it can be done legally. I think that we have laws in this country and we have to abide by them. Our laws provide that we must provide a vehicle for people to pursue political asylum in this country, and unless he wants to violate our country's laws, it's not possible to undo that obligation that we have both internationally and domestically in our laws.

VANIER: There's currently a backlog of it's estimated 700,000 cases in the federal immigration courts. How did that happen and how does that get fixed?

COOPER: Well, it happened because the Department of Justice has decided to put, you know, a norgate (ph) number of people into deportation proceedings without providing the commensurate resources to the immigration courts. So the immigration courts are tremendously backlogged because each individual judge is essentially conducting a death penalty case with the resources of a traffic court. Most judges have technology that dates back to the 1980s, and it's just really difficult with the surge of cases with immigration courts to keep up especially when they're supposed to be providing due process and giving each person their day in court.

VANIER: All right, Holly Cooper, thank you very much for giving us this context. Thanks.

COOPER: Thank you.

VANIER: Europe is also dealing with its own immigration crisis. E.U. leaders met Sunday in Brussels for informal talks on how to handle the inflicts of migrants on the continent. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says, "there needs to be direct deals with E.U. countries."

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We all agree that we want to reduce illegal migration, that we want to protect our borders, and that we all are all responsible for all topics. It cannot be the case that some only deal with primary migration and others only with secondary migration. Everybody is responsible for everything. Wherever possible, we want European solutions, but this is not possible. We want to bring those who are willing together and find a common framework for action.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

VANIER: The informal meeting on Sunday comes ahead of Thursday's official summit on migration and asylum within the European Union. Meanwhile, 900 migrants who were trying to reach Europe have been taken back to Libya. On Sunday, the Libyan Coast Guard performed three rescue operations in the country's territorial waterways. Libya's western coast is a main departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe after fleeing wars and poverty.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to strengthen his powers after Sunday's presidential and parliamentary elections. The head of Turkey's Supreme Election Board has declared Mr. Erdogan the winner, and it appears the president's coalition will also hold onto parliament. Mr. Erdogan called this map election in April, a year after winning a referendum to strengthen the presidency. The opposition disputes the results, but Mr. Erdogan says he's been handed a mandate. In a speech, he took aim at what he considers Turkey's enemies, that is the Gulen Movement as well as Kurdish Millitants.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN (through translator): Turkey made its decision in favor of fighting decisively against all terrorist organizations, including PKK and Fethullah (ph). At the same time, these results show we will continue to liberate Syrian lands an open the way for our guests in our country to return home safely.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

VANIER: With me now is Soner Cagaptay, Director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute. He's also the author of the book "The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey". Soner, thank yo so much for joining us.

SONER CAGAPTAY, DIRECTOR OF THE TURKISH RESEARCH PROGRAM, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: It's a pleasure.

VANIER: Erdogan has been in power over 15 years now. How does he continue to win?

[01:10:00]

CAGAPTAY: So often times, Turkey is considered to be a country here in the U.S. or west as a country that adopts trends invented elsewhere in Europe or the west, and I think the case of Mr. Erdogan it has been the opposite. I would say he is a prototype of populist leaders globally. He came to power in 2002. He delivered economic growth. Built him self a solid base. A base that is composed mostly of conservative Turks that identify with him. And that's Erdogan's bright side.

But as a populist leader he also has a dark side. He has demonized, cracked down on, and brutalized demographics that are unlikely to vote for him. And as a result of that while about half of Turkey adores him. That includes many people he has lifted out of poverty.

The over half, groups that he has demonized. Including leftist and liberals simply loath him, and there's no space in the middle. And we saw it here with this new election. Once again it's a split country, 52/48. This was the case in the referendum last year that assigned Mr. Erdogen new executive powers.

Turkey's completely polarized. Erdogan wins on a populist platform where his base adores him but his opponents loath him, because he demonizes his opponents.

VANIER: And look he's jailed tens of thousands of people without due process most of the time. He has shut down independent media. He has been accused of interfering with the judicial process, to what extent is Turkey a democracy today?

CAPGATHAY: I would say unfortunately that while Turkey - well first of all because - although Turkey has had free and fair elections, longer than has had Spain. Turkey has been having elections since 1950. That not withstanding I would say unfortunately this election was an unfair one.

Completely and truly unfair, the campaign that is. Erdogen's pro Erdogen business that is controlled 90 percent of the media in Turkey. The government sensors online content, elections were held under a state of emergency. That was put in place rightfully after the failed coop of 2016, but extended seven times by the government of Mr. Erdogen.

And one of the opposition candidates running for Presidency was in jail. So it's hard to say that this was a fair campaign. It was completely unfair. And that's probably one reason why he was able to win this campaign despite the fact that it was still a narrow majority.

VANIER: And look the political system is going to change now. It's going to become this hyper Presidential system that Mr. Erdogen has wanted for years. So he's not going to have a Prime Minister under him.

He's going to have the power to name ministers. He's going to have say in who the judges are. Is there anyone or anybody that will - that can act in this new system as a check on his powers?

CAPGATHAY: That's correct. Erdogen will become the most powerful elected Turkish politician ever in Turkey's history of seventy years of democracy. He's going to become head of state, head of government, head of ruling party, simultaneously head of police which is a national force in Turkey, head of Army.

He already has a right to appoint a majority of judges to the high courts after he changed the constitution to that effect in 2010. And now both executive and legislative branches are under his control. In theory in parliament- VANIER: Any checks on his powers?

CAPGATHAY: In theory the parliament can check his power. Slow down legislation. The parliament has to approve the budget. But the parliament is controlled by his party and he controls his party.

VANIER: Right. He just won the majority in parliament as well.

CAPGATHAY: He did. And he controls his party though a mix of both respect and fear. That he has been able to install in many members. So it's hard to say that there are any checks on his power. Except for his own mind and intellect.

VANIER: Quickly is Muharrem Ince the man who came in second position in this Presidential election. Is he capable of being an effective opposition figure?

CAPGATHAY: I think so. I think Mr. Ince was quite a promising one for Turkey's opposition. He was able to mobilize the base. The party that it represents, the republican's peoples party. Known by its Turkish initials as CHP (ph) have never received over 30 percent of the vote.

Ince by himself was able to cross that threshold. It's still a far call from Mr. Erdogen's 50 percent plus margins. But he's getting there. And I think what Mr. Erdogen has is a populist leader, he can talk and connect to the man on the street.

He's relatable. And I think that's a quality Mr. Erdongen has proven that he has. So going forward if he decides to stay in politics he will be a check and balance to Mr. Erdogen as an opposition leader.

VANIER: All right. Soner Cagaptay great to have your insights as always, thank you.

CAPGATHAY: Thank you so much.

VANIER: The U.S. is expected to soon set a time table for North Korea to surrender its nuclear weapons. Ahead the push on Pyeongchang to follow through on its summit promises.

Plus Panama looked to derailing then Sunday at the World Cup. All the high lights from a thrilling day of football, right around the corner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:18:00]

VANIER: Two weeks ago U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jung-Un met face to face, shook hands, and signed a document that promised denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Well now the U.S. plans to press North Korea on this commitment.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Seoul South Korea. She was also at the summit two weeks ago. Paula when are we going to find out whether North Korea is serious about this promise to denuclearize? PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Cyril we've heard from a senior defense official who has said that there will be specific asks. That's a direct quote. In very shortly there will be a specific timeline that will be given to North Korea very shortly. When it comes to what the concept for the implementation of this denuclearization is as far as the U.S. is concerned.

Now we have heard that they believe, according to this official, that pretty soon after that they will be able to gauge whether or not North Korea is serious about denuclearization. Now we've heard all along from the U.S. President Donald Trump and others that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would leading the charge on this. We heard from him last week, saying that he could be going back to North Korea fairly soon.

So even though we don't have an exact time table we are hearing from this defense official that soon they will be laying out exactly what they're looking for. Now they said that they will have some data points pretty soon. Now obviously - well presumably that could mean that they are looking for certain guarantees from North Korea.

[01:20:00]

There's a couple outstanding issues, for example, this missile engine test site that the U.S. President said North Korea was destroying. We haven't really heard much about that. Is that something North Korea has to do before the process moves forward? What kind of guarantees are the U.S. looking for? It's pretty low on details, but just an indication that this process will be moving forward shortly.

VANIER: And you know Mr. Trump has been touting another victory since the summit. He says, North Korea will hand over the remains of U.S. soldiers. What is the update on that?

HANCOCKS: If the Trump administration is expecting some 200 sets of remains from the Korean War, back in the 1950s, to be handed back from North Korea. Now, we don't have a timing on that either at this point.

We understand it could happen, potentially within days, within this week, but what the U.S. has done, they've put 100 wooden caskets up at the JSA, the Joint Security Area, which is along the DMZ. So, they're ready to receive these remains when North Korea decides that it is able and ready to hand them over. And that's really why we don't have an exact timetable on that side,

because it is Pyongyang who is making the decision when this will happen. But then these remains will come to, presumably, a base in South Korea and then flown to Hawaii, which is what we've seen in previous occasions.

There have been a number of remains of servicemen that have been handed back by North Korea. In fact, the U.S. believes they have about 5,300 U.S. service members who are still missing within North Korea. There's no guarantee though, of course, that the remains that are

given back to United Nations command will all be United States service members. There were many countries that were involved in that war. Cyril.

VANIER: Paula Hancocks reporting from Seoul. Thank you.

In World Cup action now, Sunday saw a huge win for England as they pushed into the knockout stage. We are joined by CNN's world famous, Kate Riley, of World Sport fame. Congratulations to England. Congratulations to English fans.

[01:22:00]

(WORLD SPORTS)

VANIER: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the (inaudible) Kate Riley.

KATE RILEY, WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

VANIER: Kate Riley, thank you so much for the update on the World Cup. Thanks.

Coming up, Donald Trump calls for immigrant deportations without due process. We'll discuss with my panel next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:33] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. We're live from the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier with your headlines.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won reelection in Sunday's snap vote. That's according to the head of the country's Supreme Election Board with almost all votes counted. State media report Mr. Erdogan's coalition is also still in control of parliament. The opposition however is disputing the results.

The U.S. will present a timeline to North Korea for it to surrender its nuclear arsenal. A senior defense official says it will soon become clear whether Pyongyang is acting in good faith on its promise of complete denuclearization -- a pledge made during the Singapore summit earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia says it intercepted two ballistic missiles headed for Riyadh Sunday night. A government spokesman says missile fragments fell on residential areas but didn't cause any casualties. The Saudi military blames the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen.

And Europe remains at a crossroads on how to deal with its refugee crisis. E.U. leaders held informal discussions in Belgium to get ready for an E.U. migration summit starting Thursday. There were no major breakthroughs but some of those taking part suggest that there was progress.

Back to our top story -- the immigration debate in the U.S.

Joining us now CNN political commentators Dave Jacobson and Ben Ferguson. First I want to read one of the latest tweets by Donald Trump. It says "We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately with no judges or court cases bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy."

Dave -- your reaction?

DAVE JACOBSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No -- Mr. President. There's something called due process. This is something that is one of the core pillars of our democracy and thank God for other institutions in our country that certainly will make sure that such a process is followed.

The reality is, Donald Trump is cold hearted, reckless and a racist. This is just further ammo for him to divide our country. And the bottom line is the American people were on the side of these individuals who are coming across our country and their families are going to (INAUDIBLE).

Overwhelmingly, even Republicans from Donald Trump's base, the 30 plus percent that he's sort of held on to throughout the course of his presidency has started to splinter because of this action where he's splitting up families at the border. It is totally appalling (ph).

VANIER: Ben.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Well, first, the splitting at the border is not happening anymore. We know that because of the executive order last week.

Second of all, the President of the United States of America became the President of the United States of America because of the fact that he stood tough on immigration and because of the fact he talked about building the wall.

And the President's point that he's making is we have had for far too long too many ways for people to come into this country easily illegally and then be able to stick around for an extended period of time. We need to expedite moving them back to the country they came from.

When you catch somebody at the border, there is no reason for them to be here for three, four, five or six months. And there's many people that support the President on this.

Second thing the President's approval rating is above 30 percent. And you act like there's no one behind him. There are a lot of hard working Americans whose lives have been affected by illegal immigrants not only taking jobs away from Americans but also those that have been affected crimes that they do commit.

There are a lot of people that come to this country for the reason they want to take a job. We know that. Mexico's economy is dependent on illegal immigrants sending money back. It's their number one stimulus of their economy.

There are some bad apples that also come in and commit heinous crimes. And the President highlighted them this last week.

People that will never get to see their children again that have been separated from them forever and had to bury their children because of heinous crimes committed by MS-13 and other illegal immigrants and doing simple things like driving drunk.

VANIER: But Ben -- what about the obvious question that is raised by this tweet and that Dave raised? Where is the due process here?

I mean you gave a very generous interpretation of the President's words. But the President's words are actually black and white on Twitter. You know, no judges, no court cases -- where is the due process?

FERGUSON: Look, I think you have to have due process. And this is where I would say I disagree with the President in principle on that issue. But I think the core point that he's making here is that we need to expedite this and we need to stop being a country that is not only so nice to people that break our laws but also stop being a country that's taken advantage of by illegal immigrants who clearly understand that if they can just get across the border, the chances of them going home quickly are slim to none.

[01:34:57] That's the reason why tens of millions of illegal immigrants flood into this country because they know our laws are weak. And they know they can take advantage of us. Americans could not get away with what we do for illegal immigrants in this country in Mexico, for example.

VANIER: So Ben, by the way, just to check on the numbers -- when you say tens of millions, you're talking about a period of years if not decades.

FERGUSON: But --

VANIER: The numbers now are like upwards of around 100,000 a month. So we're just not at all --

FERGUSON: That's an insane in number of people coming in per month.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: But it's also not at all the number that Donald Trump has been citing in his rallies.

FERGUSON: My point is there are tens of millions of illegal immigrants currently in this country. We know this. The Dreamer numbers are massive -- they're over a million.

And I think there's hundreds of thousands of people that didn't even sign up to be dreamers who are here illegally. And that doesn't count all the people that come in and out and back and forth across the border that we have no idea how many hundreds of thousands are coming in, working and then going back to their host country and then coming back and forth. VANIER: Ok. I want you to listen to this. By the way, to your

point, there are also more Mexicans leaving this country than coming in to this country and I think all three of us know that.

FERGUSON: If they're illegal good.

VANIER: But I want to listen -- I want you to listen to this. Donald Trump feels that politically, this issue is a winner for him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They think that that's a good issue for them. I don't think being weak on the border, being pathetically weak on the border -- I don't think that's a good issue.

I may be wrong. I think I got elected largely because we are strong on the border. I really believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: Dave -- is this a topic on which both the Democrats and the Republicans would actually prefer to keep this as a campaign issue going into the midterms rather than actually find a fix?

JACOBSON: I don't know about the Republicans. I mean Gallup just put out a poll just days ago that 57 percent of Americans oppose Donald Trump's border wall. That's a majority of the country.

Moreover, 83 percent of Americans in that same poll want a DACA fix; want a pathway to citizenship for these individuals who have come here through no fault of their own, some are serving in the military, some are classroom teachers. These are good hard working folks who are here who just want to live a better life.

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: But Dave -- my question is does it help the Democrats to keep this as an issue all the way into November into the midterms?

JACOBSON: I think Democrats want (INAUDIBLE) -- whether or not it's a political issue, a talking point to maybe carry over into the fall campaign I think is irrelevant. Bottom line Democrats support strengthening the border.

FERGUSON: No they don't.

JACOBSON: They refuse to support the border wall but we are for border security. But we want a pathway to citizenship.

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBSON: Ben -- let me finish. Not just for the DACA recipients but for those millions of individuals who are living in this country in the shadows who are participating in our economy, the hard working families and all they want is a better life for them and their children. And anybody who says otherwise is simply disingenuous.

Reality is you've got Republicans, hard-edged Republicans in the Trump wing who want that border wall but the vast majority of the American people --

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Yes because we want to have a country where people can't just break in.

JACOBSON: The majority of Americans do not support the border wall. Bottom line, Cyril -- there are many Republicans who (INAUDIBLE) comprehensive immigration reform if the border wall was withdrawn.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: Let me jump in to say --

VANIER: All right. Gentlemen, gentlemen -- I'm going to have to -- Ben, I'm sorry. I'm going to have to stop it here. But something tells me we're going to have this conversation again. We'll pursue this.

Thank you very much -- Dave. Ben -- thank you. Sorry we're out of time.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

VANIER: But we'll see you again. >

Coming up, women can finally get behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia legally. But some of them aren't keen to hit the road just yet. We'll tell you why.

Plus, a frightening scene in southwestern China where a powerful flash flood has left many areas underwater.

Stay with us.

[01:38:42] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: For the first time women are legally allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. The ban was lifted Sunday after years of campaigning by activists.

Jomana Karadsheh gets behind the wheel with Saudi women.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mona al-Fares (ph) has waited her entire life for this moment and at the stroke of midnight, she was one of the first women behind the wheel and we got to ride along.

(on camera): So how does it feel? Has it sunk in yet? MONA AL-FARES, SAUDI MOTORIST: I know. No, I'm still having like a

real feeling that someone is going to stop me now. Get arrested, you know.

KARADSHEH: Did you ever think this day would come.

AL-FARES: No, never; actually never. It was one of the things that I thought is impossible. It's never going to happen.

KARADSHEH (voice over): But many around the country say they're in no rush to get on the road just yet. They want to wait and see how one of the most conservative societies in the world will react. And some just want to practice a bit more before making their way on to territory once reserved only for men.

It's been a long and rough journey. Women who protested and defied the ban over the years were arrested, shunned by society.

(on camera): Some of these women will not have the chance to get behind the wheel yet because they're behind bars detained recently as part of a crack down on human rights activists. Some feel it's perhaps a message that in this kingdom, change will only come from the top down.

(voice over): Many here credit their young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with a wave of once unthinkable changes in the ultraconservative country and his so-called vision 2030 -- and ambitious plan to modernize Saudi Arabia, diversify its economy away from oil and bring more women into the workforce.

SAHAR NASSIF, SAUDI WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: My God, where I am? Am I still in Jeddah, you know. In Saudi Arabia -- what's happening? Because every time there's something, it hits you -- a new decree, something new. Something -- and it was like wow, all these changes all of a sudden.

KARADSHEH: For more than 40 years, Sahar Nassif has campaigned for women's rights in Saudi Arabia. In 2013, she was one of the women who protested the ban by driving. She was briefly detained.

NASSIF: I'm 64 right now. And to be honest, this is not done -- I didn't do all this for me. I did it for my kids and for my grandkids to make sure they live in more freedom and they have their rights. I never thought I would live through it.

KARADSHEH: Nassif, like many others wants to see an end to the repressive guardianship law where women no matter how old or how young can't do some basic things like travel or work without the consent of a male guardian.

NASSIF: And the next step I totally am so optimistic is going to be getting rid of the guardianship. Like the driving I always said the driving is only a door opening to a lot of other things.

KARADSHEH: For now though, it's about savoring this moment.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN -- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:44:55] VANIER: One of Saudi Arabia's leading female motorsport figures marked the occasion by getting behind the wheel of a Formula One car at the French Grand Prix. Aseel al-Hamad drove a Lotus Reno E20 for a lap of the Circuit Paul Ricard ahead of Sunday's race.

The first female member of the Saudi Arabian Motorsport Federation is also now the first Saudi woman to ever drive a Formula One car on historic track. She says the experience fulfills a lifelong dream.

Monsoon rains are affecting parts of India right now. Let's get the details on this from meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who joins us from the CNN Weather Center. What's up?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Cyril -- you know, we often talk about the significance of rainfall and the monsoons for the Indian population. And really a stat that's fascinating that I was just kind of trying to wrap my brain around is you look at the population of farmers in India -- 250 million people. That population alone would be the fourth largest country in the world.

And of course, their livelihood heavily depends on what happens here. The monsoons have been a little slow and that's significant in and of itself.

I want to show you some of the conditions across this region because the white dash line that's indicative of where we should be for -- where we are, I should say for the monsoon season, right there just north of the June 10th line.

Of course, June 25th now, the line would extend somewhere near Delhi. So well several hundred kilometers behind where we should be as far as the rainfall extension is and of course, the drought, the excessive heat that often is removed once you get the heavy rainfall that come into place really being felt across portions of northern India in recent days.

And the Indian meteorological department, because of the significant impacts of this often gives a forecast when it comes to what is expected in the wet season. And we know 70 percent of the annual rains come down across these months -- June through September; 97 percent of normal is what we expect for the rainfall with a variance of about 5 percent which means essentially we could be looking at unfortunately a fifth consecutive year here with below average rainfall and especially as you see how late it has been to progress.

But the element of good news is around the western portions of India -- around Mumbai and points to the south there, you notice the rains beginning to come down in earnest. That is fantastic news. Of course, you shift the attention now towards Bangladesh. We know what has happened here with areas there where we've had, of course refugees on hand -- tremendous rainfall impacting folks across that region.

And then areas around southern and southeastern China -- look at this footage coming out of Hunan Province here. It shows you what has been happening in recent days -- tremendous rainfall essentially turning rivers, taking over communities across this region of China. Incredible footage showing you how things have played out -- we know debris has encompassed some of these roads.

And then on the opposite end of the perspective, we take you out towards Inner Mongolia. And Cyril -- look at this region of China here.

VANIER: Wow.

JAVAHERI: We've had massive sandstorms around from the Gobi Desert. Of course, Gobi means waterless place in Mongolian.

VANIER: I didn't know that.

JAVAHERI: It's sort of an exact opposite -- contrast of what's happening in southern China where we have all the rainfall. But showing you our planet hard at work here with the extremes even in one nation there in China.

VANIER: That's impressive -- impressive pictures.

Pedram Javaheri joining us from the CNN Weather Center -- always a pleasure.

JAVAHERI: Thanks for having me.

VANIER: Thank you.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

VANIER: Coming up, there's a South Asian country that supports two rival South American World Cup teams in a very colorful way. We went there.

Stay with us.

[01:48:07] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAVAHERI: June 25, 2018 means Christmas just six months away. And take a look at this. How about this? Some scattered isolated storms across portions of the Midwestern and certainly out towards the upper Midwestern U.S. over the next 24 or so hours. About 2.5 million people impacted by this in particular around Des Moines, Iowa and points just to the south into areas of northern Missouri there some for stronger storms including some large hail and damaging winds really the predominant threat. But you see these storms brew as we head on in towards each and every single afternoon.

Chicago will shoot for 25 degrees; Dallas about 11 better, up to 36; warmth very nice across portions of San Francisco; Vancouver B.C., thanks for tuning, about 18 degrees.

But notice what happens here. The big-time heat that's been in place begins really building in towards areas around the Great Lakes in the middle 20s, rather comfortable here.

In the latter portion of June give way to essentially what becomes a very warm start to July as we go into the next week or so with temps expected to say into the 30s across places such as Chicago.

Down to the tropics we go -- watching a couple areas of disturbed weather. What do we have for you? We have a low probability of formation over the next week. But one of the storms we're watching carefully is Tropical Storm Daniel. Fortunately, just a fish (ph) storm beginning to push off towards the west -- not a significant threat to anyone besides mariners across that region but as you work your way toward Mexico City expect some isolated storms around 22, Chihuahua up to 37 leaving you with South America.

VANIER: It is one of the biggest rivalries in international football -- Argentina versus Brazil. Far from the World Cup in Russia, fans of both teams going head to head in, of all places, Bangladesh.

The South Asian country has taken both teams to its heart with colorful results. CNN's Don Riddell explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Russia is far from home for perennial World Cup favorites Brazil and Argentina. Dakar is even further.

But on the streets and in the skies of the Bangladeshi capital, a South American sporting rivalry is playing out.

ANIK CHAKRABORTY, ARGENTINA FOOTBALL TEAM SUPPORTER (through translator): My name is Anik Chakraborty. And all of us here are Argentina supporters.

RIDDELL: Asian Confederation Minnows, Bangladesh won't feature in Russia. And until the team one day makes it on to the world stage, football mad fans here have devoted themselves to Brazil and Argentina.

Joynal (ph) and his friends live on the opposite side of the world to Brazil.

JOYNAL ABEDIN TUTU, BRAZIL FOOTBALL TEAM SUPPORTER (through translator): Every four years I color my house with the Brazilian flag colors. While doing this I had faced many challenges. I will continue doing this as long as I live.

RIDDELL: They painted giant flags over their entire building, decked out their homes with memorabilia -- all to show their support for Brazil's stars.

TUTU: I hope the news about this Brazil House will reach Brazil as the news channel from Brazil is coming. I hope the Brazilian players will know about this Brazil house and some day they will come to Bangladesh to see this house and I will get to meet them. RIDDELL: Brazil and Argentina feature on opposite sides of the World

Cup draw, making a tantalizing final between the two South American giants a possibility albeit an unlikely one considering the results at this stage.

Here fans are locked in their own competition.

CHAKRABORTY: Like every year we have hung this 70-foot flag and there is always a big competition in our area. Who can make the largest flag in our area? Brazil will try to make it but I think they are late and I hope in the Russian World Cup, Argentina will win.

RIDDELL: So sewers are hard at work stitching flags in Brazil's famous lone green and Argentina's blue and white stripes adding even more colors to Dakar's kaleidoscopic streets.

And business is bustling as Messi and Neymar lead their teams onto the field in Russia, 5,500 kilometers away.

DANA MIYA (ph), STREET VENDOR: I'm selling World Cup flags. It's the World Cup season now so the world flags business is good. Normally I sell vegetables, which is not in high demand right now. So I'm doing this business. So I sell flags only during our victory day before the 16th of December and also every four years during the World Cup time.

RIDDELL: From Rio to Buenos Aires to Moscow and on to Dakar -- scenes like these prove that football truly is the world game.

[01:55:05] Don Riddell, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VANIER: Also this -- you've got to see this. A football match in Australia interrupted by an unexpected visitor -- a kangaroo hopped onto the pitch during a National Premier League match in Canberra on Sunday. It did not want to leave.

So at some point, it got -- there it is -- acquainted with the penalty spot for quite awhile. Later, a truck guided the kangaroo out of the stadium. But actually, it invaded the pitch for a second time. All and all this went on for 30 minutes. Finally, at long last, the kangaroo made its final farewell and the match resumed.

The world's ugliest dog contest has been held for 30 years in California. So we got to tell you about the winner this year. Here he is, nine-year-old English bulldog, the name is Zsa Zsa. He takes home the title. The competition was rough with Underbites and Lazy Eyes among the 15 contestants. Zsa Zsa's human -- there she is -- will receive a $1,500 prize and they will fly to New York to appear on the "Today" show.

That's it from us. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Cyril Vanier.

The news continues, of course. Rosemary Church and George Howell are your hosts at the top of the hour.

Stay with us.

[01:56:24] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)