> that's it for us. we ran out of time for the ridiculist. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, george zimmerman in his own words.

to be responsive to the demands of the people in the square and that they want a political solution to this crisis. but i want to point out again that the u.s. government said they're not going to be behind any single group or party. that's a big statement as they're not really throwing their support behind anyone. they also want dialogue. now, president morsy has said he's urging dialogue with the opposition. he has urged dialogue with the opposition in the past, and the opposition says that it was disingenuous. it seems unlikely that the opposition now, when president morsy wants to talk-s likely to talk to them, john. >> given that, is there anything egypt's president can do to avoid being forced from office? >> reporter: it seems really unlikely at this point. the military said that they were going to give president morsy 48 hours to start talking with the opposition and if they were to start talking a week after that.

the opposition seems to be in the power seat right now. they don't seem likely to talk to president morsy. and if that happens, then the army said they will start their own road map that will transition egypt away, likely having a military takeover, a coup. now, the military says it's not a coup, that they're just enforcing the will of the people, but it seems like the military will take over if the two sides don't come together. >> just don't call it a coup. ian, thank you. ian lee live for us in cairo. well, nsa leaker edward snowden is once again sounding off. >> the american fugitive is speaking out for the first time since fleeing to russia from hong kong. wikileaks appears to be playing the role of press agent for mr. snowden, who apparently remains holed up in the transit area of a moscow airport. >> somewhere there. no one seems to find him yet. in a statement released by wikileaks, snowden writes, "the

obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. without any judicial order the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right, a right that belongs to everybody, the right to seek asylum." >> and now snowden is promising to reveal more secrets. in a letter to ecuador's leader snowden reportedly says he remains free to publish information that serves the public interest. and snowden is quoted as praising president rafael coria saying there are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth and the bravery of ecuador and its people is an example to the world." >> snowden may have a pretty strong motive to praise ecuador's leader. according to wikileaks, ecuador and russia are only two of a total of 21 countries that snowden has applied to seeking asylum. wikileaks says the asylum requests were hand-delivered to a russian consulate by someone

representing snowden. well, for now the nsa leaker is in something of a state of limbo at sheremetyevo airport in moscow. that is where our jim bolden is right now. he joins us live. jim, everyone seems to be looking for snowden. he is doing a very good job of laying low somewhere. >> reporter: that's right, natalie. this is my second time in the airport as we do these rotations. and haven't seen him yet. so he has been here for more than a week. and let me show you the transfer board here because this is a massive transfer airport. a lot of transfers. so now that he's seeking asylum in what, nearly two dozen countries, there are lots of flights he could take to some of those countries. especially those in europe. and of course you could take transfers on to cuba, venezuela as well. of course every day reporters go over to the other side of the terminal, to the flight that goes to havana to see if he's on the 14:05 to havana.

hasn't been on yet. so if one of these countries, natalie, does accept his asylum-seeking application, it will not be difficult for him to simply take a direct flight from this massive transfer terminal, natalie. >> and it's been amazing, really has, that so many people like you in pursuit of him at that airport. even people traveling are interested in trying find him. but no one really knows whether he's even in that airport. is there a belief he's really there? >> reporter: well, we can only believe what we're told. and of course president putin said he was here but not on russian soil. so when you parse those words, you would accept that means he's somewhere in this transit area. there are vip lounges. there are places that we can't go. so he could very well be hidden back in there. there's a the tiny hotel that a lot of the reporters have been staying in. you can stay there and you pay hourly. he's probably not in there because we've been in there

certainly with other reporters as well. but it is likely he is here because he can't really leave here. he apparently does have what's called a transit visa, which allows him to stay longer than 24 hours without a flight. you have to have a boarding pass to be able to even get in here for your next flight. and it has to be within 24 hours. and obviously, originally people thought he was going to fly to havana. that was what, last monday, more than a week ago. that didn't happen. sew had to get a transfer visa, stay here until some country says yes, you can board that flight. and then he and his wikileaks representative would presumably then board that flight. natalie. >> wait and see when that happens and where he goes. jim boulden for us there in moscow. thank you, jim. now to the u.s. state of arizona. and officials are still trying to work out how 19 firefighters became trapped and died while battling a huge wildfire which is still burning out of control across more than 8,000 acres.

>> when you have incidents where firefighters are injured or killed, it's in light flashy fuels that moves fast, and that's exactly what appears to have happened in this case. >> the bodies of the elite firefighters who were called hotshots have now been recovered and taken to the coroner's office. they were carried away in a convoy of white vans. not since the terror attacks of 9/11 have so many u.s. firefighters died on one day. 14 of the victims were in their 20s like kevin woyjeck, just 21. his father yo is a firefighter as well. he spoke to us about his loss. >> he wanted to be a firefighter like his dad, like me. we come from a family of firefighters. you know, we go to work, we know there's a risk. you know, and you spend your whole life protecting your children and knowingly letting him go into harm's way, i can only imagine how my parents felt when i became a firefighter.

>> and later, we'll have much more on the hotshots. they've been described as the s.e.a.l. team 6 of firefighters. natalie. >> what a tragedy there. here is a check of some other stories we're following this hour. five people were killed tuesday in a suicide bomb attack on a nato contractor's supply depot near kabul, afghanistan. a large truck bomb exploded near the front gate of the facility. then gunmen attacked the local guards. all of the insurgents were killed. four other people were injured. an unmanned russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites failed at launch tuesday, exploding just after lift-off. the accident happened at the baikonur facility in kazakhstan. look at it fall there. russia leases the launch complex from the kazakh government. there were no reported injuries. two top vatican bank officials have resigned. this following the arrest of a senior member of the vatican with ties to the bank on friday. police say they caught him

trying to smuggle around $26 million in cash from switzerland to italy. pope francis appointed an independent panel to rook into the bank's activities earlier last week. half a million dollars' worth of jewelry was stolen tuesday in a smash and grab attack at the borgata casino in atlantic city, new jersey. police report that three men entered the casino jewelry store, stole the valuables, and then took off on foot. well, coming up here on "cnn newsroom," anger at america. >> europe's reaction to revelations of widespread spying at their embassies. and we'll let you know how washington is responding. also ahead here, jurors in the george zimmerman trial. hear his side of the story of that fateful night that left a teenager dead. so... [ gasps ] these are sandra's "homemade" yummy, scrumptious bars. hmm? i just wanted you to eat more fiber. chewy, oatie, gooeyness... and fraudulence. i'm in deep, babe. you certainly are. [ male announcer ] fiber one.

welcome back to "cnn newsroom." just after quarter past 3:00 in the morning on the u.s. east coast. and u.s. president barack obama is trying to brush off some furious criticism from european leaders after revelations the united states may have been spying on its allies. mr. obama has suggested, well,

everyone does it. >> i guarantee you that in european capitals there are people who are interested in if not what i had for breakfast at least what my talking points might be should i end up meeting with their leaders. that's how intelligence services operate. >> live now to cnn london and attica shubert. how will that explanation go down in the european capitals? relax, everyone, we're all doing it. >> reporter: yeah, i don't think that's going to cut it for a lot of the leaders here in europe, particularly in germany where they're particularly concerned about data privacy and they consider themselves a strong ally of the united states and they're pretty shocked to see that they're being spied upon. in fact, german politicians are calling this something out of the cold war. and this has been the reaction across europe and among other allies as well. i mean, the fact that apparently eu offices, allies' offices in d.c. and new york were being bugged in many different ways

has come as a shock. and in fact, "der spiegel" magazine has said germany was targeted for spying as much as china or iraq was by the united states. so that's what's really shocked a lot of politicians here-s they considered themselves friends and allies of the united states and yet they're not being trusted and are being spied upon. >> and yet some countries are not being spied upon like britain, australia, and new zealand and others are. so it's a difficult one for the americans to explain. but how much harm has been done by these revelations? could it seriously impact a trade deal between the united states and europe? >> we have some very important trade negotiations coming up. the trans-atlantic trade and partnership starts talks on the 8th. and france's president francois holla hollande already suggested it could derail the trade agreement. it could have serious repercussions. for president obama to simply brush it off may not go down well with a lot of his european allies and chances are hint

scenes there's a lot of explaining going on. >> yeah, absolutely. attica, thank you. attica shubert live for us in london. natalie. george w. bush is weighing in on the snowden controversy. the former u.s. president and his wife, laura are opening a health clinic. cnn asked him about snowden. >> do you think he's a traitor? >> i know he damaged the country. the obama administration will deal with it. >> but do you think it's possible for one man to really damage the security of the nation? >> i think he damaged the security of the country. >> and when it comes to surveillance, there can be real-time understanding of -- >> i put the program in place to protect the country. and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed. >> so you don't think there's a compromise between security and privacy? >> i think there needs to be a balance, and i think as the president explained there's a proper balance. >> more from our exclusive

interview with former u.s. president george bush coming up, including what he has to say about his legacy. >> it's a very revealing story, a very revealing interview that mr. bush gave to robyn curnow there in africa. in a few hours testimony is due to resume in a trial that is gripping the united states. >> it certainly is. neighborhood watch volunteer george zimmerman, you might recall, is charged with second degree murder for shooting an unarmed teenager, trayvon martin. >> jurors got to hear zimmerman's story in his own words earlier on monday. martin savidge has more onthat. >> so help you god? >> yes, ma'am, i do. >> reporter: sanford police officer doris singleton was the first into the view george zimmerman the night he shot trayvon martin and said he seemed surprised to learn the teen had died. >> yes, at some point i had said that we weren't able to identify the victim. and he said, what do you mean you haven't been able to identify him? i said, well, we don't know who he is. and he said, he's dead?

and i said, i thought you knew that. i thought you knew he was dead. and he kind of slung his head and just shook. >> in a recording of that interview zimmerman again repeats the line prosecutors say went to his state of mind. >> there's been a few times where i've seen a suspicious person in the neighborhood. we call the police, the non-emergency line, and these guys always get away. >> reporter: the state contends zimmerman instantly profiled martin that night, pointing to his written statement in which zimmerman repeatedly described martin as "the suspect." and prosecutors attempted to show how zimmerman's account changed with each retelling. in his first interview zimmerman said martin attacked him after jumping out of the bushes. >> so i was walking back through to where my car was, and he jumped out from the bushes. and he said, "what the [ bleep ] is your problem, homey?"

>> reporter: but in the re-enactment zimmerman makes no mention of martin jumping out from the bushes. >> got to right about here, he yelled from behind the side of me, he said yo, you got a problem? i said no, i don't have a problem, man. >> where was he at? >> he was about there, but he was walk towards me. >> this direction here? >> yes, sir. like i said, i was already past that, so i didn't see exactly where he came from. >> reporter: the state entered into evidence another police interview from days later in which investigators challenged zimmerman's account of events. >> what's your account is that you don't see him at this point. you're at the t now, right? you're looking down that way? that passage? where are you at? >> once he told me not to follow him, and i wasn't following him, i was just going in the same direction he was -- >> that's following. >> reporter: but each time on cross-examination defense

attorney mark o'mara always came back to the same point. that both investigators found zimmerman credible. >> were there any questions that you asked him or any changes in his story along the way that caused you concern? >> no, sir. >> you think he was telling the truth? >> yes. >> reporter: martin savidge, cnn, sanford, florida. >> and again, more testimony resuming in just a few hours. well, a brutal heat wave is happening in the western u.s. >> and it's breaking records. it's causing some serious damage as well. we'll have more on that when we come back. and there's been another shocker at wimbledon. serena williams and her stunning defeat. please stay with us. you're watching "cnn newsroom."

there's record heat in the west, flooding in the east. we're covering the extreme weather on both sides of the united states from sea to shining sea i guess. >> a lot of weather extremes. meteorologist ivan cabrera joins us. and ivan, they're used to hot weather out west, but this is not anything they're used to.

>> they haven't seen this before, have they? >> it's been crazy stuff over the last few days. unbelievable. this is what happens when you get the atmospheric traffic jam here. when things don't move in the atmosphere, that is what happens. and that's what we've had over the last several days. and we're going to continue to have this week. take a look at the numbers here. this is just -- i mean, just looking at it is just unbelievable. 129 degrees. hottest place on earth. death valley there, california. just the readings from vegas have been incredible as well. temperatures in the mid 100 teens if you will. and at this hour it is night. there is no sun out there at the moment. and it is still 102 in both phoenix and las vegas. how hot has it been? take a look at this. the dogs are getting protected here. this is -- well, there it is, natalie and john. when you have to have the doggie booties on. and the reason they have them on

is because the asphalt, we've been showing scenes of people frying eggs on the cement. the national weather service was baking cookies inside a car, which by the way, your little friend there should never be in during these heat waves, or really ever unless it's winter. behind me you'll be able to see that the warnings are still out. we have excessive heat warnings that continue across many areas across the western u.s. and we have advisories further to the north here. that is going to continue because again, we have a very amplified jet stream right now. we have a big ridge of high pressure in the west and a trough in the east, and that's why my goodness, i've been enjoying the weather in the southeast. it's fantastic. a few showers. but it's been cool, cooler than normal. but further to the north and east along this boundary we've had some issues. take a look at the scene in north carolina with heavy rain that has, well, made it very difficult to travel and nearly impossible and certainly dangerous in some areas there where you have to watch that very carefully because that frontal boundary is stuck. it is just kind of mannihanging.

we're going to see some very heavy rain. good there you see some teamwork there. good to see that. but you really should not be wading through that kind of water in your vehicle, whether it's four wheel or not. behind me the warnings are out. we had flash flood watches for many areas. and there you see some pockets of warnings here. two to three more inches of rainfall in just the next few days. that will continue as, again, we're stuck in this pattern. of course the heat in the west part of the reason why we have fires ongoing and part of why it's been very difficult to fight them. i'll have that in the next half hour. >> you're just full of good advice there, aren't you? don't leave your dog in the car, don't push your car through the water. >> got it all in. >> but we always see cars going through the water. >> that's amazing. not getting through. >> we'll see you again soon. thanks, ivan. the surprises keep coming at wimbledon. on monday it was the defending ladies' champion. and number one player in the world serena williams. she was sent packing. >> after her big victory recently miss williams may have lost her shot at another title, but britain's favorite, andy

murray, is so far still in control of his game and looking for a title match. christina mcfarland is there for us. >> reporter: another week, another upset at wimbledon. world number 1 serena williams ended her winning streak and her hopes for a sixth title here when she was defeated by sabine lisicki of germany. now, we know relatively little about lisicki, but we do know that she has one of the best grass games in tennis and one of the biggest serves. she's made the quarterfinals here three times. and interestingly has knocked out four former french open champions on wimbledon soil. she'll now be looking to capitalize and go all the way to the finals. but one top seed here seems to sail through unscathed is great britain's andy murray. much to the delight of home fans, he's through to the quarterfinals after defeating mikhail youzhny of russia in straight sets. the murray mania bandwagon marches on. christina mcfarland, cnn, wimbledon. well, it is barack obama's final day in africa.

>> we're live in tanzania to see what the american president tried to accomplish on this three-nation tour. >> and we will hear from a former u.s. president about his work in the continent. as jon mentioned, a very interesting interview with george w. bush. and that is coming up a little bit later. #%tia[

welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm john vause. the headlines this hour. russian president vladimir putin says american fugitive edward snowden will have to stop leak u.s. secrets if he wants asylum in russia. snowden remains holed up in the transit area of a moscow

airport, we believe. wikileaks says he's applied to russia and 20 other countries for asylum. while his opposition rallies, egypt's president rejects the military's ultimatum to end the political standoff by wednesday or else. u.s. president obama called mohamed morsi to express concern for the violence and to urge him to be responsive to all egyptians' concerns. the bodies of 19 firefighters were transported to the coroner's office on monday in the u.s. state of arizona. the men died fighting a wildfire near the small arizona town of yarnell. investigators are still trying to piece together just how such a tragedy happened. hundreds of other firefighters are still trying to contain the deadly blaze. well, more now on u.s. president barack obama's final day in africa. >> economic ties with the african continent has been the focus of this visit. >> president obama has pledged $7 billion to help increase power infrastructure. he'll visit a power plant before

he heads back to washington. but before he does that, president obama will be joined by former president george w. bush at a wreath laying at the u.s. embassy in dar es salaam, tanzania. >> and that is an unlikely meeting in an unlikely place. but for president obama and former president george w. bush africa it seems is one subject on which the two men often agree. live in dar es salaam. she joins us live. sometimes when it comes to africa the policies of president bush have been a hard act for mr. obama to follow. >> reporter: absolutely, john. and it's been really interesting speaking to people here who actually expressed their disappointment in what mr. obama whose father hails from neighboring kenya has managed to achieve on the continent versus president bush. you know, of course during bush's time in office he

launched something which has been widely lauded for tackling the hiv epidemic on the continent. what mr. obama's legacy is still remains to be seen. i imagine some of what he's been talking about on this trip will make it into that. broadening the investment opportunities on the continent, dealing with the investment environment here, making it much more hospitable to outsiders. in spite of that, saying that about the two men's legacy, mr. obama was met with a pretty rapturous reception. thousands of tanzanians lining the street on which the motorcade passed to get to the tanzanian presidential palace. people genuinely excited that out of the 54 african countries that tanzania was one of the three chosen for a visit by president obama, john. >> and with that in mind, though, it is hard not to make comparisons with another presidential visit to tanzania, this one by chinese president xi jinping. he was there just in march, promising to spend billions of dollars, no strings attached. so it fair to say that with that in mind the u.s. really is playing catch-up here with

china? >> reporter: president -- premier xi jinping's visit has cast quite a long shadow. you know, this is a second-term visit for president obama. xi jinping made it out here just ten days into his premiership. also starting his africa trip with tanzania, clearly coming from a different direction, but the tanzanians felt like they were given priority. he came away from that trip with 16 different accords signed. president obama won't walk away with quite as much that's concrete, but he's hoping that the two initiatives that he's announced, power africa that's going to expand access to electricity on this continent by some 22 million homes and the africa trade initiative that's hoping to boost american imports, specifically from this region and broadening it out by about 40%, he's hoping that that will allow him to bridge that gap between china and the u.s. but realistically, john, three years ago the u.s. was overtaken by china as its largest -- as

africa's largest single individual trading partner, and that gap is only widening. i'm sure president obama is hoping that when he comes back from this trip he's going to feel he's bridged that gap. but we're going to wait and see, john. >> okay, nima. thank you for that. nima out there in dar es salaam with the wrap-up of president obama's trip there. now, ahead of their own tanzanian visit former u.s. president george w. bush and his wife laura were in neighboring zambia. >> both presidents being in africa at the same time. >> a special moment when you see these two guys together. >> absolutely. they were renovating a health clinic, mr. and mrs. bush, for cervical cancer screening and treatment. the former president and his wife sat down exclusively with our robyn curnow. >> reporter: he painted the doors and the walls. >> you've got a lot of paint on your face yesterday. >> i really did, yeah. >> reporter: you really got yourself dirty. >> well, i'm here to serve. >> reporter: to serve the women of zambia, who are dying from cervical cancer. and unnecessarily so, says the

former president and the first lady. >> are you excited about that? >> fired up. >> do you think people are going to be lining up outside here? >> absolutely. yeah. >> i think women really are. because they know people who've died with cervical cancer. >> reporter: a mission to build on the aids program he set up while president a decade ago. pepfar, or the president's emergency plan for aids relief dramatically reduced the number of aids deaths in africa. with a massive investment of anti-retroviral drugs for the region. >> i'm very proud of the american people for their generosity. billions have been poured into a far-away land. i wish americans knew how many lives were saved as a result of their generosity. and someday they will. >> reporter: the program's success highlighted by bush's successor, president obama, in his visit to south africa. >> and while america will continue to provide billions of dollars in support, we can't make progress without african partners.

so i'm proud that by the end of my presidency south africa has determined it will be the first african country to fully manage its hiv care and treatment program. >> it breaks your heart to realize that such hope was given to communities throughout the continent of africa because of anti-retrovirals and then women are dying from cervical cancer. so there's hope and then there's despondency. >> it really can be avoided. very few women in the united states die from cervical cancer. so if you can just add to the pepfar platform that's already established, the health system that's already at the testing and treatment for cervical cancer, then very few african women will die of cervical cancer. >> reporter: with his commitment to the fight against hiv/aids president bush is respected as a humanitarian in africa. his legacy on the continent secure. but it's a presidency that didn't come without its criticism. even here. >> i just want to get your reaction to mandela.

what kind of a man is he to you? >> a historic figure that made a huge difference in people's lives. >> he was quite tough on you. he criticized you about the iraq war. >> yeah. >> reporter: he recognizes many of the decisions he made were divisive, that some americans seem to be softening their opinion of him. >> because in the polls you are now sort of -- >> i could care less. >> reporter: you don't care? >> no. >> reporter: whether people think you're favorable or unfavorable? >> the only time i really cared was on election day. >> reporter: the only time? >> i really didn't -- no. you know, i guess it's nice. i mean, let me rephrase that. thank you for bringing it up. >> reporter: you like the idea that people perhaps are looking at you differently. >> you know, ultimately, history will judge the decisions that i made. and you know, i won't be around because it's going to take a while for the objective historians to show up. and so i'm pretty comfortable

with it. i did what i did. i know the spirit in which i did it. >> reporter: comfortable with his past, bush now looks toward africa in his retirement. >> you seem quite proud of this, like your new granddaughter. i get a sense that this is very personal. >> i made the decision post-presidency to stay out of the limelight, let others debate the key issues, made the decision not to criticize my successor. and so the challenge for me personally was, you know, how can i make a difference? and this program, pink ribbon red ribbon, is a vehicle to spend the rest of my life as best as i can trying to improve the human condition. >> reporter: so far away from where you live. >> perfect. makes it even more special. >> reporter: away from washington. the former commander in chief has found a new mission. robyn curnow, cnn, livingston, zambia. >> a very relaxed george w. bush

there during that exclusive interview. and as he arrived in tanzania, the current sitting u.s. president was greeted by the biggest crowds so far of his tour of africa. ♪ thousands lined the streets to cheer mr. obama, who danced his way down the red carpet. and that reminded us just a little of this. ♪ president george w. bush with the west african dance company in the white house rose garden. that was to mark malaria awareness day a few years ago. and then there was this. ♪ that's bill clinton, president bill clinton, dancing his way around uganda. and it also reminded us of this. ♪ mr. clinton's wife, former

secretary of state and maybe democrat nominee in 2016 hillary clinton just last year in victoria, south africa. something about the music that makes them want to dance. >> absolutely. loosens up our politicians when they get to africa. time for a quick break here on "cnn newsroom." ahead, we are live in pretoria for an update on the health of nelson mandela. facing the danger. next, we take a look at the u.s. firefighting squad hotshot. what puts them above the rest?

welcome back. we want to take you now to south africa, where anti-apartheid icon nelson mandela clings to life in a pretoria hospital. he has been there now for three

weeks with the recurring lung infection. inkapele mabuso is there with the latest on his condition. you've been there as well covering this story for many, many days now. what are you hearing, if anything, about whether he's improving? >> reporter: well, natalie, the latest update we received from the president's office, of course the presidency controls and communicates all information to do with mr. mandela's health here in south africa, was yesterday when the presidency said, well, there has been no change in mr. mandela's condition. he still lies critically ill in this hospital behind me. the ruling african national congress, his party are holding a prayer service for him. and we continue to see ordinary south africans come to this hospital to bring flowers, to bring messages of hope, you know, to show their support not only for mr. mandela but for his family as well, natalie. but i think what is sort of

overshadowing the concern over mr. mandela's health is this very public dispute within the family, basically to do with where mr. mandela will be buried. as i speak to you right now, we're expecting that family lawyers will be meeting in a court in the eastern cape to deal with this matter. we don't know how much detail we will get of this particular case because it may be heard in chambers. but the whole country is looking at the situation, and many people quite disappointed at the behavior of some members of the mandela family at a time when not only south africans but the world is worried about his ailing health. natalie? >> but he does have a very large family and one might understand that he is just so revered that they would have trouble trying to figure out where to honor him

best if and when he does pass away if he's in the hospital and doesn't get out. >> reporter: exactly. he has a very, very large family. mr. mandela has been married three times. of course his current wife, graca machel, has spent every single day of the three weeks next to mr. mandela. and of course he was married twice before, to winnie mandela and evelyn masegh. he had children with his wives and he's got many, many grandchildren. and our current understanding is that his eldest daughter, maki, wants him to be buried in puno, which is what is generally understood is what mr. mandela wants here in south africa, that he wants to be buried in kunu where he grew up. but we also understand that his oldest grandson wants him to be buried in nvezo, where he was born. as i said, this has now landed in the country's courts, and we may hear more detail of what the

courts decide today, natalie. >> all right. we thank you. nkepele mabuse live for us there. thank you. john. more than 100 firefighters battled a massive blaze in southern california on monday. it happened at this warehouse in sun valley. the los angeles fire department declared the blaze a major emergency which took around two hours to put out. no injuries have been reported. the fire department says conditions were made much worse by the record-high temperatures in the region. well, of course, the heat has also been affecting regions in arizona. it's complicating efforts to fight a wildfire in northwest phoenix. >> 19 firefighters were killed on sunday while battling a blaze there. they were members of the elite squad called hotshots, known for their abilities to endure some of the worst conditions. randi kaye has our report. >> reporter: when hotshots get the call, they head to the center of a blazing wildfire, an inferno that oftentimes only

they can stop. hotshots go where equipment can' can't. these elite fire fooitding teams are specially trained to use train usas and pulaskis to brush and cut a fire line in the dirt, a line that could stretch a mile long. and it's their job to hold that line. john seager is a former hotshot. >> when the fire actually burns up to that line, the fire is going to put out embers. and some of those embers actually do cross the line, and the hotshot crew or any of our fire crews will patrols the line and they look for those embers and try to get to them. >> reporter: segar, likens hotshot teams to military special ops units. he says they are the best of the best in wildfire suppression, highly motivated and highly trained. which is why they get the toughest assignments. >> their physical fitness training prior to the season, and if it's a slow season during

the season includes running, long endurance hikes, any type of push-ups, sit-ups, the whole aerobics, cardio, physical fitness routine. >> reporter: there's a rigorous physical test to qualify as a hotshot, including a three-mile hike in 45 minutes, while carrying a 45-pound pack. and a mile and a-half run in 10 1/2 minutes or less. because of the physical endurance required, most hotshots tend to be younger, in their 20s and 30s. >> it's certainly not an easy gig. hotshot crews are on call 24/7 during fire season, about six months out of the year. they're sent to where the terrain is most severe and the weather is typically hot and dry. they're exposed to wind and dust and all kinds of poisonous plants. crews sleep on the ground. and if they're lucky, they get to shower every couple of days. the job keeps them away from

home for several weeks at a time, working 14 days on and two days off. the hours are long, too, often stretching into 16-hour shifts. >> they travel all over the country. so it is very difficult. it is very difficult to maintain a family life. all our firefighters adjust to that. families adjust to it just like families in the military service adjust to it. but it is not an easy life. >> reporter: the u.s. forest service says hotshot crews began in southern california in the late 1940s. they got their name, hotshot, from always being in the hottest part of the fire. and this isn't the first devastating loss they've suffered. back in 1994, nearly 20 years ago, nine members of the prineville, oregon hotshot team were killed when they were trapped fighting a colorado fire on storm king mountain. some firefighters tried to

survive by wrapping themselves in fireproof shelters like these. just like the 19 killed in arizona. while all hotshot team members tend to love the outdoors and thrive on a challenge, they know the dangers and what can happen when the wind shifts. randi kaye, cnn, atlanta. for more on how the weather turned an already dangerous situation into a tragedy, ivan joins us once again from the cnn weather center. it just seems unreal that all 19 perished. >> yeah, an incredible tragedy, no question about it here. the weather started this fire and the weather turned on the firefighters on sunday. this transpired on friday with that lightning strike that brought upon this fire across the northwestern part of phoenix. here we're talking about 80 miles or so northwest. yarnell just south of prescott here in arizona. and then we had that significant

wind shift. now, what's going to happen overt next several days and probably weeks here, they're going to have to come up with a way to prevent this from happening or at least try to significantly prevent this from happening. tragedies will continue to occur certainly, but if they were on the horn with the national weather service they would have at least known that there was this line of thunderstorm activity. here we are sunday through the afternoon hours here with this line of thunderstorms that's pushing through. whenever you have a thunderstorm that's rolling through you're going to have significant wind gusts and you can have a wind shift. essentially what happened is they had winds prevailing from the south and west and then the winds turned right at them here and it was just too late for them to get out of the way, obviously, there. and certainly the rainfall didn't help. in fact, over the next few days what we're going to have is lightning storms here, which are not going to amount to much in the form of rainfall but they're just going to potentially spark additional fires with the lightning here. so where are we now? nearly 14 square kilometers have

been -- square miles i should say have been burned here with more than 200 structures here have been burned and we're still at 0% containment here. firefighters are still going to have to go out there and fight this not only from above but probably on the ground certainly as well. this has not helped, and this is why we've had such a significant fire season here. we've had exceptional to extreme drought across this area here. so the fuel, natalie, is there for the fire. pine needles. just very susceptible here to additional fires here. there's your forecast. scattered thunderstorms, again, which are not helpful. and those winds out of the southwest, 10 to 20. much gustier in the thunderstorms that form in the afternoon. >> got to feel for the people that are continuing to have to fight that fire, thinking about what just happened, that tragedy. all right, ivan, thank you. more of "cnn newsroom" right after this. ♪

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soothing relieffor all. kaopectate. one and done. if the words compost cookies mean anything to you there's a chance you're already familiar -- >> i have no idea what a whoopie pie is. it doesn't sound very nice, is it? >> we're talking about novelty baked goods. apparently you're not baking. >> a whoopie pie. mm. anyway, there is something new now for whoopie pie lovers to sink their teeth into. they're called cronuts. have croissant, half donut. and richard qwest went out for a taste testimony. >> this is the tale of where the donut married the croissant and created the cro nut. >> that's good. >> that's amazing. >> a fried pastry filled with cream. >> good morning, guys. >> reporter: that's literally selling like hot cakes.

cronuts are not for the faint-hearted. only the truly dedicated, who are prepared to stand outside and wait quite a long time. how long have you been here? >> an hour and a half. >> reporter: an hour and a half. you are barking mad. the line goes back further and further. do you have any idea how long you're going to have to wait? >> no, not at all. but we've come from melbourne for these, so we're hoping to get one. >> reporter: why are you prepared to wait so long? >> because these things sound awesome. >> reporter: dominic ansol is the pastry chef who created this confection. he wasn't out to start a trend. he just wanted to bake something new. >> it just like went viral right away. >> reporter: why? >> because it's new. because it's fun. because it's unusual. because it's good. >> reporter: besides being tasty -- mm. the cronut is an example of pure economics. only about 300 are made each day. and because customers are

limited and can buy just two, demand overwhelms supply. so a $5 cronut sells for $40 or more on the cronut black market. when you have a coveted cronut of your own, one feels compelled to share. >> i am not ashamed to take half a cronut. >> reporter: painful as it was, i shared my cronut too. >> are you going to have it? yeah? >> thank you. >> reporter: cronuts have gone. so is the queue. you can call this a new york fashion and fad or a trend. what you can't do is argue with success. richard quest, cnn, with the cronuts. >> richard never shares anything. it's a big deal. >> he's feeling, it yeah. >> and those people from melbourne standing in line makes you proud to be australian, doesn't it? >> absolutely.

welcome to america. enjoy our food. >> a cronut. >> i haven't tried one, but i'll have to do it. >> okay. >> but thank you for watching "cnn newsroom." for viewers in the u.s., a special presentation on the george zimmerman trial is next. >> and for our viewers everywhere else, please stay with us because "world business today" is coming up next. thanks for watching. the healthcare law gives us powerful tools to fight it... to investigate it... ...prosecute it... and stop criminals. our senior medicare patrol volunteers... are teaching seniors across the country... ...to stop, spot, and report fraud. you can help. guard your medicare card. don't give out your card number over the phone. call to report any suspected fraud. we're cracking down on medicare fraud. let's make medicare stronger for all of us. let's m i don't know.tronger how did you get here? [ speaking in russian ] look, look, look... you probably want to get away as much as we do. with priceline express deals,

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