hong kong's leader could soon announce plans to press pause on a deeply unpopular extradition bill. we're waiting for carrie lam to speak. we'll bring you that live. we'll be live in hong kong. plus a u.s. official cites more evidence that iran was behind the brazen attack on two oil tankers. and later in the show a new report finds that some of your favorite breakfast foods might contain a controversial weed killer. we'll look at the study, the science, and the skepticism behind the report. live from the cnn center here in atlanta, i'm cyril vanier. it's great to have you with us.

so pro-democracy lawmaker in hong kong is telling cnn that the city's chief executive is expected to announce that she is postponing the extradition bill that sparked massive protests in the city. carrie lam is set to speak to reporters any minute now. we'll bring you that live when it happens. journalist steve chow is in hong kong. he's monitoring that for us. so steve, run us through how that decision process would have happened. would that be with carrie lam's cabinet? would that be with pro-beijing lawmakers? how would that work? >> well, cyril, it's likely with a number of people on different layers. we understand from our sources that carrie lam has been meeting with her own pro-beijing lawmakers as to what to do over the last few weeks, especially as we saw those mass demonstrations where organizers say more than a million people took to the streets against this extradition bill. at the same time there is no question that carrie lam would be speaking to people in

beijing, in the central government, as to exactly how to approach this, how to push forward. we know that there's been pressure on a lot of fronts, not only domestically, among hong kong people here, that have been citing concerns that this bill would actually open them up to being taken off for trial in the mainland if they voiced their dissent against the central government, but also we've had a lot of pressure from the international community, from the u.s., from canada, from britain, citing concerns about this bill. the question now is is this postponement long term? is it short term? we're unclear about this. but what we do know is that protesters remain determined to try and push carrie lam to scrap the bill altogether. joining me is yo-yo chan. one of the protesters. thank you so much for being with us. i understand you've been on hunger strike for the last three days. >> yes. >> reporter: what are your thoughts about carrie lam's expected announcement that she's postponing this extradition bill? >> i don't think it's anywhere like acceptable because like for

me i think like what we demand is that we want to withdraw the bill. and then suspending it doesn't mean anything to us. and it's just like buying herself time or buying the government time. >> reporter: the question is whether perhaps this suspension or this delay will give time for carrie lam to consult the people, to consult democracy, lawmakers, to consult beijing lawmakers to try to find a middle ground. do you believe that that is her intent? >> i mean, given the credibility that she has nothing left, like she doesn't have any credibility left anyway. and i mean, like the bill is problematic in itself. of course there are some amendments that can be done but i don't think the bill is anywhere acceptable for us. >> has she not shown in-some concessions, though? over the last few weeks she said yes, with this extradition bill it would not apply to those involved in white-collar crime, which has addressed some of the concerns of the business community, which is very important here. she also said that you know, this bill would not be used against political dissidents, if

you will, or others that voice critical opinions of the central government. >> i don't think that's like -- i don't believe in that. according to the article of -- in the bill i think it's number 45, article 45, it states that like any kind of crime,ing? like that, can be sent back to china. so it's not exactly you're persecuted for being a political dissident. it's because you can be sent back to china where criminal justice does not exist. and that's really problematic because the criminal justice system, or the legal system in china has been known to be persecuting political dissidents. they may not charge you for l e like -- for anything like infringement or national security, but anyway, it's -- i mean, they can always find excuse. >> carrie lam earlier this week was very insistent that at first she wasn't going to postpone this bill, that it was going to

be pushed forward, and that protesters were simply immature in their perspectives of what this bill means. >> i think that's disgusting. you should listen to people. you're a civil servant. so listen to the people. i mean, that's like -- she's not listening. and she just like disregard like everything that we have done so far. i mean, there were 103 million protesters who came out and then say that hey, you should take this back. >> 1.3 million, yes. >> and she just like -- this is not acceptable. when she just like oh, no, because you're being naive or something like this. you are being naive when you don't listen to people. >> reporter: so what are you calling for in this period of possible postponement? >> i mean, for us, like for me, we still demand the withdrawal of the bill. and second, because there are so many things going on or so many things have happened on the 12th of june, so the second will be

end police brutality. and then like it should be someone who has been -- someone should be held accountable for what happened that day, for the excessive use of force. >> you're talking about the protests that happened this wednesday -- >> on wednesday. >> reporter: when police fired tear gas, rubber bullets at protesters. >> yes. >> reporter: you believe it's excessive force. >> it's really excessive force. i've been in touch with the protesters. i mean, like the day before -- the night before i was here and helping out and then talked to students and a lot of them were just like 14 to 15. and they're like really humble. they were very helpful and very selfless. and they have their own thoughts. for myself, i couldn't even know what i was doing when i was 14 or 15. but they hold themselves together. they unite themselves together. it's a movement that doesn't need any leaders. everyone is a leader. and they just like join forced together, which is beautiful in itself. i mean, like on the day of the 12th of june i don't see any

violence from the protesters. >> reporter: according to the police they had bricks thrown at them, they had sharpened sticks thrown at them as well and 20 police officers were injured. this is according to the police chief. how far will you go now? now that we have a postponement, lu still continue your hunger strike? lu still continue protesting? >> so what we do is if carrie lam really announced they would suspend the bill, we will finish the -- 103 hours. and then the number of people who came out on last sunday. but then afterwards we'll stop. but if carrie lam bring it back or the government bring the bill back, we will be back and we'll come back out and then protest and go on strike again. >> why take this drastic measure of going on a hunger strike? >> i've been looking for ways of how to do this. after the protest on sunday obviously the government refused to listen to us. >> reporter: this past sunday

when 1.03 million turned out. >> yes. and i've been looking to make a statement. i realize i'm not the most -- and i couldn't be on the front and i'm not like fast enough and i don't want to be my peers' burden. so i'm thinking of a more passive but resilient but also strong way to protest. and he think it's also important to widen the spectrum of protests because i mean given what happened in previous years, like more peaceful protesters and more radical protesters have been split into two camps, which is -- which just fractured people who are like pursuing democracy. and i think this time people really come together and looking for different ways to protest and make our voices here in different ways to address to the government and also to different more audience. >> we've heard over the last while that many people feel in hong kong there's been an erosion of freedoms and this is the last line in terms of taking

a stand. do you see that for yourself? do you believe that's true? >> yes, i do believe it's true. i mean, the legal system will be crumbled. the judicial system of hong kong will crumble. >> reporter: you're saying if this extradition bill goes through. >> yes. it's just a huge threat to the basic freedoms and human rights of hong kong. take for example i'm a writer and a translator. and then i would like -- i would be like more careful with what i write because you don't want to -- or else you would have to pay a lot of serious consequences. like the writers or activists in china. basically we still want the freedom, a freedom from fear. that's what we are looking forward to. >> yoyo chan, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: as you heard from yoyo, protesters are still determined to make their point. they will come back out if carrie lam decides to continue

debate on the extradition bill. we're waiting for carrie lam to speak to the press. >> steve, thank you very much. that's a very interesting conversation to follow with your guest. she was on a -- she is on a hunger strike and she says like your previous guest said the previous hour that they will continue to protest tomorrow regardless of what carrie lam announces today. now, it's ten minutes past 3:00 p.m. where you are. carrie lam was expected to speak at 3:00. i understand that she is currently meeting with pro-beijing lawmakers, so we expect to hear from her moments from now. we'll bring you that live. steve, i want to ask you, if she says what we are expecting her to say, and if the chief executive announces that she is postponing this controversial bill, will that mean that protesters have won? because the last two protesters you spoke to they said no, we'll still be back in the street

tomorrow. >> reporter: well, that's right. the reason they're saying that, they're telling us, is because they have a lot of suspicion as to the reasons behind this postponement. they believe this is a strategy by carrie lam, a strategy by pro beijing lawmakers, perhaps a strategy by the government this fwiej allow the anger we've seen on the streets to dissipate and once that's dissipated once the people have fumy dispersed they will reintroduce this bill and try to push it through. no one wants to let their guards down. which is were y. rights groups are saying we're still going to push ahead with sunday's protests, to keep the pressure on carrie lam to live through this. there is no question carrie lam has come under a great deal of pressure over the last few days, over the last several weeks -- >> steve, respectfully i'm going to interrupt you for a second. we're seeing carrie lam, the chief executive of the hong kong government, step up to the podium. she is going to address the media, going to address hong

kongers. we expect that she will be making remarks in both chinese and english. we will bring you the english remarks live as soon as those happen. i want to listen in just a second. right now she's making her remarks in chinese. so we'll dip back in as soon as she makes those remarks in english. stoof, ste steve, i want to go back to you. you were explaining that protesters were going to be in the street tomorrow and continue making their case. whatever is announced in the next few minutes. now, it's important to remind our viewers that there are two sides to this story. there are two arguments here. and there are those pro-beijing supporters that believe this law is warranted, that this law is justified, that this law is not an encroachment in their telling of it on the freedoms of hong ko kong. i understand we now have

translation of carrie lam. let's listen in to that. >> translator: -- arrangement to deal with 17 0 countries and regions where we haven't yet got a long-term agreement to implement this arranging of -- as a responsible government i believe that we have to try our utmost to find a way to deal with it. on the one hand dealing with the taiwan homicide case so as to uphold justice, so as to do justice for the victim of the case and be accountable to the parents of the victim. then we can improve the legal system in hong kong so we can't give refuge for fugitive offenders. this is exactly why we would like to move amendments to the fugitive offenders ordinance as well as the mutual legal assistance in criminal matters ordinance. that's our original legislative

intent. we carefully looked at what was carried out in other places. in february this year we formally started the consultation exercise. a proposal was based on the existing legislation. and we have taken into account the procedural safeguards, the human safeguards including the -- as well as our fair and open judicial system. all such have been retained. we have been talking to all parties and all walks of life. we have been listening to the bills. well, the suspect in the taiwan homicide case is now serving a sentence in the jail of hong kong for other offenses. we would like to pass the legislation in july this year, bearing in mind the fact we have listened to the bills of the society and on two occasions we have already made changes. first of all, before the formal

introduction of the bill we have taken away nine items of offenses that are extraditable. and then for the punishment threshold instead of one year imprisonment we have changed it to three years imprisonment. another round of change took place after the introduction of the bill and then punishment was changed from three years or above to seven years or above. that would be the maximum punishment threshold. we've also enhanced the human rights safeguards so as to ease the worries of society so as to secure more support. i myself and development officials have done our utmost. however, i have to admit that in terms of explanation and communication there were indeed inadequacies. many citizens of hong kong have agreed with us on the two objectives involved. but then the bill has caused a lot of division in society. there was important views. there were also opposing views.

and their views were very strong. and there are still lots of worries, doubts, and misunderstanding about the bill. in relation to the legislative work suspicion has emerged. we try our best to never -- the differences in opinions hoping we can ease the worries. over the past few weeks we saw that tens of thousands of people took part in processions and marches and then after the sunday march and then on wednesday there were also he demonstrations and there were serious -- as a result police officers and general citizens were injured. i today was -- in the light of what has happened and as a responsible government, on the one hand we have to uphold the rule of law.

at the same time we have to take into account prevailing circumstances, bear in mind the greatest interest of hong kong. first of all, we need to restore peace and order in hong kong and we have to prevent having further injuries caused to the public as well as the police. on this occasion i would like to thank the establishment members as well as the community leaders in the past few days both publicly and privately they have talked to us telling us we should pause and think and we shouldn't act in accordance with the original timetable which would -- debate at the legislative council so as to avoid tauzing further challenges in society. and in fact taiwan on many occasions have openly and clearly said they would not accept the proposals made by the hong kong special administrative regional government. and then the urgency to pass the legislation within the current

legislation year perhaps no longer exists. for the past two days we've seen the administration we considered the matter. here i'd like to make an nuancement. the special administration regional government would like to suspend the work. we would like to have more explanation. we would like to listen more to the views expressed. i would like to emphasize that we are open and we would listen to all views concerning the bill from this society. the secretary for security will write the precedent of the legislative council so as to withdraw the notice to resume the second reading debate. the legislative council as far as the handling of the bill is concerned will be halted, will be suspended. we do not intend to set any

deadline on development work. we promise that after we'll report to the security panel of the -- we'll consult the bills of the lawmakers before we decide on the step forward. i would like to express my gratitude to the establishment camp members who have been supporting our legislative work as well as members of the public. there arelights others who may not support the bill. but there are others who have been expressing the views in a peaceful manner. i think such citizens and organizations. hong kong is a civil ayized society. we may disagree but we're still in harmony. as chief executive of the special administrative region for our original intention of the amendment bill, this come -- this came from our love for hong kong. both on my part and my drink team. as well as our concern about our

inadequacies and a number of factors for the past two years, we have been quite peaceful. but once again, we are seeing a lot of disharmony and clashes. this has disappointed and frightened many poem. very sad and we find it regrettable. we have the best and the utmost sincerity and a humble heart open to your criticisms and we'll still be connected with the people of hong kong. >> in february last year another case in taiwan shocked and saddened many hong kong people. a young hong kong lady was killed and the suspect fled back to hong kong. the case caused deep sorrow for the victim's parents while at same time revealed a clear loophole in our -- >> you've just been listening to the chief executive of the hong

kong government. that's carrie lam. so she has just been explaining what we expected and what we heard over the previous hour, which is that the hong kong government is suspending the controversial bill that has brought hundreds of thousands of people down to the streets and caused some of the worst unrest that we have seen since the handover of hong kong in 1997 to china. let me go to steve chao. he's been listening in with us. steve, it's what we were expecting. it may not be a full win but it's at least a partial win. >> reporter: well, very much so. and you heard carrie lam strike a very conciliatory tone. she said yes, i believe that we likely talked to all facets of society when drafting this extradition bill. but these recent demonstrations

though there was perhaps a great deal of anger and division. on that note she -- many people were wondering if she was going to set a tight deadline for the debate and the pushing through of this extradition bill, but she said basically this is an indefinite schedule, they're going to take a big step back, go back to the public, go back to lawmakers, and find out what will work. at the same time, however, she stressed still that there is a very big need for this xr digs bill. she mentioned one of the big cases she's mentioned time and again. the fact of this taiwanese person who was responsible for murdering someone and fled back here to taiwan. she says that's an example of why there's a need for an extradition bill, to not allow hong kong to be a fugitive place for criminals but to allow hong kong to send those that are suspects back to their respective countries including the mainland. she says a lot of the fears that the public has here is 34is

guided, misdirected. she herself took a lot of responsibility for that in her words, saying it was her fault in not communicating that properly. >> all right. steve chao, you've been monitoring this for us from the beginning. we thank you for your early analysis of this. if you're just joining us, carrie lam who is now postponing the controversial bill that has sparked clashes and protests in hong kong overt last eight or nine days. we'll be back after this. do you want me to go first or do you want to go first, brea?

you can go first. audible reintroduced this whole world to me. so many great stories from amazing people. it makes me want to be better. to be able to connect with the people's stories that i'm listening to. that's inspiration. it's on during my commute, it's on all the time.

doing the dishes. working out. while i'm in the car. at bed time. an audible listener is someone that wants to broaden their mind. people who are tired of listening to the radio, or music. to hear her speak those words. it was incredible. it was unbelievable. with audible originals, there's something for almost every taste in there. everything you ever wanted to hear. i signed up for getting a credit every month, and i started exploring books that i normally wouldn't read. our ability to empathize through these stories, with these stories, can be transformational. it's my own thing that i can do for me. see what listening to audible can do for you. just text listen9 to 500500. even in my own home,o audible can do for you. i had my own designated space to smoke. if i think about it, it really was like i was punishing myself. a friend of mine that said, why wouldn't you just try the juul. and so i went out and i bought one. the idea of going back to smoking...

i couldn't even imagine doing that. i don't think anyone including myself thought that i could switch. we're following breaking news in hong kong. hong kong's chief executive carrie lam has just announced that she is suspending the controversial extradition bill that sparked massive protests this week. ms. lam actually defended the bill, saying it had been misunderstood, that it closed or would close a loophole in the law that would help bring criminals to justice. but she acknowledged there had been inadequacies in the communication. she seemed to say that in other words she had poorly sold the bill to the public. lam says the government is open to all views and opposition parties' concerns to amending the proposed legislation. activists have said that this weekend's protests would go

ahead unless the bill is completely withdrawn, which to be quite clear at this hour it is not. we will continue to follow developments in hong kong. new details about the tanker attacks in the gulf of oman. u.s. officials say iran was engaged in provocative behavior in the hours leading up to the attacks. stay with us. we're the slowskys.

we like drip coffee, layovers- -and waiting on hold. what we don't like is relying on fancy technology for help. snail mail! we were invited to a y2k party... uh, didn't that happen, like, 20 years ago? oh, look, karolyn, we've got a mathematician on our hands! check it out! now you can schedule a callback or reschedule an appointment, even on nights and weekends. today's xfinity service. simple. easy. awesome. i'd rather not. welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm cyril vanier. and we're following breaking news in hong kong. where the chief executive carrie lam has just announced she is

suspending the controversial extradition bill that sparked massive protests this week. anna coren joins us now from hong kong. anna, what did you make of this speech? it sounded to me like carrie lam was at once defensive, defensive of the bill, and contrite in the way she had handled this situation. >> reporter: cyril, i think that sums it up beautifully. carrie lam has been defensive throughout this entire ordeal. she's also been hellbent in getting it through. so this is really a stunning turnaround and also a stunning victory for the hundreds of thousands of protesters who've taken to the streets to protest these highly controversial extradition bill which would allow anyone in hong kong fundamentally to be extradited to china to face trial. so as we heard from carrie lam a short time ago behind us she

said they need time to pause and rethink, that perhaps they missold, this they didn't explain it properly. and that's what we've been hearing from other lawmakers, that the government didn't sell it properly. they always, however, blame the people of hong kong tore getting it wrong, for misunderstanding, for not understanding you know, the ins and outs of this bill which they still believe is very, very important. obviously it's about this murder that took place in taiwan by a hong kong national who then is seeking haven here in hong kong. so carrie lam is -- has seized on this as an opportunity to get this controversial bill through. but people have seen through the ruse, if you like. they see this as a threat to hong kong's democracy, a threat to the freedom of speech. they fear this could mean that anybody who speaks out about beijing, about mainland china, could then be arrested on any particular trumped-up charges

and then be sent to the mainland. that is why we saw up to a million people, more than a million people according to protesters take to the streets last sunday. we then saw tens of thousands take to the streets on wednesday. those violence clashes with police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at some of those protesters. and then of course we are expecting an enormous turnout tomorrow because whilst carrie lam said she has suspended, postponed this bill, there's no time frame, it might be this year. the protesters, they are not buying that. they believe they need to continue to demonstrate, to protest, to voice their concerns. they will only be satisfied once the government announces that it will be withdrawn, completely withdrawn, and also that carrie lam resigns. what we're hearing certainly from the hong kong government and beijing is that is not happening. but their concession at this stage is that the bill has been postponed to a later date,

cyril. >> anna, to the best of your understanding what is the decision-making process behind this? who is pulling the strings? who is calling those shots? who decided okay, we're shelving this bill for the moment? >> yeah, it's a very interesting question. well, as we know, carrie lam is hand-picked by beijing as the chief executive of hong kong. they like to make it look like it's sort of semi-democracy, but it is not. she is considered by many to be a puppet of beijing, a mouthpiece for beijing. we got reports that she met with senior chinese officials yesterday in shenzhen and that that was when it was decided how did they resolve this situation, which as we were anticipating could potentially get out of hand. if this was going to be rushed through. and that certainly was the plan

of the government to push this through before the lawmakers here in hong kong broke for summer, which is in a matter of weeks. so it was quite remarkable that they were trying to push it through so quickly but they knew that the protesters were not going to back down. these are people fighting for hong kong's freedom, fighting for whatever semblance of democracy they can hold on to. there is a real fear, obviously, that their democratic rights, their freedoms are being very quickly eroded as china continues to place more control here in hong kong. >> and anna, what the people of hong kong have shown i think quite consistently is each time they feel their freedoms are under threat they are willing to mobilize for that. there's a huge turnout each time as there was with the umbrella protests a couple years ago. and they will go out in the streets for that.

anna coren joining us live. thank you very much. we'll continue to debrief this. the protests in hong kong have rocked the island for almost a week, but the roots of this movement go back decades. cnn's hala gorani looks at the origins of the crisis. >> reporter: the roots of this crisis stretch right back to when hong kong was a colony under british rule for more than 150 years. the brits only gave it back to china in 1997. the terms of that deal, that hong kong should continue to enjoy autdon onomy from mainlan china, a policy known as one country, two systems. >> as british administration ends, we are i believe entitled to say that our own nation's contribution here was to provide the scaffolding that enabled the people of hong kong to ascend. the beginnings of representative

government and democratic accountability. >> reporter: with the words of outgoing governor chris patten there were high hopes for hong kong's democratic future. it started well, with elections in 1998. the first multiparty vote in a territory administered by china. but by 2003 the streets were filled with protesters, many dressed in black to mourn what they saw as the gradual loss of their fundamental rights. they were angry over a proposed new national security bill they feared would lead to a clampdown on dissent like they'd seen in mainland china. the bill was soon shelved but the growing anger over hong kong's eroding democracy did not go away. fast forward to 2014. the so-called umbrella movement, triggered by a new policy that meant every candidate for hong kong's leadership would have to be approved by a pro-beijing committee. protests crippled downtown hong

kong for months. as police responded with a heavy hand, i spoke with one of the protesters at the time. >> do you have concerns for your safety, for instance? >> not only concern. we're terrified. we're hong kong people. we just normally sit in our office. right now we have tens of thousands of people sitting in the street, demonstrating, prepared for the next round of tear gas or even rubber bullet. >> in the end demonstrations fizzled with no concessions from the government. but protesters promised they would be back. in 2017 new hong kong chief executive carrie lam was sworn in by chinese president xi jinping. today she is the face of the proposed new extradition law, which many say is yet another encroachment on hong kong's autonomy from china. sparking the latest wave of protests in a tiny territory not afraid to stand up to its powerful neighbor.

hala gorani, cnn, london. >> if you're just joining us, we learned this hour through carrie lam, the chief executive of the hong kong government, that they are suspending the controversial bill that has brought hundreds of thousands of people down into the streets. now, there are two sides to this story. we will be speaking to pro-beijing voices, those who believe that this bill was legitimate and should pass, next hour. amanda knox is back in italy and expected to speak in the next hour. the american's harrowing experience there was a media sensation after the murder of her roommate. stay with us. [♪]

check your free credit scores at creditkarma. here's to progress.

amanda knox is expected to speak in italy in the next hour. the american woman became a media sensation when she was arrested and twice convicted in the murder of her roommate. she was ultimately exonerated.

knox is back in italy to take part in a three-day conference on criminal justice, trial by media is the name of the conference. joining me now from italy is cnn's melissa bell. why is amanda knox doing this? why is she going back to italy? >> reporter: well, you know, for all of the journalists who've been following her for the last couple of days, ever since she arrived in milan, cyril, that's really been the question we've been asking ourselves. because first of all, she knew that she would be coming into another media storm. we saw it from her social media posts in the course of the weeks leading up to her return to italy. there was no question that it was another media frenzy that she was going to head into because of the interest, the fascination really that she excites amongst journalists. she courted it. she's trying to use it to raise awareness to an issue she's been campaigning on for the last few years, and that is the one of people who are incarcerated mistakenly, and she is hoping in

the next few minutes to use that again to talk specifically to that question of trial by media. and yet her attitude toward the cameras ever since she landed here in italy, cyril, has been one of almost recoiling physically every time she's been faced with them. it was the case when she landed at milan and it was the case yesterday. she turned up in the morning sat in the audience. the cameras turned toward her, and it was the light of the cameras apparently on her face that seemed to disturb her. very quickly she seemed to panic and fled, went into a quiet room far away from the cameras and then left the conference. later she came back and was moved to tears by the testimony of one irishman who'd spent 14 years in jail for a crime he hadn't committed. so you sense a woman who's very emotional, who still has a lot to get to and perhaps wasn't raddy for mathis in many ways a yet could have no doubt this is exactly what she should expect. cyril. >> melissa bell reporting from modena, italy. thank you very much. coming up, damaged buildings and flooded farmland as heavy rains impact millions.

what's ahead when we come back. ♪ this is my mom's house. a lot of firsts happened here. first kiss. first cigarette. never saw it as a problem. when i was younger. my mom she was always like: "you need to get rid of them." gave the juul a real chance, and found that i liked it. found that it really works. the switch was easy. it was a no-brainer, really. this came from her... really.

the first survivor of ais out there.sease and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. visit alz.org to join the fight.

baseball star david ortiz is

still recovering at a hospital in boston, massachusetts from his gunshot wound. while the suspect in his shooting now says that he pulled the trigger on the wrong man. the suspect told reporters from his jail cell in the dominican republic that he meant to shoot someone else but got confused. cnn's patrick oppmann has more from santo domingo. >> reporter: police say the gunman walked across the nightclub to david "big papi" ortiz and without hesitation opened fire. but admitted trigger man wolfi ferrera cruz told the american media from his cell it was all a case of mistaken identity, he hadn't intended to kill the boston red sox superstar. ferrera cruz said that his real target was "someone else." and that he was only given the color of the clothing of the person he was supposed to ambush and murder. and as he went into court friday

proclaimed to reporters he'd shot the wropg man. the dominican prosecutor's office say ferrera cruz is lying, that he is fearful of the, quote, vengeance he will almost certainly face in prison from other inmates for shooting a beloved sports star and that it's impossible to imagine any dominican not recognizing a national hero as famous as ortiz. police say the plot was well organized and involved at least ten suspects, two who allegedly helped coordinate the contract hit from jail, where they're already serving time for other crimes. the news that ortiz was marked for death has rocked the caribbean nation. this is the club where david ortiz was drinking with friends. when a gunman walked in off the street right there and shot ortiz in the back. david ortiz didn't like to have security around him. the domnicans absolutely adored him. he felt that would protect him. it's hard to imagine him feeling

that safe here ever again. ortiz is loved by millions of domin cannes. but some resent his fame and fortune, says one of big papi's childhood friends. "there's people that are full of envy," he says. "there are people that have wanted to have that ego, that success." many of the suspects charged with the attempt on ortiz's life are petty criminals who police say did the hit for less than $8,000. they're just the foot soldiers, police say. ortiz's legions of fans are still waiting to find out who gave them the order. patrick oppmann, cnn, santo domingo. weeks of heavy rain and flooding have impacted over 5 million people in southeastern china. meteorologist derek van dam joins us for more on this. >> reporter: the rain has caused flooding. it's collapsed buildings. it's inundated thousands of hectares and acres of farmland across southeast china. i want to show you some of the video here.

this is quite dramatic. because you're seeing some of the six stories -- or six bedrooms of an apartment block that completely collapsed in the flooding on thursday. police had to rescue 25 residents that were trapped inside of that building. as she mentioned over 5 million people experiencing this local rain and heavy flooding. this has been a very tough past few weeks for the hujian province, wandong provinces of southeast china. you can see -- we have more dramatic video in a second. this is known as the annual plum rains. as simplified as possible, what we're talking about is a tug of war between two air masses. continental cool dry air mass from mongolia. and warm air mass from the pacific ocean. they collide and create a

barrage of thunderstorms. anywhere from china and taiwan as well as japan. even depending on what time of the year it was, but the stalled out frontal boundary just eventually meanders further north as the months and weeks progress. the plum rains were between may and july depending where you're at. bru check outs this landslide video coming out of the hunan province in southeast china. it is tossing these cars like they are toys, taking rubble, trees, rocks, boulders down the mountain side. traveling over 50 kilometers an hour. fortunately there is a lull in the rainfall right now but see this low pressure system over central china that's going to help spread more rain faum into the -- you can see looking rather business gary shanghai westward to hong kong, taipei, eventually into mainland japan as well. you can see rainfall totals there exceeding 150 millimeters.

i just want a quick update on the psych rone that is still veering away from the northwestern portions of india. some of the latest computer models have this recurving back to the north and east but we expect it to be a weakened state. so by the time it reaches northwest india it will be more of a rainmaker. the premonsoon heat they've been dealing with in that part of the subcontinent. there's a couple of different ways to look at it. it's going to bring in rainfall but also going to cool temperatures down a bit. >> derek van dam joining us from the cnn weather center. always a pleasure to have you covering the world's weather. >> thank you very much. at the women's world cup on friday england security a place in the round of 16 knockout phase after winning 1-0 against argentina. and there is that goal. japan and scotland also faced off with japan winning 2-1, leaving scotland on the brink of

an early world cup exit. and italy made history by reaching the knockout phase for the first time in 30 years. cristiana gioreli scored a goal in the 5-0 victory against jamaica. you heard that right. 5-0. that was number 4. coming up on saturday the netherlands looking for their second win of the tournament playing against cameroon. and canada is facing off against new zealand. you could call it an extra special blue plate special. this rare blue lobster turned up in a shipment of the crustaceans to a massachusetts restaurant. just 1 in 2 million lobsters are blue. it's a genetic defect, actually. the owner is putting it on display for a week and then hopes to donate it to an aquarium opening later this year in st. louis, missouri. in honor of the st. louis blues hockey team, which just won the

stanley cup. there you go. that does it for us this hour. stay with us on cnn. natalie allen is with you next.

and with new features and richer stories... ...it can show dad where he's from... and strengthen the bonds you share. it's only $59 at ancestry.com. give it to dad for father's day. a lot will happen in your life. wrinkles just won't. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week

to reveal younger looking skin. neutrogena®

hello, i'm natalie allen at cnn center in atlanta. we begin with breaking news, hong kong suspending the controversial extradition bill that sparked mass protests this week. activists claim the bill would give china too much control over hong kong and erode the city's basic freedoms. last hour, chief executive carrie lam defended the bill but acknowledged the widespread opposition to