protesters packed the streets of hong kong. another long day of demonstrations demanding the government scrap a controversial extradition bill. plus, they're all fighting for a chance at number 10, but the top tory candidate was missing from the very first debates. we will tell you why boris johnson skipped out on a chance to face his rivals. plus, a major power failure across multiple countries, but still no word how such a massive outage left parts of south america in the dark. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers joining us here in the united states and from all around the world. i'm rosemary church and this is "cnn newsroom."

well, it is relatively calm in hong kong now just hours after a second record breaking protest in a week. this was the scene sunday. organizers say 2 million people flooded into the streets to call for the withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill. police say it was just over 300,000. opponents fear the bill will lead to dissidents being sent to mainland china for trial. protesters are also demanding chief executive carrie lam resign. pro-democracy activist joshua wong was released from prison monday. he was the face of 2014's occupy movement. he immediately joined this protest. >> hong kong people, we will not keep silent under the suppression of president xi and the chief executive carrie lam.

carrie lam must step down, otherwise i believe in the next few weeks, before the 22nd anniversary of hong kong transfer of sovereignty, more and more hong kong people, not only 1 million or 2 million people, will come and join our fight until they -- we get back our basic human rights and freedom. >> and our anna coren joins us now live from hong kong. anna, it is 2:00 in the afternoon there. what does the day look like as far as these protests go? >> reporter: well, other than being a little bit rainy, rosemary, it is quiet here in hong kong, which is a stark difference to what we witnessed yesterday. it was absolutely historic. a sea of people making their way through the heart of hong kong. for hours and hours they came from victoria park to where we are here in at teymar, outside

the legislative council building and stayed well into the night. hundreds of protesters then camped out overnight into the early morning. there was a brief confrontation with police, rosemary, and police surprisingly backed off -- protesters also said they weren't going to block any more roads. those protesters have now moved to the legislative council behind us. there is an area there where they are allowed to demonstrate, so that is where they are at the moment. but, rosemary, joining me now is a very special guest, joshua wong. he is, of course, the face of the pro-democracy movement here in hong kong. certainly the face of the occupy movement in 2014. he has just got out of prison 3 1/2 hours ago. joshua, how does it feel to be free? >> it's really my pleasure. it's really a good time to come and join our fight to fight for freedom and democracy and let the emperor xi, president xi jinping to know that hong kong

people will not be kept silent. >> you must be so incredibly proud of your fellow hong kongers. the scenes yesterday and also last sunday, but yesterday, it was absolutely extraordinary. they just kept on coming. >> five years ago after the end of umbrella movement we claimed that we would be back. yesterday, 2 million of hong kong's people came to the streets to show that no extradition law and no extradition to china. it shows how the hong kong people realize that it's a longtime battle and it's time to join our fight and let people around the world to realize that we will continue to fight for freedom and democracy. >> do you wish you had. there yesterday? >> unfortunately, in the past few weeks i was in prison and can't join any demonstration. when i saw how police physically assault on activists, on the youngsters, even students younger than me, or how the police -- those police just pepper sprayed or tear gassed within the city of hong kong, it just shows the one-country two

system in hong kong is just a failure. >> the violence you were talking about, referencing the ugly clashes from police last wednesday, that is not something we've seen here in hong kong. it took it to another level. it also made ledgeco realize and carrie lam, the city's chief executive realize, they can't continue with this bill, hence they shelved it. were you saddened to learn it was the violence that forced carrie lam to shelf this bill? >> hong kong people sacrifice, pay the price. some protests have been sent to hospital. i just hope that carrie lam realizes that we are not only asking for suspension of that bill. we are asking for withdrawal of the evil bill. unfortunately, carrie lam, the one just elected by 1,200 elites just ignored our words. it's time for her to step down and it's now the best timing to let the world know that hong

kong is still far away from democracy, but we will continue our battle. >> yeah, she is an embattled leader, there is no denying. and the consensus is she's lost credibility. she's certainly lost the faith of the people. you are calling on her to step down. there were thousands of people standing outside her offices last night chanting exactly that for hours on end. will she listen? she made that apology last night. was that good enough? >> i am really curious when president xi from china faced the case yhaos of the trade war the g20 summit in the next week. so when carrie lam just creates certain political burdens for president xi, i believe beijing might have a certain perspective or opinion on how carrie lam just created mass chaos for the chinese government. and one point i would like to emphasize is in this battle hong

kong people showed that we will not be silenced and we just try our best to let the world know that in this fight it will never end. >> will you be satisfied when carrie lam steps down? >> carrie lam step down is the first step, but what we ask for is freely elected the leader of our city. why carrie lam suspend a bill, need to wait until more than 1 million people come to the street? it's because carrie lam is never elected by the citizens of hong kong. we asked for democracy. years and years. decades by decades. unfortunately, they just ignore our words. however, in this battle i believe mass -- large-scale or massive mobilization will happen in the next few weeks, especially first of july, it's the 22 anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty of hong kong. >> yes, of course. that is the anniversary when hong kong was made a special administrative region under the

one-country two systems. and under this policy, hong kong has enjoyed freedoms. freedoms that these people have taken to the streets in the millions are fighting for. >> freedom exists in name only, under the suppression of beijing, and we realize that in the future we might need to pay more of a price and sacrifice more, but we're ready for it, and even i was in prison. when i watched the tv news reports of how thousands or 100,000 people come to the street, even more, a million people, it shows the dignity and the spirit of the hong kong people. i am proud of being a hong kong citizen. >> joshua, are you willing to die for this cause? when you say you're willing to sacrifice so much more, how far are you prepared to go? >> the question is how far carrie lam prepared to sacrifice her political career? i think that's the significant question that we ask. carrie lam stepping down, already become majority

consensus. what i mean is hong kong is just a small international city with 7 million citizens, but 2 million people come to the street already. it shows that we have the consensus and we just wait for carrie lam. it's time for her not only apology or suspend, she needs to end her political career. >> joshua, finally, what is the next step? are you feeling emboldened? are there going to be more demonstrations, more marches over the coming weekend? >> suspension the evil bill is not enough. we're asking for withdrawing the proposal. in the next few weeks, massive mobilization, march and demonstration will happen again. yesterday 2 million of hong kong's citizens came to the street. i believe there will be more and more citizens that join our fight in the future. it shows the hong kong people deserve democracy and we are not afraid to uprise the china model. >> joshua wong, great to speak to you. >> thank you. >> i will let you go. i know there are so many more people who want to talk to you,

including your family. you haven't spoken to your family yet. you've been in jail for the last month so we'll let you get back to it. many thanks for joining us here on cnn. >> thank you. >> wishing you the very best. >> reporter: so that was joshua wong, the face of the pro-democracy movement here in hong kong, who has been in jail for the past month for his involvement in the umbrella movement. well, joining us now is a pro-beijing lawmaker here in hong kong. his name is felix chung and he joins us from our hong kong studio. felix, you just heard from joshua wong. he is not going to back down. they feel they have momentum. they're feeling emboldened. are you concerned? >> of course i understand his concerns, and i think a lot of hong kong people also are concerned about the latest situations. otherwise they won't have that much of people come out from the street in the last two sundays. i actually i do pay a very high

respect to the demonstrators that were coming for the demonstration in the last two -- last sunday because, i mean, with the heat, the pack of people, they still come out for -- for showing they're concerned. so the government have to respond to that. and it is historical. >> and how is the government going to respond? these protesters are not just calling, they are not just calling for this bill to be postponed, they want it completely withdrawn. will that happen? >> well, in theory, it just happened because even though the government is saying that they're delaying the bill, but, actually, it will never come back. it will be just like it's been withdrawn. so it's just the terms, but the actual situation -- >> so you think this will just be like the -- sorry, felix.

so you feel like this is history repeating itself? that the national security bill of 2003, which called -- caused mass protesters to come on to the streets, those massive demonstrations, that bill was shelved. that was 2003. it is now 2019. so you're saying the similar -- similar thing will happen with this extradition bill, that it will be shelved and it will just go away? >> well, for the other one, the article 23 is another story. it's a totally different story. article 23 is written down in the basic law and it's our constitutional duty to do it. for the extradition bill, we don't have anything that need to be done. that's the problem of the government. i really don't know why initially they put it to the ledgeco, but, of course, the reason why from the government

is because they -- there is a murder case from taiwan and there are some loopholes that we should do it. we don't want hong kong have any international criminal there. it's actually just a case. there is an indian person who came to hong kong but he is actually an international wanted criminal. so, i mean, now he's being detained because he committed crimes in hong kong, but after he finished his sentence, he still can live in hong kong -- >> yes. >> and not have -- i mean -- >> yes. >> that sort of example -- >> i understand. i understand the arguments, but if you speak to legal experts, they will say that case by case extradition agreements can be made. so they don't necessarily buy the government's argument. but let me ask you now about the city's chief executive carrie lam. is she on borrowed time?

has she lost the credibility and the faith of the people? >> well, certainly she lost quite a lot of her political power to the -- to the whole society. she paid a very high price for this. of course nobody expect and definitely she didn't expect that was the result of this information of the extradition bill. what to do next i really don't know. of course some people asked for her resignations. to stay or leave, i think to stay is not -- is even a tougher job for her. but the problem is created by her -- >> so you think she should go? you think carrie lam has to go? >> well, that -- well, i do not have the answer for you. because this is not a simple

question that she can leave or not. definitely need to have the consensus from the central government. >> yes. okay. felix chung, i'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there, but thank you very much for joining us. so, rosemary, as we know, the government is feeling embattled. certainly the chief executive carrie lam feeling extremely embattled. she is under a great deal of pressure to step down. by all accounts from these protesters they are not going anywhere until she backs down and until they withdraw her extradition bill. rosemary? >> they're making that very clear. anna, thank you so very much. we'll come back to you with more on this story. many thanks. well, the u.s. and iran now blame each other for thursday's tankers attacks in the gulf of oman. iran's parliamentary speaker says washington resorted to the attacks because u.s. sanctions did not work. america's top diplomat says the trump administration has intelligence that shows iran

carried out the attacks. our fred pleitgen reports on the escalating tensions between the two countries. >> reporter: the iranians now throwing some allegations back at the united states. this time in the form of the speaker of iran's parliament who on sunday came out and said that he believes that the u.s. is behind the attacks on those two tankers in the gulf of oman. he said that he believes that it's part of america's campaign of maximum pressure against the iranian government and also that he thinks that the u.s. did this, in his words, because that campaign of maximum pressure isn't working and because the sanctions have not brought iran to its knees yet. now, there wasn't any evidence provided with all of this, and at the same time you had secretary of state mike pompeo come out and once again say that the u.s. believes that iran was behind the attacks. one of the other things that mike pompeo also said is that he believes that the trump administration is trying all diplomatic means to prevent an

escalation of the conflict in the middle east. the iranians, for their part, again in the form of the parliament speaker, are saying that they believe the campaign of maximum pressure from the trump administration is not a diplomatic tool but rather economic warfare. and the iranians now also announcing that they are going to go one step further. they've already said that on monday they are going to come up with and make public new ways that they are going to scale back their commitments, according to abiding by the nuclear agreement, even though the iranians are saying that by and large they want that nuclear agreement to stay in place. fred pleitgen, cnn, tehran. you're fired. that's what donald trump told his campaign's pollsters and we will explain the reason behind the u.s. president's surprising purge. we're back in a moment.

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welcome back, everyone. well, u.s. president donald trump is apparently angry with one of his favorite targets, "the new york times," for its latest reporting. "the times" reported the u.s. is escalating attacks on russia's power grid with potentially crippling malware. that's not the only thing angering mr. trump.

cnn's boris sanchez has the details now from washington. >> president donald trump lashing out at "the new york times" this weekend over report that indicates the united states has attempted to infiltrate russia's power grid and implanting malicious software. the president unhappy. he sent out a series of tweets suggesting that "the times" may have committed treason. important to point out that officials essentially sidestepped the president, not requiring his authority to go forward with these activities. since 2015, american officials have pointed out that russia has been trying to infiltrate the american power grid so they feel that the united states is responding in kind to russia. why that would make the president angry. he's repeatedly said he wants a good relationship with vladimir putin for the united states and russia. this clearly made him unhappy. the president also making news for the way he's rationalizing his decision to not fire special counsel robert mueller during

the russia investigation. listen to what he told abc news. >> robert mueller had a total conflict of interest. >> and has to go. >> i never -- i didn't say that. look, article ii, i would be allowed to fire robert mueller. there was not -- assuming, assuming i did all of the things i said i want to fire him, number one, i didn't. he wasn't fired. okay? number one. very importantly. but more importantly, article ii allows me to do whatever i want. article ii would have allowed me to fire him. >> so it sounds like you -- >> but i wasn't going to fire him. because you know why? i watched richard nixon going around firing everybody and that didn't work out too well. so very simply, article ii would allow me to do it. >> important to point out that in the mueller report there are at least ten instances of president trump trying to interfere or intervene in the russia investigation. perhaps most glaringly, when he told former white house counsel don mcgahn to fire robert mueller. mcgahn declined. he essentially threatened to

resign. the president ultimately relenting. so in this accounting of the president's story, he's clearly indulging in some revisionist history. boris sanchez, cnn, at the white house. and president trump's campaign fired several pollsters after unflattering internal poll numbers were leaked to the media. the data showed mr. trump lagging behind democratic presidential candidates in key states. continuing press coverage of the numbers in recent days is said to have angered the president and led to the firings. so joining me now to talk more about all of this is stephen you aurlanger, chief diplomatic correspondent with "the new york times." >> thanks, rosemary. >> as we just reported, president trump fired pollsters after they showed him lagging behind democratic presidential candidates in states that he won in 2016. what does that say about a

leader who can't handle bad news coming from his own pollsters and consequently fires them? >> well, i think it tells you that trump likes to live in his own world. which we know. we just heard that from your own correspondent. we also know that right now at the beginning of the next campaign, because he starts it on tuesday, perception is everything. trump needs to show his base, which is so far been relatively solid, that he is an inevitable re-election. clearly it's very early days, but the last thing he needs right now is bad news. and it is worth saying that polls are a snapshot in time. we're very early days. the democrats haven't sorted themselves out. trump's negative ratings are high, which they've always been, but his -- but he still, you know, we're a long way away and lots of things can happen and we don't know who the democratic candidate's really going to be. so i wouldn't take it too

seriously, except as you suggest, as an indication of mr. trump's mood and character at the moment. >> right. and, of course, as you point out, it is early yet, but it is about perception. it is about optics. and potentially is -- excuse me, is this a win for the democrats if mr. trump fires his own internal pollsters because he doesn't like what they're saying and he doesn't like the way that what they're saying is being reported? >> well, that's right. i mean, he doesn't like reality that doesn't suit him. i mean, he's very angry at "the new york times" and "washington post." he always says we're reporting fake things when they're not fake things. because he just doesn't want to believe that they're true or he wants to spin them in his own way. i think it was a very good example with the piece about the americans putting malware into the russian electricity grid. now, that's a story clearly

american officials wants the russians to know about otherwise it wouldn't be leaked and somebody would deny it. so far the only person to deny it is the president. which makes you wonder, one, whether he even knows about it, or, two, what benefit he feels he's going to get with putin by pretending that it's not true. >> yeah. that is bewildering, isn't it? of course new poll numbers, this time from fox, the president's favorite. they don't look good, though, for president trump. showing him behind the top five democratic presidential candidates. how significant is that and can much be read into those numbers at this juncture? as you point out, it's early and after the 2016 polling errors, can we ever trust any of these polls? >> oh i think, you know, polls are difficult, particularly in a close race. and the last election was very close, and, of course, the polls nationally were pretty accurate.

state by state things were difficult. for trump to win again, you know, he starts off much better than he did last time. he still needs to run the table. it's a very difficult job for him. he still will need to win these so-called battleground states that are often traditionally democratic. you know, pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, blah, blah, blah. now, he won them all last time, sometimes very, very narrowly. to pull that off again is going to be difficult for minimuhim. but, again, it depends on who the democrats put up and it depends on his ability to counterattack. as we know, president trump is an extremely good politician. he has a very good antenna about other people's weaknesses and he plays on those very, very strongly, so i think there is a long way to go. i don't rule anything out, but certainly for the democrats these polls are encouraging, to be sure.

there is a path to victory if they can ever figure out who it is they want to carry the banner. >> yes. and so many to choose from. we shall see how that all pans out. stephen erlanger, thank you so much for your analysis. we always appreciate it. >> thanks, rosemary. well, the race for the next british prime minister takes a surprising turn. why there was an empty podium when the tories got together to debate. plus -- new infallible fresh wear foundation by l'oreal. get longwear coverage from our most lightweight, breathable formula. defies sweat and transfer. stays fresh. feels light. all day to night. new infallible fresh wear by l'oreal. don't just dream book your next vacation.. ♪ be a booker at booking.com

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, everyone. i'm rosemary church. want to update you now on the main stories we're following this hour. demonstrators in hong kong are vowing to keep the protests up until the government

withdraws a controversial extradition bill. organizers say 2 million people jammed the streets sunday while police estimated over 300,000 people. pro-democracy activist joshua wong was released from prison monday and immediately joined the protests. iranian state media reports in the coming hours officials will release significant information about plans to scale back commitments to the nuclear deal. back in may iran stopped complying with some commitments after the u.s. unilaterally with dr drewfrom the deal. the u.s. then levelled new sanctions against tehran. in sudan, prosecutors charged ex-president omar al-bashir with corruption on sunday. these latest charges include illegally possessing foreign currency and accepting gifts. in april he was overthrown after months of mass protests against his 30-year rule. well, the conservative

candidates vying to become the next british prime minister faced off for the first time in a televised debate, but there was one notable absence. former london mayor and front-runner boris johnson failed to show up. organizers left an empty podium on stage where he would have stood. the absence became an issue for the candidates. >> one of our lecterns stands empty and that's because boris johnson has declined to take part in this debate, but the invitation still stands. >> we've been talking about brexit for 25 minutes now and where is boris? if his team won't allow him out to debate with five pretty friendly colleagues, how is he going to fair with 27 european countries? he should be here to answer that very question. >> some interesting questions there. so joining us now from london is john rental. he is the chief political commentator at "the independent"

and a visiting professor at kings college. thank you very much for being with us. >> good morning. >> so why did boris johnson deny an opportunity to not only confront his rivals but explain himself and be part of this televised debate and will that work for him or against him do you think? >> well, because he's the front-runner, it's never in the front-runner's interest to take part in tv debates because the risk is all on the downside. and i think he just about got away with it. there were, as we saw, jeremy hunt had that sarcastic reference to his absence and other candidates addressed that empty lectern, but, you know, he got away with not being the big issue of the debate. the candidates did actually spend all their time proclaim their own virtues and explaining how they would solve brexit. and boris johnson is going to do it again this morning. he's not going to turn up to be grilled by westminster

journalists who have arranged their own on the record hostings and once again all five candidates will be there but not boris johnson. >> right. of course at the start of that televised debate of uk conservative candidates, the announcer drew attention to the empty lectern after boris johnson declined to take part in that debate, but the announcer insisted the invitation still stands and we now know that johnson will take part in a debate on tuesday. why is that debate more important to him than the others? >> because it's happening later, and therefore has less capacity to derail his campaign. i mean, as every hour passes, his grip on the -- on the contest grows tighter, more and more conservative mps are coming out declaring their support for him. we saw yesterday the health secretary who pulled out of the race over the weekend came out

in support of boris johnson as the next leader and prime minister. so by tuesday night it will be as good as all over. and the risks of taking part in a tv debate are much lower. it's completely cynical politics, but you can see why boris johnson's doing it. >> so your sense is that this is a fait accompli, that boris johnson has this in the bag from the sounds of it? >> pretty much. i mean, you can't get much moon of the bookies betting on boris johnson to win now. there is still a remote chance, of course. this is politics. anything can happen. but this is a very different boris johnson from three years ago when he stunned westminster and the world by pulling out of that contest at the actual launch of his campaign. he concluded it. he concluded his speech by saying he decided that the candidate could not be him. and that was because michael

goev, his ally, has withdrawn support for him and declareed as a candidate instead. >> what do the british voters think of this? they're really not going to get much of a say in this, but watching this, it is very opportunistic, isn't it? you've got boris johnson. he feels he's got this in the bag. he doesn't need to stand up before the people of britain and explain to them why he's chosen a no-deal brexit. he doesn't have to explain who he is. he feels he's already done that. the other possible candidates did get that opportunity, but how do british people feel about that? >> well, i mean, obviously i think, you know, there's a fairly divided opinion. people who don't like boris johnson to start off with think his behavior is contemptible and cowardly, but on the other hand, he is popular with many of the people who voted to leave the eu and they probably don't care too much whether he -- whether he

appears on a tv debate that they probably weren't going to watch anyway. they know what they think about boris johnson. he's a known quantity in british politics. >> all right. i guess we should see who ends up being prime minister. what is this, the third prime minister since 2016? right there. the numbers -- >> well, exactly. boris johnson, if he gets to be prime minister, he's going to face exactly the same problems as theresa may and he may not last very long. >> still the brexit challenges before him. we'll see what happens. john, thank you so much for your amaze. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. well, a major investigation by cnn revealed that overt anti-semitism is on the rise in europe. cnn's clarissa ward reports the problem is not getting any better in germany where lack of outcry is disturbing to those trying to fight it. ♪ >> reporter: on the streets of berlin, germans gather to support the country's jewish community. most of the marchers are not

jewish but some wear the kippa, a sign of protest against the country's growing anti-semitism problem. in 2018 the number of ant anti-semitic attacks in germany increased by 20%. last month the country's anti-semitism czar felix klein made headlines when he said it is not safe for jewish people to wear the kipa in certain areas. >> i wanted to have it as a wake-up call, that we should act as a society before it's too late. >> was it a shock to you to see a 20% increase in anti-semitic attacks last year? >> what shocked me more was that there wasn't a public debate about it immediately. there wasn't an outcry. how can that be? [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: last year cnn launched a major investigation into anti-semitism in europe. we found that 50% of germans

agree that jews are at risk of racist violence. then restaurant owner uri feinberg told us he gets harassed all the time. >> from murder to i'll break your arms, i'll break your teeth. they're very creative in everything, all the options that they want to break. >> reporter: seven months later he says the german government needs to do more. >> i fool that the process that the germans did since the second world war, they made a big progress, they fought against what was here before, and now all the good work is going backwards. >> these boll aards have been built to protect this synagogue from a potential terrorist attack, and this is now the reality of life for the jewish community here in germany. every single synagogue, every jewish school has to be protected by police 24 hours a day. anti-semitism here has many

sources. the far-right. the far-left. and elements of the muslim community. klein says it must be tackled from an early age. >> jew is once again an insult in german schools and this is absolutely unacceptable. and once again, the teachers and also parents, families have to be confronted with it and it has to be made clear that we do not accept any form of anti-semitism. >> reporter: no small task, but germany hopes that by having the conversation now it can prevent a crisis in the future. clarissa ward, cnn, berlin. a major blackout strikes south america leaving entire cities pitch-black. details on efforts to restore power when we come back.

facing international pressure, saudi arabia has apparently decided to spare a

condemned teenager. a source tells cnn that instead of execution 18-year-old has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. he was just 10 years old when he allegedly committed his first crime, riding on the back of his brother's motorbike when his brother threw a molotov cocktail at a police station. amnesty international's team in the arabian gulf says that it's relieved to learn the teenager will not be sentenced to death. the organization is calling for an end to the death penalty in saudi arabia. well, power is being restored to millions of people in south america after a massive blackout left several countries in total darkness. argentina says the lights are back on in its capital and uruguay says it's also restoring services. officials are still investigating the cause but don't expect a cyber attack at this point. cnn's amara walker has more.

>> reporter: street lights off. cars stopped in traffic. silence and confusion. this is the scene in argentina sunday after a massive power failure in the country's coastal grid. >> translator: at home you really can't see anything. i don't know where to go, really. i don't know. and i was worrireading that it' going to take hours to come back on. >> reporter: tens of millions of people were left in the dark for several hours. because the grid is attached to neighboring power lines in uruguay and paraguay. several hours after the failure, argentinian authorities are not able to identify the cause. >> translator: what we know is that at 7:07 a.m. a power failure hit the coastal system, a failure that occurs regularly. >> reporter: let alone a failure capable affecting cities past

argentina's borders. >> translator: what's abnormal and vorderbruggen a and should not happen is the chain of events that followed. >> reporter: labelled as unprecedented and announced a formal investigation to determine the causes. an initial report, however, might take up to ten days. meanwhile, social media users have taken to instagram and twitter to publish videos of their cities submerged in darkness while others complained about interruptions to their everyday lives. >> translator: we were just with my 84-year-old grandmother and we had to help her down the stairs because the elevator wasn't working. everything is closed and there's no movement in the street, but, oh well, you have to keep going. >> reporter: the power outage disrupted local elections being held in argentina, and according to twitter users, also ruined father's day celebrations across the countries. amara walker, cnn, atlanta.

extreme weather is threatening regions across america. we womill take a look at the worst-hit areas and see where the storms might strike next. our forecast after this short break. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. this is a commercial and i know you're thinking. i don't want to hear about insurance. 'cause let's be honest... nobody likes dealing with insurance. right? see, esurance knows it's expensive. i feel like i'm giving my money away. so they're making it affordable. thank you, dennis quaid.

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severe storms are moving across a number of areas in the united states. the u.s. national weather service confirms that at least four tornadoes touched down in the state of indiana. texas, the ohio river valley and the mid-atlantic region are also all under threat. so let's get more on this. we'll turn to our meteorologist pedram javaheri. all this extreme weather, pedram, is there any end in sight any time soon? >> yeah, the next couple of days, rosemary, we'll see the thunderstorm activity still in the forecast, but when it comes to severe weather count as far as tornadoes, of course, all of that going to diminish in the next couple of days. look at the threat across the united states just in the last 24 hours. thunderstorms spawning some 19,000 lightning strikes in a 24-hour period. you do the math, nearly 1,000 strikes every single hour from sunday to the early morning hours of monday and thunderstorms abound across

portions of san antonio, texas, on into houston. activity across the region. work your way farther to the north and east, eventually to the ohio valley and to the northeast here. some thunderstorms to be had into the morning hours. that's where we expect the severe weather concern to be prevalent going into monday afternoon. in fact, washington in line for the risk of severe weather. and then back towards the eastern portion there of colorado on into parts of nebraska and new mexico and also texas. some severe weather to be had as well. but take a look. finally going to see conditions quiet down. sunday only had two reports of tornadoes compared about to 16 on saturday. so the numbers gradually going to diminish. take a look. we know how active of a season it's been so far. in fact, the first six months of the year coming in with over 1,000 reports of tornadoes across the u.s. that is more than 30% above average for the year to date period, where 760 or so is what is average. the broader perspective shows us the forecast moving forward.

notice the concern for severe western in the eastern third of the country with portions of texas and oklahoma. that is on it. above average temperatures in place in parts of the western u.s. and thunderstorms will develop within the afternoon hours, of course, from louisville on into washington. look at some rain showers as well over this region, and some of the heaviest rain lined in around eastern portions of the northeast to parts of pennsylvania. heavy rainfall, as much as 1 to 2 inches into the forecast. the broader perspective brings heat right back into the picture across the central united states the next couple of days. of course we have tremendous heat in recent weeks. seeing a little bit of a cooldown, but notice in parts of texas, we climb down from the 80s to the middle 90s, which is above average for this time of year. rosemary? >> pedram, always good to get an update from you on all things weather. thank you. and we're going to leave you with a father's day greeting that couldn't be any cuter.

a little baby with a big name has been released on the official instagram account of the duke and duchess of sussex. look at that. the baby appears to be clutching prince harry's hand. the caption reads, "happy father's day and wishing a very special first father's day to the duke of sussex." gorgeous. and thank you so much for your company this hour. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back with another hour of news in just a moment. don't go anywhere. with so many nourishing shades, a color change is easy. nutrisse has 77. from our darkest blacks, to our lightest blondes. it nourishes while it colors. plus avocado, olive and shea. change a little, or a lot. nutrisse. nourished hair. better color. by garnier, naturally! with options like's new seanew power bowlsnch. starting at nine ninety nine. summer berry... ...or spicy dragon... ...topped with shrimp, salmon, and more! or try endless soup, salad and cheddar bay biscuits for eight ninety nine. it's lunch at red lobster. so hurry in! i got it! what? what? l.a.

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demonstrations shake up hong kong. protesters took to the streets for another day of massive rallies, all demanding the government get rid of a controversial extradition bill. plus, another step away from reconciliation. iran is expected to announce that it's scaling back even more of its commitments to the nuclear deal the u.s. scrapped. and as the former president of sudan faces corruption charges, the general who took over is vowing harsh punishments for whoever was behind the murders of more than 100 protesters. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers joining us in the united states and from all around the world. i'm rosemary church and this is "cnn newsroom."