hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. just ahead you are looking at your best shot at defeating the delta variant, literally. the covid came gaininger that's easier to catch and makes you sicker unless you have been

vaccinated. crime tape across america. another deadly weekend with at least nine more mass shootings. and we are live in ethiopia, a country mired in crisis and conflict but going to the polls at this hour for what the government calls its first free election. good to have you with us. the biden administration is pushing the president's goal of at least partially vaccinating 70% the adult population by july 4th. but so far, only 16 states and the district of columbia have met that objective. while the u.s. will likely miss that goal, former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb says they won't have a major impact. instead, the u.s. should start

thinking about the next phase of the vaccination evident. >> n-- effort. now we need to think about pushing to the vaccine where people could get it through a trusted intermediary, doctors's offices, schools, places of employment to get the people who are reluctant or face challenges getting to the access sites. as people start to plan to go back to work or back to school in the fall, they will be looking for vaccines. i think that's where we need to start to think about 2.0 delivery of the vaccine. let's compare china's effort to the united states. on saturday, china announced it administered more than 1 billion vaccine doses. you see on the left how it accelerated its vaccination pace after getting off to a slow start. in the u.s., the daily vaccination numbers are tapering off a bit. but the chart on the right puts those same numbers in a different context.

china still has a way to go when it comes to catching up to the u.s. and other countries in terms of vaccinations per capita. global health experts are worried about places where vaccine skepticism is high or access to the shots is lacking. the delta variant is spreading fast throughout those communities. as michael holmes reports, officials are scrambling to stapp it. >> reporter: aggressive and infection shows, that's the way moscow's mayor describes the coronavirus variant spreading through the city. health official in moscow reported more than 9,000 new covid-19 cases on friday, the highest daily figure for the city since the pandemic began. that from the city's mayor who says the delta variant first identified in india is responsible for nearly 90% of new infections. >> translator: the situation in moscow with the spread of covid-19 disease is rapidly

deteriorating, and the dynamics are quite unexpected since more than 60% the population have either been ill or vaccinated. >> reporter: the kremlin says vaccinations are critical to protect against variant spread but many russians are hesitant to get the vaccine. >> translator: we are afraid of getting sick. we did not get vaccinate because we are also afraid of that. >> reporter: the w.h.o. says moscow is just one of several places where the delta variant is thriving. and with so many people across the world still unvaccinated, there is plenty of opportunity for it to circulate even more. >> the delta variant is well on its way to becoming the dominant variant globally because of its significantly increased transmissibility. >> reporter: one w.h.o. official says africa is particularly vulnerable because of a lack of vaccines. the delta variant has been detected in at least 14 countries on the continent.

even countries that have had success with their vaccination programs have been inundated with new cases. over 46% of the population in uk is fully vaccinated. but covid-19 infections are increase willing, the delta variant fuelling the rise. a similar sprik in indonesia. authorities in one district giving live chickens as an incentive to older respects to get the shots. countries around the world trying everything they can to catch up this to fast-moving fires. michael holmes, cnn. joining me now is ann re manhattan, professor of epidemiology at ucla's fielding cycle of public health. always great to have you with us. >> nice to be here. >> all eyes are on this delta variant that originated in india. it now makes up about 96% of all new covid cases across the uk, about 10% of all new cases here

in the united states. how concerned are you that this delta variant will very soon dominate all u.s. infections? and how big a threat could that proven to be to those not yet vaccinated? >> it is very important to note that this delta variant is much more contagious than the original variant, the original strain, and the b.1.1.7, the uk variant. it could be up to 60% more contagious. meaning if you have the same interaction with somebody who has covid-19 you are that much more likely to get it than previous variants. so it is really important that everybody who is unvaccinated really do -- double down on their effort to make sure that they are protected, they are wearing a mask, they are social distancing and avoiding exposures where they can. if you are vaccinated, you are much less likely to get this

variant. but it is not a zero risk scenario. you can still become infected. it's just much less likely that you will end up hospitalized or dying. we should be concerned. it's threat. it is definitely important for people who are unvaccinated to take great precautions to avoid getting. because it is also bomb this particular variant could lead to more severe symptoms, hospitalization, and death, more easily than the earlier ones. >> important warning there. and president biden's goal is to get 70% of americans vaccinated by july 4th. how achievable is that given the pace of getting those jabs in arms is slowing? it has been slowing at least. and if that 70% goal is not met, what could that mean in terms of the delta variant and other variants? >> you know, there are two points here. the first one is, we've done an incredible job of getting

vaccines in arms across the united states but the problem s we are not at the rate that we need to be. it has slowed down significantly. we are only getting around 200,000 shots in arms right now per day. we need to be stepping up the pace. if we continue with the pace we are at right now, we are going to fall short. but we do need to continue on after the fourth of july. we still need to get those vaccines in arms because everybody that has not been vaccinated is at risk. so the bottom line is, we have done a good job. we still need to be doing more. and even though we are likely to fall short of this 70% goal, we can still continue to make that up going forward. >> that's good to hear. and the biden administration is now focused on donating millions of covid vaccines to poorer nations. but will this be enough to snuff out this latest variant?

and of course any others that may follow? >> what we just talked about, the fact that this variant is so much more contagious means we have got to get vaccines in arms not just here in the united states but globally. we know an infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere. unless we have high herds immunity globally we are mott going to get in front this virus. it is going to continue to mutate and it won't be just about the delta variant. we will have variants that continue to merge because this virus continues to mutate every time it spreads to another person. we really do need to do everything we can to get the vast majority of the world vaccinated. and the donations of vaccines is a great step, but it's not enough. we need a lot more vaccines out there quickly to be able to get ahead of this virus. >> does the u.s. need to focus more on the vulnerable populations in the poorer

nations rather than perhaps the younger kids here in the united states? >> it is a very important discussion to be having. there are a lot of people globally who are very vulnerable and they have no access to vaccines. africa only has a very small amount of vaccines and access to vaccines to get their populations vaccinated with a lot of vulnerable people. we have to decide what is our goal at this point? is it really to control the virus right here at home? or is it to stop the spread of the virus globally and to really protect those vulnerable people. it is an important discussion to have, and there is no simple answer because we just don't have enough vaccine. we have to remember, it's not just about getting that vaccine out there. it's -- into freezers globally. we need get those vaccines in arms. and that is going to be a very, very heavy lift. >> ann re manhattan, always a pleasure to chat with you. many thanks. >> my pleasure. at least 38 people connected to a fly from johannesburg to

the chinese of city of xinjiang have covid-19. the flight arrived on june 10th. xinjiang also found two locally transmitted cases on thursday. one of those was a vaccinated restaurant worker in the airport. more than 400 flights from the airport were canceled on monday. but officials won't confirm to cnn the cause of the mass cancellations. for more on this let's bring in streechb young live from beijing. what more are you learn being the canceled flights from xinjiang after dozens of coronavirus cases were identified? >> these flight cancellations are probably not entirely surprising given the dramatically falling demand for air travel in and out of xinjiang, especially after local authorities added a testing

requirement for all departing passengers. this latest culture should viewed as part of the wave that began about an month ago. the province has been seeing a surge. and that's why you see local authorities really taking a familiar page from their playbook in terms of multiple rounds of mass testing and a very strict and extensive contact tracing as well as targeted local lockdowns across the province. now when you look at the inside numbers of course they are still relatively low. single digit or low double digits in terms of new locally transmitted cases. in china they really have a stroh tolerance policy. they said almost all the new cases have been of the delta variant. and they are now vowing to remain very vigilant in terms of detecting and handling cases

involving international arrivals. but of course the other thing they have been doing sfo remind people to get vaccinated. but in airport worker contracted the virus despite being vaccinated. it is a challenging path forward for them as well. with just over a month to go until the tokyo olympics, organizers are facing more hurdles. on saturday, a coach with uganda's team became one of the first to test positive for covid upon arrival in japan. you began dan officials say the coach is not showing symptoms at this time. now, this comes as organizers are set to decide whether to allow spectators during the games, something experts have advised against. meantime, we are getting our first look at thea athletes

village. cnn's selena wang is in tokyo with a closer look. >> reporter: the olympic village a city within a city, built for the world's best athletes. for the tokyo games, thousands of olympians from more than 200 countries will be living here, prepare forth defining moment in their sorting careers. normally a place for partying and celebration, this year is going to be an anti-social sanitized bubble filled with covid testing and staying far apart from one another. at the village there is a cafe, bank, hair salon and much more. normally a police for athletes to mix and mingle. instead there are signs reminding them to wear their masks and practice social distancing. a protest is ongoing right behind me as they are debuting the olympic village to the president. there are 3,800 rooms in these 21 buildings to house the

athletes. this is a replica of a athlete's room. athletes have to share the room which some public health experts say increases the risk of spreading covid. the olympians will be sleeping on beds made out of card word, recyclable, but don't worry, they are extremely sturdy. athletes are contact traced and tested for covid every day. if they test positive for covid they have to come to this fever clinic to get tested again f. that covid test comes back yet again they have to take dedicated transport to a facility outside the village and then they lose their chance to compete. they are only using two thirds of the kpats here at the dining haul. athletes are being asked to eat alone, spreaded by plastic barriers and they have to wipe their seats immediately when they are done. athletes can only arrive five

days before their competition and have to leave within two. condoms will still be passed out, per tradition, but they will only be given as athletes are leaving the village. it cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build all of this. after the fames they will be turned into residential apartments. before that, this is going to house athletes for an olympics like no other. selena wang, cnn, tokyo. to italy now, more signs of progress in the battle against covid-19. starting to the today all but one of italy's regions can drop most of their coronavirus restrictions. they are now designated as white zones since cases are falling and the areas are low risk. for more on this, let's bring in nina dos santos, joining us live from london. what more are you learn being the easing of covid restrictions across most of italy? >> hi, rosemary, this is an important move for a country that across europe has been so

badly effected by the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic, particularly northern it l italy. i should point out that even if most of the covid restrictions are going to be lifted across most of the city with the essential of the northwestern region which borders and france and switzerland there will still be some semblances of what we consider normal now in many parts of the world. that means mask wearing outdoors and social distancing. big gatherings and parties are still off limits in most of the country. this is coming at an important time because remember italy is a major tourist destination for summer travelers from all over the world. parts of europe, italian, domestic tourism is big particularly in july and august. and travelers from the united states. as we now know, europe is

starting to welcome travelers from the united states soon and open its doors as more and more of its citizens are becoming vaccinated. there is one cav yacht, that is the fact that british tourists will have to quarantine if they go to italy, this is because authorities are becoming so concerned about the prospects of the delta variant which has gotten a foot fold in the uk getting ahold in italy. case lotus, 16 per 100,000. and falling fast. coming up here on "cnn newsroom," america's gun violence epidemic is nearing an alarming milestone. the latest on another weekend surge in shootings. that's next. (vo) i am living with cll

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the epidemic of gun violence in america is getting harder to ignore. the country is rapidly approaching 300 mass shootings this year. with at least nine this weekend alone. they happened across nine states, killed six people, and wounded more than 40 others. that is according to data compiled lie cnn and the gun

violence eye kiv n. philadelphia, two men were killed, and a toddler was shot multiple times. the 3-year-old survived but lost a father on father's day. in oakland, california arc juneteenth celebration ended with a 22-year-old man dead and six others injured as gunfire erupted. two men are under arrest. in colorado two separate shootings less than a mile from each other left five people injured. one of the shootings was at a carnival near a mall. and in chicago there were more than 20 incidents of gun-related vie hence in a single night. three people are dead, the youngest just 20 years old. evan mcmorris santoro has more on this latest speight of shootings. >> reporter: another weekend in america where gun violence erupted across the country. >> south side -- another shot was just fired. >> he's down, he's down, he's

down. >> reporter: this is becoming the sound of the summer in america, after another weekend torn apart by gun violence. incidents from oakland, to chicago, to minneapolis. just this weekend, more than 340 people killed in gun violence so far, according to the gun violence archive. disturbingly, children continue to be caught in the crossfire n. dallas, a gunfight between partygoers, leaving eight people injured, including a 10-year-old and a 15-year-old. in detroit thursday police still investigating a shooting that killed a 2-year-old, one of two unconnected gun violence incidents according to police on freeways in the michigan city also week. >> i don't wish this on my worst enemy. >> reporter: some victims know their shooter. some are in the wrong place at the wrong time. mass shootings, which cnn defines as incidents where four or more people are shot, excludeing the shooter are

nearing 300 so far this year according to the gun violence arc archive. that's about 65% higher than this time in 2019 ♪ >> reporter: some gun reform advocates are discouraged by what they feel is a lack of action at the federal level in the wake of this uptick in violence. >> the fact that we have not seen very much substantial gun reform from the biden administration which is especially disappointing considering the fact that joe and kamala both campaigned on this. you know, people are very fwrus straighted. >> reporter: the face of gun violence in america shows no sign of slowing down. and the summer is just getting underway. there hasn't been much summer yet. authorities worry that as the season goes on, the pace of gun violence in this country will continue. evan mcmorris santoro, cnn, new york. and yet another shooting is under investigation in houston, texas.

an off-duty deputy's wife and his -year-old stepdaughter were shot early sunday after a gunman stormed into their home and opened fire. the woman was shot in the leg, and the child in the arm. but both are in stable condition. >> don't know anything what's the motive of this, we don't know if it was targeted or what. all we know is he forced entry. >> authorities say the deputy exchanged gunfire with the 79 is, who is still at large. and still to come, joe biden's notice of push. the president looks to make progress on his big ticket proposal, but there is a tug-of-war on capitol hill over how much to spend. and the horrific outcome of a multivehicle accident in alabama. federal investigators are on the scene. ght. it comes from within. it drives you. and it guides you. to shine your brightest.

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welcome back, everyone. as negotiations over joe biden's big ticket infrastructure proposals ramp up, independent senators bernie sanders says america should be spending more. sanders has proposed a $6 trillion plan. even some democrats are worried about high cost of his proposal. sanders told cnn's dana bash, the spending needs to address the tough times that american families are facing. >> i sometimes think we get dogged down in numbers, and that's important. but we have got to look at what the needs are of the american people, what's going on right now. what is going on right now. all that the president is doing, all i am doing is taking a look at reality for working families,

understand their needs have been ignored for decades. now it is time to create good-ing paying jobs, millions of good-paying jobs addressing health care, housing, infrastructure. >> joining me yow is jessica levenson, professor of law at loyola law school, and host the passing judgment podcast. great to have you with us. >> great to be back. >> so fresh off his summit with russia's president putin, the u.s. president is now working on his infrastructure bill, and trying to get some sort of compromise with republicans. now likely is it that this can be done, and done soon? >> well, i think that is the big question here. and i think the answer is how much president biden is willing to compromise. so we've gotten over the initial thresholds now of covid relief. we passed covid relief. we rolled out the vaccines. and there has been a lot of success in that, meaning the kind of big emergencies.

we are starting to pass thresholds. the next big thing is infrastructure. and president biden has said, it's not just roads, it's not just freeways and bridges, it's a greater type of technological infrastructure. and he wants a lot of money. and the republicans don't want to give that to him. so one of the big questions will be, when it comes back and he looks at the offers on the table, how much is he willing to give? does he want to give a lot to get something? or is he going to try to take his political capital for a spin? he's probably not going to ever be in a better position than he is in right now and see how hard he can try and push his republican colleagues. >> then of course there is the issue of voting reform, because republican senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has made it clear that all republicans

will oppose average innin's compromises on this issue. what happens now, with that issue? >> i think nothing. and this is so important for people to understand about american politics. custom is i think it seems so strange to people. there is a democrat in the white house, democrats control the senate by a slim margin but they control it. democrats control the house. one of the big things on the agenda for democrats is voting reform is creating this floor of protection when it comes to going to the ballot box or sending in your ballot. and they can't pass it because of the filibuster, because you need a super majority in the senate to pass essentially anything other than budgetary issues. and this shows so starkly that democrats can control everything, but if not by enough, then something as fundamental as voting reform will fail. i don't think that we are going to see national reform in this

area, to the huge disappointment of many democrats. >> and there is really this sense that the republicans don't want to work the democrats. is that fair? >> i think that is fair. if you listen to what senator mitch mcconnell has said, he still is, i think in so many ways, the leader of the republican party. if you not just listen to him, but if you look at his actions, again, when it comes to infrastructure, when it comes to what he said about the judiciary, when it comes to voting rights -- really, basic, fundamental things, like let's make sure that people if they want to can go to the polls and validly cast a ballot. or let's make sure so much of our nation's crumbling infrastructure is actually funded. he has said no, and that it is a priority for him to say no. he's not working with his old colleague the way his colleague

wished he would have. >> and january 6th. what impact could all these efforts have on democracy in this country? how concerned should we all be about about thaun. well, not a good one. when the former president is saying over and over again, and members of his party are supporting and or believing and or telling their 20s, there is something about the last election that you simply can't trust, that's hugely detrimental to democracy. if people can't trust the most fundamental therng, which is that their elections are fair and free of fraud, then how can they trust everything else that flows from those elections? how can they trust our representative democracy? so it is going to be a big challenge to restore faith in the government. if you listen to president biden in so many of his different

speeches yes he's talking about a substantive area but almost always the theme is let's restore trust in government. that's going to be the big question going forward for all of us. and we are going to have a bit of an answer when we see turnout in the midterms and reaction to midterm elections. >> jessica levenson, always great to talk with you. many thanks. >> thank you. the united states and russia are taking another small step aimed at improving relations between the two countries. the russian ambassador has returned to washington, and the u.s. ambassador is expected to be back in moscow in the coming days. presidents biden and putin agreed to send both ambassadors back to their post during their meeting last week but their effort to thaw frosty relations could face an early test. the biden administration is preparing to hit russia with more sanctions over the poisoning of imprisoned

opposition leader alexi navalny. arlette saenz has the details. the white house is preparing fresh sanctions against russia as it looks to take a stronger response to the country this the wake of the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition leader navalny. this would be the second rounds of sanction has the u.s. has imposed. back in march, the u.s. and european union worked to together on that first wave of sanctions against russia. and the white house national security adviser jake sullivan previewed a bit of the thinking behind this next upcoming wave of sanctions. take a listen. >> we are preparing another package of sanctions to apply in this case as well. we have shown all along the way we are not going to pull our punches, whether it is on solar winds, or election interference or navalny. >> reporter: this comes just days after president biden sat down face to face with russia's president, vladimir putin, and he warned there would be dire

consequences for russia if navalny were to die while in prison. now, there is no time line for when this next wave of sanctions will actually take place but the president is facing pressure even from democratic lawmakers to act soon. arlette saenz, cnn, the white house. russian authorities have charged a suspect with the murder of an american student. 34-year-old catherine saroo went missing last week. her body was found on saturday. court documents allege the suspect picked up the former marine in his car on tuesday and killed her an hour later. she was studying at a state university east of moscow and had hoped to become an immigration lawyer, according to her mother. a multivehicle accident in alabama has taken a devastating toll. nine children, and one adult were killed when a van collided with a sport utility vehicle. officials are investigating the

cause, but there was heavy rain in the area as severe weather moved through. martin savidge has the story but we must warn you, some may find this report disturbing. >> reporter: four of the victims who died in saturday's crash attended the high school here. federal investigators now are going to begin sifting through the scene trying to determine exactly what caused this. this tragedy is a horrific on a number of different levels, not just the number of lives lost, ten. also the fact that nine of the ten were children between the aims of 9 months and 17, and many of those children had already gone through difficulty in their lives to kai tragically. this incident happened mid afternoon on i-65 in the north bound lane south of mont month. it was a multivehicle crash. the images convey how horrible the scene was.

at least 15 vehicles were involved dug sem i tractor trailer trucks. and there was a horrible fire. there was a van that had nine people. in eight of the people in van, all children dyed. the one person pulled from the van bypassers by, the heroes here, was the ranch director. she have pulled from that van. she lost two of her own children in that crash. there were two other victims, a father and daughter aged 29 and 9 months who died in other vehicle. weather is being looked at as a potential cause. there was very bad weather at the time. the man who is the ceo at the girl's ranch, oversees it, says they are devastated. >> we lost eight young people that can make a difference in our world. we lost eight young people that didn't have a chance to have

their own children. we lost eight young people that can't break the cycle of where they have been and change it for their children. we had two vans of children coming back from the beach, and also a chase car. but they were several miles apart. and the first van was one that had the accident. we had -- we had nine people in that van. we had eight fatalities, and one survivor in that van yesterday. and that's the tragedy that we are faced with. >> reporter: the children, many of them who died in that van, had already been taken by the state into their custody from homes where parents had been caught up in drug addiction or the children themselves had been abused. now this organization, which is primarily run through donations finds itself having to plan for eight funerals. it will be a very difficult week of brief. martin savidge, cnn, camp hill, alabama. and as martin just reported,

that fatal crash may have been triggered by slick roads after then tropical storm claudette battered alabama on saturday. right now, that storm system is a tropical depression, and is lashing north carolina. flash flooding will be a primary threat in the hours to come. let's bring in cnn meter yol c gist -- cnn's meteorologist. >> it has seem left. once it moves back over the open waters it is very close to the carolina coastline at this hour. we will touch on that momentarily. but how about this. upwards of a foot of rainfall coming down in 48 hours across portions of the gulf coast. it leads to flash flooding. gusty winds to be had across the area as well. here's what is left of tropical depression claudette. again, just near the coastline

there of the carolina region. we could expect it to tap into warm waters and reenergize back into a tropical storm. but the steering environment should pick it up quickly and want to move it offshore. you will notice, while it does this, still a storm surge threat hatteras, the outer banks region. as high as three feet, enough to cause damage for the immediate coastal communities. there is claudette, it is moving a away. summer just arrived at 11:32 p.m. eastern time. it is the longest say. and the summer solstice. over 115 degrees for the sixth straight day in the valley of the sun, in phoenix, that's

never happened even though is city is known for tremendous heat. death valley, 110, 120 across some of the regions. we expect another rounds of heat building in across the northwestern u.s. toward the latter portion of this week. >> thank you for keeping an eye on all of that. come up here on "cnn newsroom," voting is under way in ito i don't knowia. the government's said it is their first free and fair election. with some areas ravaged by war, many skeptics have their doubts. d isn't real milk is also saying mabel here isn't a real cow. and she really hates that.

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>> he here is the scene in ethiopia. voting is under way in what the government calls the country's first free and fair election after decades of repressive rule. but many are skeptical due to ito i don't knowia's economic disparity and the gone going

war. some major parties are boycotting the election over alleged intimidation by security forces. over a fifth of constituencies say they are delaying voting for various reasons. a second round of voting will take place in september. let's bring in larry, who joins us live from the area. it is still early, of course, but how is ethiopia's voting progressing so far? what are the expectations here? >> the voting appears to be going well. there are people in the line behind me who have been here a few hours and they will be here as long as it takes. 20% of constituents are not participating. it is still an imperfect process that many people tell us is better than nothing, the necessary steps to achieving full democratic principles in this country that has had so much conflict, vie lens, and ethnic division.

obviously, you can -- expect this to be a reasonably credible election. listen. >> organizing the election was a necessary step to have an elected government in a credible process. and we have a credible elections commission to lead the process and there is a credible competitive space for elections. this was a necessary step toward these longer term solutions for ethiopia. >> reporter: there is some criticism of the election taking place as well. some say that by voting in this election they are accusing people of endorsing what they are calling the tiger eid genocide and civil war in the north of the country. i don't have all, the electoral commission seems to be much more credibility than at any other time as ethiopia ever had.

and the outcome of this -- it is likely -- even though there are concerns whether this is the perfect way to deliver the legitimacy that he needs. >> chks that, larry. keep a close eye on election there is in ethiopia. we will of course to the same. many thanks, larry. and we'll be right back. not touching is still touching protection. adding lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of bacteria. detergent alone, can't. lysol. what it takes to protect.

well, for prince harry's first father's day two years ago, his wife meghan gave him a bench inscribed with a poe m. now that gift inspired a children's book written by the duchess of success section. in ar interview with national public radio which aired on father's day here in the u.s., she said her story helps others relate. >> reporter: the book was inspired by prince harry and son archie and feature as diverse range of fathers and son. the duchess told npr it is about repres representation. >> i remember how much it hurt to not see yourself represented

or see our family or diversity or a mixed race relationship. any child or any family hopefully can open this book and see themselves in it. whether that means glasses or freckled or body shape or a different ethnicity or religion to really just feel like this story that i wrote for my husband and son can be your story also. >> reporter: the bookie merged from poem meghan rote for harry for his first father's day. the duchess told npr you can find sweet moments i tucked in there, the interview was reported before the couple had their daughter lilibet and they are still away on parental

leave. john ram won the u.s. open in san diego. it's the first time a golfer from spain has ever won the tournament. rahm produced an epic finish with birdies on his last two holes finishing 6 under par. he spoke to our don riddell about the significance of the win on father's day. >> at that moment, whatever was going on around me just disappears. you know, he's the priority. and her. and what i have done and what i do in the future absolutely wasn't matter compared to how much love i have for them and what they mean to me. that's what i keep telling her. no matter what i accomplish in life, no matter what happens around us, this afternoon he is still the most important thing around me. >> this comes just two weeks after he was forced to withdraw from a tournament because of a positive covid test. that does it for "cnn newsroom," i'll be back with more news in

just a moment.

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hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and around the world. i'm rosemary church. ahead on "cnn "newsroom."" more transmissble and worrying. the world grapples with the de delt delta variant of the coronavirus. the tropical system that boent let up. claudeette is dropping rain and spa spawning tornadoes across the southeast. and live in ethiopia. going to have polls