it has all the same nutritious deliciousness as the original slice but only a little bit smaller. just like timmy here. my name's lucas. as new cases of the delta variant spike across the u.s., concern is growing about parts of the country where the vaccination rates are extremely low. in just a few hours, the billionaire race to space blasts off as richard branson prepares to fly on his space plane into suborbit just days before jeff bezos takes flight. and it's a historic win for one of soccer's top stars as lionel messi leads his home country argentina to the copa america title. welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world.

i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom. " the u.s. is experiencing a surge of new coronavirus cases and it's posing a danger to unvaccinated americans. for the first time since may, the country has recorded 20,000 new cases for several days in a row. health experts fear cases may keep trending higher, because fewer than half of americans are fully vaccinated. the biggest clusters of unvaccinated people in the u.s. are in the southwest and midwest. los angeles county is jumping 165% over the past week. dr. stephen peroti joins me from san francisco. he is the associate executive director with the permanente medical group at kaiser

permanente. thank you so much for joining us, doctor. we're seeing the rise of the delta variant, mostly in the south and places like missouri, where the investigation rate is extremely low, but also in california where it's now the dominant variant, probably the best example is l.a. county. it's reported the highest number of cases in months now. in fairness, it's still way lower than what we saw during the peak. but i guess it's the rate at which it's increasing that is worrying experts. so the many hospitals that you help manage that treat millions of patients across the state. so you get a great overview of what's happening. what are you seeing? >> well, you know, it's really clear that the delta variant is much more transmissible than before. we were talk it as an abstraction about a month ago. and now it's become the predominant strain in the united states, and it's quickly going to be that in california as well. in california i can say that because we've got higher vaccination rates, while we've seen increases in

hospitalizations, we're at really 10 to 15% of where we were at the peak back in january. that's different and in contrast to other parts of the country where we're seeing particularly in missouri, as you called out, running out of hospital beds or running out of ventilators. so the key message here when it comes to the delta variant is that if you're unvaccinated, you're at high risk for getting infected and getting hospitalized and potentially dying from it. if you're vaccinated, you are seeing lack of illness, and lack of hospitalization. in fact, 99% of the hospitalizations that are occurring right now in our kaiser permanente system are in people that are unvaccinated. >> yeah, that's a very important point to make. and i think that 99%, we're seeing that practically across the country. but if it weren't enough, the delta variant, now in california the epsilon strain to worry about, which seems to make the

vaccines dramatically less effective. so as an infectious disease specialist yourself, what can you tell us about that? >> well, you know, so this virus is doing what viruses do. if they're allowed to circulate around, they form new mutations. so the epsilon variant is yet another version of that. fortunately, even with the early studies, and we know that the epsilon variant has been around in california since may, it has not become the predominant strain. and neutralizing antibodies are still made even with the vaccines. solve my key message here is that the way to get this under control is to get vaccinated. and even if there are fewer antibodies made, you still have protection with the currently available vaccines that we have. >> yeah, i mean, getting vaccinated is the key. there have been sort of different ways to sort of reach those people who haven't been vaccinated.

some say going door to door to encourage people to get vaccinated. other people are suggesting that getting the vaccines fully approved by the fda would help. what do you think would make the most difference? >> i think what i've been finding is that it's literally making those personal connections. at this point, everyone's heard the messaging, and it's really reaching people where they are. so it's either getting the vaccine into the community directly where people have transportation issues still and/or the ability to access health care. but more importantly, when it comes to the hesitant population, it's actually listening to their stories. and understanding where they're at. >> but before we go, i don't have much time, but i didn't want to get your input on this, because this has been a big story this week. the confusion over the boosters. we heard pfizer's co announce

its vaccine loses efficacy over time, so we'll definitely need the booster. cdc and fda came out quickly and said no need for a booster there has been a lot of confusion created in the public already confused about mixed messages over covid. so what's your -- do you have any fears here that this might sort of undermine public confidence in the shots? >> my take on this is that the boosters are something that is really going to be something we're using later on. and when there is a true vaccine variant escapes. right now we've got vaccines that are effective. the durability of the vaccinations are up to a year, and perhaps even longer. so right now our focus needs to be on getting people who haven't gotten vaccinated, vaccinated, and when we get that emergency use authorization for those children, the 6-month-old to 11-year-olds, especially since they're going become to school, getting them vaccinated, that's really the order of the day. >> absolutely. all right. that is all the time we have.

i really appreciate having you on, dr. steven parodi, thank you so much for being with us is. >> thank you so much. questions about the pandemic are looming large over u.s. schools as they prepare to reopen later this year. on friday, the cdc released new guidelines, calling on schools to prioritize in-person learning. while they're urging everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated, decisions about a vaccine mandate should be left up to local officials. the president of new hampshire's largest teachers union says that's the right call. >> a mandate i think, and we believe is going just a little bit too far. new hampshire right now has about 60% of its adult population vaccinated, and about 65% have at least one dose. if you put the vaccines back with the other mitigation procedures that we've been recommending and advocating for all along, hand washing, proper ventilation, max wearing for those unvaccinated, at this point we really don't feel that

a mandate is actually in the best interest of new hampshire, educators or parents right now for them to choose. >> also encouraging schools to layer their safety precautions. that means social distancing and masks will likely still be a priority in many districts. dr. lena wynn says vaccines are the most effective way to make sure schools can reopen safely. here she is. >> i think it's important for us to take a step back and talk about why it is that we get investigations in the first place, because i think somehow there has been this understanding that vaccination is just about you. and yes, it's true. vaccination of course protects the individual very well against getting covid-19 and getting ill. >> but we also get vaccinated to protect people around us, because we know there is a risk of breakthrough infections. even if you're vaccinated, you could still get infected. the safest thing is for everyone around you, even if you have

vaccinated, to also be vaccinated as well. russia just reported an all-time high in deaths, 752 on saturday. the number of infection-related deaths have been steadily climbing. the total stands at is 42,000. russia reported more than 25,000 new cases. the questions europeans are having to deal with now are whether and how to reopen. covid-19 cases are picking up again, and the last thing the continent wants right now is another outbreak. cyril vanier is in london for us. >> reporter: a rise in coronavirus infections fueled by the highly contagious delta variant is forcing european countries to face uncomfortable choices as they open up. the netherlands u-turned on saturday, reimposing restrictions on nightclubs two weeks after society mostly reopen. clubs shut down again as the

government found that night life was driving the infections. and one of the dutch closed their nightclubs. the french just opened theirs on friday. virtually all restrictions have now been lifted in france, but the president is expected to address the nation on monday, and with infections starting to creep back up, the french press is speculating that new measures could be on the table. eu countries are racing to immunize their population. 44% of adults in the european union are fully vaccinated. and good news. the eu is no longer experiencing delivery shortfalls. the european union has now supplied member states with enough doses to fully immunize 70% of the adult population. so now it's all about getting shots into arms as fast as possible. cyril vanier, cnn, london. richard branson is getting good luck wishes from his rival ahead of his space flight in a few hours. jeff bezos posted this message on instagram wishing branson and

his team a safe and successful flight. branson's mission starts in a bit more than five hours from now. the billionaire will take off in a space plane built by his company, virgin galactic. if he is successful, branson will beat bezos, who plans to soar into space in his blue origin rocket by nine days. cnn's rachel crane talked to the soon to be space traveler about his out-of-this-world event and the risk involved. >> reporter: the countdown is on. and in just hours, entrepreneur richard branson hopes to become the first person to ride a self-funded rocket into suborbital space. >> astronaut 001 richard branson. >> reporter: a launch nearly two decades in the making. tell me, how do you feel? >> well, i've managed to avoid getting excited for 17 years since we started building spaceships and mother ships and motherboards and all these

things. and i finally got the call from a chief engineer saying every single box had been checked on the safety aspect, and that i was -- would i like to go to space? and i hit the roof, i was so excited. >> reporter: the virgin galactic plane is set to take off sunday from new mexico. the mother ship will release the spaceship at around 40,000 feet. the rocket will ignite and take branson, two pilots and three others on a 2400 miles per hour ride more than 50 miles up to touch the inner edge of space as defined by the u.s. military and nasa. the crew will experience a few minutes of weightlessness before gliding back to earth. >> when you're up there, the spaceship will turn over and these enormous windows look back. >> reporter: if successful, the space baron will edge out fellow billionaire and world's richest man jeff bezos, who is set to ride his own company's rocket into space in the coming days.

the two men have jockeyed for the astronomical bragging rights that come with being first. branson has insisted there is no space race with bezos, and that the missions are different. >> the kind of experience you're going get with the two companies are almost as different as chalk and cheese. so we don't see ourselves as a direct competitor. >> two, one. >> while bezos' flight will be after branson's, his rocket system new shepherd will go higher, past the karman line, which is the altitude internationally recognized to be the demarcation space. his company taking a shot at branson's trip, tweeting, quote, their rocket was designed to fly above the karman line. so none of our astronauts have an asterisk next to their name. >> if you fly 50 miles or 62 miles, you're in space. you're not going notice the difference between the two miles. they touch space and come right back down.

>> reporter: both space companies have had successful suborbital flights. but the space travel comes inherent risk. in 2014, a copilot for virgin galactic was killed during a test flight of their previous model aircraft. >> i like to say you can do things safely, if you know the controls you have in place and verify they can active. i don't think the risk of this flight is high. it's not zero. >> liftoff! >> joining me now is david living on the, the founder of the space show, a radio internet broadcast with issues influencing the development of outer space commerce and space tourism, and he is also a guest lecturer on commercial space. thank you so much for joining us here. there is not much knew in terms of the flight's destination. but in terms of the vehicle itself and the engineering, what makes this interesting to you.

? >> thanks for this opportunity. it's interesting because this is privately funded. this is a private business. and it's commercial. it's designed to generate revenue, to fly multiple times, hopefully multiple times in one day, weather permitting. yes, the destination is straight up. and then back down. but this is all commercially done. this is not a government money, government technology, although it's built on what the government did in the past. and the people that are going up are private citizens, just ordinary people that want to fly to space. so it's opening some new doors. it's beginning of what is potentially going to be a very big industry hopefully in the not too distant future as prices come down, and a long time

coming. branson's been working on this since the x prize almost 17 years ago. >> one giant step for space tourism. i want to play something that neil degrasse said speaking to our jim acosta. >> launching from new mexico, space port, okay. that word feels a little weird. but is it any weirder than the first people who heard the word airport? just think about that. spaceport. airport. it could be as routine as what time does the train leave, what time buzz the plane leaf, what time does your rocket leave in the future? >> he is talking about how this is helping to launch a whole new industry. i know you're a huge supporter of commercial space travel. what are the advantages that space tourism and commercial space travel might bring? >> there -- it's opening doors to innovation and technology and

to all sorts of different opportunities, space manufacturing resource usage, things that can really make life different here on earth and better for people, not just countries that have a space sport located in it. more -- more people to go to space, more opportunity we have for creative innovation for success for problem solving, for things back here on earth. that were very limited when all we had were space shuttle flights and government astronaut flights. >> but then on the other hand, i want to maybe a more cynical take from one of our writers, zachary will this doesn't have any patriotic energy of the space race that led to the moon landing. he wrote this year's race between the billionaires

features none of that national pride. it's tax averse tycoons who want to sell tickets to rich people interested in experiencing weightlessness. i know you've said elon musk, the founder of spacex has single-handedly saved the space industry. isn't there a chance something is lost here when practically the whole industry is in the hands of the mega rich, and it isn't truly a national effort as it was this the past? >> well, i would absolutely disagree with all of that, and also, i think the comparisons are really erroneous. we went to the moon as a trouflt cold war. does your author of that statement want to have us relive the cold war now, maybe with china? does he want us to do duck and cover drills again in school like i had to do when i was an elementary school kid. we're going to space now for what space can do for humanity. and the price -- the government can't do this.

it is not possible for the government. it's not part of nasa's mission. but the private sector can do this. and it starts with the private sector where missouri money, elon musk, bezos, branson and other people, they're kicking it off. it's not just about their being able to sell tickets and make money. it's about the innovation that's going to come out of this, about being able to find new ways to do things. this is all very different from government astronauts. we did have some great things on the shuttle that help medically, and other things. but now we can do this with the private sector routinely. we're not limited to just maybe once every once in a while for millions and millions of dollars. it's changing. is there national pride? i think there should be. these billionaires, they've been created with the help of our governments and the opportunities that democracies

afford to people. i think to not have pride in it and for us to not have a little piece of what branson and bezos and elon musk are doing is unfortunate. i really think that this is even deal with if not better because darn it, we're not doing it because we're in a cold war, and we're scared to death we're going to nuke each other off the planet. that's not what this is all about. >> well, listen, we'll have to leave there it. it's very exciting. we will be following along later today. thank you so much, david livingston, he really appreciat. >> thank you. all right. still ahead, haiti is on edge with the motive and masterminds behind the president's assassination still unknown. we'll have the latest from the nation's capital coming up. plus, the taliban's tightening grip on afghanistan. the key highway the militants say they've cut off. we'll show you that ahead. stay with us.

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the special unit of colombian police are now in haiti to help authorities with the investigation. at least 28 people are suspected in the killing. 26 are colombian nationals. meanwhile, confusion over who exactly is running the country has grown since wednesday's assassination. cnn's matt rivers has more from the haitian capital. >> reporter: well, the manhunt here in haiti continues in earnest for the remaining suspects in the assassination of haiti's president, with haitian authorities not really having updated their official numbers in a little while now. 20 suspects have done detained. three have been killed officially, and five remain on the loose at this time. we know that there is 28 suspects in all, 26 of which are colombian nationals, two of which are haitian americans. but that's about all the information that we really have from haitian authorities that's very solid. what we dent have is a motive. why did not 34 nationals come as

haitian authorities say they do. who financed them? who armed them? how long have they been in the country. ? in the absence of official information, there is a lot of theories floating around the asian public about why and how this was allowed to take place. meanwhile, the political instability continues. it was friday night that haiti's senate elected the president to serve as the interim president of haiti overall. the swearing in ceremony was supposed to take place some time during the day on saturday. that doesn't happen. it was on the evening that the president tweeted out that the swearing in ceremony had been postponed without really elaborating as to why that is. had that happened, other political actions all around the country would have expressly recognized that fact. it just goes to show how

unstable right now the political climate is here in haiti. this is place that political unrest, it's not something that hasn't happened for a long time. there are a lot of protests over politics that happen in this country. some of them do turn violent. that hasn't happened yet, but we're going watch how this plays out over the coming days and weeks. matt rivers, cnn, haiti. aid groups are also sounding the alarm. unicef estimates about one-third of haitian children are in urgent need of emergency aid, including medicine, food and clean water. the rising violence is only compounding that process, making it harder for aid groups to provide assistance. this comes as covid-19 is spiking in haiti, that is one of the few countries that has yet to start vaccinating residents. in afghanistan, another link to the outside world may have fall tony the taliban. the militants say they have cut off a key highway to pakistan as

they lay siege to kandahar. anna coren reports. >> reporter: the dallas is continuing its offensive across afghanistan, targeting strategic road and border links as an embattled afghan security forces zpl tries to hold ground. the militants claim to cut the highway between kandahar and the border with pakistan, saying all of the outposts have been overreturn. they also claim to have the city of kandahar, the birthplace of the taliban under siege. in recent days, the taliban has taken control of one of the country's main trading gateways. the dry port of islam color with millions of dollars worth of fuel and supplies cross every day. customs officials also confirm the militants took control of a border crossing with turkm turkmenistan. the afghan force said its force

had killed almost two members in 24 hours. they'll continue ground offensives and air strikes to recapture lost territory. as the fighting rages, the u.s. special representative for afghanistan reconciliation, the ambassador is still campaigning for peace talks. he is traveling to qatar, pakistan and uzbekistan to meet with regional stakeholders in an advance to advance the stalled peace talks. many are con convinced the taliban is not interested in sharing place or power. soccer passions are reaching a fever hitch ahead of the euro 2020 finals. still ahead, england and italy go head to head in a crash of the titans at behmly. plus, lionel midwest messi wins with argentina. we'll have the thrilling results of brazil against argentina. stay with us. neuriva plus fuelsy indicators of brain performance.

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welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada, and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber, this is "cnn newsroom." well, there is no mistaking the expectations at 10 downing street as england prepares to face italy in the euro 2020 finals. boris johnson showed off the english flag on saturday at his suitably decorated official residence. he and queen elizabeth also sent letters of support to the squad. for england, it's not just because the title is on the line. don riddell reports. >> a tournament delayed by a year and played by 24 teams

across 11 different countries will finally be settled on sunday night when england play italy at wembley stadium in london. these are two countries who are both craving success after the emotional pain of covid and lockdown. on the field, both have l have something to prove. this will be a tenth for italy. they've won the world cup no less than four times. however, by their own standards, italy have kind of been in the wild wilderness. they failed to qualify for the 2018 world cup but haven't lost a game in the three years since. >> translator: we'll need both attributes tomorrow because you can't survive a final at wembley against england without a warm heart. nor can you do it without a cool head there will come times when we need to be a little more daring, when we need to go for it. and there will also be times when we need to be more cooler and try to keep the situation

under control. >> england have ridden a wave of euphoria to the final playing fife of their six games in london to reach their first major final since 1966. that was the year they won the world cup. their only trophy to date, and their fans dreaming of lifting another trophy some 55 years later. >> what had gone before is not unimportant because we recognize the contribution other people have made. and we're respectful of that. but the near misses and the tournaments that haven't gone so well weren't important for this team. and over the last four years, they've knocked down so many barrier, and they've come through so many different challenges, different ways to win matches. had to come back from being behind. had to go through extra time. had to go through penalty shootouts. so their resilience and experience as a team have really prepared them well for this moment. while italy have

consistently excelled over the years, england have really struggled. a series of tournament blowouts or near misses have become so infamous and so painful that the misery and yearning for success are almost part of the national psyche. ♪ all of that heartbreak was captured in a song back in 1996. three lions and their fans have been sing it throughout the tournament. they'll be singing the chorus. it's coming again at wembley on sunday. is the trophy coming home or is it going to rome? we'll soon see. back to you. >> all right. for more on that, let's bring in cnn world sport contributor darrin lewis for more on this highly anticipated euro 2020 final. darin, italy, as we saw in the piece a long winning history. let's start with england, playing at home. haven't won a major tournament

since '66. often accused of buckling under the pressure, as gareth southgate sort of alluded there. this team seems different. mentally can they handle the strain against a team that probably has been playing the best football consistently across the tournament in italy? >> kim, the answer is yes. today i would suggest a little bit like the kind of feel good sporting movie that has you weeping in the aisles. i know if you're a man given to letting your emotions go, but i certainly am. and i think i may will be today. we have always been a football mad nation desperate for success. we've either had top class talent on the field but the wrong man in charge, or the right man but the players haven't been good enough. now we have both. because in garret southgate you, saw him speaking a moment ago there. we have a guy who has harnessed the abilities of the team and made them relatable to the nation as well. it's almost a perfect storm as

far as england is concerned. certainly in my lifetime. and yet as i do expect to be emotional a bit later on today. they are a very good team. but glend are a very, very good team in every area of the pitch as well. >> the nation has really taken to this team. so likable, all of the players. so let's look at the tournament as a whole taking place in the context of covid. it's been largely hailed as a success, as much for giving fans, even people who don't regularly watch soccer a reason to cheer again together in person. it's important it seems to be a bit larger than the sport itself. is that fair? >> i think it is. the two teams that i've gotten to contest the final today 18 months ago, their countries were hit hard by covid. they've had loss. they've had chaos. they have had so much upheaval and so much pouring of emotion

really. but what we've had since then is a tournament that's uplifted both nations that has given them reasons for optimism. and on the field, you know, we've had so many moments, kim, i'm sure even people with a passing interest will know that christian erickson almost losing the life on the field of play and being saved by the skill and dedication of the medics in denmark who saved his life. we've had wonderful matches. we saw the epic game between france and switzerland where the world champions were put out by the side, and of course we've got the today's fixture as well. i think there are so many elements of this tournament that kind of prove to the people who felt that a pan european tournament across 11 countries couldn't be pulled off. it's proved them wrong. >> yes, absolutely. all right. let's hope for a great match today for the neutrals. darrin lewis in london, thank you so much for joining me. >> thank you, kim. argentina is celebrating a

big win in the copa america championship. they beat their bitter rivals brazil 1-0 on saturday at rio de janeiro. this is the first major title that superstar lionel messi has won as a member of his national team. every son souza of cnn brazil has more. >> reporter: it's being 29 since the kickoff of copa america, despite all the questions about brazil's ability to host the tournament. it happened successfully. the final took place with few supporters, only 10% of maracana's capacity. 7,000 spectators were allowed by rio de janeiro officials to watch. the first title concurred by lionel messi. with argentina. the supporters invited maintained a safe distance from each other. brazil accepted hosting copa america after their refusal of colombia and argentina.

a last-minute decision taking only 12 days before the competition is started. the tournament was joined by ten south american nations during a growing covid crisis in brazil. during the tournament, more than 28,000 covid tests were made, and 179 people tested positive for covid. it represents less than 1%. until now, no results were released. everton souza, cnn, brazil. rio de janeiro. australia's ashlee igh bart won her first wimbledon title on saturday. the world number one defeated

carkarolina pliskova in three s. she is the first australian woman to win in more than 40 years. the men's final gets under way when novak djokovic takes on italy's bertini. if djokovic wins, it will be his 20th title and that will tie him with roger federer and rafael nadal. the biggest yearly gathering for u.s. conservatives is under way, and the star attraction is shaping up to be former president trump, and of course, what's known as the big lie. we'll take a closer look coming up. stay with us. u know you have moe than 28 fico® scores? and yet we pretend that one score from a free app is what lenders actually look at? it's not. so let me ask, do you really know your credit? do you know how to improve it? how to protect it? don't worry. that's why there's extracredit. don't settle for a free credit app. get the most comprehensive credit solution ever created.

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the rallying cry of those who stormed the u.s. capitol on january 6 was "trump won." he didn't obviously, but it's being heard again this weekend at the conservative political action conference, or cpac. it's the biggest gathering of the year for american conservatives. here is cnn's donie o'sullivan reporting from the convention.

>> reporter: pretty much eeverybody we have spoken to here at this weekend at the conservative cpac convention in dallas, texas, they don't believe that trump actually lost the election. everybody apart from this one man. have a listen. >> you are one of the very few people i am likely to meet here this weekend who will tell me that biden won the election fairly. >> that's unfortunate. i got to have the evidence. i got to see it. if you tell me you're going to release the kraken, show me the freaken kraken. and don't go to mr. pillowman's website to get the information. >> they tried to tell us the tarrant county election, we went blue for the first time since 1962. it's not called an insurrection to me me. what about it was an insurrection. >> they stormed the capitol. >> who? who is they? >> the trump supporters.

>> i mean, i'm sorry. you don't know who those people were. >> some trump supporters were invited in. and there is video and there is audio, they said come on. >> many people we have spoken to are in denial about the election, denial about what happened at the january 6 insurrection. and there is now also some concern about this conspiracy theory that trump could in some way be reinstated as president in this -- in the next few weeks or next few months and how that could lead to further violence. trump is due to speak here later this weekend, and a lot of his base, a lot of his supporters are going to be listening to see if he mentions or hints at this false conspiracy theory that he might be able to be put back into office before 2024. at cpac in dallas, donie o'sullivan, cnn. a symbol at the heart of white supremacist violence has been taken down in charlottesville, virginia. on saturday, statues of con

confederate generals were trucked away to storage. the city has been trying to take them down for years, but efforts to do so have been tied up in courts. it was almost four years ago that white nationalists commandeered the debate over lee's statue's removal. the unite the right rally turned deadly and violent. a white supremacist killed one counter protester and hurt 19 others when he drove a car into a crowd. belgian officials made a blunt acknowledgment, saying it doesn't belong to us. and they'll begin returning art looted during the colonial era to the democratic republic of congo, but it won't happen right away as cnn's elene reports. >> reporter: soldiers stole artwork from what is now the democratic republic of congo. thousands of wooden statues, ivory masks, musical instruments, and other artifacts

taken by force and eventually displayed in the africa museum near brussels. now belgium says it will return the stolen art. >> translator: the approach is very simple. everything that was acquired through illegitimate means, through theft, through violence, through pillaging must be given back. if it doesn't belong to us. >> reporter: belgium will transfer legal ownership of the artifacts to the drc, but it will not immediately ship the art itself to the country unless the work is specifically requested by drc authorities. that way the museum can keep the works on display and pay a loan fee to the drc. >> i have no problem whatsoever to transfer the ownership to the congolese. it's a moral question. and hey, we would like to use it in an exhibition. under what conditions? will you repay a loan fee?

will you leave it here for the time being? what is the condition? >> reporter: the museum will also spend time determining if it is not clear which items were stolen and which were obtained legally. >> i guess that in five years with a lot of resources we can do a lot. but it could also be a work for the next 10 to 20 years to basically be absolutely sure of all the objects that we have that we know the precise circumstances by which it was acquired. >> reporter: at the opening of the drc's national museum in 2019, president felix called for congolese artifacts to be gradually returned in an organized way. now that work appears to be under way. el eleni giokos, cnn. >> and s"cnn newsroom" will be right back.

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record-breaking heatwave sweeps across the western u.s. joining me now is meteorologist derek van dam. derek, you're tracking this heatwave. how bad is it going to get? >> yeah, interestingly enough, kim, we'll get to the details in just one moment. in terms of linking extreme weather events to climate change, it's interesting, because all the things we report on here at cnn weather from hurricanes to droughts to tornadoes, we actually have the strongest direct evidence to long duration and long lasting heatwaves like we're experiencing over the western united states, and that direct evidence pointing towards a warming planet. so really puts into it perspective, especially when we start breaking all-time record high temperatures. and we've talked about this yesterday. we have now broken even more. needles, california, las vegas, nevada tying their all-time record high temperature yesterday, being saturday. and so did bishop, california as well. this is just some of the mini records that were broken through the day yesterday. so we're peaking to answer your

question, kim, we're peaking this heatwave today and from yesterday as well. so think of what's taking place in the upper-levels of the atmosphere as almost like an atmospheric kind of just a slowdown. we really have this just this traffic jam in the atmosphere, creating a stagnant air mass. it's called a heat dome. it suppresses the cloud cover, creates maximum sunshine and is a cyclical effect. it allows for temperatures to reach 117. that's the all-time record high tied once again in las vegas for your saturday. incredible. death valley, they reached 129.4. that was on saturday. 130 on friday. that not breaking their all-time record high. that was 134 degrees back in 1913. by the way, that's a world record. but you can see the excessive heat alerts that are taking place over the western u.s. and still, as we round off this weekend, we have yet another 100 record high temperatures to go across the western parts of the country. kim?

>> well, all right. thank you so much, derek van dam. >> yeah. >> and i'm kim brunhuber, and i'll be back in just a moment with more "cnn newsroom." please do stay with us.

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