but despite that, the united states and the e.u. consider this whole referendum and its result illegal. the overwhelming 96.7 vote. yes, 96.7 vote in favor of joining russia clearly something president obama was not surprised about. i have signed a new executive order that expands the scope of our sanctions. as an initial step, i m authorizing sanctions on russian officials, entities operating in the arms sector in russia, and individuals who provide material support to senior officials of the russian government. and if russia continues to interfere if ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions. so that s the word from the president in the united states. but the european union had its own move, too. the e.u. decided to impose sanctions on 21 russians and ukrainans because of what went on this weekend. here s something we don t see
course, so does the united states. today we heard from the president. president obama announcing expanded sanctions against russia specifically targeting 11 people for their part in the crisis in ukraine. as an initial step, i m authorizing sanctions on russian officials. entities operating in the arms sector in russia and individuals who provide material support to senior officials of the russian government. and if russia continues to interfere in ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions. the union announced it is list of 21 individuals. the west is also not recognizing sunday s referendum in crimea. 96.7% chose to join russia with the turn out of 87%. but we are hearing from one white house official the ballots the senior correspondent wrote
so many. the other story that we continue to follow is from crimea. we have this just in to cnn. crimean election officials have just released the final results of this weekend s controversial referendum in ukraine s southern republic. they say 96.7% of crimean voters casting ballots sunday chose to break off from ukraine and to join russia. while the vote is recognized by crimea and russia, the new ukrainian government in kiev does not recognize sunday s referendum, nor do the united states and other western nations. and we ll dig deep into that situation coming up here on cnn newsroom. live reports from crimea after this.
largest wildfire in the state s history. 1200 firefighters trying to get under control, but it s only 15% contained at this point. dry, windy weather hint helping at all. neither is the mountain it is ous region being described as impossible terrain. national climate experts now say oklahoma faced the hottest summer in u.s. history last year. initially texas took home the honors as dubious as they might be. but as more data trickled in, turns out oklahoma pulled ahead, averaging 86.9 degrees. texas close behind with an average of 96.7. both temps blowing the old record way out of the water. that was 85.2, which oklahoma suffered through back in 1934. this summer, meteorologists expect more above average temperatures in the south. sure folks there would be very happy not to break any more heat records any time soon. i was just there in oklahoma and texas yesterday and the day before. heather: was it hot? gregg: it was pleasant and it
three of the four gop presidential candidates took their turns trying to woo the crowd. plus, sarah palin talks today. will she officially endorse anyone? we ll check on reynolds wolf. an avalanche rescue dog had to dig him out on the slopes. we ll explain. syria is in a state of crisis, a steady stream of new video is coming into cnn as the city of homs is under attack. take a listen. [ gunfire ] the scene is disturbing. just yesterday, 110 people were killed, most of them civilians. we cannot verify the authenticity of these videos, but we have heard from antigovernment activists who say if they don t receive help, they will kill millions. most is in homs but spreading to other areas. stay with cnn throughout the morning. the cias website is back up this morning after hackers took it down. a group known as anonymous claimed responsibility. they may have attacked the website run by the state of alabama. personal data of more than 46,000 people was compromised. the hacker