cnn speaks with asylum seekers in and out of the country. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom, with kim brunhuber. we begin with scenes of utter devastation in northern california, where wildfires have burned through more than 9,000 acres. the mill fire has left hundreds of houses ablaze in the small town of weed. firefighters say they re making progress, but the fire is still only 25% contained and the nearby mountain fire is 5% contained. streets are littered with charred remains of cars and cinder blocks where houses once stood. officials say help is on the way, with fire strike teams ready across the state to respond when necessary. now, those wildfires are being fueled by a blistering and dangerous heat wave that continues its stranglehold across the western united states this weekend. more than 40 million people are under heat alerts as temperatures soar 15 to 20 degrees above normal for the fifth day in a row electric companies in california are telling cu
return to the campaign trail. cnn s joe johns joins us from the white house. joe, what does biden have on his agenda for this week? battleground states. he s about to go to wisconsin, pennsylvania, also ohio to a groundbreaking for a semiconductor plant there. a huge $20 billion semiconductor plant. so this time of year the labor day weekend is traditionally the time when campaigns start bearing down. the voters start focusing on the candidates. joe biden s name, of course, nowhere on the ballot. but the fact that he s going to these three battleground states tells you a little bit about what the biden people are thinking. it wasn t very long ago that there were real concerns about the challenges faced here at the white house by the biden administration challenges including inflation, the president s approval numbers, the price of gasoline. now some of those challenges have started to ease up and democrats are thinking things might not be as bad as they first thought they c
the white house. joe, what will we hear from the president tomorrow in this big labor day appearance? he s really kicking off the start to the mid-term cycle. reporter: you know one thing that is very clear and that is the president, jim, is definitely interested in getting out there and showing his stuff, as it were. he s going not only to wisconsin. he s also going to pittsburgh. and later in the week he s going to columbus, ohio. that, of course, is going to be essentially a groundbreaking for a microprocessor plant that he s been promoting. labor day, around labor day, is the time of year where campaigns really start bearing down. it s also a time, very important to say people start looking more closely at the candidates. of course joe biden s name is not on any ballots. just the fact he s getting out to the three major battleground states does tell you that the biden people are thinking carefully about the president and his posture. you know it was just a few weeks ago
russian military forced the others to shut down and it lost its main connection to the nation s power grid and atomic safety experts are extremely worried. cnn s melissa bell has the latest from ukraine. reporter: there s been good news from the ukrainian counteroffensive tonight according to officials here in kyiv with an aide to president zelenskyy of what he says is the ukrainian flag. this town has been the center of battles for some time and we are getting some confirmation of the fact it may be now in ukrainian hands and also on the russian side, with some talk of the retreat of russian forces around the town. it is of course a counteroffensive now going on for just about a week and about which ukrainian authorities have been remaining pretty tight lipped insisting this is about degrading russian military capabilities, trying to take out infrastructure that allows them to resupply their troops around kherson. not really aimed at fast territorial gains. of course this
it s 2018, and rupert murdoch and his wife, jerry hall are vacationing in the caribbean on his son lachlan s, amazing yacht, the sarissa. named after a macedonian weapon of war. it s this exquisite sailing vessel. it s a work of art. as we understand it, they re sleeping on the boat. it s the caribbean. it s peaceful. in the middle of the night, rupert gets up to relieve himself and trips and falls. rupert is lying on the floor of his cabin, and he can t get up and the situation seems serious, he may not survive. a lot is at stake here, his own life as well as his company. he has not yet designated an heir. and the future of his media empire will be up for grabs. stand by. there we go. okay. get ready to roll. tell me a little bit about rupert murdoch. rupert murdoch is the most powerful political force in america. you can put an eagle in a cage and the eagle will not give in. you don t know what they re thinking but you know, it s going to end up well for