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Erdogan Demands Extradition or Arrest of Fethullah Gulen; Children Fighting for Their Lives after Nice Attack;l CNN Turk Seized during Coup Attempt; Nice, France, Terror Attack Victims Mourned; Brazil Reviews Olympic Security Plans. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 17, 2016 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[03:00:00]

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MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Max Foster in Nice, France.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: And I'm Becky Anderson in Paris. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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ANDERSON: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a cleric living in exile in the U.S. orchestrated the recent coup attempt. Erdogan is demanding that U.S. arrest or extradite Fethullah Gulen. And crowds gathered outside Gulen's home in Pennsylvania to echo that sentiment. But Gulen says he wasn't involved with the uprising at all.

Whoever is to blame, the coup has exposed a major rift within the country. It left nearly 200 people dead and almost 3,000 military officers detained for their involvement.

CNN's Ian Lee joining us now from Istanbul with more.

And certainly we are seeing a crackdown so far as those that Erdogan believes were responsible for this coup.

What will happen to them next?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky what we've been hearing is that they're going to be dealt with harshly. Now what that exactly means, we don't know.

But it is still very much recent events. It's been 36 hours since the coup took place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEE (voice-over): A bloody 24 hours of chaos and bloodshed in Turkey. It started with elements of the military declared it had taken control of the country and imposed martial law. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed to his supporters on FaceTime to take to the streets and fight for democracy. They heeded that call. Social media showed protesters squaring off against tanks and armored vehicles.

Turkish forces loyal to Erdogan rushed the coup but not before isolated heavy fighting. Gunshots reported at the presidential complex in Ankara and helicopters reportedly opened fire at the national intelligence headquarters.

The coup's soldiers eventually abandoned their weapons.

FIKRI ISIK, TURKISH DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Right now, there's no place that is not under our control. At this point and at this time, there are no risk spots. There are no places that are not under our control. So, yes, the coup is blocked.

LEE: Retribution has begun. At least 2,800 soldiers of various ranks have been arrested and 2,700 members of the judiciary removed. The prime minister vowing they will pay a heavy price.

LEE (voice-over): Now, public enemy number one, this man. Fethullah Gulen, an influential cleric in exile in the United States. Erdogan accuses him of being the puppet master of the attempted overthrow.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, TURKISH PRESIDENT (through translator): I call on the United States and President Barack Obama. Dear Mr. President, I told you this before, either arrest Fethullah Gulen or return him to Turkey.

LEE: Gulen denies responsibility, claiming anyone could have been behind it.

And in a rare show of unity, in a country where politics can be divisive and deadly, Turkey's various political parties united to denounce the coup. That unity, not likely to last. Opposition figures worry the coup gave Erdogan a gift, an excuse to consolidate power while galvanizing his supporters and cracking down on dissent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Well, Becky, they're worried about these dissident politicians, worried about a purge, a settling of scores, if you will. Now they believe Erdogan can basically do what he wants in the name of providing security after the coup.

And Erdogan has had a long history of going after journalists, after university professors, aid workers and dissident politicians and cracking down on those who oppose him. They fear this is just going to embolden him even more.

ANDERSON: Ian Lee is in Istanbul for you. Just after 10 o'clock in the morning there.

Let's move on, get you more on this failed coup in Turkey. We're joined by Richard Howitt. He is a member of the European parliament and a member of E.U.-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Thank you, sir, for joining us. Fethullah Gulen denies any involvement in the attempted overthrow and he actually --

[03:05:00]

ANDERSON: -- accuses the president himself of possibly orchestrating this coup.

How much support should we expect Turkey to be offered by others in the international community, given the questions that exist over exactly what happened?

RICHARD HOWITT, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Well, Gulen himself is head of a movement. It's called a secret movement; it's not so secret. It has its own diplomatic representation in Brussels. And of course he was a key ally of Erdogan and Erdogan was his key ally only until fairly recently.

And it's the split that has provoked some of these ruptures within Turkish society.

As far as the international community is concerned, the first statements were the obvious ones for support for democratic institutions, calling for calm and for restraint.

But the truth is that Turkey is just strategically too important for the international community to ignore. It's still a big NATO member, despite the fact that we've seen a huge split here within the military.

And as far as the European Union is concerned because of the refugee crisis, it's a key actor in dealing with Syria and its aftermath. And I think there will be deep concerns.

I have deep concerns, frankly, about the state of democracy in Turkey. But there's no alternative for the international community with which to engage. But our engagement must be one that buttresses democracy and does not allow or enable this emboldment (sic) of Erdogan in which democracy could be further undermined.

ANDERSON: Well, let's talk about democracy under President Erdogan. There are those who say that Turkey was already undergoing -- and I quote -- "a slow motion coup," this, the line from one journalist, writing in a British newspaper today.

But this "slow-motion coup" wasn't by the army but it was by Erdogan himself, who's been methodically moving to take over the nodes of power, is what some people suggest.

Your response to those criticisms?

HOWITT: I think we need to take them very seriously indeed and not to, with the obvious reaction of the international community, to be against military coups; not to underestimate the seriousness of the democratic decline within the country. Remember that one of the newspapers that was closed down -- of many;

almost no independent media remaining in Turkey -- was because there was evidence that Turkey was supplying arms to ISIS, daish, evidence that Erdogan has moved to ruthlessly to suppress.

We know that journalists have been arrested. I was myself in Gebbaka (ph) at Ensur (ph) in the southeast of the country just a few weeks ago, where there is essentially a state of siege against the Kurdish communities and there has been a military crackdown there, a very bloody crackdown, which Erdogan has skillfully used the events in Syria and Iraq to avoid any international attention towards.

ANDERSON: I hear your message. Let's just consider U.S.-Turkey relations for a moment because it is not clear at this point whether Washington will be prepared to extradite Gulen -- unlikely, one assumes.

How significant would a deterioration of relations between Ankara and Washington be at this point?

HOWITT: If it happens very serious. But I don't anticipate ultimately the United States will want to do that.

But the first thing to say, of course, is that what is the evidence against Gulen?

I'm no supporter or sympathy to him or his movement. But none of us have seen any evidence. Similarly 3,000 soldiers, 3,000 judges arrested.

What's the evidence against them?

And what's the chance of a fair trial if the independent judges have been arrested?

But as far as the international relations are concerned, we've seen a U.N. Security Council resolution blocked by Egypt because of the -- their concerns about Erdogan's closeness to fundamentalism, fundamentalist Islamism.

And I think that, in terms of the European Union's own position, there's been this constant blocking by some E.U. member states to open up the E.U. negotiating chapters on democracy, fundamental rights and human rights, 23, and 24.

And one of the things I would be calling for is to make sure that those negotiating chapters are open. Democracy is very fragile in Turkey. If a coup attempt after the last one, which was in 1997 --

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HOWITT: -- they said they would never -- that the military would always be back in the barracks. That's been proven to be wrong over the course of this weekend. And the European Union should now overcome its hesitation and open up those negotiating chapters. We should talk to Turkey about democracy and human rights, not talk at them.

ANDERSON: Richard Howitt, out of Europe for you today.

Thank you, sir.

More on Turkey, the significance of this attempted overthrow and its consequences a little later this hour.

First, back to Max, who is in Nice for you.

FOSTER: Becky, a country in mourning, a country in grief, church services here in Nice obviously honoring the victims. And there are memorials in this three-day period of mourning and a lot of questions as well about security and how France moves forward. We'll have much more on all of this in a moment.

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ANDERSON: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pointing the finger towards an exiled cleric in the U.S. for a coup that left nearly 200 people dead. Erdogan is demanding that Fethullah Gulen be arrested or extradited back to Turkey. People protested outside Gulen's Pennsylvania home on Saturday.

But he says he had nothing to do with the uprising.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FETHULLAH GULEN, ISLAMIC CLERIC (through translator): We have always done our best to mend and improve relations or keep them good. But if the source of that breakup or if the source of the problem is rooted in Turkey, then there's not much we can do.

Democracy cannot be achieved through military coups and people should not be sympathetic to any coups.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the Turkish government has closed the airspace at Incirlik military base for now. The U.S. flies missions against ISIS of course out of Incirlik. Ankara says its closure is only to make sure position troops no longer control any aircraft. And the U.S. secretary of state says Turkey has not pulled back from the fight against extremists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm sure that people will wonder about allegations of who may have instigated this and where support came from. The United States will obviously be supportive of any legitimate investigative efforts.

And under due process within the law, we will be completely supportive of efforts to assist the government of Turkey if they so request.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, President Erdogan then emerging victorious from this coup. But his nemesis, Fethullah Gulen, accusing him of orchestrating the whole thing. Let's consider whether there is any evidence to support those accusations.

Cyril Vanier joins me now. He's an anchor and international correspondent for France 24.

Is there any evidence?

CYRIL VANIER, FRANCE 24: Well, let's make it clear. There's no evidence one way or another, neither to support the accusation made by Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Fethullah Gulen is behind this coup. They've provided no evidence, even though the U.S. has asked for some.

And there's no evidence to support the counterclaim that this was staged. It would probably -- this would be my guess -- never going to see any evidence either way.

So you ask who benefits from this in the wider context?

And short term, I do think that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan does stand to benefit. He is somebody who has been known to manipulate situations, crack down on the opposition before and engineer situations to benefit his political ambitions.

There are many who say, for instance, that he restarted and rekindled the conflict with the Kurdish guerilla a year ago solely for the purpose of galvanizing his support base and winning snap elections that he called.

ANDERSON: I was interested to read one of our regular commentators writing in "The Guardian," newspaper today, Andrew Finkel, who wrote that Turkey was already undergoing "a slow-motion coup" by Erdogan and not by the army.

For the last three years, Finkel says, the Turkish president has been methodically moving to take over the nodes of power.

Is he right?

VANIER: I think it's a very interesting read on Turkish politics, certainly. And it's true that -- call it what you will, a slow-moving coup or a power grab, yes, that's what has been happening in Turkey. Clamp down on the opposition: there are no longer any opposition media in the country. Social media often do now work in Turkey.

By the way, the very social media that the president used to call for his supporters to take to the streets. Snap elections called in a context that would be favorable to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, all of this with one ambition, which is now that the former prime minister, Erdogan, has become president, he wants to turn Turkey from a parliamentary system --

[03:20:00]

VANIER: -- into a strong presidential system.

ANDERSON: How Washington and Europe choreographs their relations with Turkey going forward will be critical. One, to a key NATO ally, host to these 1,500 troops who work out of Incirlik airbase and, of course, the European story dominated by migrants, migrants who ofttimes are coming through Turkey and flooding, as some will say, Europe's shores.

How do things shape up?

VANIER: Turkey has leverage over both the E.U. and the U.S. and Turkey has shown that it is willing to use its leverage. The leverage over Europe comes from, as you say, the flows of migrants. It currently has a deal in place with Europe to stop migrants from going from Turkey into the European Union.

Whether or not it chooses to continue to implement that deal, of course, is where the leverage lies.

With the U.S. now, you mentioned earlier that there are U.S. troops and planes and warplanes stationed at Incirlik airbase and that's a key staging post for the U.S.' operations in Iraq and Syria. Again, whether Turkey maintains that access to that base for the U.S., that's where the leverage lies for Ankara over Washington.

ANDERSON: Interesting times as ever. Thank you.

Back to Max in Nice.

FOSTER: Becky, France mourning the victims of a horrendous attack here on Thursday night; 10 children were amongst the 84 people killed after a truck plowed through crowds on Thursday. Now the French government is doing what they can to help and the hospitals are doing what they can as well to support everyone involved.

And the real tragedy here is not just those who've died but those who have survived. And several of them are in intensive care.

The L'Enville (ph) Hospital in Nice and the spokesperson, Stephanie Simpson, joins me now.

Stephanie, just give us some facts and figures because it's such an emotive issue. So just tell us what you're dealing with in terms of numbers right now.

STEPHANIE SIMPSON, NICE HOSPITAL SPOKESPERSON: Well, right now, out of the 30 children and teenagers that were admitted on the very night, two passed away on the 14th during the night. And right now we still have five in intensive care.

One little boy was unidentified yesterday but we found out about his identity. His grandmother came and either to find him, he's rooming in. And he's still under artificial respiration.

FOSTER: The boys' parents, you can -- well, they were caught up. The reason the grandmother came over is because both the parents died?

SIMPSON: We have no --

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FOSTER: You don't know where they are?

You're assuming they died?

SIMPSON: Parents are still in France.

FOSTER: But all the children you're dealing with, they've all lost a parent, right?

SIMPSON: Well, at least siblings or a family member. But fortunately, all the kids we have still have at least one family member with them. So none of them are alone in the bedrooms or in the intensive care. So that's a comforting fact.

But really most families have been dismantled. So that's the real tragedy about this attack, is that some families have lost several members. In terms of injuries, fortunately, we didn't have any amputation. So it's mainly multiple broken bones and trauma.

FOSTER: Are you hopeful that the children in intensive care can get through this or...?

SIMPSON: Yes. I spoke to the main doctor this morning, who's dealing with those kids and the situation is stable and they're no longer in life danger.

FOSTER: Which is wonderful news. One of the other features of these young children is they're all very young. Most of them are under 5?

SIMPSON: Yes, that's a very sad fact, too, because I counted yesterday; 36 percent of the 30 kids were under 5.

FOSTER: In terms of -- you talk about trauma; obviously ongoing, that is going to be the real issue here. And I spoke to the minister responsible for victims yesterday. She said there's a big team of psychologists working with the children.

SIMPSON: Yes, we opened the psychological unit on Thursday night. And up until now, we received 150 people, siblings, parents, relatives or also people that just witnessed the scene or people that lost a friend. So this cell is open until midnight until today again. So it's really open to anybody that really needs.

And actually the parents who are kind of stunned the first 24 hours and it's really now that the psychological impact is hitting and the greatest impact of this attack is really psychological.

[03:25:00] FOSTER: The way to deal with that, as I understand it from a minister, is just to discuss very clearly what happens and not to deny that anything happened. What they saw was real.

And it was a terrorist attacking them, which seems very harsh but that's the best way of dealing with children, right?

SIMPSON: It's, I think, the first attack with so many children wounded and its a black dot in a novel history. This hospital has been existing for 130 years. And so this is the first time something of that scale is happening. So, I think, yes, we need definitely to speak to the minister and say, look, this cannot happen again.

FOSTER: But the one positive that came out of this is that the response was phenomenal from the hospitals.

What was it like on the evening when you heard this news?

SIMPSON: We had over 60 staff that were called back and everybody came, doctors, surgeons, nurses. So we had plenty of doctors to take care of the children.

FOSTER: Well, thank you very much for bringing us that information. And we wish you very much -- wish you well in your work. We're very much with you. So thank you very much for speaking to us.

Becky, it's -- I mean, it couldn't get any better because the more we learn, the more horrendous it becomes.

ANDERSON: It just doesn't bear thinking about, Max, does it?

All right, well, people working extremely hard to lessen the psychological impact of what happened in Nice.

In Turkey, Max, soldiers turning their attention to a CNN affiliate during Friday's coup attempts. We're going to show you the take over of this NEWSROOM in Istanbul at the height of all of that unrest. The details are coming up. Do stay with us.

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FOSTER: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Max Foster in Nice, France.

ANDERSON: And I'm Becky Anderson in Paris for you. It is half past 9:00 in the morning here.

Chaos gave way to celebrations after the failed coup in Turkey. Government supporters marched through Ankara. More than 2,800 military personnel have been detained in the crackdown and nearly 3,000 judges have been suspended. Travelers stuck at Istanbul's Ataturk international Airport are now

able to move on. The airport has resumed normal operations. But the U.S. and U.K. both warn their citizens to take precautions when traveling in Turkey.

Well, that coup attempt on Friday also came with some tense moments for our affiliate, CNN Turk in Istanbul. Soldiers took over after their TV studios after the channel used FaceTime to broadcast a message from the Turkish president. Here's my colleague, Gul Tuysuz, with that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUL TUYSUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As chaos unfolded across Turkey under occupation, an anchor for state broadcaster TRT reads a message from those attempting a coup. It declares martial law and a curfew, a curfew that will eventually fail after an appearance by the country's embattled president on CNN Turk.

In an unusual use of technology, Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears on an iPhone with a FaceTime connection held up by the CNN Turk anchor.

"Go to the streets and give them their answer," he urges.

"I'm coming to a square in Ankara."

Thousands of people took to the streets in solidarity with Erdogan. Chanting, "God is great," they stood up against the military and held the streets across the country.

And all throughout, CNN Turk stayed on air. But just as the soldiers occupying TRT were expelled, CNN Turk would be silenced by the coup attempt.

In a dramatic moment, a calm but visibly shaken CNN Turk anchor tells viewers, "I think you can hear me. A helicopter has landed on our building and soldiers have entered the area of our studio using force."

Twenty minutes later, a breaking news banner appears, CNN Turk broadcast being cut, followed by the anchor saying, "They are now in our control room. We tried our best," she says.

And the channel cuts to a studio camera, showing the last remaining employees clearing out. The signal of the empty studio would be up for roughly 40 minutes with muffled voices heard off camera.

Finally, commotion outside the studio. CNN Turk managers enter the studio. And nearly an hour after soldiers first took over their control room, the camera position changes and CNN Turk returns to air -- Gul Tuysuz, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Let's bring in Melissa Bell, she is an international affairs editor with France 24 joining us via Skype this morning from Burgundy in France.

Melissa, concern in some quarters that Turkey's president will use this attempted overthrow as a pretext for a further crackdown on his opponents.

What would be the consequences of that sort of action be, do you think?

MELISSA BELL, FRANCE 24: And even more breaking divide in Turkey and greater instability of course, Becky, in a region that is notoriously one of most unstable already. And of course everything leads us to believe that this is going to be the case.

There has been a pattern in Recep Tayyip Erdogan's behavior over the course of the last few years as he's become ever changing. If you look back 2002 when he first came to power, he was hailed as a fairly pragmatic leader and he took on a number of key taboos in Turkish society, the Kurdish question, the Armenian question, Cyprus.

He had all the rhetoric of a secular prime minister, which is what he was at the time, someone who's going to stand by Turkey's long history, all but secularism. And all that began to change. Hailed also as a democrat, I might add. All that began to change over the course of the last few years.

And he proved his determination for an ever greater control on power with an ever more divisive leadership style. And in that search for an ever greater grip on power, he seemed to stop amassing (ph) trying to think on discord and disunity.

Back in June last year, his party --

[03:35:00]

BELL: -- the Freedom Justice -- the Justice and Development Party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in years. It had been his plan to further his ambition of an ever more presidential style of power. That cut short to it.

He then recalled elections back in November in which he regained, his party regained that parliamentary majority, gaining 3 million votes over the course of those few months.

What gave, what happened between June and November?

Two things: the end of the truce with the PKK, the Kurdish separatists, and the Ankara bombings, that left 103 civilians dead. Every time there's been a threat to stability in Turkey, he's successfully ,used it to strengthen his grip on power. And there's every suggestion that that's precisely what he's doing after this coup over the last few days.

ANDERSON: So -- and this begs the question, how do capitals around the world deal with him, not least, Washington, of course?

Fethullah Gulen denies any involvement in this attempted overthrow and he's actually accused the president himself of possibly orchestrating this coup. Washington certainly showing no signs of conceding to Erdogan's demands to extradite the U.S. cleric.

What are the possible consequences?

What's the impact here on U.S.-Turkish relations?

BELL: Probably fairly severe, given that they were already under a fair amount of tension over the course of the last few months and years, particularly over the question of Syria.

And this question of Fethullah Gulen is one that we've been talking a lot about these last few years. What we've seen, these purges within the justice system, within the police as well. These old friends have former allies, have the most bitter feud, all the more bitter, no doubt, for their former alliance.

Now Fethullah Gulen is known for having support in the police particularly, throughout the justice system. His support is not generally known to have come from the army.

So there is this belief in Turkey today that, in fact, this is being used as a pretext by Recep Tayyip Erdogan to go after the man he's been trying to get for the last few years, by going after the justice system, by going after the police, to try and get rid of those who continue to support Fethullah Gulen.

(INAUDIBLE) still enjoys a fair amount of support. You're now looking at this society in which his supporters and those in government are looking at this increasingly bitter battle the army now divided between those who support Recep Tayyip Erdogan and those who historically have been very worried about his attempts trying to bring the army under civilian control, including over the last few days and weeks.

And with all those divisions within Turkish society, you can imagine Recep Tayyip Erdogan using everything he can to try and short supporting, including actually (INAUDIBLE) against Washington, although implicit backing of this coup.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. All right. Melissa, thank you for that. Melissa with us on the Turkey story today and one that we will continue to analyze, take a look at the consequences and the impact of what was this attempted overthrow as the hours continue here on CNN.

For the time being, let me send you back to Nice at this point and my colleague there, Max Foster.

FOSTER: Becky, very difficult to hear that interview, where the hospital spokesperson described five children still being in intensive care. And nearly all -- well, 40 children involved in the attacks in total, all of them losing a member of their family, mostly parents.

The promenade meanwhile has reopened after that deadly attack. Visitors reminded all the way along that promenade of the tragedy that occurred just days ago. (MUSIC PLAYING)

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[03:40:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

FOSTER: Some breaking news in the terror investigations here in Nice, France. A spokeswoman for the antiterrorism prosecutor's office tells CNN there have been two new arrests in the attack of a man and woman in that arrest.

Now ISIS is claiming the man who carried out the deadly terror attack was one of the terror group's soldiers. Mohamed Bouhlel is a Tunisian national, drove a 20-ton truck into a crowd on Thursday during the Bastille Day celebrations; 84 people were killed and more than 200 were wounded.

France now observing three days of mourning as the country tries to come to terms with this latest deadly attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It could have been me, it could have been my daughter who's 21. That evening she didn't go out.

She told me, "I don't fancy going out."

She was meant to be there. She didn't go out.

These people destroyed, these families, what life will they have tomorrow?

It's like the Bataclan, it's like Paris, it's like "Charlie Hebdo." It's like the Jewish supermarket, it's like everything else, it's like France, which is sad and mourning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, the site of Thursday's terror attack is reopened but the visitors to the beachside promenade grisly reminded of carnage that occurred there just a few days ago. Will Ripley has been up and down the promenade. I just want to ask you briefly, though, about these arrests.

It does suggest there's a network of arrests.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still too soon to know for sure specifically who these people are. Because keep in mind, here in France, we're talking about an anti-terror investigation.

People don't have to -- when you say arrest, it means that somebody's being taken in, granted, involuntarily, but they're taking in for questioning. It doesn't necessarily mean that there will be charges or an indictment.

But we now know that this attacker's estranged wife has been taken in; four men have been taken in and a group of five that we were talking about yesterday, we still don't have any details about them

Now learning from the anti-terrorism prosecutor's office another and another woman. So two women, six men.

And what is their connection?

Some French media are saying an entourage of some kind.

But what does that mean?

Friends?

Associates?

Family members?

Or is it possibly people who are radicalized?

Because remember they're also looking into that potential link that there might have been phone conversations between the attacker and a known terror suspect who was recruiting jihadists here in France. He used to live here in Nice and is now in Syria.

But it's still preliminary in the investigation to really have any answer about what the motivations may have been, aside from the fact that this was clearly a violent individual, who was violent against his wife, his children, his former mother-in-law. He went to jail for getting into a fight. And the consequences, the aftermath of this horrible act, is being felt on the iconic Promenade des Anglais.

[03:45:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice-over): The French Riviera, a place of undeniable beauty and now unthinkable tragedy. For the first time since the attack in Nice, the beach is back open. So is the iconic Promenade des Anglais. All appears normal until you see the flowers marking the spots where so many died.

GEOFF DONOVAN, NICE MASSACRE WITNESS: A lot of people were closer down here, saw their family being killed, saw their children being killed. I feel for those and the thousands of people that are related and friends of theirs.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Geoff Donovan from Australia watched from his fifth-floor balcony. A young boy died in the lobby of his hotel, one of many children buying candy from Juliette (INAUDIBLE).

"That one was shouting, that one was crying," she says. "It was a catastrophe to see death in front of you. It was hard, really, really hard." Here, heartbreaking reminders of young lives lost.

One note reads, "Twenty hit here, many children."

Another, "Our thoughts are with you, little princess."

Of the 84 who died, more than a dozen remain unidentified. Along this promenade, these pictures of the missing.

Alexandre Goutagny (ph) is helping his neighbors search for some of those missing. He lives in Nice. He's haunted by the children he saw running, crying, calling for their parents who didn't make it.

ALEXANDRE GOUTAGNY (PH), NICE MASSACRE WITNESS: It's quite difficult for me to sleep, you know, because I'm hearing the voices, I'm seeing the faces and remembering the faces of these children.

RIPLEY (voice-over): His sister in Paris called to check on him after the attack. Last November 13th, he called to check on her. Terrorists stormed Le Petit Cambodge restaurant, shooting her twice. His sister survived. Three of her friends died.

GOUTAGNY (PH): I think nobody can feel safe, you know?

We are experience, we are changing our mind, we are changing our way to live.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Things appear back to normal here. But life will never be the same.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: To some people, the fact that the promenade reopened so quickly might be unsettling. But this local headline really kind of captures the defiant spirit here.

It says, "Life is stronger than fear."

And in this country, Max, that has been hit now with three major terror attacks in the last 19 months or so, people are determined to continue to live.

FOSTER: There's also that sense of resignation as well, isn't there, because they've had so many of these attacks recently.

RIPLEY: And France is clearly a desirable target for a lot of reasons. We've talked about it's the epicenter of Europe, easy access in and out. And the values, the French values, are Western values that jihadists despise.

FOSTER: OK. We're going to cross to George now at CNN Center. There's other stories going on in the world.

But certainly we're learning a lot more about what happened on Thursday night, George, here.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Max Foster, thank you so much.

The race for U.S. president, Donald Trump picks Mike Pence as his running mate. The two men have held very different positions on key issues. Why the Indiana governor says he's teaming up and getting on the Trump train, as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

America's choice 2016 and the presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has made his pick. Indiana governor Mike Pence will be the running mate for president for Mr. Trump. The two held their first rally in New York on Saturday.

Pence says that he was honored to accept the position as vice president.

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GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), IND.: I answered this call for two reasons. First, because I know from first-hand experience that strong Republican leadership can bring about real change, just like we've seen in the Hoosier State.

And secondly, because Hillary Clinton must never become President of the United States of America.

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HOWELL: Keeping in mind, though, there was a bit of a reversal. Pence had originally backed Ted Cruz in the Republican primary. But Trump says the need to bring the conservative party together played a role in his V.P. decision.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the big reasons that I chose Mike and one of the reasons is party unity, I have to be honest. So many people have said party unity because I'm an outsider. I want to be an outsider. I think it's one of the reasons I won in landslides. I won in landslides. This wasn't close. This wasn't close.

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HOWELL: So all eyes now on the Republican National Convention, where Donald Trump and Mike Pence will be the stars of the show. It all starts Monday, Cleveland, Ohio. The crews there working on last- minute preparations with 50,000 people expected to attend.

Security concerns are rising. That city has banned at least 72 kinds of weapons from the event zones surrounding the convention. Guns, however, are not on that list because Ohio is an open carry state. But the arena itself has a ban on weapons of any kind.

Be sure of course to stay tuned for CNN's special coverage of the Republican National Convention. It all begins on Monday. Our Christiane Amanpour, Kate Bolduan and Hala Gorani all live from Cleveland. A full week of special coverage of the developments of the speeches and analysis as the Republicans select their nominees, only here on CNN.

Now we move on to Brazil and the Summer Olympics, less than three weeks away and antiterrorism training exercises are also underway for police and troops. Our Shasta Darlington has more now on how officials there are reviewing their own security plans after the terror attack in Nice, France.

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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a drill in progress, the biggest exercise to date, bringing all branches of security forces together for the first time ahead of the Rio 2016 Summer Games. In the simulation, hostages and casualties, all in real time.

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DARLINGTON (on camera): The anti-terrorism forces are now on the scene going after the alleged terrorist. We're an hour into this simulation.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): Though planned before, the attack on Nice is having an impact.

DARLINGTON: What are you doing differently?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are bringing more troops to Rio de Janeiro. The games will be safe.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): In fact, the attack on Nice has prompted Brazil to review its entire Olympic security planned.

The perimeters around venues will be widened and more checkpoints and traffic restrictions added.

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DARLINGTON: Some 85,000 police, soldiers, traffic cops and firefighters will be concentrated right here in Rio. More than double the security detail in London.

"The events of Nice have worried us and it's not surprising," he says. "This concern will be translated into greater control, more security and more measures." They will be working with international intelligence agencies at command and control center in the heart of Rio.

"Anyone can take a truck and commit a crime like we saw," he says. "But today in Brazil, there are no suspicions this threat will take place."

And while Brazil is taking no chances, officials insist the country has no history of terrorism and no homegrown networks to facilitate a terror attack -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

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HOWELL: Thank you for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. We'll have more news next hour with my colleagues, Max Foster in Nice and Becky Anderson live in Paris, following the aftermath of the terror attack in France.

You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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