>> yeah! >> do you like it? >> this is mine. >> how many beds can one man build in a day? go to cnnheroes.com. thanks for watching. our coverage continues. look, there are three ways louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three. >> the zbufl gulf on alert for tropical storm barry. heavy rain and already very high water along the mississippi presents a problem we've never seen before. the president abandoning the fight for a citizenship question on the census. instead, he's ordering data compiled from existing records. new sex trafficking cars

against r&b star, r. kelly. >> how many calories do you have to cut per day to stay healthy. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> it's not zero. that's the bottom line of that. >> great to be with you, christine. >> i'm christine romans. it's 4 a.m. in new york, 11 a.m. in greece, 12:30 a.m. in tehran. the gulf coast is now bracing for barry. a tropical storm but there are hurricane warnings from up along the coast. barry presents a problem never seen before, the combination of heavy rain from the storm itself on top of extremely high water levels from record flooding already this year along the mississippi river. >> look, there are three ways louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three.

>> the mississippi already so high around new orleans. heavy rain plus a storm surge could overwhelm its system. the result could be a repeat of wednesday's flash flood emergency. one resident who lived through katrina is concerned. >> this brings some unique elements. we've never had the river this high. you know, a storm come in, the leve's are saturated. i think after the katrina system we had gustav and they did a much better job of getting people up and out and securing the city. i'm concerned, however, that they've gotten complacent. >> already states of emergency have been declared in st. bernard, saint charles, plaque man's parish. meantime, president trump approved an emergency declaration for louisiana to try to speed up federal help.

cnn's ryan young is on the ground in louisiana with more on the relative calm before the storm. >> reporter: boris and christine, here in new orleans it's a watch and wait approach to see exactly what's going to happen next. you can see the water here in the mississippi, a lot higher than it normally is. we know there's been a lot of flooding along the mississippi this year. right now they're believing 10 to 15 inches of water could be on the way in the next 15 hours. officers on 12-hour shifts. they're ready to pump water out of this area should it start to flood. we're seeing bits of flooding. people are coming out to look because they've seen the water rise here at least five inches in the last few days. it's had 48 hours of sustained rain that so many people are concerned about. >> we are not issuing a voluntary or mandatory evacuation. sheltering in place is our

strategy. >> reporter: as they wait to see what happens next, a lot of people are hoping the power of this storm will not sit over the city of new orleans and create massive flooding. boris and christine. >> thank you for that, ryan. tropical storm barry moving forward at only about 3 miles an hour. that slow movement sucking up moisture from the gulf. the warning has only been used two other times for hurricanes florence and harvey. let's go to meteorologist derek van dam. so the speed here is a concern? >> reporter: yeah. it's going slower than a human can walk. we can walk faster, run faster than it is actually traveling at the moment. we really are in unchartered territory here, christine. never before have we had a tropical system move towards the mouth of the mississippi river. when the mississippi river itself is at flood stage for the past several weeks if not

months. very saturated environment. this is the latest from the national hurricane center. 50-mile-an-hour sustained winds. we have hurricane warnings along the southern coast line of louisiana. we have tropical storm warnings including lake pontchartrain and the greater new orleans region. this is the exact track. it has shifted a little to the west. it puts new orleans in a precarious position because of the easterly quadrant and any shift in the rainfall patterns could see the heaviest of precipitation move into the greater new orleans area. it's really a recipe for disaster. here's the rainfall totals. it is going to be a long weekend ahead for residents here across louisiana. boris. >> it could get tricky down there. derek van 2k578, dam, we apprec.

r. kelly has been arrested in chicago and charged with sex trafficking in new york. the entertainer is facing charges for child pornography and attempting to influence a case in atlanta. the nypd, homeland security and others helping out in the arrest. the r&b starr has been fighting charges for two decades. he pleaded not guilty and was released after posting bail. a 3,000 acre brush fire forcing residents from their homes on the hawaiian island of maui. they're operating on emergency generators. more than 600 people are in shelters. the maui humane society is evacuating animals to the high school. turns out oprah winfrey has a home. access to the road was given to county officials immediately.

that was many hours ago hoping for the safety of all. tourng d.c., president trump trying to pump up his base with unprecedented action on two fronts, one involving the census, the other immigration. first on the census. the president being careful not to defy a supreme court order to keep a citizenship question off the 2020 census. instead he said he's taking executive action to get the information a different way. if it had been adopted a year ago, it could have saved millions of dollars and a lot of time not to mention a lot of gray hair at the justice department. jessica snider has more. >> reporter: christine and boris, the president pulling back on his plans to add a citizenship question 20920 census. after a week of insisting his administration would continue to fight in court to get it on the questionnaire, president trump has now simply signed an executive order -- >> i am here by ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide

the department of commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and non-citizens in our country. >> reporter: but the president in backing down here, he's hinting at another possible political fight. he said politicians may also soon use this citizenship data to try to draw voting districts in states by counting only voters as opposed to all residents. that is a whole other issue that would draw a whole other set of court battles so this might not actually be the end. guys. >> thank you so much for that. turning to the immigration issue and the roundup of undocumented migrants. that's set to start on sunday. it's the first time this operation has been announced in advance. the raids are expected in atlanta, baltimore, chicago, denver, houston, new orleans. new orleans was on the list but city officials say enforcement will be suspended. the region is dealing with tropical storms. many officials are 1350speaking

against these raids. >> fear-mongering and making immigrants scapegoats and disrupting families who are here just trying to live their life. that's not who we are and what they should be. >> they haven't told us what their parameters are. they haven't supported us or given us any information on who they're targeting and how they're targeting. there's great fear amongst our immigrant community about what's going to happen. i've had children come up to me at forums say, i'm afraid to go to school, find out my parents are gone. >> the rates are ids are expectt quite a few. it's considered all those targeted will be immediately

deported. details coming together for robert mueller's testimony. he will appear before the house judiciary committee 9 a.m. wednesday. the house intel committee at noon. lawmakers say the format is still being negotiated. i think things could evolve. one possible hitch here. the agreement for mueller to testify gives 22 members of each committee time to question the former special counsel. that's the exact number of members on the intelligence panel. the judiciary committee has 21 members. those lawmakers have aired their concerns directly with committee chairman jerry nadler who has told them he would try to accommodate them. at least 35 passengers were injured thursday on a very rough flight from canada air to australia. the airline says the crew encountered severe turbulence after hawaii. it was forced to turn around and land in honolulu. >> we were all sort of dozy and

the cabin was pretty dark and it just seemed that the plane just sank and then flew up. the lady in front of us, i don't think she had her seat belt on. she hit the ceiling. >> the injuries are believed to be minor, fortunately. medical personnel were on stand by to examine the passengers in hawaii. sounds like a nightmare. you're dozening off. >> i always keep my seat belt on. >> i do. >> i mostly do. >> sometimes if you want to sit back and relax. 11 minutes past the hour. an american scientist found asphyxiated and found in a nazi bunker. who killed suzanne? cnn is live in crete. costing over $100, $200, and even $400. for skin that looks younger than it should. fact check this ad in good housekeeping.

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this is how we heal. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now. startling new details on a scientist who went missing in crete. her body was found in a nazi war bunker. arwa, have investigators given any indication as to why her body was discovered there? >> reporter: well, there's a couple of reasons for that. let me first just show you where we are. we're just outside of the entrance to that complex fortified nazi era tunnel system. you can see there is evidence that the forensics teams were here. this location is not far from the main road, but if you didn't

know it existed, you wouldn't chance upon it. whomever was behind this horrific murder somehow had local knowledge. the entrance -- one of the entrances is just up this way. we were inside there yesterday and it's a labyrinth. what the police chief has told us is it they believe suzanne's body was dropped from one of the holes that is on top of this hill inside this tunnel complex. evenly found because two locals happened to be oaks plorg it. we were also told that her body had small nonlethal stab wounds on it but they ruled the cause of death was asphyxiation. there's a massive homicide investigation underway. this has really shaken this entire island because this kind of violence just doesn't happen here. we were up at the institute where suzanne was attending a conference. people are so jarred by what

took place. everyone wanting to know who took part in this and why. 18 minutes past the hour. trade talks between the u.s. and china have resumed. the president took to twitter complaining that china has not started bliegs r buying agricultural products. the chinese side said, no, they made no firm commitment to buying wheat or soy beans. at the g20 trump said they would hold off on the sanctions and ease restrictions on huawei. here's the president's economic advisor, larry kudlow. >> i know that our side expects china very soon to start purchasing american agriculture

commodities, crops, goods, services. >> china stopped buying at cultural products last september. soy beans hit record levels. earlier robert light heizer and steve mnuchin spoke with lu xi. president trump trying to see if xi jinping is going to make good on that promise at the g20. is it going to happen? >> i don't know. >> reunited and another blockbuster nba trade puts james hardin back together. when we started our business

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y this just in to cnn. the missile system is purchased from russia. let's go to matthew chance. this is surprising. turkey was warned by the u.s. and nato to not go ahead with this purchase but they did anyway. >> reporter: that's right. i mean, they've always said in fairness to anchor ra that they would go ahead with this. this was a commercial deal that

was intended to protect the national interests of turkey. the s-400 is one of the most sophisticated surface-to-air missiles in the world and the turks say they need it. obviously there are big implications of this. turkey is a major nato ally. they could, for instance, get the russians through the deployment some sensitive data about the most high tech weaponry the u.s. has been planning to sell to turkey as well. it opens a much needed question. it questions the commitment, the all-important nato western military alliance. there are concerns that this could lead to a diplomatic spat, possibly a trade spat between washington and the turks and that could further deepen the split in that important key western alliance.

meanwhile, here in russia the kremlin is standing back and watching this drama unfold. they're saying this is just a commercial deal. they're fulfilling their obligations under their contract but they're standing back and watching a wedge being driven in that important western institution of the nato military alliance. that's one of the main foreign objectives. >> we'll see what president trump says. thank you so much. cutting just 300 calories from your daily diet can significant bely benefit your heart. that's a modest 12% drop in average calories according to the lancet diabetes journal. they saw a decrease in cholesterol and blood pressure. you can see this by skipping that slice of cheesecake for dessert. about 610,000 people die of heart disease in the u.s. every year. that's one in every four deaths. two more nba super stars are on the move.

espn reporting the oklahoma city thunder have agreed to a blockbuster deal sending russell westbrook to the rockets for chris paul, two protected first round picks and two draft pick swaps. the move is reuniting westbrook with his old thunder teammate, james hardin. paul's future is uncertain. he likely will end up being dealt again. okc has 15 first round picks through 2026. they're trying to collect every draft pick they possibly can. 27 minutes past the hour. tropical storm barry bearing down on the gulf. set to become a hurricane. a problem never encountered before with water already so high along the mississippi river.

look, there are three ways

louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three. >> the gulf is on alert for tropical storm barry. heavy rain coupled with high water along the mississippi presenting a problem never seen before. the president is abandoning the fight for a citizenship question on the census, but he's ordering data compiled from existing federal records instead. and breaking overnight. new sex trafficking charges against r&b star r kelly. and how many calories would you have to cut per day to stay healthy? not as many as you think. just a little bag of chips. >> are you sure it's more than zero? >> more than zero. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm boris sanchez in for dave briggs. we start in the gulf coast which is bracing for barry. it's now a tropical storm but there are hurricane warnings

along the louisiana coast. the weather service says barry presents a problem never seen before. a combination of heavy rain from the storm itself on top of extremely high water levels from record flooding already this year on the mississippi river. >> look, there are three ways louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three. >> the mississippi already so high around new orleans that heavy rain plus a storm surge could overwhelm its pumping system. the result would be a repeat of wednesday's flash flood emergency. one resident who lived through katrina is concerned. >> this brings some unique elements. we've never had the river this high. you know, a storm come in, the l levies are saturated. after the katrina system we had gustav and they did a much better job of getting people in and out and securing the city.

that was a lesson learned. i'm concerned, however, that they've gotten complacent. >> already states of emergency in st. bernard, saint charles, jefferson and plaquemines parish. >> now tropical storm barry is moving very slowly. that slow movement is one reason the weather service has issued an excessive rainfall notice. it's only been used two other times for hurricanes florence and harvey. let's get out to meteorologist derek van dam live in the weather center. derek, this thing is moving at a snail's pace. >> we can walk faster than it's moving now, boris. in fact, the flooding is the point that we are trying to drive home. we don't want people lost in the minutia of whether it will make landfall. 24 is a potential flood issue and in fact the weather prediction center has a high

risk flash flooding from baton rouge all the way to new orleans that includes the morgan city regions as well. we have 5 million americans under a flash flood watch. that is valid from saturday through sunday. you can see the rainfall totals going forward. we could easily pick up 10 to 15 inches, maybe locally higher amounts. you add in two to four feet of storm surge, perhaps three to six feet of storm surge right along the mouth of the mississippi. new orleans may be facing its achilles heel. we already know the mississippi river is at or near flood stage. 16 feet the current level right now but you add in two to four feet of predicted storm surge plus the extremely heavy rain that is in the forecast and the potential for overtopping levy is very high. you can see some of the levys are actually below 20 feet.

you don't have to be a mathematician to put that altogether. we have a serious problem on our hands. >> derek, thank you so much. 36 minutes past the hour. chicago now breaking overnight, r. kelly arrested in chicago and charged with sex trafficking in new york. the entertainer is also facing charges for child pornography and attempting to influence a case in atlanta. the nypd, homeland security and other agencies assisted in his arrest. he has been fighting sexual abuse allegations for nearly two decades. in february he was charged with aggravated sexual abuse with four women. three a minor. a 3,000 acre brush fire forcing people from their homes in maui. the airport was operating on mjts generators. more than 6,000 people in shelters.

the maui animal shelter evacuating animals to the high school. oprah winfrey has a home and she's opened up her private road. president trump backing down on the census. the president being careful not to defy a supreme court order to keep a citizenship question off the 2020 census. instead, he says he's taking executive action to get the information a different way. it's an idea census officials, they recommended it a year ago. if it had been adopted it could have saftd millions of dollars and jessica snider had a way to do it. after a week of insisting his administration would continue to fight in court to get it on the questionnaire, president trump has now simply signed an executive order -- >> i'm here by ordering every department and agency in the federal government to provide

the department of commerce with all requested records regarding the number of citizens and non-citizens in our country. >> reporter: but the president in backing down here, he's also hinting at another possible political fight. he said that politicians may also soon use this citizenship data to try to draw voting districts in states, by counting only voters as opposed to all residents. of course, that is a whole other issue that would draw a whole other sort of court battles. >> thank you so much for that. no one is backing down with nancy pelosi and the squad. the clash began when pelosi told her caucus this week behind closed doors to stop attacking each other on twitter. pelosi elaborated yesterday.

>> they took offense because i addressed -- requested my members on offensive tweet that came out of one of the members' offices that referenced our blue dogs and our new dems essentially as segregationists. our members took offense at that. i addressed that. how they're interpreting it and carrying it to another place is up to them. >> but a cascio cortez said she was discriminating the base. the explicit signaling out of women of color. >> she downplayed race but she stood by her claim of being approached by man knu raju. >> knowing the amount of death threats we get, knowing the media we are in, knowing the amount of concentration of

attention, i think it's just worth asking why. >> do you think she has racial animus? >> no, no. absolutely not. >> other democrats that cnn spoke with either dodged the question or they seemed to back pelosi. >> she was very clear that supreme problems, direct it to her because she's head of the family. so i was very comfortable with speaker pelosi's comments. >> congressman lacey clay weighed in saying, quote, what a weak argument. because you can't get your way you resort to using the race card? unbelievable. a jury of one is deliberating on the fate of alexander acosta. the president is still questioning whether he did enough to defend himself at a news conference earlier this week. he's facing calls to resign over a secret plea deal he helped broker in 2008 over jeffrey epstein. president trump has been silent.

one official says they are not in the clear. meantime, he's facing new sex traffic charges. he will be there from his residence. >> the very residence is where these crimes took place. the fed may have to change its tune on inflation and potential rate cuts after a key report on consumer prices came in stronger than expected. the u.s. government said prices rose 0.1%. core prices, that excludes food and energy, that's up .3 of a percent. core inflation is now rising 2.1% over the past 12 months. now prices increased for housing, for clothing, for home furnishings, medical care, auto insurance. among other things, investors expect a small rate cut from the fed. a larger move have quieted down after the cpi report.

the fed cuts rates when the economy is weak and inflation is not a threat. what is less known is how much they will cut rates. why is inflation so low? it's one of the reasons that many people have said the fed could have the room to cult rates and now we're starting to see signs of inflation. >> president trump certainly wants to especially going into an election get it right. >> that's right. new warnings for british tankers in a critical shipping route in the persian gulf. we have a live report next. moving is hard.

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now all you have to do is move...that thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. it's just another way we're working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. new overnight the u.k. raising the security level for british tankers in the strait of hormuz. they tried to seize a british ship just hours earlier. cnn's nic robertson is live in london with the latest. nic, is there a genuine fear that the iranians may try something like this again? >> oh,

we've heard them condemning what's happening here. raising the threat level to level 3 which means the assessment that an attack in the strait of hormuz is at a critical level. british heritage that some iranian call fast. it took them to train the guns on the iranian boats to deter them and escort the tanker out through the strait of hormuz out into safer seas. the commander of the u.s. navy fifth fleet based in bahrain says that he's aware of these illegal actions by the iranian revolutionary guard. the state department says that they are watching this. they condemn what iran is doing. all of this because iran has

told brittain it must release its super tanker, the grace one, which was taken into custody in the waters off gibraltar just last week. and the authorities there announcing that the captain and the first officer aboard that ship are arrested on charges of essentially sanctions trying to take that iranian oil to syria. but the united states leaving the door open a little for diplomacy here deciding not this time to put sanctions on the iranian foreign minister. boris? >> the revolutionary guard claiming nothing ever actually happened. nic robertson reporting. thank you. amazon spending big money to retrain the work force as new technology disrupts the labor market. cnn business will tell you how much next. can't see what it is yet.re? what is that? that's a blazer? that's a chevy blazer? aww, this is dope. this thing is beautiful. i love the lights. oh man, it's got a mean face on it. it looks like a piece of candy.

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go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. heroism and tragedy at a florida beach as a man drowns trying to save his 8-year-old daughter. thomas sacruzky was walking near a sand bar with his wife and little girl. the wife glanced back and saw her husband and daughter struggling in the surf. she jumped in. he was somehow able to pass her the girl, then she saw him go under for the last time. divers had to fight rough water. they eventually recovered his body. they believe he was caught in a rip current. it's the leading cause of surf fatalities in florida with 27 deaths in 2018 alone. new video this morning of a coast guard crew going to astonishing lengths.

part of an effort to stop drug traffickers in the pacific. >> stop your boat, he yells. the boat is one of the infamously loose narco submarine. on june 18th the coast guard found one of these hundreds of miles off the colombian and ecuadorian coast. three guns man caught one of these. the operate rags netted 550 million on this boat. not exactly a routine traffic stop in guthrie, oklahoma. officers pull over steven jennings for expired tags on june 26th. they found a gun in the car, then they found an open bottle of deluxe bourbon and a rattle snake in the back seat. the officers noticed a canister

of radio ak tich oactive uraniu. they are investigating where the canister came from. >> sounds like everything you need for a good trip to vegas. cutting just 300 calories from your daily diet could significantly benefit your heart. that's only a modest 12% drop in average calories according to the lance set. a study showed a decrease in blood pressure and bad cholesterol. you can achieve these by intermittent fasting or by skipping the slice of cheesecake for dessert. one in every four deaths. she's captured the hearts of millions. ♪ ♪ >> my nephew and nieces love

her. disney's milana is loved. kenslee wanted her. the woman heard marijuana. kenslee said she and her mom were laughing hysterically. even without the munch chis the cake was apparently delicious. 25 years old and getting a moana cake. >> marijuana moana cake. first, let's take a look at global markets. there are asian markets as they closed a little bit higher here. european markets have opened mixed on wall street. the dow looks like it's leaning higher. above 27,000 for the dow. the dow and the s&p 500 hit record highs. the dow up 228 points. that's above 27,000 for the first time. the s&p 500 beat the record it set last week rising to 3,000. the nasdaq fell just a tiny bit.

the market is strong. taking a look at stocks since president trump's inauguration. the dow is up 36%. the s&p up 32%. look at the nasdaq, whoa, up almost 48%. on the tech front there are now two $1 trillion companies in the stock market. amazon joined it thursday. eye popping deficit numbers as the debt crisis looms. the deficit stands at $741.1 billion. jumping 23% in the first nine months of the fiscal year. federal spending and revenue also hit records for the same period. a number of factors are driving the increase including the president's trillion dollar tax cut in 2017 and a very big spending package. those numbers paint a dark picture for the government as the government runs short on borrowing right now. adapt or be left behind. in a world of advanced robotics,

american workers need more training to stay relevant. amazon is about to see how that works out. it's spending $700 million to retrain thousands of its u.s. employees. amazon's up skilling 2025 program will help workers transition to programs. warehouse workers could be trained for technical roles and non-technical workers could be retrained as software engineers even if they have limited technical background. program comes as robots and artificial intelligence are advancing and more capable of replacing human jobs. >> disruption is a huge deal. some are running on it. thank you so much to our international viewers for joining us. have a great rest of the day. for the rest of our viewers, "early start" continues right now.

look, there are three ways louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three. >> the gulf is on alert for tropical storm barry. heavy rain coupled with high water along the mississippi presents a problem never seen before. we have a brand-new update from the national weather service moments away. plus, the president is abandoning a fight for a citizenship question. instead he's going with an executive action suggested a year ago. we'll explain. breaking overnight. new sex trafficking charges against r&b star, r kelly. >> how many calories would you have to cut per day to stay healthy. not as many as you think. good morning. it's "early start." i'm boris sanchez. >> nice to see you here. i am christine romans. it is 5 a.m. in the east. let's begin in the gulf coast.

bracing for barry, now a tropical storm. there are hurricane warnings along the louisiana coast. the weather service says barry presents a problem we've never seen before. extremely high water levels from record flooding this year along the mississippi river. >> look, there are three ways louisiana floods, storm surge, high rivers and rain. we're going to have all three. the mississippi is so high. the result would be a repeat of wednesday's flash flood emergency. one resident who lived through katrina said he is concerned. >> this brings some unique elements. we've never had the river this high. you know, a storm come n the levies are saturated. i think after the katrina situation we had gustav and they did a much b