World's oceans hit highest temperature on record as El Niño grows
World's oceans hit highest temperature on record as El Niño grows. The KRAK 11 News hour: The World Desk, Criminal Intent, Animals, A Quick Look At Sports. Real stories from named sources, read by Chip Marlowe and Deb Sarkissian.
Aired 2026-08-25 04:50 UTC · 5 segments · 9 min · complete transcript below
Rundown
KRAK 11 NEWS
Good morning. This is KRAK 11 News at the top of the hour, midnight in Wexler County. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. Coming up this hour on KRAK 11: The World Desk. A French tourist dies in Death Valley's salt flats in hundred-and-sixteen-degree heat after his car gets stuck in the mud.
Criminal Intent. U.S. businesses are getting tariff refunds. The question now: will any of that money reach the customer?
Animals. The heron video has now led our countdown for nine consecutive hours, and we will tell you exactly how many new views it gained in the last four days.
A Quick Look At Sports.
Brief look.
And our two-hundred-and-second Florida Man Tribute. Back in June of last year, a pet zebra named Ed ran away one day after arriving in his new Tennessee town. Coming up on The World Desk: how they got him home.
They used a helicopter.
The World Desk is next.
THE WORLD DESK
The World Desk.
Good morning.
We have ocean temperatures, a tornado cleanup in France, and the Canada trade story has new reporting.
Let's start with the oceans.
The European Copernicus climate service has confirmed what many scientists feared—the world's oceans have now reached the highest temperature ever recorded.
The current El Niño pattern is intensifying across the Pacific basin.
El Niño develops in the eastern Pacific, Chip, not the basin generally. Doctor Samantha Burgess from Copernicus says the measurement is another clear signal of an ocean under growing stress.
Ocean temperatures have been climbing for months.
They have. This record breaks the previous high set just last year.
In southern France, cleanup continues after a tornado tore through the Pyrénées-Atlantiques region yesterday morning. More than forty injured, homes destroyed in several villages.
The damage path runs along the Mediterranean coast near the Spanish border.
Near the Spanish border, yes, but inland. The tornado struck near Pau, which is farmland about sixty miles from the coast. The Pyrenees stop well before the water.
French emergency services say the path was narrow but intense.
In the United Kingdom, Prince Harry has stepped down from the board of a wildlife charity that operates conservation projects across Africa.
The charity acknowledged last year that its rangers had committed serious abuses in several countries, including beatings and sexual assault.
The charity operates in eleven African nations. No statement yet on whether the departure is related to those findings.
We have been following the trade dispute between the United States and Canada. There is new reporting this morning on how Canada might respond to American tariff proposals.
Canada sells about seventy percent of its goods to the United States, so the stakes are high.
The reporting suggests Canada is looking at retaliatory measures focused on energy exports, critical minerals, and automotive parts—sectors where American manufacturers depend heavily on Canadian supply.
Energy makes sense. Canada supplies a significant portion of American oil and natural gas.
About twenty percent of American oil imports. The question is whether Canada is willing to use that leverage, given how integrated the two economies are.
And in China, the factory robot story we have been tracking continues to develop. More than two million industrial robots now operating in Chinese factories, the highest concentration anywhere in the world.
This is not the humanoid robot story. These are the machines that assemble cars, electronics, textiles—industrial work that used to require thousands of people per facility.
The automation trend across the Pacific Rim has been accelerating for years.
China specifically, Chip. The reporting focuses on factories in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. The scale is what makes this notable—two million robots is more than the rest of the world combined in some sectors.
That is a lot of robots.
It is.
If you are watching this morning and you have thoughts about any of these stories, we read the comments. Deb reads more than I do.
I answer more during business hours.
The news does not keep business hours.
Coming up in just a few minutes—Criminal Intent. We have new developments in a case we have been following, and a sentencing that has drawn national attention.
Stay with us.
CRIMINAL INTENT
Good morning, and welcome to the Blotter.
This morning we have a zebra airlift, a stolen bear, and a meteor that was forty times brighter than Venus.
It is two hundred and three Florida Man Tributes in forty-four weeks, and I believe this one sets the bar.
The bar for airlift operations involving zebras is admittedly not high.
Back in June of last year, a pet zebra named Ed made quite the entrance to his new home in Tennessee. One day after arriving, Ed ran away.
Local authorities launched a full-scale search operation. Ground units canvassed the area. Air support was requested.
And when Ed was finally located on Sunday, they brought in a helicopter to airlift him to safety. The video shows a zebra in a sling being lifted by helicopter over Tennessee.
Ed was returned to his owner unharmed. No charges were filed.
Also back in March of this year, NASA tracked what they officially designated as Event twenty-zero-two-six-zero-three-two-four-zero-one-three-one-zero-nine. Most people in Michigan just called it the fireball in the sky.
The meteor disintegrated over Saginaw Bay. At its peak, NASA says it was forty times brighter than Venus.
No debris was recovered. No damage was reported. The space agency filed its report and closed the case.
Back in March, Detroit police took a hairdresser into custody after prosecutors alleged she pulled a gun on a customer during a dispute over the cost of the service.
Police said part of the confrontation was caught on video.
The suspect is in custody. Charges are pending.
And back in January, authorities in west Michigan issued what they described as an unusual be-on-the-lookout alert. Someone had stolen a six-foot taxidermied black bear from a resident's front porch.
A taxidermied bear.
Six feet tall. Full mount. Gone.
The theft was captured on video. Police said the suspect loaded it into a vehicle and drove away. The investigation is ongoing. The bear has not been recovered.
Coming up in just a few minutes, we have Animals. And this morning, we will update the countdown and find out if the heron is still holding on to number one after nine consecutive hours.
That is in a few minutes on KRAK 11 News.
ANIMALS
Good morning. This is KRAK 11 News at midnight, and it is time for the Good News Desk.
We count down the three videos on YouTube that gained the most views in the last four days. We count from three to one.
The top video has now led our countdown for nine consecutive hours.
Number three. One hundred and twenty pounds of dog, hiding from ice, behind a two-year-old. Posted by Tiny Boss Big Dog. Three million eight hundred and fifty-two thousand new views.
The dog weighs more than some adults and is apparently afraid of an ice cube.
Number two. When Kindness Goes Both Ways. Posted by Windypaws on the twentieth. Seven million six hundred and seventy-seven thousand new views in the last four days.
It remains at number two. YouTube has it at number three on their own chart.
And number one. Fisherman Found This Heron Fighting For Its Life. Eight million four hundred and ninety thousand new views. Posted by Sassy on the twenty-first.
Nine consecutive hours.
All three are on the KRAK 11 News Reel, and the link is in the description.
If you are watching this morning on YouTube, a subscription costs you nothing and it helps a station this size a great deal.
We are glad you turned up.
Still ahead this morning, a quick look at sports. The youngest Cub to hit a walk-off in franchise history just did it last night, and he is twenty-two years old.
That is next on KRAK 11 News.
A QUICK LOOK AT SPORTS
A quick look at sports.
The scoreboard at midnight.
I have four scores and a title defense.
Magnus Carlsen has won his eighth consecutive Esports World Cup chess title. The man they call the greatest of all time defended the crown in Abu Dhabi and shows no signs of slowing down.
Eight in a row.
The Cubs beat the White Sox four to three on a walk-off hit from Pete Crow-Armstrong, who remains the youngest Cub with a walk-off in franchise history.
In tennis, Heather Watson has advanced to the fourth round of U.S. Open qualifying. And Ohio State opens their preseason ranked number four in the Yahoo Sports college football poll.
That is a look at the scoreboard. Coming up at the top of the hour on KRAK 11 News: breaking developments in Wexler County and the story everyone is still talking about this morning.
We will see you in a few minutes.
Reporting behind this episode
- How Canada could hit back to hurt the US economy - and Trump
- Prince Harry steps down from board of wildlife charity
- Moment tornado tears through southern France
- Beyond China's humanoid robots, a quieter machine revolution is unfolding
- World's oceans hit highest temperature on record as El Niño grows
- Watch: Runaway pet zebra airlifted after great escape in Tennessee
- Meteor over Michigan: Fireball in the sky disintegrated over Saginaw Bay, says NASA
- Hairdresser accused of pulling gun on customer now in Detroit police custody
- Video: Taxidermied 6-foot black bear stolen from west Michigan porch
- Fisherman Found This Heron Fighting For Its Life
- When Kindness Goes Both Ways.
- 120 Pounds of Dog. Hiding From Ice. Behind a Two-Year-Old.
- U.S. businesses are getting tariff refunds. Will customers get any money back?