What's up, sunshine?
This is CNN 10, where we give you the what, letting you decide what to think.
Today, two highstakes meetings at the White House that could shape overseas wars.
A swamp, a mountain, and a World War II battlefield, all earning one of the world's highest honors.
and BTS taking a stand against the Grammys.
All that and more.
Your CNN 10 starts now.
We begin in Washington DC where the Oval Office played host to back-toback meetings that could influence conflicts stretching from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalinski at the White House as Russia continued launching heavy attacks across Ukraine.
The two leaders discussed the US giving Ukraine Patriot missile defense systems which are designed to intercept incoming missiles as well as the possibility of reviving diplomatic efforts to end the war now in its fourth year.
Later that day, President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the expanding conflict in the Middle East.
The meeting came as Netanyahu campaigns for reelection back home.
While relations between the two leaders have appeared more strained in recent months, officials from both sides describe the talks as productive.
What do a superersized swamp, Greek gods, and a famous World War II battlefield have in common?
They all just earned one of the world's biggest honors.
UNESCO's World Heritage List includes places considered so culturally or naturally important that they're viewed as treasures belonging to all of humanity, not just one country.
The designation often brings additional conservation efforts aimed at protecting sites from threats like climate change, pollution, and over tourism.
This week, the committee announced 25 new additions.
That includes the beaches of Normandy in France.
On June 6th, 1944, during World War II, better known as D-Day, more than 150,000 Allied troops stormed those shores in the largest seaborn invasion ever, helping begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.
Greece's Mount Olympus also made the list.
Ancient Greeks believed it was home to Zeus and the Olympian gods, while today's scientists value it for its extraordinary biodiversity with thousands of plant and animal species.
And right here in Georgia, Oki Finoi National Wildlife Refuge earned World Heritage status as well.
North America's largest freshwater swamp stretches across roughly 700 square miles, nearly the size of Houston, and provides habitat for black bears, sandill cranes, and thousands of alligators.
The newcomers now join legendary sites like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
One of the most popular bands on Earth is sitting out music's biggest award.
K-pop Phenom BTS says it won't submit its music for Grammy consideration after the Recording Academy created a new category recognizing Asian pop music performance.
The group says it believes music should be judged by its artistry, not by language or geography.
Some fans argue it would effectively box out Asian artists from the Grammys biggest awards like album of the year.
BTS has previously been nominated for five Grammys, but has not won yet.
This year, the group reunited and released a new album after completing their military service.
The CEO of the Grammys told CNN he is disappointed, but said, quote, "As a music creator, I understand and respect their decision." The new Asian pop music performance category will debut at the 2027 Grammy Awards in February.
What do you think?
Do categories like these create more opportunities or do they risk separating artists who should compete together?
Hit pause and discuss.
10 second trivia.
Which of these comic publishers was founded first?
DC, Marvel, Darkhorse, or Image?
If you said DC, you're Superman.
DC was launched as National Allied Publications in 1935, but Marvel wasn't far behind, launching in 1939.
Comic-Con 2026 has officially wrapped, and once again, San Diego transformed into Superhero Central.
Since 1970, Comic-Con has grown from a gathering of a few hundred fans into one of the biggest pop culture events on the planet, attracting artists, actors, filmmakers, and fans from around the globe.
This year, legendary cartoonist Jeff Smith, the creator of the beloved Bone series, received one of the comics highest honors, induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
We had the chance to catch up with him to hear how a love of drawing at a very young age changed his life forever.
between like five and nine was when I really started to understand to get into comics.
The art form, the pictures and the word balloons and how the pacing of as you went from panel to panel, how it how it became real, how it would come alive.
I was fascinated by that.
Of course, the characters had a lot to do with it, too.
>> I knew that Charles Schultz created Snoopy.
I knew that Mickey Mouse was made up by Walt Disney.
He was on television every Saturday night.
And I wanted to make up a character cuz I just love cartoons.
I don't know why cartoons spoke to me, but they did.
They looked to me kind of the way dreams look to me.
All the comics that I really love were written and drawn by the same person.
It just didn't occur to me that I would do it any other way.
Right.
The first character I really kind of like started drawing more than once was this little guy called Phone Bone.
His name was Phone Bone.
This is what he looked like the first time I drew him.
Then he had his cranky cousin who who was a phony phone bone.
And then Smiling Bone was kind of like a cross between Goofy and Ed Norton on the Honeymooners.
I was part of a generation that really wanted to do our own characters and tell our own stories.
It would be more like authors than just a pencil.
This is a golden age happening and it's kind of underground, but it's open.
There's self-publishers.
They're smaller boutique publishers.
This is an opportunity.
This is somewhere I can do the comic exactly as I want it.
I'm just taking the risk myself.
It's if it doesn't work, it's no big deal.
I'll try it.
Every two months, I put out a new chapter as like a 24-page comic book, black and white.
Bone in the comic book world had pretty high numbers.
I was within like 5,000 copies a month of Batman.
No books were like that.
You [music] know, we did not have like all ages books in the '90s.
It was really like these comics are aimed at, I don't know, teens and older.
And when Bone comes out, it's like a revelation.
The results spoke for themselves.
Bone wasn't just a hit comic.
It was a business.
>> It took 12 years and it grew not only in this in story but in readership.
I mean it I was really getting to know a lot of people and people loved it.
That was lightning in a bottle.
Everything came together.
>> Stores got behind it which was very deliberate.
Like Jeff Smith did a lot of work to make that happen.
It wasn't an accident.
He put together a business plan to self-publish that book.
So [music] now you've got one more hero self-publisher who's talking about his experience doing that.
[music] Now that's information I can apply to my own practice.
And I have a lot of admiration for Jeff Smith and what he's done.
You spend so much time with that [music] story.
I mean from your conception to outlines, thumbnails, sketches, [music] pencils, tight pencils, inking, coloring, lettering, you live with this story.
And if you don't love it or understand how much time it's it's it's hard.
But the path to success is rarely easy and far from a straight line.
At points, Jeff seemed ready to call it quits until he received some encouragement from an unlikely place.
>> What saved me was the librarians.
[music] We didn't know it, but the libraries had been starting to stop him and they noticed the kids were checking them out.
The librarians [music] started calling Scholastic and said, "You've got to publish this book." So, Scholastic called us and we've been approached by publishers before, but they didn't know what to do with it.
But Scholastic says, "We do know what to do with it.
We're going to publish it as a children's book and [music] we're going to we're going to put it on the shelves right next to Harry Potter." >> But behind every great creator, there's a partner helping bring these characters to life.
And none of this would be possible without Jeff's longtime partner, Va.
>> She's been not only my best friend and my my partner, but she's also been one of the people who mostly encouraged me to do this.
She handles all the all [music] the business, the agents, the lawyers.
To do something this difficult and personal, you need to have somebody on your side.
I don't think there was a chance I could have succeeded on this level uh had she not been fully vested.
>> Despite selling more than 10 million books in dozens of countries worldwide, Jeff says he's not done.
He's continuing to work on new projects, but says it never gets old to hear that his first drawings are earning new fans every day.
>> She actually drew this.
Isn't that amazing?
>> The part that's kind of hard for me to take in sometimes is that this book [music] when they were a kid had a real effect on them.
And it reminds me of when I was that age and I was reading Peanuts and Uncle Scrooge comics.
The effect that that had on me.
So, it's it's [music] really wonderful to take in.
And oh gosh, it's really a good feeling.
[music] Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
A really awesome tradition at one of the NFL's oldest stadiums.
Some NFL players drive luxury cars to work.
Green Bay Packers players sometimes they ride bikes borrowed from kids.
The Packers open their training camp with one of the league's most fun traditions, the dream drive.
Every summer, young fans line up outside Lambeau Field, hoping a player chooses their bike for a ride to practice.
I got to do this when I played for the Buffalo Bills, and we had some crossover practices there.
It was awesome.
From Lambo to the practice field, sometimes the shortest ride can create memories that last a lifetime.
And get this, they've been doing it for more than 60 years, dating back to legendary coach Vince Lombardi.
Now, that is how you roll to the football season.
All right, before we go, we have a shout out to Mr.
Johnson and all of our warriors at Woodsbend Youth Development Center in West Liberty, Kentucky.
Rise up.
And we're also showing some appreciation to Mr.
Lee at P25R in Staten Island, New York.
Thank you for hanging out with us this summer.
You rock.
Two more Summer Friday episodes before we get back to our Monday through Friday jam on August 17th.
Wherever life takes you, be curious, be kind, and remember, you are more powerful than you know.
I'm Koi Wire and we are CNN 10.
This is CNN 10, where we give you the what, letting you decide what to think.
Today, two highstakes meetings at the White House that could shape overseas wars.
A swamp, a mountain, and a World War II battlefield, all earning one of the world's highest honors.
and BTS taking a stand against the Grammys.
All that and more.
Your CNN 10 starts now.
We begin in Washington DC where the Oval Office played host to back-toback meetings that could influence conflicts stretching from Eastern Europe to the Middle East.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump hosted Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalinski at the White House as Russia continued launching heavy attacks across Ukraine.
The two leaders discussed the US giving Ukraine Patriot missile defense systems which are designed to intercept incoming missiles as well as the possibility of reviving diplomatic efforts to end the war now in its fourth year.
Later that day, President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the expanding conflict in the Middle East.
The meeting came as Netanyahu campaigns for reelection back home.
While relations between the two leaders have appeared more strained in recent months, officials from both sides describe the talks as productive.
What do a superersized swamp, Greek gods, and a famous World War II battlefield have in common?
They all just earned one of the world's biggest honors.
UNESCO's World Heritage List includes places considered so culturally or naturally important that they're viewed as treasures belonging to all of humanity, not just one country.
The designation often brings additional conservation efforts aimed at protecting sites from threats like climate change, pollution, and over tourism.
This week, the committee announced 25 new additions.
That includes the beaches of Normandy in France.
On June 6th, 1944, during World War II, better known as D-Day, more than 150,000 Allied troops stormed those shores in the largest seaborn invasion ever, helping begin the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.
Greece's Mount Olympus also made the list.
Ancient Greeks believed it was home to Zeus and the Olympian gods, while today's scientists value it for its extraordinary biodiversity with thousands of plant and animal species.
And right here in Georgia, Oki Finoi National Wildlife Refuge earned World Heritage status as well.
North America's largest freshwater swamp stretches across roughly 700 square miles, nearly the size of Houston, and provides habitat for black bears, sandill cranes, and thousands of alligators.
The newcomers now join legendary sites like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
One of the most popular bands on Earth is sitting out music's biggest award.
K-pop Phenom BTS says it won't submit its music for Grammy consideration after the Recording Academy created a new category recognizing Asian pop music performance.
The group says it believes music should be judged by its artistry, not by language or geography.
Some fans argue it would effectively box out Asian artists from the Grammys biggest awards like album of the year.
BTS has previously been nominated for five Grammys, but has not won yet.
This year, the group reunited and released a new album after completing their military service.
The CEO of the Grammys told CNN he is disappointed, but said, quote, "As a music creator, I understand and respect their decision." The new Asian pop music performance category will debut at the 2027 Grammy Awards in February.
What do you think?
Do categories like these create more opportunities or do they risk separating artists who should compete together?
Hit pause and discuss.
10 second trivia.
Which of these comic publishers was founded first?
DC, Marvel, Darkhorse, or Image?
If you said DC, you're Superman.
DC was launched as National Allied Publications in 1935, but Marvel wasn't far behind, launching in 1939.
Comic-Con 2026 has officially wrapped, and once again, San Diego transformed into Superhero Central.
Since 1970, Comic-Con has grown from a gathering of a few hundred fans into one of the biggest pop culture events on the planet, attracting artists, actors, filmmakers, and fans from around the globe.
This year, legendary cartoonist Jeff Smith, the creator of the beloved Bone series, received one of the comics highest honors, induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
We had the chance to catch up with him to hear how a love of drawing at a very young age changed his life forever.
between like five and nine was when I really started to understand to get into comics.
The art form, the pictures and the word balloons and how the pacing of as you went from panel to panel, how it how it became real, how it would come alive.
I was fascinated by that.
Of course, the characters had a lot to do with it, too.
>> I knew that Charles Schultz created Snoopy.
I knew that Mickey Mouse was made up by Walt Disney.
He was on television every Saturday night.
And I wanted to make up a character cuz I just love cartoons.
I don't know why cartoons spoke to me, but they did.
They looked to me kind of the way dreams look to me.
All the comics that I really love were written and drawn by the same person.
It just didn't occur to me that I would do it any other way.
Right.
The first character I really kind of like started drawing more than once was this little guy called Phone Bone.
His name was Phone Bone.
This is what he looked like the first time I drew him.
Then he had his cranky cousin who who was a phony phone bone.
And then Smiling Bone was kind of like a cross between Goofy and Ed Norton on the Honeymooners.
I was part of a generation that really wanted to do our own characters and tell our own stories.
It would be more like authors than just a pencil.
This is a golden age happening and it's kind of underground, but it's open.
There's self-publishers.
They're smaller boutique publishers.
This is an opportunity.
This is somewhere I can do the comic exactly as I want it.
I'm just taking the risk myself.
It's if it doesn't work, it's no big deal.
I'll try it.
Every two months, I put out a new chapter as like a 24-page comic book, black and white.
Bone in the comic book world had pretty high numbers.
I was within like 5,000 copies a month of Batman.
No books were like that.
You [music] know, we did not have like all ages books in the '90s.
It was really like these comics are aimed at, I don't know, teens and older.
And when Bone comes out, it's like a revelation.
The results spoke for themselves.
Bone wasn't just a hit comic.
It was a business.
>> It took 12 years and it grew not only in this in story but in readership.
I mean it I was really getting to know a lot of people and people loved it.
That was lightning in a bottle.
Everything came together.
>> Stores got behind it which was very deliberate.
Like Jeff Smith did a lot of work to make that happen.
It wasn't an accident.
He put together a business plan to self-publish that book.
So [music] now you've got one more hero self-publisher who's talking about his experience doing that.
[music] Now that's information I can apply to my own practice.
And I have a lot of admiration for Jeff Smith and what he's done.
You spend so much time with that [music] story.
I mean from your conception to outlines, thumbnails, sketches, [music] pencils, tight pencils, inking, coloring, lettering, you live with this story.
And if you don't love it or understand how much time it's it's it's hard.
But the path to success is rarely easy and far from a straight line.
At points, Jeff seemed ready to call it quits until he received some encouragement from an unlikely place.
>> What saved me was the librarians.
[music] We didn't know it, but the libraries had been starting to stop him and they noticed the kids were checking them out.
The librarians [music] started calling Scholastic and said, "You've got to publish this book." So, Scholastic called us and we've been approached by publishers before, but they didn't know what to do with it.
But Scholastic says, "We do know what to do with it.
We're going to publish it as a children's book and [music] we're going to we're going to put it on the shelves right next to Harry Potter." >> But behind every great creator, there's a partner helping bring these characters to life.
And none of this would be possible without Jeff's longtime partner, Va.
>> She's been not only my best friend and my my partner, but she's also been one of the people who mostly encouraged me to do this.
She handles all the all [music] the business, the agents, the lawyers.
To do something this difficult and personal, you need to have somebody on your side.
I don't think there was a chance I could have succeeded on this level uh had she not been fully vested.
>> Despite selling more than 10 million books in dozens of countries worldwide, Jeff says he's not done.
He's continuing to work on new projects, but says it never gets old to hear that his first drawings are earning new fans every day.
>> She actually drew this.
Isn't that amazing?
>> The part that's kind of hard for me to take in sometimes is that this book [music] when they were a kid had a real effect on them.
And it reminds me of when I was that age and I was reading Peanuts and Uncle Scrooge comics.
The effect that that had on me.
So, it's it's [music] really wonderful to take in.
And oh gosh, it's really a good feeling.
[music] Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
A really awesome tradition at one of the NFL's oldest stadiums.
Some NFL players drive luxury cars to work.
Green Bay Packers players sometimes they ride bikes borrowed from kids.
The Packers open their training camp with one of the league's most fun traditions, the dream drive.
Every summer, young fans line up outside Lambeau Field, hoping a player chooses their bike for a ride to practice.
I got to do this when I played for the Buffalo Bills, and we had some crossover practices there.
It was awesome.
From Lambo to the practice field, sometimes the shortest ride can create memories that last a lifetime.
And get this, they've been doing it for more than 60 years, dating back to legendary coach Vince Lombardi.
Now, that is how you roll to the football season.
All right, before we go, we have a shout out to Mr.
Johnson and all of our warriors at Woodsbend Youth Development Center in West Liberty, Kentucky.
Rise up.
And we're also showing some appreciation to Mr.
Lee at P25R in Staten Island, New York.
Thank you for hanging out with us this summer.
You rock.
Two more Summer Friday episodes before we get back to our Monday through Friday jam on August 17th.
Wherever life takes you, be curious, be kind, and remember, you are more powerful than you know.
I'm Koi Wire and we are CNN 10.