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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo
Battle For Kherson Looms; North Korean Missile Test; Brazil's Presidential Runoff. Aired 5-5:30p ET
Aired October 28, 2022 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:07]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Lynda Kinkade live from Atlanta. Welcome to THE GLOBAL BRIEF.
Coming up, as the battle for the Ukrainian port city of Kherson nears, a council worker there says soldiers now outnumber civilians on the streets.
Also ahead, a serious act of provocation. South Korea calls out North Korea of its latest missile launch. We'll look at the threat of Pyongyang's
nuclear ambition.
Plus, guns and god, two of the issues facing Brazil's high stakes presidential runoff election. We'll have more from the capital.
Ukrainian forces are digging into the trenches near occupied Kherson as they prepare to take back the port city from Russia. It's located on the
Black Sea and along the Dnipro River. It was once a major shipbuilding hub. And before the war, almost 300,000 people lived in Kherson. Now, soldiers
outnumber civilians. That's according to a local official.
Ukraine estimates that Moscow has sent up to 1,000 newly mobilized troops to defend the city and says the mood there is tense.
Well, Russia is relentlessly targeting the country's power grid, causing more blackouts. The mayor of the capital says it could take 2 to 3 weeks to
repair the power facilities.
And Russia is sending a message that stands close to blackmail. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Russian security council, said that the
light will come on in Ukraine when the country recognizes Russia's demands.
Along the front lines, fighting is fierce but Ukraine's progress is slower than it had hoped.
Our Frederik Pleitgen brings us the latest from the battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Lynda. Well, still, really situations for the Ukrainians in many parts of
the country. Of course, you have the southern front around here, where a lot of heavy fighting has been going on. But also the east of the country,
the Ukrainians are saying that a counteroffensive that they have launched their to try to get the Russians to dislodge from parts of the Luhansk
region, that's also going a lot slower than the Ukrainians would have wanted or maybe even they would have anticipated, as well.
At the same time, here on southern front, heavy fighting going on with Ukraine's doing their best to try and push the Russians back. Here's what
we learn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Rarely a quiet moment on Ukraine's southern frontline, as mortar unit trying to hit Russian positions as part of Kyiv's
quest to retake the city Kherson, but the Russians are fighting back.
UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): Those are the cluster bombs, I don't if you can hear them. They are hitting with cluster bombs. That is
why we are hearing multiple explosions. They use the bombs all the time, but our boys are holding up.
PLEITGEN: The soldiers in this position to that Russians are showing no signs of wanting to retreat from the area.
UKRAINIAN SOLDIER (through translator): There is constant shelling, every day. More happened that night, all day long. Artillery, cluster bombs, even
though they are banned. Shelling every day.
PLEITGEN: This battle for Ukraine's south is also important because this is the gateway for green exports that feed much of the world. While there
is an agreement to allow ships to pass after Russia blockaded Ukraine's ports early in the war, that deal is shaky.
The authorities say this is a U.N. chartered ship that can carry about 30,000 tons of grain. It's bound for Ethiopia the, the Ukraine say they
would go to export even faster but it's the Russians that are holding things up.
The Russians have in turned blamed the Ukrainians and threatened the cancel the deal altogether.
All this as Russia is sending more new recruit to the front lines. The military seeing at least 1000 already on the line in Kherson. The new
recruiter boating put in untenable positions according to the Russian army, the spokesman for Ukraine's southern military command tell me.
NATALIA HUMENIUK, UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES: They are trying to fill the holes in their unit with the mobilized people. They move their officers
back. On the frontline itself, they just leave so-called cannon meat because they know that our push will be powerful.
PLEITGEN: It's all the same to the mortar team near the front. Their task is to hit the enemy and not to get hit themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: So, you see there, really, really heavy fighting here in Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainians are saying that they've already shot
down more than 300 of those Iranian supply drones since September 13th, since the Russian essentially started using them. However, some of those
drones to get through and his target in Ukraine. That's wrecking havoc on this country's energy supply with a lot of cities here in Ukraine still
having to ration power -- Lynda.
KINKADE: Our thanks to our Frederik Pleitgen.
In Iran, large crowds of government supporters have marched across the country following Friday's prayers. It's in response to an attack claimed
by ISIS on Wednesday that killed 15 people in the city of Shiraz. Government leaders have blamed protesters demonstrating the death of Mahsa
Amini, without providing evidence any evidence for the claim.
[17:05:07]
Well, in the Iranian Kurdish city of Mohamad, Internet watchdog NetBlocks is reporting a major Internet disruption. It comes a day after the deaths
of four people killed during anti-government protests there. Human group Hengaw says police forces were stationed on the roof tops of government
buildings and opened fire on protesters.
CNN's Nada Bashir has more about this deadly day of unrest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The sound of gunfire and buildings in flames, scenes of chaos in the Kurdish city of Mahabad, as
Iran's security forces intensifying an already brutal and deadly crackdown of protesters. The human rights group based in Norway says that at least
four people were killed on Thursday after security forces opened fire on around protesters.
Thousands gathered at a demonstration ignited by the killing of Esmail Moloudi, a protester was shot dead according to key security forces
according to Amnesty International. Now, reports of so-called war weapons being used by special forces stationed on rooftops of local government
buildings, prompting an outcry from human rights groups. Amnesty saying on Thursday, Iran's security authorities are unlawfully using firearms against
thousands in Mahabad. Iran's authorities must immediately rein in the security forces.
The regime, however, says police forces have moved in when protesters targeted government buildings after this burial ceremony.
While state media has claimed without evidence that protesters were acting under instruction of the separatist terror organization. The incident
follows eight weeks-long, campaign, of state action violence against peaceful protesters, one which already claimed the lives of 240 people
according to the United Nations.
JAVAID REHMAN, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON IRAN: I denounced the crackdown on protesters and I urge the authorities to immediately stop the use of
lethal force in policing peaceful assemblies.
BASHIR: Mahabad is no stranger to unrest. The city has seen periodic riots and protests over the course of the last two decades. But now, the city has
become the latest focal point on the protest movement which has been really galvanized. Their lives reportedly claimed by the brutality of the Iranian
authorities. The Iranian officials describe responsibility.
And as protests continues to gain momentum, human rights groups are demanding tougher action by the international community, with amnesty
warning that global inaction has already come at a tragically high cost.
Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into water off of its east coast. South Korea military officials call it a
serious act of provocation and says it is in clear violation of security cancel resolutions manning ballistic missile launches by the north. This is
Pyongyang's 20th missile launch by this year.
South Korean and U.S. officials warned North Korea may be preparing for a nuclear tests. And as we wait to find out if North Korea will conduct its
seventh nuclear tests, CNN's Paula Hancocks talks to North Korean watchers about how the United States should respond.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Jong-un shared his five-year military plan with the world last year, a missile and nuclear
wishes.
Last month, he passed a law making his country's nuclear status irreversible.
It was not under discussion.
We traces the question, is the U.S. push for denuclearization a relic of the past?
ANKIT PANDA, STANTON SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWNMENT FOR INTL. PEACE: We simply have to treat North Korea as it is, as we would like it to be. I
think nobody disagree with that denuclearization would be a very desirable outcome in the Korean peninsula. It's simply not a tractable one.
HANCOCKS: There's a growing group of academics suggesting tacitly accepting North Korea as a nuclear state, as in the case of Israel, which
claims nuclear ambiguity while believed to have had nuclear weapons since the 1960s, or India before it carried out its 1998 nuclear tests.
JEFFREY LEWIS, PROFESSOR, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTL. STUDIES: In both of those cases, the United States knew those countries had the bomb. But
the deal was, if you don't talk about it, make an issue of it, cause political problems than we are just not going to respond. I think that
that's the same place we want to get to with North Korea.
HANCOCKS: Pyongyang has claimed that it's deploying tactical nuclear weapons to its field units, a claim that CNN cannot independently confirm.
[17:10:06]
But at this point, there is no indication that the Biden administration is listening to the growing conservative voices in Seoul calling for nuclear
weapons to be re-deployed to the peninsula.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All this the talk about tactical nuclear weapons, whether it comes from Putin, or from Kim Jong-un, is irresponsible and
dangerous.
HANCOCKS: Which leaves talk at a possible arms freeze in return to sanctions relief.
LEWIS: Often when you are dealing with a difficult problem, a freeze is a really good way to start things out. It takes some of the pressure often
opens up space for other items of negotiation.
HANCOCKS: Especially when certain topics on the table.
PANDA: There's co-operative obvious which would require North Korea to be willing to sit in the table talk about these things with us. I don't think
in the current environment that we are really close to sitting down with North Koreans.
ANDREI LANKOV, PROFESSOR, KOOKMIN UNIVERSITY: If Americans want to talk about denuclearization, they are not going to talk. And if Americans are
not talking, they will launch more and more missiles and better and better missiles.
HANCOCKS: Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, still to come, Brazil's just days away from choosing its next president. We will tell you what role guns and religion are playing as
Brazilians get ready to vote.
Also, a surge in violence in the west bank CNN's speaking exclusively with some young Palestinians who are taking up arms against the occupation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back.
The husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is recovering in the hospital after he was brutally attacked with a hammer. Police say a 42-
year-old man broke into their San Francisco home early Friday morning and assaulted 82-year-old Paul Pelosi. He's been undergoing surgery. But the
doctor says he will fully recover.
Nancy Pelosi is now headed back to San Francisco with their family.
[17:15:00]
Sources say there are intruder repeatedly asked, "Where is Nancy?" and told police he was waiting for Nancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE CHIEF: When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mr. Pelosi's husband, Paul. Our
officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect boat holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him
with it.
Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup and render medical aid.
(END VIDEO CLP)
KINKADE: Well, police said they haven't determined the attackers' motive. The suspect had posted memes and conspiracy theories on Facebook about
COVID vaccines, the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection.
The Palestinian health ministry says Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinians on Friday in the west bank. Israel says that the soldiers
received information about a drive-by shooting on a military post and later opened fire on two sufficient vehicles. The peace process not existence,
violence between Palestinian and Israeli forces have surged to a level not seen in years. More young Palestinians are taking up arms, disillusioned
with their leaders inability to end the occupation.
CNN's Sam Kiley spoke exclusively with one of the most active militias.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For 20 years, this camp, the Jenin refugee camp, has been a hotbed of violent resistance
against the Israelis. It's also been the location for the planning of attacks against civilians inside Israel itself.
But now, there is a change in the atmosphere here, as if something much more violent is to come.
(voice-over): I'm about to find out why at a clandestine meeting with militants who at the top of Israel's most wanted list. We meet in a shrine
to the Palestinians who have been killed fighting Israel. For Israelis, this memorializes murder.
These men are being hunted, they say, because their arm but putting attacks against Israel. Four militants and a 12-year-old boy were killed in this
raid at the end of September.
(GUNFIRE)
KILEY: This man said he survived it is really great about a week ago. His comrade was killed.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
KILEY: Like him, these are members of the Jenin brigade, a militant group now posing a danger to the Palestinian Authority as well as to Israel. It's
unheard of them to bring cover for an interview, much less admit where they get their guns.
Years ago, they had AK-47s, now they have M16s. This one has Hebrew written on it. Was it stolen from the Israelis?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Senior Israeli commanders steal the weapons and they sell on the black market, and our resistance fighters
buy these weapons with their own salaries and money.
KILEY: A 2020 report from Israel's legislator found that some 400,000 illegal methods were in Israel, many of them stolen from the Israeli
defense forces.
So, what exactly are your rules of engagement? What are the moral decisions that you take about who you do and do not attack?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are the resistance. And we defend our people and sacred places. We don't attack.
(CHANTING)
KILEY: This has been the deadliest year for Palestinians and Israelis since 2015. At least 123 Palestinians killed outside Gaza and 21 Israelis
and foreigners.
Gunmen from Jenin and nearby have been involved in at least two major atrocities, where at least eight people were shot in or near Tel Aviv
earlier this year. The expansion of Israeli Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the twiddling faith that a viable Palestinian state can ever
emerge from Israel's 55-year-old occupation of the area has fired more Palestinian anger.
Grassroots organizations like this Jenin brigade are fiercely opposed to the very existence of Israel and despise the ruling Palestinian authority
for cooperating with the Jewish state.
Does that mean that this is a completely hopeless fight that you are fighting, because the Israelis, I don't think you can defeat them. And they
will not go anywhere, and they have the international community supporting them. At the same time, there is support for the idea of a two-state
solution for the Palestinians, for an independent Palestinian state.
[17:20:05]
Is this like a death grip that you are in now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We always aim for victory, not death. Today, the Palestinian people are expecting Jenin refugee camp to
spark a regional war. There are extensive meetings with the resistant factions in Gaza and the West Bank, and with our brothers abroad about
starting that fight.
KILEY: Many fighters in this group from the Palestinian Authorities' own security forces supposed to stop attacks on Israel. In a new conflagration,
it will be the Palestinian leadership that could be the first to burn.
Sam Kiley, CNN, Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, Brazil is expecting to announce in the coming days whether current far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, will keep his job, or if
leftist former President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva will be preparing for his third term leading the country. Human rights groups say social media is
failing to keep up at the rampant this summation swelling about in the final days before Sunday's vote.
And along with the resolving the chaos of the economy, Brazilians are focused on other areas that impact their daily lives.
Our Paula Newton looks at a few more issues weighing heavily on voters' minds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Millions more in Brazil now are armed and ready -- ready to load, aim and fire. Gun ownership who can
on them and what people need them has become an election issue, and it's the president himself, Jair Bolsonaro, who wants more Brazilians to bear
arms, loosened strict gun ownership laws and made promises of more gun rights to come.
Win or lose, Bolsonaro's armed masses aren't going anywhere.
One of the owners of this gun club tells us that Bolsonaro is the best gun salesman he has ever had.
DANIEL PAZZINI, GUN OWNER (through translator): He basically did free advertising, encouraging people to buy guns and defend themselves that way.
NEWTON: Daniel Pazzini tells me he believes Bolsonaro's opponent, former President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, may try to crack down on gun
ownership if he wins. Doubts it will work, but like most gun owners he has no chance against. He is voting for Bolsonaro.
Many devout evangelicals, too, are fateful to God and Bolsonaro.
Pastor Odilon Santos says it is his right to take a stand on politics and influence others in his battle against abortion, gay rights, drug
legalization.
ODILON SANTOS, PASTOR: Our current president has been agenda aimed at protecting all of that, those principles which are a rule of faith in our
practice.
NEWTON: As for Lula, he doesn't trust him. He wrote an open letter to evangelicals saying he wouldn't test really touch religious freedom.
SANTOS: He's very public stance is that he will regulate not just the church but a lot of things, including the media and social media.
NEWTON: To be clear, Lula has never said he will restrict media, guns, or religious freedom.
Which brings us to the issue of misinformation, as presidential supporters at this rally claim that Lula will separate Brazilians from the creator.
They accuse Democrats of shutting down free speech with new regulations aimed at stopping the spread of false information. Bolsonaro son tells us
his father's defending freedom and will fight what he calls for censorship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is unbelievable, they just say that this is fake news, this is anti-democratic, they are right.
NEWTON: Lula, meantime, campaigns on reversing Bolsonaro's influence on social issues which he says has ruined Brazil.
Believe me, he says, we are going to revive this country.
In this tight presidential runoff it has been a ballot box trifecta. Guns, god, and so called fake news, where voters stand on each can tensions issue
will shape this country's future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, the world's richest man is now in charge of one of the world's most influential social media platforms. Elon Musk has completed
his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, marking the new era by firing the CEO and two other executives before dust has even settled. He tweeted, the bird
is free, apparently referencing his intent to dial back some limits on the controversial content.
[17:25:02]
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lynda, today is a day that many people thought they would never see. Elon musk taking over Twitter's,
kicking out some of the top executives including the CEO of the company.
The question now is what is Musk going to do with Twitter? He's already expressed his frustration with how many bots, he says, are on the platform.
But also, there's talks that he might allow people who have been permanently banned from Twitter back onto the platform, including, of
course, most prominently former U.S. President Donald Trump who was kicked off of Twitter for good, we thought, after the January 6th attack on the
capital.
Musk tweeting today the none of those decisions are going to come immediately, he said he is going to set up a kind of council of experts to
advise on these issues of speech.
In some ways, people could say that that is him trying to take the load responsibility for making those calls off of himself putting it on experts,
something similar that Mark Zuckerberg has done at Facebook with the oversight board. But also, you know, these are very big issues. These are
hard, thorny issues to try and deal with and having those experts advise on this rather than one man might be the wise decision.
Donie O'Sullivan, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Thanks to Donie.
Well, in India, the government is setting up a panel that will appeal social media decisions they don't like. The committee will be able to
overrule social media companies that man certain posts. Those companies include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social media content decisions
have been a thorny issue in India and tech companies often receive requests to take down or remove content. The move also comes as the government has
gained a rate of control over online information.
Thanks so much for watching tonight. That was THE GLOBAL BRIEF with me Lynda Kinkade. You can follow me on Facebook or tweet at me @LyndaKinkade.
Stay with CNN. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. Have a great weekend.
END
