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The Global Brief with Bianca Nobilo

U.N. Warns Of "Climate Hell"; Ukraine's Energy Blackouts; U.S. Midterm Elections. Aired 5-5:30p ET

Aired November 07, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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


[17:00:32]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Richard Quest in London, where it is 10:00 p.m. It is midnight in Sharm El Sheikh, and that's where we'll begin

tonight's GLOBAL BRIEF.

It is the end of the first day of the COP27 climate summit. The U.N. secretary general has warned, we're on a highway to climate hell.

Tonight, we'll be live in Ukraine, where millions are living with the risk of total energy blackouts.

And the final days of campaigning, the U.S. midterm elections begin on Tuesday. A crucial, critical test for President Joe Biden.

The secretary general has issued a stark call to arms as the COP27 climate opens in Egypt. Antonio Guterres as warned that the planets quickly

reaching a massively destructive point of no return, countries do not live up to their climate commitments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: And the clock is ticking. We are in the fight of our lives. We're losing. Greenhouse gas emissions keep

growing. Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We

are on a highway to climate, with our foot still on the accelerator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The delegates are facing a much different global energy environment than in the past. Of course, Russia's war on Ukraine has disrupted markets

in energy, and it's prompted countries to go back to fossil fuels.

The new prime minister the U.K. says that's the wrong way to think about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Climate security goes hand in hand with energy security. Putin's abhorrent war in Ukraine, and rising energy

crosses across the world, are not a reason to go slow on climate change. They are a reason to act faster.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: David McKenzie is in Egypt. Chief climate correspondent Bill Weir is with me from New York.

To you, David, first, it was very strong language by the U.N. secretary general. But not to be skeptical or cynical, I've heard him say it before.

I think I heard him say it last year. And I'm wondering if anybody's listen since?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think people are listening. But there is growing frustration because there's a

lack of action. If you look at the numbers, the rise and temperatures are a given at this point, Richard. And activists and delegates have been

speaking to throughout the day in the weeks prior to this. They feel there needs to be some concrete moves to really drastically accelerate emissions

dropping across the world.

And in that environment, of the Ukraine war, energy security, whatever the prime minister of the UK says, it is a difficult prospect for many

economies. I think one of the major themes of today, is developing countries feel that they need the money, the funding, not only to shift

away from the carbon heavy fuel sources, but also to help their populations. If you think of the millions of people in the Horn of Africa

that are struggling to get something to eat, struggling with these horrible droughts, and throughout the world, like in Pakistan, these floodings -- a

flooding that was made so much worse by the climate crisis. You can hear the frustration in the voice of the Kenyan president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: The lengthy discussions at COP, with it stalling, delaying tactics and procrastination that have hampered

implementation and delivery, it's simply cruel and unjust. We cannot afford to spend more time scattering around the issue, and we must break out of

the open ended, process-focus discussions that were tapped in (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: These are very complex negotiations. And though their breakthroughs needed, both in reducing emissions and funding for that,

there is this concept of loss and damage the countries can't cope with climate change, they aren't getting enough funding from wealthy countries.

[17:05:08]

And as the head of the African Union said, those who were responsible for polluting, need to be responsible for paying for it.

QUEST: David McKenzie who's in Sharm el Sheikh.

To Bill Weir now, our chief climate correspondent.

Bill, what's -- what's the realistic best we can hope for out of this?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: You know, Richard, I think you can't downplay the fact that the Paris Accord, so much of the exuberance

that happens there, was a result of bilateral negotiations within the U.S. and China. Those have completely broken down today. There was hope that the

rest of the world would get beyond these big superpowers, and super polluters. And sort of ride the wake of innovation towards a brighter

future, but they're not even talking to each other.

So, any movement on that, to let the rest of the world know that the big boys care, and want to work together instead of being a climate rival. So

much of the U.S. is cost of solar panels, as a result of Chinese manufacturing. If it breaks down, it can change that whole thing.

And as a result of that, a year ago, Richard, we're in Glasgow, 193 countries said will come back and Sharm el Sheikh, with new implementation

plans, with boulder initiatives, acknowledging all the time lost, to delay and COVID -- but only 24 of those 193 countries actually have that in

writing right now.

So, it's a very different world geopolitically than even the last COP.

QUEST: Bill Weir in New York, thank you.

Ukraine state energy company says engineers are doing everything possible to avoid a total blackout. The teams are working around the clock. They are

repairing power stations, badly damaged by Russian attacks over the last month.

Much of the country is now facing emergency power cuts, which cause even more suffering as winter temperatures drop. The mayor of Kyiv says the city

needs to be prepared for the worst possible outcome, which is a total loss of electricity, heat, and running water.

Despite these hardships, Ukrainians themselves are proving their own resilience.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: On the outskirts of Kyiv, the bridge into Irpin, in the Bucha district was a life saver for

those who managed to flee the early Russian advance. In the seven month since these scenes, the horrors of what those troops left behind have been

fully exposed.

Mykhailyna, deputy mayor of the Bucha region, is taking us to meet residents who are rebuilding.

But throughout this heavily destroyed residential area, it's a race against winter. As temperatures start to plunge, blackouts continue. Money is

tight, but spirits are high.

At the very least, they need to replace glass in the windows and patch upholds the size of tank and artillery rounds. Tatiana shows us pictures of

her apartment small bedrooms. Destroyed in March, rebuilt now. Her story is hair-raising and miraculous. Hunkering down in the basement for ten days

under Russian occupation, this is the picture of the Russian tax arriving just 15 minutes after she fled.

When we left, they were shooting at us from behind she tells me. Now I realize what kind of a second birthday I got. What kind of a gift, because

those people that left right after us were shot.

As this city tries to put the pieces back together again, there is another more sensitive, perhaps even more difficult kind of rebuilding underway.

The U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF has placed pop-up tents full of warmth, light, and care. All these children have been traumatized, and some have

been forced to witness unspeakable horrors.

This is Bucha district after all, ground zero for Russia's war crimes. Eugene Lopatin is the regional manager for this program.

EUGENE LOPATIN, UNICEF REGIONAL MANAGER: They started to tell some really cool things. I cannot even describe how cruel it was. Some children saw

invaders raping their mother, beating their father.

AMANPOUR: Kezenia (ph) volunteers as a psychologist here, seeing parents whose parents have had to hide with them in silence, or spent long periods

with no bathroom breaks.

And the body remembers this, even after reaching safety the child cannot go to the toilet she says. It's the same with speech. The parents have told

him to keep quiet. So, the child closes its mouth, does not know when they can talk again.

[17:10:02]

And so, they turn to these kind of games. And, Katarina (ph), the volunteer art therapist says, she sees them gradually come out of their shells, and

start to smile and connect again.

They seem to forget about their inner stress when they're making something like this, says Katarina.

Back in the construction zone, Mykhailyna has her own harrowing story of loss, and recovery. She says her first husband was killed in Donbas during

the first Russian invasion in 2014.

MYKHAILAYNA SKORYK, DEPUTY MAYOR, BUCHA CITY COUNCIL: When you lose your beloved, you have to find a new motivation, had all of, how to go on, how

to feel alive again. So, when I thought what would motivate me to lIve, I decided that look, I like to have a boy. A boy called Felip (ph) is my

first husband wanted. And, I met another man and realized that plan, you know --

AMANPOUR: That's fantastic.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Russian forces suffered heavy losses amid an ask region during a week of intense fighting. One Russian military journalist says the

situation has been discussed at the highest level of Russian leadership. And the blood keeps spilling.

Ukraine's defense minister says that they've received new air defense systems from the West, which will help to fend against missiles that Iran

is reportedly supplying to Russia.

Nic Robertson is with me from eastern Ukraine.

Nic, these new missile defense systems, if Russia continues the barrage of insults that it has on previous weeks against infrastructure, they won't

have enough missiles to go around to bring them down?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: They won't. They know that and that's the root of their appeal to the west for more. That was why

they were appealing a long time ago for more because Ukraine is obviously intimately engaged with the fight and knows intimately well what it needs,

these National Advance surface to air missile systems, NASAMS, one of them now the troops required to operate it have been trained outside the

country, they come in with the equipment, and it will be valuable.

But, the way that Russia is operating so far is to fire a lot of missiles and send a lot of drones at the same time to overwhelm the defensive

systems and target the places that they think are weakest. Russia's been able to bring the system to a sort of crippled state, whereby it only has a

few more slashes to make on the system. It could really bring it from standing to its knees and potentially beyond.

That's what we've heard from the mayor of Kyiv. It's what I heard from the mayor of Kramatorsk today, not to go into details. He wouldn't say it

publicly. But this region here is literally, literally on a thread that could be cut. It's a worry.

QUEST: Nic Robertson, who's there, and will continue to keep us informed as there are developments. Thank you, sir.

In the United States, its election eve, and nothing less than control Congress is at stake, when the polls open on Tuesday. All 435 seats in the

lower house, house of representatives, are at play. In the upper chamber, the Senate 35 seats are up for grabs. Tuesday, is officially election day,

when more than 41 million Americans have already cast their ballots. In early voting before the things even got underway. Republicans are expected

to take back the House, the Senate could and probably will be decided by a handful of tight races.

This shift in the balance of power could have enormous consequences both foreign and domestic policies. There's much at stake. Both political

parties are relying on the heavy hitters, as CNN's Karin Caifa reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): President Joe Biden isn't on the ballot, but for most Americans, it's their first chance to weigh in on his

party and policies.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This election isn't a referendum, it's a choice. It's a choice between two fundamentally

different visions of America.

CAIFA: Among states taking center stage in the battle for the U.S. Senate tight races in four that President Biden flipped in the 2020 presidential

election. Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania were Biden and former President Barack Obama stumped Saturday.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: Democracy itself is on the ballot. The stakes are high.

CAIFA: And former President Donald Trump also rallied.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: This election is your chance to make your voice heard.

[17:15:01]

CAIFA: Underscoring how 2022 may foreshadow the 2024 presidential contest.

Polls indicate most voters are looking at the economy right now as they cast ballots. Democrats touted Friday's October jobs report and

unemployment still near a half century low as assigned their economic policies are working, while Republicans point to the highest inflation in

40 years.

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): The inflation crushing our pocketbooks, can't fill up our tank, can't fill up our grocery cart.

CAIFA: Democrats hope the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June will motivate voters, especially women, while Republicans have

accused Democrats of being weak on crime especially in major cities.

Both parties eager to drive turnout in their favor.

On Capitol Hill, I'm Karin Caifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the recent attack on husband couldn't fluids her decisions about a political future. The speaker spoke

exclusively to CNN's Anderson Cooper on the eve of the midterms. It was her first interview since a man broke into our San Francisco at home and

attacked her husband with a hammer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC360: There's obviously been a lot of discussion about whether you'd retire if Democrats lose the House. I know

you're not going to answer that question so I'm not even going to ask that question.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I'm glad.

COOPER: But I will ask, can you confirm that you've made a decision about what you would do?

PELOSI: That's like asking the question, isn't it?

COOPER: I'm not is asking what the decision is. I'm just asking have you looked ahead and made a decision in your mind, whatever that decision might

be?

PELOSI: Well, I have to say my decision would be affected by what happened in the last week or two.

COOPER: Will your decision be impacted by the attack in any way?

PELOSI: Yes.

COOPER: It will?

PELOSI: Uh-huh, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: If you want to see the full interview with the speaker on "AC360", less than three hours from now, which makes it 8:00 in Eastern Time.

And a note that you want to make a note of, don't forget Tuesday, we'll have in-depth special coverage of the U.S. midterm elections. It will begin

at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, that's 9:00 in London and, of course, that's 10:00 on the Central European time zone.

As you and I continue tonight, let me brief you on Tanzania's prime minister. He says Sunday's plane crash killed at least 19 people, it's a

tragic accident. While Pakistan's former prime is ministers out of hospital, he survived an apparent assassination attempt, and he says it was

an inside job.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:20:53]

QUEST: This is THE GLOBAL BRIEF.

Tanzania's prime minister says Sunday's plane crash that killed at least 19 people is a tragic accident that will never happen again. Speaking at a

funeral service for the victims, he reassured the public that air transportation is still safe.

CNN's Larry Madowo reports from Johannesburg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rescuers desperately search for survivors among the air wreckage of an aircraft submerge in Africa's

largest freshwater. Like the videos posted to social media show the plane almost entirely underwater, with only the tail visible.

Nearby onlookers and fishermen join in on the search and rescue operations. Officials say the 19 of the 42 people who were in the plane died, including

the captain and first officer after the passenger plane crashed in Tanzania. The position operated flight had taken off from Tanzania's

commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, and was destined for the northwestern city of Bukoba. But heavy rainfall and strong winds led the flight to

plunge into Lake Victoria, officials reported.

The CEO of Precision Air fought back tears as he updated reporters in Dar es Salaam.

PATRICK WANRI, CEO, PRECISION AIR (through translator): Our team and the authorities are heading to Bukoba to investigate what happened to this

accident. So, I'd like to give my condolences to all Tanzanians and the Precision Air families. Let's be united in this tragedy and may God help

us.

MADOWO: Tanzania's prime minister -- and officials believe that all bodies have been recovered. Names of the 18 dead were released, apart from one

woman, who remains unidentified. The airline has also opened a crisis management center to communicate with families as they continue to

investigate what went so wrong.

Larry Madowo, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Allow me to take a look at the other key stories making headlines today.

Iran state news agency says it's now arrested 26 people in connection of last month's attack on a Shia shrine in the southern part of the country.

The attack killed at least 15 people, dozens more wounded. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Senior military officials from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front met in Kenya to discuss the implementation of a

truce signed only days ago. Of course, hostilities an immediate humanitarian access to Tigray.

Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, has left hospital following an attack in which he was shot. He was hit in the leg last Thursday while

touring the country in a push for early elections. He claims without providing evidence, Pakistan's current prime minister was one of seven

officials across the apparent assassination attempt. One person was killed, and 11 more wounded.

He spoke to Becky Anderson a short while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMRAN KHAN, FORMER PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: Look, it was a planned assassination attempt. And we knew about. It I went on air beforehand. I

warned them that this is what would happen. They would blame it on some religious fanatic.

And why, after the attack, there's things that, the cover-up that's going on. So, that's why I've called for an independent investigation. These

three people were responsible. If an independent, a proper investigations to be done, with them on top, it can never happen because the investigative

agencies are below them.

That's why I also appeal to the chief justice of Pakistan to have an independent inquiry. If my allegations are wrong, then the inquiries would

think they're wrong. I know the sequence of events. I know the cover-up that took place. And it's still taking place and we know that this was

planned, not now. Months ago.

I don't need any reason to accuse this government for me to get back into power. Every opinion poll in Pakistan, 75 percent of the by-elections have

been won by us.

[17:25:03]

All the opinion polls, this is the most popular party. You don't need to accuse people of assassination, so you can get more popular in this

country. We know what is happening.

You know, the two people I have accused, Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, and the interior minister, both have been accused for a massacre,

12 people were massacred. And about 60 were hit with bullets, when the police opened fire at an unarmed crowd, which was at a political protest.

It's called the modern town massacre.

They've been accused of killing people, assassination, extrajudicial killing. This is not the first time they've done it. As for the

intelligence agencies, the person and officer involved, we know how the evidence was -- how this whole plot opened up. We know that, who made the

video, from where it went, which journalists, how it was orchestrated. And then the cover-up that's taken place --

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: OK.

KHAN: How is this guy allowed to --

ANDERSON: I'm hearing your accusations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Becky Anderson talking to Imran Khan.

Finally tonight, if you've ordered an iPhone 14 Pro, we've been waiting a while to receive it entirely possibly. Apple's assembly line factory in

China, which is run by Foxconn, has been grappling with a COVID outbreak since October. And China's commitment to it's zero COVID policy, means

iPhone shipments will be affected, and all before Christmas.

Facebook's parent company, Meta's, planning the first significant layoffs in its history. Meta is dealing with shrinking business and fears of a

recession. The cuts are expected to impact thousands of workers and could be announced as early as next week.

On the other side of the coin, Twitter now apparently is asking dozens of employees who were fired to return to work in the company, or at least

that's the rumor going around at the moment. They've been asked to come back, some of them.

All right. Thank you for watching. You are now fully briefed on what's happening in the world.

"WORLD SPORT" is next.

END