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Race for the White House; Fighting for Iraq; Crisis in Syria; Opposition Wants to Remove Maduro; London Crowned World's Best. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired October 29, 2016 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00]
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HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's imperative that the bureau explain this issue in question, whatever it is, without any delay.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The issue in question: emails. The latest drama haunting Hillary Clinton and her campaign.
A smile despite war: ISIS victims find sanctuary in a refugee camp.
And take a look at the best city in the world: London. What residents have to say about their new title.
From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
And America's choice 2016: 10 days to go until Election Day and there is new turmoil in the Clinton campaign. The FBI has uncovered thousands of emails that may be pertinent to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's private server.
A law enforcement source tells CNN the newly discovered emails are from one of Clinton's top aides, not from Hillary Clinton herself. Our Jim Sciutto explains how an unrelated FBI investigation led back to Clinton's email server.
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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven days to the election, the FBI director informing lawmakers he is reviewing new emails related to the Clinton email investigation.
Law enforcement officials tell CNN the new emails were not from Clinton herself and were found on a device being examined as part of the probe into Anthony Weiner, who was recently separated from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.
SCIUTTO: This three months after the FBI recommended closing the probe.
In connection with an unrelated case, Comey wrote to eight congressional committee chairmen, "The FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear pertinent to the investigation."
Director Comey continued that the FBI will, quote, "review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.
"I cannot predict how long it will take us to complete this additional work," he wrote.
All this after Director Comey declared on July 5 that Clinton had acted carelessly but not criminally.
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: In looking back at our investigations into the mishandling or removal of classified information, we cannot find a case that would support bringing criminal charges on these facts.
SCIUTTO: Arriving in the key battleground state of Iowa, Hillary Clinton ignored questions on the topic.
However, campaign chair John Podesta released a statement saying, quote, "The director owes it to the American people to immediately provide the full details of what he has is now examining. We are confident this will not produce any conclusions different from the one the FBI reached in July."
Donald Trump, however, pounced at a rally in another battleground, New Hampshire.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office.
SCIUTTO: Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, tweeted "A great day in our campaign just got even better."
House Speaker Paul Ryan, until now locked in a public dispute with his party's nominee, accused Clinton of mishandling, quote, "the nation's most important secrets" before renewing his call for the director of national intelligence to suspend all classified briefings for Secretary Clinton until this matter is fully resolved.
Director Comey said in his letter he's not certain if these e-mails are significant. Our reporting is there are thousands of them. Determining whether there is classified information contained in those e-mails will require consulting with multiple intelligence agencies. It is not an exact science; there is often disagreement. It's a process that will certainly take longer than 11 days -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Jim, thank you for the report.
Hillary Clinton was caught off guard by the FBI discovery. Frustrated over the lack of details, Clinton implored that agency to make public everything that it knows. Listen.
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CLINTON: First we knew about it is, I assume, when you knew about it, when this letter sent to Republican members of the House was released. So we don't know the facts, which is why we are calling on the FBI to release all the information -- [05:05:00]
CLINTON: -- that it has.
Even Director Comey noted that this new information may not be significant. So let's get it out.
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HOWELL: All right. And the vice president of the United States also weighing in. Joe Biden, he said that that all of the newly found emails could be released without jeopardizing the FBI's investigation. Here's what he had to say.
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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hillary, if she said what I'm told she said, is correct, they should release the emails for the whole world to see, the whole world to see. They can continue their investigation. It won't, to the best of my knowledge it won't prejudice the investigation.
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HOWELL: No doubt the timing of all of this could not have been better for the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. His campaign has been struggling for weeks. But as soon as the FBI director broke the news to Congress, the Republican candidate then ran with it. He called it, quote, "the biggest political scandal since Watergate," and after Clinton addressed the issue, Trump accused her of lying. Listen.
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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In her very brief remarks tonight, Hillary Clinton tried to politicize this investigation by attacking and falsely accusing the FBI director of only sending the letter to Republicans, another Clinton lie.
As it turned out it was sent to both Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress. The FBI would have never have reopened this case at this time unless it were a most egregious criminal offense.
As you know, I've had plenty of words about the FBI lately, but I give them great credit for having the courage to right this horrible wrong.
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HOWELL: All right. So we've laid out the details of the investigation. You've heard the responses and a lot of finger- pointing for sure. Let's bring in CNN Politics reporter Eugene Scott to break it all down for us, live via Skype in Washington.
Eugene, it is always a pleasure to have you with us to make sense of all of this. There's an article on cnn.com that I certainly urge our viewers to take a look at; it's titled "The bizarre day that blunted Clinton's good mood."
It really sets the stage for all that we're going to talk about today. Ten days before this election, before Election Day, going into it, Clinton's standings, when it comes to her handling of e-mail, take a look at this poll that basically says whether people think that it affects her character and ability to be president; 62 percent say, yes, it does; 37 percent say that it doesn't.
So, Eugene, we heard Hillary Clinton's response earlier, suggesting that, look, it's already baked in really with voters who have decided to vote for Hillary Clinton.
But what about those independent voters?
And what about those states where early voting is happening right now?
Will this matter?
EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, 10 days before the election I think most people believe that voters have made up their minds and people know who they are going to back when they go to the polls. Email controversy isn't new to the Clinton campaign.
And I think voters have factored in by now whether or not this affects them and what they believe regarding who should lead this country.
HOWELL: The Trump campaign seizing on all of this. You heard Donald Trump earlier saying that this is, quote, "the biggest political scandal since Watergate."
How is that playing with his base?
And again, the question for Donald Trump, who needs to broaden from his base to actually make a play in these swing states, will this help him?
SCOTT: Well, of course, it's being well received by its base. They agree that this is, as he would say, the biggest scandal since Watergate. It's important to get facts in there and to communicate that none of these emails that are currently being investigated were to or from Hillary Clinton.
Whether or not Trump can expand beyond his base 10 days out, based off of this, would take quite a bit more than just him criticizing Clinton the same way that he has before because that hasn't expanded it before.
But if he wants to get more people on board the Trump train, I think there's some policy issues he could address that would be more effective than talking about Clinton emails.
HOWELL: The facts are very important, as you point out rightly, that these emails are not from Hillary Clinton, according to sources. Rather they are from Huma Abedin's e-mail, again, not from Hillary Clinton.
But let's talk about the director and the question here. Obviously he has pointed out that he is still uncertain of what could be in these emails.
So the question, did the director, in a sense, jump the gun with this?
And also, what would this mean for voters?
Hillary Clinton's campaign is saying, look, if you have information, it needs to be released so that voters can see it and --
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HOWELL: -- make up their minds.
SCOTT: Some Democratic lawmakers certainly believe he jumped the gun because he did not announce in detail what was happening with these emails and the investigation, which allow Clinton critics to ask start rumors or ask questions that create a deeper and bigger cloud of suspicion.
Whether or not that will motivate voters who are already on Clinton's team to back away, it's doubtful at this point. They often don't feel like they have a better option, even those who are questionable or critical of Hillary Clinton.
And so I don't think this is something that will make them say that they they're not going to back her this November.
HOWELL: Eugene Scott, live very early there in Washington, D.C., Eugene, thank you for the insight. We'll stay in touch with you.
SCOTT: Thank you.
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HOWELL: The battle for Mosul: the United Nations says that ISIS executed 232 people -- 232 civilians just outside the city for being disobedient. ISIS reportedly carried out the mass killings on Wednesday as Iraqi security forces advanced on its last urban stronghold.
In the meantime, Iraq says that those troops are making progress in reclaiming Mosul. They're holding positions very close to the city and we're learning that Iraqi paramilitary forces are beginning an operation to cut ISIS' supply lines to the west of Mosul. CNN's Michael Holmes is on the ground live in Irbil, Iraq, following
developments for us this hour.
Michael, first, let's talk about the advances that you're hearing about on the battlefield and also these disagreements between the United States and Iraqis.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a little bit of confusion, mixed messages if you like. We know that there are still towns and villages yet to be taken before everyone is at Mosul.
Some units are very close, within a couple of kilometers; some have eyes on the city but others are still 20-30 kilometers away. The pace of the offensive came into question when American officials said Friday that the Iraqis would pause on some fronts to allow other units to catch up and consolidate their positions. That would almost make sense.
But almost immediately, Iraqi commanders said not so; that the U.S. comments were inaccurate. Important what you just mentioned there, the Hashd al-Shaabi, or the popular mobilization units, these are Shia paramilitary. They have officially announced that they have launched operations toward the west of the Mosul area, to cut ISIS' supply lines.
They're putting thousands of fighters into the one area really where ISIS has been able to cross back and forth from Iraq and Syria, where, of course, they have their de facto capital. So that's an important development on the battlefront -- George.
HOWELL: Michael, also what more do you know?
What are we hearing about what's happening actually inside the city of Mosul at this point?
HOLMES: Well, we do know that there's been more rounding up of civilians going on in there. There's this rule by terror happening at the moment. You get caught with a cell phone in Mosul, you will probably die. It's that bad.
And so getting information out is getting more difficult. However, we have heard in the last hour or so that there have been some pretty accurate coalition airstrikes on a number of targets inside of Mosul.
One other thing we've been hearing more about is this sort of rounding up by ISIS of civilians from towns and villages just on the outskirts of Mosul, even the outer suburbs. And we're hearing that they're actually, in one case, being brought in, in numbers, in their thousands, and basically dumped in the center of the city and left to their own devices -- no food, no water, no shelter provided. Just put there.
And this is all part of the human shield, which is a weapon of ISIS, let's face it. It's going to be difficult to see how you assault a city with so many civilians, not just present but being actively used as human shields. And those numbers being added to it appears every day -- George.
HOWELL: Human shields; obviously as these forces move forward, that will be a difficulty, a very complicated part of this fight.
And if you could, just tell us a bit more, so 232 people. These civilians who were executed being disobedient -- Michael.
HOLMES: Yes, well, many of those, we're told were former members of the security forces, either the military or the police. We also did hear -- there's something else, too, that came up the other day, which is isolated, sporadic incidents of local resistance popping up and shooting ISIS members; five were killed the other day.
But then what happened was ISIS went in and rounded up hundreds --
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HOLMES: -- of people after that happened. Now we're told that civilians from that group have been released back. Again, members of security forces or police and so on have been kept. So you've got this situation where those 232, most of those were from the security forces.
But also we're hearing now of more former members of the security forces, even the police. We heard even traffic cops being pulled aside and kept by ISIS at the moment inside of Mosul.
And given the fate of those 232, you can only wonder what the fate is of those they're rounding up now. One of the tragedies of what happened when ISIS came into town was all the records, the employment records of the security forces, right down to the local traffic cops, were still there. ISIS knows who these people are and it seems like they've been rounding them up and isolating them. And one can't imagine what their fate might be -- George.
HOWELL: CNN's Michael Holmes, live in Irbil, Iraq, following developments for us.
Michael, we appreciate your reporting and wish you and our other crews on the ground there continued safety as you bring us the news of events. Thank you.
Libyan forces are also battling ISIS. On Friday, they targeted militant snipers hiding in Sirte. But some of the commanders escaped. The North African city fell to ISIS more than a year ago. Defeating ISIS there would destroy its main stronghold outside of Iraq and Syria. The group took control during factional fighting after the death of the former leader, Moammar Gadhafi.
Syrian rebels are pushing for East Aleppo. A new assault began on that besieged city after more than a week of peace. Details still ahead.
Plus: a Halloween weekend that feels, well, more like springtime. More coming up on the spooky warm weather that is affecting much of the United States. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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HOWELL: At least 15 people are dead and more than 100 others wounded after a new assault in the city of Aleppo. The Russian military asked the president, Vladimir Putin, for permission to resume its airstrikes after rebels started their offensive.
But Mr. Putin said that now is not the right time. CNN's Ivan Watson has the very latest for us.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Residents of the divided Syrian city of Aleppo woke up to --
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WATSON (voice-over): -- an awful sound on Friday, barrage of rockets, mortars and artillery launched by rebels.
It was part of a rebel offensive against the Western government- controlled part of the city, aimed at breaking through Syrian government siege lines around Aleppo's rebel-controlled east.
To punch through government fortifications, rebels unleashed at least three armored car bombs, equipped with devastating firepower. As the rebels attacked, the top diplomats from the Syrian government and its most important foreign patrons, Russia and Iran, met in Moscow, Russia's foreign minister blaming the rebels for the collapse of a brief unilateral cessation of airstrikes, declared by Moscow and Damascus last week.
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Today the situation in the region of Aleppo has seriously deteriorated. The cease-fire has been broken by the opposition. The United States and their allies in the region were unwilling or unable to maintain the cease-fire.
WATSON (voice-over): The Syrian government and Russia bombed besieged Eastern Aleppo for months, killing at least 400 people there in October alone, according to a top United Nations official.
STEPHEN O'BRIEN, U.N. EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: The Aleppo offensive by Syrian and Russian military forces has been the most sustained and intensive aerial bombardment campaign witnessed since the beginning of the conflict more than half a decade ago.
The results in human terms have been horrific. Aleppo has essentially become a kill zone.
WATSON: The fact is, there are no angels in this awful, grinding five-year war. In the last few days, independent observers have accused both the Syrian regime and the rebels of carrying deadly attacks against schools in Northern Syria.
WATSON (voice-over): The U.N. saying airstrikes against a school near the rebel-held city of Idlib killed dozens, including at least 20 children on Tuesday, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel artillery killed at least six children in government-held Aleppo on Thursday.
And with the rebels' latest indiscriminate shelling of Western Aleppo, the grim death toll in Syria just continues to rise -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.
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HOWELL: An engine failure set fire to a commercial jetliner at Chicago's international O'Hare airport -- this is according to sources close to the investigation. Everyone on the American Airlines flight got out quickly after the pilots aborted the takeoff Friday.
Wow, a lot of smoke coming out of that plane. About 20 people had minor injuries.
And a FedEx cargo plane burst into flames, forcing the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to shut down for a few hours Friday. This video obtained by CNN shows an explosion shooting debris into the air. Investigators say the fire occurred after the plane's landing gear collapsed as it was landing. No one was hurt in that incident.
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HOWELL: 5:25 on the U.S. East Coast. Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, many voters don't like either of their choices in the U.S. election. CNN spoke with some who still can't make up their minds.
Live from Atlanta, broadcasting this hour across the United States and around the world, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you.
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HOWELL: The FBI has uncovered thousands of emails that may be relevant, may be pertinent to the investigation of Hillary Clinton's private server. Clinton did not send or receive the emails and said they came from a device used by Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton.
They were discovered during an unrelated FBI probe of Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. The FBI director says that he notified Congress about the emails because they appeared to be pertinent to the earlier investigation.
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HOWELL: And all this playing out 10 days before Election Day. Fair to say that the FBI director is taking some heat. Earlier my colleague, Natalie Allen, asked CNN political commentator Ryan Lizza about the longstanding practice at the Justice Department to do nothing that could be seen as trying to influence the election. Listen.
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RYAN LIZZA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. A lot of former Justice Department officials have noted today that there is a ironclad rule at the Justice Department, do not do anything that could impact a presidential race.
And that means don't -- you know, there's this sort of a 60-day rule. Now Comey apparently believed that, because he'd already gone public with this investigation, he'd released all the internal documents from this investigation and he had told Congress in testimony that this investigation was over, he apparently believed that he had a responsibility to report back to Congress on this new development.
You know, I think the Clinton campaign is rightfully, you know, upset about this, that he sort of dropped this bomb with no further detail. So as you point out, she came out tonight and said, wait a second, you're throwing this out there without any information, allowing others to sort of fill in the blanks or assume the worst. Give us some more information about what's going on here, what exactly are you looking at?
The fact that this is -- that this is Anthony Weiner's laptop has only been disclosed anonymously from government officials. That was not in the FBI director's letter. So a lot of this is coming out in drips from anonymous officials rather than in a more formal way from the FBI director.
The Clinton campaign is saying that's not good enough. Tell the American people exactly what's going on here. Because look, voters are rightfully confused about this development. And it's very hard for them to sort of understand whether this is something explosive or just some bureaucratic, you know, just the bureaucracy spinning its wheels.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And this gives new fuel to Trump, of course, who has previous seen his poll numbers increase again and this gives renewed oomph to his Crooked Hillary stance.
LIZZA: It sure does. And you know, this campaign has been very unusual in that when the focus is on Trump, Trump's numbers tend to go down. When the focus is on Hillary Clinton, her numbers tend to go down or, at the very least, Trump numbers seem to go up.
So Hillary Clinton lost 2-3 points the last time that this e-mail issue was -- there was a bright spotlight on this. And so just based on that pattern, I think you'd have to expect that this is not good for her.
The spotlight is back on questions about this sort of complicated e- mail scandal. And with 11 days to go, you know, she has to be concerned that this will turn off some of those final voters who are making up their mind.
And it's a tricky thing. She came out today and said she wants more information about this from the FBI director. On the other hand, that will also keep this in the news if the FBI does go forward with some more information. I was sort of curious that they did that.
I thought maybe the best thing for them would be to just not say anything and let the news cycle move on to something else. But it seems like we are going to be talking about it right up until Election Day.
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HOWELL: And in fact, we're getting some information here in to CNN at this point about James Comey; that he instead made an independent decision to go against longstanding Justice Department and FBI practice not to comment publicly about politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of the election.
So, again, this is sort of an unprecedented move when it comes to standard with, again, 10 days to go before Election Day.
The email controversy that will --
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HOWELL: -- not go away is one of the many issues confronting American voters. CNN's Jessica Schneider spoke with some who are conflicted and confused in the state of North Carolina.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really having an issue with Trump this year. And I don't really want to vote for Hillary, either.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just kind of stumped right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really not sure which side I want to go with.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a must-win state for Donald Trump. And with just days to go, it's still a toss- up for some here in Apex, North Carolina. Al Casteletto (ph) showed up to vote early at the town center --
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SCHNEIDER (voice-over): -- still undecided.
SCHNEIDER: You're walking in to vote.
Have you made up your mind?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I have not.
SCHNEIDER: What's keeping you from making that decision?
AL CASTELETTO (PH), EARLY VOTER: It's a tough decision this year. There's so many different aspects of the election this year.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): He prides himself on being independent, but this year's vote left him unsure of his decision, until the very end.
SCHNEIDER: You're going to wait in line a little bit, get that ballot, when are you going to make your decision?
CASTELETTO (PH): When I have the ballot in front of me, I'm going to say, this is my decision. I'm going to live with it and that's it. That's where I stand right now.
SCHNEIDER: Casteletto (ph) thinks he's just one of many of conflicted voters and he may be right.
KITTY SWENNES, EARLY VOTER: When you go in, you want to make sure you make the right choice for my children, for what's going on in the world. It's so hard with what's available to us.
SCHNEIDER: Shannon Martin usually votes Republican, but he's wrestling with his decision.
SHANNON MARTIN, UNDECIDED VOTER: If there was a third party option that I knew was going to make a difference that would throw it to whether neither candidate would get 270 electoral votes, then I would probably lean more towards that way.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): So you want neither candidate to get 270 electoral votes?
MARTIN: I'd rather that happen.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Bev McKernie has always voted Republican. This year, she's not so sure.
BEV MCKERNIE, UNDECIDED VOTER: I am, I'm conflicted and I don't know what I going to do until I probably get there.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): You'll just close your eyes and vote?
MCKERNIE: Yes.
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Her 26-year-old daughter, Shannon, is equally torn.
SCHNEIDER: Have you made up your mind yet, for your vote? SHANNON MCKERNIE, UNDECIDED VOTER: No, I haven't. I'll probably lean towards Hillary because I don't like what's been said in the news about Donald Trump and what he's been saying.
SCHNEIDER: You'll look for divine intervention?
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Many looking for divine intervention to help with their decision, but most people agree it is their civic duty and they plan to get out and vote -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Apex, North Carolina.
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HOWELL: The battle to retake Mosul is being called the largest operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion. As troops get closer, they're finding a network of complex tunnels that ISIS militants have used. CNN's Arwa Damon filed this report from the front lines of the fighting to show us what's happening there.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attack helicopters swoop overhead, a suicide truck bomb detonates, counter terrorism soldiers unleash their firepower on the town of Bartella, once a peaceful Christian enclave.
Days after ISIS was driven out, they find this.
Inside a residential home, rooms filled with dirt from the tunnel complex we're about to enter, some 20 feet underground.
Look at this cable, they were even running electricity down here.
It's sort of a staircase that they've carved out that goes all the way up to the road.
It's pretty narrow and hard to move through here.
This goes all the way up into a hole that opens up onto the street that we were just walking down. And ISIS fighters were able to use this, to move up and launch surprise attacks.
Bartella's residents had fled before ISIS arrived. But in other areas, liberation takes on a more profound meaning, as civilian populations held hostage for more than two years take refuge in newly built camps.
Still, there are smiles. It's over for now. They survived.
Nine-year-old Fatima hid with her family under the stairs as street battles raged around them.
(Speaking foreign language). She says she was scared. And there were a lot of airstrikes.
Her uncle says an airstrike destroyed the wall in their home.
Dina (ph) tells of living in a constant state of terror. She and her family escaped just a few days ago and they brought their pigeons.
She's had pigeons --
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DAMON: -- in her family ever since she was a little girl. And for the last five months, there was no television at home. So the pigeons went from being a hobby to pretty much being their only source of entertainment, especially for the children.
DAMON (voice-over): And though they don't know what the future will bring, now, for the first time in two years, they can sleep in peace -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Hazid (ph), Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Arwa Damon, thank you for that report.
Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, Venezuela's embattled president uses threats and incentives to counteract the nationwide strike. We'll have details on Nicolas Maduro's plans.
Plus: paying their final respects, mourners in Thailand visit the late king as his body lies in state. Stay with us.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has dealt a blow to his rivals. Their plans for a crippling nationwide strike Friday were far from a success. That may be because the controversial president made some new threats and also made some new promises. Our Shasta Darlington takes a closer look for us.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro managed to knock the wind out of a general strike by threatening to seize control of companies that participated and by announcing a 40 percent increase in minimum wage, aimed at easing some of the anger and frustration that many Venezuelans feel.
Now that doesn't mean that some establishments didn't close their doors; the streets were more empty than usual and some students didn't go to school but it was far from the crippling paralyzation (sic) that the opposition had hoped for. Maduro even --
[05:45:00]
DARLINGTON: -- got an important show of force with a large pro- government rally, vowing to stand by him.
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NICOLAS MADURO, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA (through translator): And I can tell you today, at this hour, that the strike summoned by the fascist right has been a failure.
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DARLINGTON: That doesn't mean, however, that the pressure is off. The opposition is furious after the government blocked efforts to hold a national referendum that could have seen Maduro voted out of office this year.
They've been staging massive demonstrations; they now say they're going to march on the presidential palace next Thursday unless the government reverses its decisions and there are concerns that things could get ugly with the vice president calling on government supporters to show up in the same place at the same time.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): You're thinking that you will go out there and oust Maduro but we will be there ensuring that Maduro is not leaving, that Maduro will continue to be president.
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DARLINGTON: All parties have agreed to sit down for talks on Sunday. Those talks will be mediated by the Vatican. But at this point it just seems that there's so little that they agree on -- Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.
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HOWELL: Shasta, thank you.
Colombia says it is making progress towards saving a peace deal with a Marxist rebel group known as the FARC. Both sides are back at the negotiating table in Havana. They're trying to come up with a new deal after voters rejected the last one. Opponents say the original deal was too easy on the rebels waged a long and bloody insurgency in that nation.
In Bangkok, thousands of mourners are being allowed into the city's grand palace. That is where the body of Thailand's late king is lying in state. Crowds have gathered outside the palace since his death two weeks ago. The Thai king reigned for 70 years and was seen as a stabilizing force in the kingdom. Officials say mourning will last a year.
Still ahead here on NEWSROOM, from pipes and pubs, to Dickens and Shakespeare, why London has been crowned the best city on the planet. Stay with us.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.
Bob Dylan finally has an answer.
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HOWELL (voice-over): The brand new Nobel laureate says that he will go to Sweden to accept the prize for literature, if it is at all possible. A trailblazing musician, he's been silent about winning the honor for two weeks, prompting a member of the Nobel committee to call him "arrogant."
Dylan tells British newspaper, "The Guardian," though, that he was left speechless by that announcement.
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HOWELL: All right, it's been 71 years. For the first time, a World Series game was played at legendary Wrigley Field in the city of Chicago. But the Cleveland Indians, they stole the show. They spoiled it for the Cubs' historic home game, beating them 1-0 on Friday. Pinch-hitter Coco Crisp hit a single in the 7th inning to bring in the lone run.
Cleveland now leads the best of seven series, 2-1. The teams play again Saturday in Chicago.
All right. So this place has got plenty of rain. Of course, there is that symbolic bridge. You know where we're talking about, the city of London. London has been declared the best city in the world. Accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers says that it tops Paris, it tops New York and Sydney, Australia. Even with that weather in Sydney. CNN correspondent Phil Black compares the British capital to his hometown, Sydney.
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PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For about 10 years now, on and off, I've lived in London, where life takes place under an endlessly gray sky -- or at least that's what it feels like.
But when I think of my hometown, Sydney, I think of the color blue. That's the sky and the ocean there, for most of the year.
In London, there's the daily crunch of the tube, where getting growled at or sneezed on is all generously included in the ticket price. While in Sydney, I could commute by ferry across one of the most
beautiful harbors in the world.
And in London, there are people, so many people everywhere.
In Sydney, everyone gets their own beach -- not quite, but you get the idea.
Now kicking London brings no pleasure; I love this place. Truly, it's my adopted home but I was surprised recently -- so were many of my colleagues, mostly Brits -- when we learned that this challenging, often infuriating city had topped a list of the world's best cities.
And when you think about the competition, we wanted to know how is that possible?
Accounting giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers released two studies, one a survey of around 5,000 people, measuring the perceptions of international cities; the other, an analysis of the facts.
Sydney came fifth for perception, 10th for reality. London is number one in both rankings.
London scored very highly for international connections, well- developed infrastructure and legal frameworks, political influence and being a leader. That could be because most of those surveyed are described as "informed elites" and "business decision-makers," a demographic also known as those who regularly wear suits.
Best city in the world?
Go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: London.
BLACK: Why London?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cosmopolitan, business, ease of access, rule of law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's a great city.
BLACK: You notice the color of the sky, though, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. If it could also have the weather of Australia, it would be even better.
BLACK: Wouldn't it just?
BLACK (voice-over): For affordability, London ranked close to the bottom of the list. That's not news to those who live across town, far from the suits. But most still agree, this is the best city in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no place on Earth that you can compare with London. Might be a little bit expensive but, hey, don't worry about. Let's forget that.
BLACK: It's hard to forget that, though, because it is really expensive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is really expensive. They say it's one of the most expensive places in the world but listen, everywhere's expensive at the moment.
BLACK (voice-over): Andrew Cook (ph) works for the agency which is paid to promote London's good image abroad.
BLACK: There is a real risk that London's perception internationally could take a hit because of Brexit, right?
[05:55:00]
ANDREW COOK, PROMO AGENT: Well, I think, where there uncertainty and clearly Brexit is causing some uncertainty at the moment, then there is a risk to business.
BLACK (voice-over): Ultimately, London finished first by performing strongly in most categories, despite its famous weaknesses. Londoners have learned how to endure those.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget the weather.
Forget the weather.
(LAUGHTER).
BLACK: Forget the weather, forget how expensive it is.
Can you forget the traffic?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget the traffic.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, forget all that. No, don't look at the negative side.
BLACK (voice-over): Phil Black, CNN, reporting from, arguably, the best city in the world.
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HOWELL: Arguably.
Phil, thank you so much.
Halloween is not until Monday. But that didn't stop a couple in England from having a bit of a scare.
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HOWELL (voice-over): They discovered this intruder in the back seat of their new car, a 5-foot-long snake that had wrapped itself around their dog's leg. After calling police, the reptile somehow slithered away. Experts think it's harmless. The couple, though, thinks it's still hiding somewhere in that car.
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HOWELL: I think I'd just walk or maybe catch a cab or something else.
Thank you for being with us. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. For our viewers in the United States, "NEW DAY" is next. For other viewers around the world, "The Best of Quest" starts in a moment. Thank you for watching CNN, the world's news leader.
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