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Coronavirus Pandemic; Pfizer Seeks Authorization of Vaccine for Children 5-11; U.S. Senate Approves Compromise, House Vote to Come; Saudi-Led Consortium Buys Newcastle United; Proposed Law Seeks Prison for LGBTQ People; Police find massive collection in suspected pedophile's home; UK police under fire for abuse; India's power plants face critical shortage of coal. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 08, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all you watching us from around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on "CNN Newsroom," the COVID vaccine could soon be available for children in the United States. Pfizer is applying for emergency use authorization to put vaccine into millions of young arms.

Controversy off the field in the English Premier League, a group of Saudi Arabian businesses take over Newcastle United despite concerns the Saudi government is behind the deal.

And a proposed law in Ghana would make it a felony to be gay or even an ally to the LGBTQ community. We will have a look at what's behind this homophobic legislation.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is "CNN Newsroom" Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER (on camera): All right. We begin in the U.K. where the British government has announced it is removing 47 countries and territories from the red list of restricted travel destinations. They include Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa. Fully vaccinated travellers returning to England from these nations will no longer have to enter hotel quarantine. The updates will take effect October 11th.

And the World Health Organization is setting an ambitious goal to vaccinate 70 percent of the global population by the middle of next year. As you can see here, little more than a third of the world's population is fully vaccinated, according to "Our World in Data." That's due in part to vaccine inequity.

The U.N. secretary general had some harsh words over the lack of access that poorer nations have to these vital doses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Not to have equitable distribution of vaccines is not only a question of being immoral. It is also a question of being stupid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (on camera): Meanwhile, Pfizer says it is seeking emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of its COVID vaccine for young children. If approved, kids between the ages of 5 and 11 could soon receive Pfizer shots, pushing the overall vaccination rate in the U.S. much higher. The Biden administration says it is ready to go once authorization is complete.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: If there is approval, authorization, and CDC recommendation, we are ready. We have the supply. We are working with states to set up convenient locations for parents and kids to get vaccinated, including pediatrician offices in community sites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER (on camera): So if the vaccine is authorized for young children, parents should have plenty of questions. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Doctor Gupta tells us how the approval process is likely to work.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This means that Pfizer clearly feels good about the data that they've collected on children now ages 5 to 11, good enough to submit this for emergency use authorization.

We've seen them do this obviously throughout the pandemic with the vaccine that was authorized for adults and now approved, as you can see there on the screen, for people 16 and older. The vaccine is still under emergency use authorization for those 12 to 15, and this would now expand that EUA to 5 to 11-year-olds as well.

That's what we are talking about. That's what Pfizer is going to try and do. Remember, for the emergency use authorization, what they are trying to figure out is, do the benefits outweigh the risks? That's the basic question they're trying to answer. They're going to review the data over the next few weeks.

October 26th, we know that there is a meeting scheduled with the advisory committee. They will make a decision and then recommend to the FDA whether or not this vaccine should be authorized for children ages 5 to 11. The FDA then decides if they want to do that or not. And then it goes to the CDC, which makes the official recommendation.

So again, October 26th, that next process to the official recommendation could take a few days, so potentially by Halloween. As I've said before, you could potentially have this vaccine authorized for people that young.

Keep in mind it does take some time for people then to be able to get the shots. Young people probably getting them from pharmacies or from their pediatrician offices. You get one shot, and then you wait three weeks. You get another shot, and then it is two weeks after that really before you are considered fully vaccinated.

So that is something else to keep in mind. Even though the authorization happened, it doesn't mean everyone is going to be automatically fully vaccinated. That takes time.

It also depends on what parents do. You get about a third of parents who say they will go out and get this vaccine right away for children. About 25 percent say they won't do it really no matter what. But those numbers may change after the FDA sort of affirms the authorization, if that happens. So will see how that sort of shakes out.

[02:05:00]

GUPTA: But keep in mind we are talking about nine percent of the population here. And it is true -- I want to just be clear, it is true that children are less likely to get sick. And I'm sure that's part of the balance that parents are thinking about.

But they also are reminded that kids can get sick. And sometimes, they can develop these long-lasting symptoms even. This is a strange virus. We don't know why it causes those long-lasting symptoms.

And also, again, the more people that get immunity, including through vaccination of younger populations, the quicker we are likely to be looking at this thing in the rear view mirror. I think a lot of pediatricians will be reminding parents to do this for the health of your child, but you do this for the collective of society as well.

We will get more details as those details come to us, and we will certainly bring them to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me from Menlo Park, California is Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease specialist with Stanford Medicine. Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, last month, children here in the U.S. accounted for up to one in four COVID infections. So, you know, the need for a vaccine for that 5 to 11 age group is clear. What does it mean for kids and for parents?

YVONNE MALDONADO, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST, STANFORD MEDICINE: This is really an important next step in opening up our society and especially for our children, who really have a difficult time with mental health, developmental and social issues relative to lockdowns and inability to go back to school.

So, having the vaccine doesn't mean that we are cured, but it does mean that children and families will have one additional layer of protection against serious illness and death from COVID. We may still have some outbreaks occasionally among people who are not vaccinated, but we think this will really limit the degree of transmission and serious infections among children and their vulnerable family members if they have them.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah. But there is still a lot of hesitancy, you know, certainly among parents, as Dr. Gupta alluded to a few minutes ago. According to a recent survey, about a third of parents from children in that age group, 5 to 11, said they would wait and see before allowing their children to get the shot. So what would you say to those parents who are on the fence right now?

MALDONADO: Well, you know, I'm an optimist. I've been working with vaccines my whole career. And actually, I think that that one-third of parents can actually deal with talking to their pediatric providers, to their community leaders, and really start to feel more reassured about the vaccine.

What we've seen in surveys over time with COVID is that people do tend to feel much better as they see a more experienced. So I'm actually optimistic that people will come back. Families are used to having their children vaccinated to prevent serious infections. And I think they are a good audience to listen to the facts about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines.

BRUNHUBER: But some may have no choice. I mean, where you are in California, they have mandated it for students, right? So do you think that more states should follow suit?

MALDONADO: Well, you know, I think it really is a state-by-state issue. I do think that it is important for everybody to really strongly consider getting vaccinated. I am not a politician. I just know that these vaccines really work and that they are very safe. So, if public health agencies, counties and states feel that that is the way they can get coverage, then that would be their approach.

BRUNHUBER: So, in the meantime, authorities in a few European countries, like Sweden and Denmark, are pausing Moderna shot for young people, depending on the country, under the age of 30 or under 18, because of these rare side effects involving heart inflammation. So us now here in the U.S., we are thinking about offering these vaccines to younger people. Are you worried about these rare side effects?

MALDONADO: Well, they underscored the word "rare." These are maybe six dozen per million doses given to very specific age groups. That's at the high end of the risk limit. So, they are incredibly rare.

We have seen more data from the United States and from Israel showing that even among those groups, say 16 to 29-year-old males, who have the higher risk, the risk is still extremely low, much lower than having heart inflammation from COVID infection, and the vast majority of those cases are very mild and virtually all of them have resolved their symptoms.

So, I am not concerned about these risks on the overall impact of COVID in vaccination to reduce the disease in our pediatric communities.

BRUNHUBER: All right. And finally before we go, for adults, the debate over boosters is still raging.

[02:10:00]

BRUNHUBER: Two new studies seemed to confirm previous findings that immune protection from the Pfizer vaccine drops off after a couple of months. So, should that be further encouragement for authorities to allow more people to get boosters, maybe the entire population like Israel has done?

MALDONADO: Well, you know, I think we all understood based on what we know about coronaviruses SARS-COVID-2 as the coronavirus, that at some point, we would start to see a reduction in the immunity. It was just a matter of time.

And so I think the date is starting to roll in. I know that the FDA and CDC knew that eventually we would see more data. So this does show that we will all probably need boosters at some time in the coming months. The question is when to institute those. I think that our federal agencies will be briefing us on those recommendations in the next few weeks to months.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much to for being here with us, Dr. Yvonne Maldonado. I really appreciate it.

MALDONADO: Been a pleasure.

BRUNHUBER: So, it looks like the U.S. government will be able to pay its bills for the next two months. The Senate has approved a compromise to raise the nation's debt ceiling by $480 billion despite opposition from most Republicans. The House will vote on the extension next. The stop gap measure brings the U.S. debt limit to a whopping $28.8 trillion. That's the amount the government can borrow to pay bills that already owes, not on future spending.

And more now on the Senate compromise and the major challenges still ahead from CNN's Ryan Nobles.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT : It wasn't easy, but the United States Senate has passed a bill that is going to lift the debt ceiling temporarily through the first week of December and averting an economic catastrophe that could have happened if the debt ceiling wasn't lifted as soon as next week.

Republicans and Democrats are hashing out a deal that would basically just kick this problem down the road a couple of weeks but avoiding that problem in the middle of October.

But it still didn't come easy. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell working at a deal with Chuck Schumer that they had hoped would mean they could bring that bill to the floor without any Republican opposition and then just Democrats could vote yes, Republicans vote no.

But the Senate is a (INAUDIBLE) place and Republican Senator Ted Cruz and a few others said no, that there were still going to try and block the legislation. When you put that filibuster in place, it requires 60 votes total in order for there to even be an up and down vote.

Now, McConnell did try and convince his colleagues to get those 10 votes necessary to get it to the floor. He was successful, but there were a few anxious moments as the vote went down. Ultimately, there were the 10 votes to get there.

For the most part, it was Republican leaders, moderates, and a group of Republican senators who are not seeking reelection that were not afraid to cast that vote to allow the bill to come to the floor. After that, the simple up and down vote came through and it passed along partisan lines.

Now, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, sent a letter to her colleagues earlier today informing them that they should be prepared to come back early from the recess that they are currently on in order for the House to pass this same piece of legislation. The president, Joe Biden, has said that he will sign it into law.

So the crisis for now will be averted. But again, to make clear, this has not solved any problems. The same impasse that we were dealing with here on Capitol Hill before we got to this point still exists. It is just now going to exist the first week in December, before we get in to the Christmas holiday.

It's also important to point out that it comes at the same time that there will be another issue with the government spending. A government shutdown could loom once again. And there's still that continued debate over the president's domestic spending plan and agenda. Democrats are still haggling out all those issues. So crisis averted, at least at one stage, but a lot more work to go.

Ryan Nobles, CNN, on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BRUNHUBER (on camera): The U.S. and Mexico are getting ready for talks on border security in the coming hours. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation, which also includes the attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security.

The two countries are hoping to find new ways to cooperate on the migrant crisis and the fight against human trafficking, drug smuggling and organized crime. A senior U.S. official says it's important for both sides to address the causes of those security challenges.

We have an update now on the developing story in Hong Kong, where a scaffold collapsed at a high rise. A female construction worker has died after she and seven colleagues were rescued. The woman who died was unconscious when she was found and sent to the hospital. A cyclone warning was issued earlier in the day. The scaffolding came crashing down as the city was buffeted by strong, gusty winds and heavy rains. [02:15:00]

BRUNHUBER: The English Premier League has given its blessing to the controversial takeover of Newcastle United Football Club. It has been sold to a consortium that includes Saudi sovereign wealth fund known as PIF. The deal is reportedly worth about $400 million, but it has been highly controversial because of the kingdom's human rights record.

The fund is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who, according to the U.S. intelligence agencies, approved the operation in which journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Istanbul in 2018. But the league says the deal passed its owners and directors' test and the league received assurances the kingdom won't control a team.

Patrick Snell from CNN World Sport joins me now with more. So, Patrick, presumably, this will eventually transform Newcastle into one of the world's richest clubs, but not with a controversy, as I said. So take us through this deal.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORT ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yeah. Kim, this is one that we thought was going through last year but it did get help up. I'll tell you what. You used that word controversy and you absolutely spot on to do so. The world of football this Friday and indeed beyond is assessing, taking stock of the controversial Saudi-backed takeover.

That is the context here, Kim. Let's spell it out for our viewers worldwide. Newcastle United is one of the biggest historical names in English football, very much a sleeping giant right now, a team struggling, currently second from bottom in the Premier League.

As I said, a long running saga, during which we haven't did seen Saudi Arabia's human rights record coming under intense scrutiny at times. It looked like it would happen over a year ago. In fact, it didn't.

I want to get to that statement from the Premier League because it is highly significant. The Premier League has now received legally binding assurances that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not control Newcastle United Football Club. And those are the key words here, paving the way for this deal. Controversial, of course. Reaction from Amnesty International swift and strong. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FELIX JAKENS, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Ever since this deal was first talked about, 18 months ago, Amnesty has said that it would represent a really high water mark for the Saudi authorities and their efforts to clean up their appalling human rights record by buying (INAUDIBLE).

It seemed that the Premier League was going in one direction on this petition, and now they've gone in another. And it's a dangerous precedent. The English football is icon for business when it comes to sportswashing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL (on camera): (INAUDIBLE) indeed. They are very thought- provoking, Kim. I have to say there is still so much we are all taking into account this Friday.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, in the face of all of this scrutiny and criticism, Newcastle supporters will say, well, you have, you know, Chelsea is owned by Russian oligarch. Manchester City owned by Abu Dhabi royalty. Why not us?

SNELL: Kim, judging by what we saw outside St. James's Park, that is Newcastle United's home ground on Thursday. The videos and the images are very powerful indeed. They really do tell their own story. Thousands there, at one point, certainly, several hundred, getting up to around a thousand mark, gathering outside the iconic stadium in Northeast England.

And you are quite right, this deal, without question, making (INAUDIBLE) one of the richest clubs in world football. You know, maybe even the richest right now in theory. (INAUDIBLE) fans can likely expect to see their club flexing its muscles in a big way financially. There is no question about that.

This is a success starved (INAUDIBLE) as well. We'll get into that in just a few moments. But the big picture financially, we put together this graphic, because it really does speak volumes. You know, we have touched on that a little bit earlier. The consortium's estimated assets, around the $450 billion mark. Compare that, you mentioned, clubs there earlier.

But look, look at Man City's Abu Dhabi-based owners. Paris Saint- Germain, the Qatari-based owners, they aren't even inside of the top five clubs that we are showing there. So that does give you some kind of perspective on all of this.

Mood in the camp over there on (INAUDIBLE) side, that part of the country in Northeast England, reaction from (INAUDIBLE) former striker and club legend Alan Shearer who tweeted, quite simply, we can dare to hope again. That is tapping very much into the football side.

And as I alluded to you earlier, this is a club, Kim, without a major domestic honor since 1955 when they won the English FA Cup. Their last top flight league title, you have to go all the way back to 1927. But, as you know, this story is bounding in controversy today.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, absolutely. It requires a cognitive dissonance from its supporters, but they are fully prepared to do it by the looks of things as long as they win.

Patrick Snell, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Gay men and women in Ghana suddenly forced into hiding as parliament looks to outlaw homosexuality. Our exclusive report is coming up next.

Plus, police in Brazil make an unexpected discovery while serving a warrant. We will look at that massive and illegal memorabilia collection ahead.

[02:20:02]

BRUNHUBER: Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: In Western Africa, Ghana's gay community has gone into hiding amidst rising attacks by vigilantes and it could soon get much worse. A draft law before parliament threatens to effectively outlaw homosexuality.

CNN's David McKenzie has exclusive reporting on this. He joins us from Johannesburg. So, David, take us through this repressive law that they are proposing.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, Kim, we were just in Ghana and it was distressing to see the LGBTQ community in Ghana in hiding, fearing this law, which will be debated and voted on in just a few weeks despite heavy international pressure. I must warn you, some these images are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Hello?

MCKENZIE (on camera): Hey, it's David, how are you doing?

(Voice-over): We are heading to a safe house in Accra.

(On camera): We are probably about 30 minutes from your live location now.

(Voice-over): Run by gay activists.

Can we carry in the cameras or do we need to keep the cameras in boxes?

UNKNOWN: I think (INAUDIBLE) boxes.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): We are meeting Joe. We agreed to hide his identity because he's afraid of being attacked again.

(On camera): Take me back to that moment, when those men came and started harassing you.

JOE, HOMOPHOBIC ATTACK VICTIM: I was shaking. They took me (INAUDIBLE) and they set this up with their cameras. I was crying.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): His crime, the Ghanaian men say, approaching another man.

Is it true that you told him you like him, they ask.

Yes, he was spurs (ph).

JOE: How can this happen to me? They beat me from 9 until 11. All this time, I was beaten. I wanted to kill myself. After I saw this video, I was like, it would be better to kill myself. I have no (INAUDIBLE).

MCKENZIE (on camera): And your dad threw you out.

JOE: Yes.

MCKENZIE (on camera): And what was that moment like?

JOE: I cried like never before.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Often captured in videos too graphic to show and shared on social media, part of a pattern of brutal, verbal, and physical attacks by vigilantes to humiliate LGBTQ Ghanaians. Soon, the community fears they could be targeted by the state.

(On camera): What is your message to someone who is LGBT in Ghana right now?

EMMANUEL BEDZRAH, GHANAIAN MP: We love them. As we always say, we love them.

MCKENZIE (on camera): But you want to send them to prison?

BEDZRAH: No, we are asking them not to do it.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): A draft law to be debated in weeks coerces LGBTQ Ghanaians to choose between jail time and so called conversion therapy, seen by U.N. experts as torture. It prosecutes same-sex displays of affection, even punishes activists supporting the community. Activists call it a homophobes dream.

[02:25:00]

MCKENZIE (on camera): Today, in 2021, do you believe that someone who supports openly the LGBT community should potentially go to prison for 10 years?

BEDZRAH: Of course.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Why?

BEDZRAH: Because it is against our culture. It is against our norms. It is against our tradition. And we don't things that are against our sensibility. It should be given priority in our society.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Tragically, the LGBTQ community here says that tolerance was slowly improving in Ghana.

GREGORY ANDREWS, AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER: I know that African cultures are cultures of tolerance, diversity, acceptance and participation.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): When they opened a support center in January, it rallied conservative lawmakers, who say that being gay is an African, a western import. Backed by powerful religious groups, the leadership of (INAUDIBLE) Pentecostal Church say LGBTQ organizations are a national security threat.

(On camera) But they refused to speak to us. And their security stopped us from filming.

We are just trying to speak to some people. It's not allowed?

The religious support for the bill here is absolute.

(Voice-over): It is one thing promoting the values of the church. It's another thing to prosecute those who are identifying like this. So why take that extra step?

PHILIP NAAMEH, PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC BISHOPS COUNCIL, GHANA: It is not the values of the church. It is the values of the human species. The human being is created to be in a family and to propagate itself. It's not just the church.

UNKNOWN: If the same bible told people to love their neighbor as thyself, why would you want to torture your own neighbor? Why do you want to torture your child?

MCKENZIE (voice-over): This prominent gay activist has already gone underground. The draft bill calls on all Ghanaians to hand in their LGBTQ neighbors for prosecution.

UNKNOWN: People are waiting for the bill to pass so that they can actually beat you up. They can actually pick you and do whatever they want with you.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): The limited space Ghanaians like Joe had just to be themselves could soon vanish, and they only to move further into the shadows.

(On camera): What is your message to those politicians?

JOE: We are all human beings. Their sons and their daughters can be like me. My answer for them is, they should put a stop to it.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MCKENZIE (on camera): Well, I was really struck by the fear that people felt in Ghana of that law that is coming in. Kim, church groups and those supporting the law say that being gay is a western import. In fact, our reporting showed that there was potentially a great deal of influence from a U.S. conservative group that held conferences in Ghana and push this anti-LGBTQ agenda. I put the question to the head of that group, Brian Brown, and here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN BROWN, WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES: No one has a right to redefine family for everyone else. Family is what it is. And you can try and couch these issues in rights but they aren't.

MCKENZIE (on camera): Would LGBT rights not be human rights?

BROWN: It's not real. You can attach yourself as much as you want to euphemisms like LGBT rights, but if they aren't based on fundamental human nature, than they aren't rights at all. I don't think you need to look for a big bogeyman behind all of this legislation in Africa or elsewhere. It is going to come from the people themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE (on camera): Well, there is a lot of talk amongst these groups about so called family values. But our reporting, at least, shows that it is more about prejudice. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: David, great work, putting a spotlight on this disturbing law. David McKenzie in Hohannesburg, thank you so much.

Ethiopian Airlines is again denying evidence uncovered by CNN that its commercial aircrafts were used to shuttle weapons and ammunition between Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea.

A CNN investigation of flight documents, photos, witness statements, and other materials confirmed that the flights took place in November 2020, in the early days of the civil war in the Tigray region. Experts believe those activities may have been a violation of U.S. trade agreement and international law.

The airline is owned by the Ethiopian government. And on Thursday, it again offered an official rebuttal. Ethiopian Airlines strongly refutes the recent allegations by CNN and would like to confirm that, to the best of its knowledge and its records, it has not transported any war armament in any of its routes by any of its aircraft.

The evidence uncovered in CNN's exhaustive and extensive investigation can be found on cnn.com.

[02:30:00]

BRUNHUBER: Brazilian police found more than 8000 items of Nazi memorabilia at the home of a suspected pedophile. Rio de Janeiro officials say they found the illicit possessions while serving a warrant on suspicion of pedophilia. Among the items discovered metals, coins, uniforms, flags and images of Adolf Hitler.

The man has been charged with racial discrimination, in possession of child pornography among other crimes and could face up to 30 years in prison. All right, still ahead the brutal rape and murder of a woman by a former police officer is fueling calls to stamp out abuse by the UK's police force.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: The British government has launched a new inquiry into issues raised by the conviction of a former police officer who brutally murdered a London woman back in March but activists say it isn't enough and are calling for new measures to stamp out acts of police violence against women. CNNs Nada Bashir reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: Enough is enough. 16 silhouettes for the 16 women researchers say have been killed by a serving or former police officer since 2009. It's a troubling statistic gathered by an organization which tracks femicide in the UK and brought into the spotlight following the murder of Sarah Everard, killed by former police officer Wayne Couzens, who used his authority as a serving policeman to falsely arrest abduct, and rape her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I absolutely know that there are those who feel that trust in us is shaken.

BASHIR: It's this erosion of trust that officials in the UK are now trying to tackle. Increasing police presence in busy public spaces and advising women to ask key questions if they are approached by a loan officer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If somebody doesn't feel safe, and they're not comfortable in the environment, and they're dealing with a police officer, then ask them some questions. Where are you from? Why have you stopped me? Where are your colleagues? And that way they can start to feel safe.

BASHIR: But for the many still shaken by Sarah's murder, these measures do little to restore public confidence in the police.

ANNA BIRLEY, CO-FOUNDER, RECLAIM THESE STREETS: Yet again, it puts the onus of safety on women the suggestions or all actions women yet again have to take to keep themselves safe rather than women being safe because we can trust a police officer.

Sarah's murder has brought into sharp focus, the issue of police perpetrated acts of violence against women. Between 2018 and 2019, 143 allegations of sexual assault by police officers were recorded in England and Wales. And in 2019, a police watchdog found that more than 400 referrals were made in relation to abuse of power for sexual purposes over just three years.

Zoe Billingham who led that inquiry says that while these cases represent a small minority of police officers, even one case is one too many.

[02:35:00]

ZOE BILLINGHAM, FORMER INSPECTOR OF CONSTABULARY: The evidence speaks for itself. Predators have found their way into policing. And until matters change, I can't say with certainty that policing is free from those predators and that victims will always be kept safe by those that are there to protect them.

BASHIR: Do you think there's a culture within the British police force that allows police officers to commit such crimes with some level of impunity? BILLINGHAM: There is a degree of tolerance within policing which is an unacceptable degree of tolerance of misogynistic behavior. And that needs to change.

BASHIR: The government has now launched an inquiry into the issues raised by the conviction of Wayne Couzens, including wider issues across policing, such as betting practices, workplace behavior, and disciplinary action.

But campaigners say that the abuse of power by some police officers is just one part of a wider epidemic of violence against women.

BIRLEY: There is a wider, deeper, more structural issue around women and the way that the police - police women, and that currently won't be addressed by the report. So I hope that scope will be widened.

BASHIR: And just as flowers continue to be left for Sarah months after her brutal murder, the demand for police reform and greater accountability persists. Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Power stations in India are desperately searching for coal as many stockpiles have dropped to critically low levels. India's central electricity authority says nearly half of the country's coal fired power plants have only a two day supply left. The country could face electricity shortages in the coming months. Rolling blackouts have already begun for some residents in China. Its growing power supply crunches also forced factories to cut production, and shortages are forcing Europe to scrounge for fuel as its energy prices skyrocket.

Now Russia is offering to help as CNN Anna Stewart explains that may hinge on the future of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Gas prices have increased eight fold over the last year. But they did ease Thursday after President Putin said Russia could look at exporting more gas to Europe, which is something that IEA called for two weeks ago. At the same time, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister suggested that a speedy certification of its new pipeline, Nord Stream 2 would bring down gas prices.

Now this has increased concerns that Russia could be holding back gas from Europe to keep prices high, and thereby lend weight to its argument for a quick approval of Nord Stream 2. This is a pipeline that was completed last month and German regulators have four months to approve it. It's been fiercely opposed for years by some European nations as well as the U.S., one of the major reasons being that it bypasses Ukraine, that means Ukraine would lose out on valuable gas transit fees.

The Biden administration reached a deal with Berlin in July, saying it would allow the pipeline to go ahead in exchange for financial aid to Ukraine. There are many reasons though far beyond Russia for high gas prices in Europe, both when it comes to supply and demand. Next week, the EU will publish a toolbox of measures to help Member States respond to the crisis. It will include grants and energy tax cuts to help support consumers through winter, which could be devastatingly expensive. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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BRUNHUBER: We're just a few hours away from learning this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner. Climate Crusaders, COVID campaigners and Reporters Without Borders are among the favorites. Stay with us.

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[02:40:00]

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BRUNHUBER: The Nobel Committee will announce the winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize in just a few hours. Last year, the coveted award went to the World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian organization for its efforts to combat hunger in the midst of a global pandemic. Here's a look at this year's front runners.

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BRUNHUBER: Locked behind a highly protected door a list of the 329 nominees to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize. One of the world's most prestigious awards will go to one of the individuals or organizations on that list. But until Friday's announcement, the winner remains a mystery about which we can only speculate.

Each year the Peace Research Institute Oslo or PRIO does just that with an esteemed prediction of likely front runners.

HENRIK URDAL, DIRECTOR, THE PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OSLO: First, Reporters Without Borders, I think journalist price this year would be very important and speak both to the fight against fake news and the important work that journalists are doing in armed conflict areas all over the world.

BRUNHUBER: Those protecting freedom of speech are high on PRIO's shortlist, followed by those defending democracy. PRIO's director says another likely candidate is Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya. She's an exiled Belarusian human rights activist and opposition leader at the forefront of a resistance against the country's authoritarian president.

If the Nobel Committee chooses to award political dissidents. Possible winners could include jailed Russian activists Alexey Navalny or Justitia. A group of judges in Poland defending civil rights. Beyond that PRIO thinks there are several other likely contenders.

URDAL: One of the most important questions these days of course, is science climate change with the IPCC just launching their sixth assessment report demonstrating that this is the major global threat that we're facing.

BRUNHUBER: The award will be announced just three weeks before World leaders gather for a critical Climate Summit, so the prize winner could be a champion of climate change activism. 18 year old Greta Thunberg comes to mind in this category, the Swedish activist has helped catalyze a worldwide movement among youth to fight climate change.

Others are predicting a nod to groups critical in the coronavirus pandemic, like the World Health Organization, or COVAX, vaccine sharing initiative aimed at fairly distributing lifesaving vaccines worldwide. Altogether, it's a long list of possible winners evaluated for a prize with a singular but complex meaning.

BJOERN VANGEN, LIBRARIAN, THE NORWEGIAN NOBEL INSTITUTE: On a general basis, the peace prize is given out not for being people being angels or saints, but for people making an effort to make a better world, a better organized world and the world with less war, and more peaceful coexistence between the peoples.

BRUNHUBER: Whose endeavor best fits that description? Well, we'll soon find out.

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BRUNHUBER: Scottish tennis star Andy Murray is breathing in the sweet smell of success after he was reunited with his lost wedding ring. He feared it was stolen while it was tied to a pair of sweaty and frankly stinky tennis shoes, which he hid the under his car to air out. So here's how he gave his fans the good news.

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ANDY MURRAY, THREE-TIME TENNIS MAJORS CHAMP: Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing well. I just want to send a quick message to say a huge thanks for all the messages and also to everyone for sharing the story about the shoes and the wedding ring. Had to make a few calls today and chat to the security at the hotel and everything and little update for everyone. Would you believe it?

Still absolutely stink but the shoes are back. The wedding ring is back and I'm back in the good books. Let's go.

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BRUNHUBER: The three time Grand Slam champion lost the ring while in California this week preparing for the Indian Wells tournament. Let's go. All right, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. World Sport is next.

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[02:45:00]

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: For five years. Look, you know, his role was to be you know sophomoric guy on a bus but he's not the guy that was boasting of sexual assault.

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: You know, Brian Bush exited NBC within 10 days of that tape coming out. He had just started as today's shows 9am our host. He says that NBC sacrificed him. Listen, what does it say about what was happening behind the scenes at NBC? Because wasn't that ultimately their tape as well? How did that tape get out?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It was NBC's.

LEMON: Interesting.

STELTER: It was and Bush's going closer than he ever has before to saying he was fired, he was canceled, you know, five years ago, we didn't have that phrase cancel culture, the way everybody knows it today. But Billy Bush is an example of a leadership, in this case NBC at an institution that decided to cancel someone just to get over the bad press, just to avoid the bad press.

And now I think five years later, we can view this in a very different way, and say, that was an injustice. You know, the way Billy Bush was treated, that there was an attempt to get a short term gain, just like get rid of him, but a long term damage that was done as a result.

It took years for Billy Bush to find work again. And now he's the host of Extra. He says on Instagram tonight, I have a plan to use its experience to help heal the culture. And I'm really curious what he means by that. You know, with the five years that we've had since, but in the meantime, I think when we look back at that night, five years ago, Don, we can see even more clearly what an injustice this was, and what an upside down world this was.

That Billy Bush was the one that suffered from all of this, and Donald Trump benefited. And it reminds me that those of us in the media, we do need to work to call out indecency, indecency is not partisan. It's not left or right. It's about right versus wrong. And five years from now, you know, I hope we're not having these same conversations. I hope we've made progress as a society. So we're not having the same conversations over and over.

LEMON: Well, listen, let me just say this. I think if you ask Billy Bush, he will say I think he would agree that he doesn't agree. I think he believes that maybe he should have been disciplined.

STELTER: Yes, he screwed up that day.

LEMON: He screwed up something but being fired. And then after that people not wanting to hire him because of that. I mean, was that fair to Billy Bush, when you look at the overall big picture?

STELTER: I think that's what's evolved in this kind of conversation about cancel culture, so to speak, that your worst moment does not define you as a human being.

LEMON: Yes.

STELTER: However, when it's part of a pattern, and that's what we learned about Donald Trump, part of a pattern, then it is something to take seriously.

LEMON: Yes.

NAVARRO: But you know what, Brian, I hate the term cancel culture.

STELTER: Yes, yes.

NAVARRO: We use over and over again, because it's a term that doesn't allow for nuance. OK? Canceling Harvey Weinstein for what he did, or Charlie Rose or Mark Halperin is very different than penalizing somebody like Billy Bush for saying something stupid, and being at the wrong place at the wrong time. And be the one who carried the blame so NBC could somehow continue going along it.

You know, I don't like that term, Cancel culture, because sometimes is not canceling. Sometimes it's consequence culture. Sometimes it's accountability culture, sometimes it's responsibility culture. And I do think that as we look at it, in hindsight, what happened to Billy Bush was too much. And it was not it - when you - even more so when you put it in perspective, to what happened to Donald Trump, which was absolutely nothing.

LEMON: Yes. Ana, that video - the night that video came out, you were certainly fired up on this show. Let's play it.

NAVARRO: Oh, Lord.

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NAVARRO: Republican is going to have to answer the question. What did you do the day you saw the tape of this man boasting about grabbing a woman's (BEEP)? Period.

LEMON: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you stop saying that word. My daughter is listening.

NAVARRO: You know what Scottie, don't tell me you're not offended when I say (BEEP) but you're not offended Donald Trump says it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

NAVARRO: I'm not running for president. He is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And I say-

NAVARRO: Don't act outraged and offended when I say the word that you're not offended by the man who you are supporting is saying. That is just absurd.

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LEMON: Well, Ana, you have been consistent. Then, even in 2016, you're consistent now. Here we are in 2021 with the GOP still putting all their stock in Trump still making excuses for him, even for the violent insurrection, the former Vice President who the insurrectionists was saying they were going to hang him. The reaction there, I mean, that was sort of a precursor for what was to come.

NAVARRO: Yes, I mean, listen, first of all, thank you for putting that video on because I think I look really cute. I need to lose a lot of weight.

LEMON: Same here. Both of us.

NAVARRO: But I think it was - I really do think it was a harbor of things to come, right? We have seen since five years of hypocrisy from Republicans willing to justify and defend anything as long as they can stay near power and they can be part of the circle of power. So we have seen people that call themselves Christian, including people like Mike Pence clutch their pearls when I quote, the President of the United States about something.

[02:50:00]

And you know, and then beat their chest about being a faithful Catholics or faithful Christians or faithful, whatever, and yet go and defend somebody that's consistently shown such lack of morality and having absolutely no conscience or principles, and certainly no values. And you know, it was but - you know, this came after he mocked a reporter with a disability. This came after he called John McCain, a loser for being captured. And said he didn't like POW and people who have been captured.

So this is, you know, it was just - but it was probably the worst because we were hearing it on tape. The guy wanting to be leader of the free world boasting of sexual assault, but Don Lemon, can I just say one thing before we end? I think what's really something that we should also highlight is that I think it changed and influenced the metoo movement.

I think Donald Trump's election was the catalyst to get women to speak up and stand locking arms behind each other and that has brought accountability to many other. Maybe Donald Trump got away with it or he did but many others have not because women got - and got active because of Donald.

LEMON: Brian, I'm up against a clock as you know, I just want to make it clear especially you as a media reporter. No one is saying that - that Billy Bush didn't do anything wrong. What he did and said was wrong. But it's about balance, it's about perspective.

STELTER: Proportionality.

LEMON: Proportionality.

STELTER: Proportionality. That's exactly what it's about. And five years later, we can see that now more clearly than ever before.

LEMON: Yes, thank you both. I appreciate it. We'll be right back.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

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LEMON: So take this there is trouble in the skies. People behaving so badly on airplanes that the President is now stepping in.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And by the way, Scott, I want you to know I've instructed the Justice Department to make sure that we deal with the violence on aircraft coming from those people who are taking issues. We're going to deal with that.

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LEMON: And it is ridiculous. something needs to be done. The Federal Aviation Administration says that the last week saw 128 new incidents on planes. So far this year, there have been more than 4600 incidents like this September JetBlue flight, when this happened after an airline says that two people refused to wear masks.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He gave me one (BEEP) warning, one warning, that's it. You gave me one (BEEP) warning. I pulled it up the second he said something. The second he said something, I pulled it up to my nose.

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LEMON: So many of the incidents sparked by people who can't seem to handle wearing a mask for a few hours on a plane. And we know people are mad after more than a year of this pandemic. We've seen it on planes. We've seen it at school boards and at restaurants. But if we all just get vaccinated, if we all just wear a mask where necessary, have the patience with each other that we should, we'll be back to normal a lot sooner.

The Washington Post reporting that a Trump lawyer is telling his former aides not to comply with subpoenas from the January 6 committee. How will Congress respond?

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