Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

World Leaders Gathering in Glasgow for COP26 Meetings; COP26 Kicks Off as Leaders Wrap G20 Summit in Rome; Vote on Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Could Be Delayed; Japanese Police: Knife Attack Injures at Least 17 People. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2021 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The solution to climate change is clear.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not only Russia but China basically, didn't show up in terms of any commitments to deal with climate change.

MARIO DRAGHI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: We face a simple choice. We can act now or regret it later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world, I'm Isa Soares, in London. And just ahead right here on CNN NEWSROOM --

Climate commitment, world leaders meet in Glasgow for the COP26 summit, but will it be meaningful action or a lot of hot air? We've got a live report for you.

Alerts of deadly violence, a new report details how intelligence agencies failed to prevent the January 6th Capitol riot.

And the Halloween COVID scare. Shanghai put the entire Disney Theme Park in lockdown.

It is Monday of course November 1 and all eyes are on Glasgow where world leaders will be arriving for the critical COP26 climate summit. Among them of course U.S. President Joe Biden. He one of more than 100 leaders set to attend the meeting to tackle the climate crisis as a new report warns the earth is now in uncharted territory.

In his speech later today, the British Prime Minister is expected to urge nations to move from aspiration to action, to limit rising temperatures and take concrete steps to phase out coal. Among the key goals for COP26, securing global net zero by midcentury and containing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. They also want wealthy levels to deliver on the promise of $100 billion a year to help developing nations fight of course the climate crisis.

And the COP26 kicking off just as the G20 meeting wrapped up in Rome on Sunday. Leaders there ended their some with an agreement on climate but no firm pledges.

Well CNN correspondents are following all the developments, as you can see there. Phil Black is Edinboro, Scotland covering the COP26 climate summit. Nic Robertson is in Rome with a look at how the G20 summit closed. And our Frederik Pleitgen is Senegal, a nation of course seen the impact of the climate crisis. And joining me now all live.

We begin this hour with Scotland and Phil Black. And good morning to you, Phil. I think I heard Prince Charles say over the weekend say this is the last chance -- and these were his words -- to save the planet. The reality is that the expectation here, Phil, are pretty low for this COP. What can we expect from this summit if it's seen to be a success?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, ultimately, Isa, the criteria for determining the unquestioned success of this conference, are pretty straightforward. Either the individual commitments and pledges from each country are sufficiently credible and ambitious to add up to what is require. Which as you touched on, is hitting net zero carbon by midcentury, containing global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees and they're not. And at the moment they're not even close. And had to say, we are currently on track to hit something close to three degrees by the end of the century which would result in a very different world. Pretty gloomy hopes. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been talking a lot recently about how there really is no excuse apparently, because by this point, we know what is at stake. And we know what needs to be done. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The solution to climate change is clear. It lies in consigning dirty fossil fuels like coal to history, and ditching gas guzzling modes of transport and recognizing the role that nature plays in preserving life on this planet and harnessing the power of nature. Through renewal energy rather than orchestrating its destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: So, the push at this conference will be for very specific concrete plans on all of those things the Prime Minister was then talking about. And not just in the long term, a lot of countries are coming to this conference with big promises about hitting net zero carbon around the middle of the century, but without the detail in terms of how they're going to get there. And the science tell us that in order to achieve that, countries have to start cutting deeply now, quickly making deep reductions by around half, come 2030. Otherwise, the goals of this conference and indeed the goals of humanity will essentially just slip away -- Isa.

SOARES: Yes, Phil please stay with us. I want to go to Nic in Rome. And Nic, as you just heard there, I mean a pretty gloomy Boris Johnson at the G20 where leaders ended their summit, with an agreement but no really firm pledges. I was reading only in fact, only 12 out of the 20 countries are committed to net zero.

[04:05:00]

What exactly, Nic, did they agree on in Rome?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, they agreed not on the net zero for 2050, which was the aspiration, and that's what only 12 nations agreed to. The nearest they could get to that was net zero sometime before 2060. They couldn't agree on stopping the use of coal and power stations at home. They did agree on stopping the financing of coal-powered stations internationally, i.e., each individual nation, not helping support other nations with coal-fired power generating stations by the end of the year. So that was a small step.

But these by and large missed the target, missed the aspirations, missed the hopes and that was reflected the tweet by U.N. Secretary- General Antonio Guterres. Well, he said, you know, while I commend the G20 for its recommitment to global solutions, you know, I leave disappointed. It falls short. He said it doesn't bury my hopes, but he was very clear that this wasn't what he had hoped for. It was hoped that the G20 would be something of a spring board for COP26.

President Biden was blunt and clear and he said the reason that they hadn't been able to meet these lofty ambitions was quite simply because President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia hadn't been here at the summit. Biden said the way that he helped get other leaders over the line on issues that were important to him, was to be able to discuss it with them and look them in the eye and he wasn't able to do that here. So, President Biden quite clear on who he felt -- he sort of threw Saudi Arabia in there as well -- who was falling short on these ambitions. There were some successes of G20 on the sideline, EU/U.S. frictions over aluminum and steel tariffs were reduced significantly. As was under way with the European Commission President lauded that. This is how she was put.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: This marks a milestone in the renewal of the EU/U.S. partnership. And it is our global first in our efforts to achieve the decarbonization of the global steel production and trade. It is a big step forward in fighting climate change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, a big step forward, but in a problem that's of a massive scale and scope. You know, as Boris Johnson put it here, really a drop in the warming ocean. Steel and aluminum tariffs reduced commitments to use more carbon-friendly steel products going forward. But so much that wasn't done here.

SOARES: Yes, a step in the right direction but still so many to go. Nic, do stay with us. I do want to go to Fred in Senegal. And Fred, one key goal as we heard at the top of our show from Phil Black, of the COP26 talks is to dramatically of course increase climate finance, so basically more money for developing nations. Now Senegal is seeing the impact of climate change and it barely has a carbon footprint. How have people's lives changed where you are? Give us a sense of what you see on the ground?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Isa, they've changed immensely. And you know, we heard all those warnings from those global leaders that we heard Phil was talking about, that Nic was talking about them, all of those dire warnings are already a reality right here on the ground in western Africa, in St. Louis.

This is a beautiful city. It's an UNESCO world heritage site. It's also a site with a big fishing community. You can see some of the fishing boats behind me and this fishing community is being torn apart by rising sea levels and by the attrition from erosion that's going on. You can see back there, the houses on the shoreline here, are already completely destroyed. And Isa, there are still people living in those house, even as those houses are being destroyed, room by room, by the sea level as it rises.

Of course, one of the things about rising sea levels is that you have a lot more storm surges also and that's already destroyed a lot of houses. Now what that's leading to here in this part of Senegal, Isa, is that you have a lot of people who are still living in those house. You also have a lot of people who are already internally displaced. That means they've had to move kilometers away from the coastline here, and still try to go fishing but it is very difficult for them. So, this community is being torn apart, and at the same time -- and this is something we've heard from a lot of folks here on the ground -- what you do also have is you have a lot of people who have been turned essentially into climate refugees. Who are leaving Senegal. Who are trying to go away from here. Who are trying to go to places like Europe.

Now I want to show you one more thing, Isa, because if I make my way over here you can see that there is a big pile of sand over there. And essentially what they're trying to do here -- and this goes back to the money that countries like this need in order to try to combat the effects of climate change -- is they're trying to build a sea wall here.

[04:10:00]

Now that's partially funded by the European Union, especially by France, but a lot of experts believe that it could be too little too late, in order to try and save this city. And that in the long run, they might have to abandon the city all together, because it simply isn't enough.

So really a dire projection here. But one of the things that I've heard from experts, for a very long time is that they say two things need to happen. On the one hand, of course, global warming needs to be curbed but on the other hand also there needs to be a lot of money put into infrastructure, to try to combat the effects of the global warming that especially industrialized nations have already caused. That are causing such havoc in places like right here -- Isa.

SOARES: Such important context there, from our Fred Pleitgen in Senegal. Thanks very much, Fred, we appreciate it. Nic Robertson for us in Rome. Thank you to you both.

Now, while President Biden is overseas, he's also seeing dropping poll numbers back home mainly over the stalled agenda in Congress. He was asked about that on Sunday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't run to see how well I would do in the polls make sure that I followed through what I said I would do as President of the United States. And I said that I would make sure that we were in a position where we dealt with climate change, where we moved in a direction that was significantly improve the prospects of American workers. Being they have good jobs and good pay. And further that I would make sure that we dealt with the crisis that was caused by COVID.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: The president's economic agenda got a boost Sunday when most House progressives signaled, they are likely to vote for the bills when they come up for a vote. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Washington with more when that might happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Democratic lawmakers are moving forward in getting the Biden agenda moving forward, towards a vote. There is a potential snag here if you will. The goal was, and the announcement was made that this vote on both of these bills could happen as early as Tuesday. That being a vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, as well as the $1.75 trillion economic package that they would go together.

Well, now we are hearing my colleagues Danielle Diaz quoting here, a House Democratic leadership aide, a potential delay here.

Saying: We have made extensive progress on prescription drugs and other key initiatives, which were not included in the text posted to rules on Thursday, at this point we will need additional time to craft language and get final agreement with all parties involved.

This language was supposed to go to the rules committee on Monday. That is now being pushed back. Which also means that this vote will also be pushed back. And so, we will see how this all unfolds. There are three criteria that have to happen, first the progressive Democrats are looking for reassurances from those moderate Senators, that yes, they are on board, that they will vote for the language, the text of this much bigger bill, the social spending bill. They are asking for explicit language, of written statement, Senator Bernie Sanders saying that over the weekend.

Secondly, they want both of the bills to be voted in tandem, that is back on the plate here, that was not the case on Thursday, when house Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the vote for the infrastructure bill. Now they say they will do that together, check that box. And of course, the most difficult thing for progressive Democrats to let go of some of those policy priority initiatives, that were a part of the negotiations and a part of that bill. Part of that is going to be regarding family and medical paid leave, whether or not that survives. And also, whether or not Medicare will be able to negotiate with drug companies about lowering drug prices. Listen to Senator Bernie Sanders.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): I worked yesterday, we're working today, we're going to work tomorrow, to strengthen that bill. It is outrageous that we continue to pay the highest prices in the world for prescriptions --

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: I want to ask you about that.

SANDERS: -- and that one out of four Americans cannot afford the prescriptions that their doctors write. That is not acceptable.

MALVEAUX: Biden administration officials are trying to get the progressive Democrat to realize that some of those priorities will have to be let go in this bill. They are suggesting smaller legislation, just pieces of it later on down the road, perhaps, something that some Republicans can get on board with as well. We heard from the Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, saying that the administration would support such moves.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN at the Capitol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Now White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says she tested positive for COVID-19. She did not travel with President Biden to the G20 or to COP26. Psaki says she last saw the president on Tuesday, two days before he left. But she was outside unmasked at the time.

[04:15:00]

She dropped off the foreign trip shortly before President Biden departed after members of her household tested positive. CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner says this is exactly why getting a COVID booster is so important. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Transmission outside is much less likely than transmission inside. Also, she and the president were both wearing masks. That would further reduce the likelihood of transmission. And also, remember that the president has been boosted. And recent data from Pfizer have shown that a third dose, what we've been calling the booster, restores that vaccine's efficacy to about 95 percent. So, I'm sure the president also will be fine.

But this underscores the whole rationale for boosting people. We don't know if Ms. Psaki has been boosted but the efficacy of this vaccine wanes about six months after the second dose. And this is why, many people in this country should be getting boosted now, and as people approach their six-month point, from their last vaccine, they really should go to the pharmacy and get another shot. But again, I think the important message is that Ms. Psaki should be fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Now, we have more progress in America's fight against COVID- 19. It could come within days. On Tuesday, the CDC vaccine advisers will consider whether to OK the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine for children as young as five, after the food and drug administration signed off as you may remember on Friday.

Now, if the CDC panel and the agency director approve, vaccinations could begin immediately. Pfizer and BioNTech said they are already working on getting child size doses shipped out. Overall vaccinations though are on the rise -- have a look at this -- and now more than 18 million people have received a third dose or booster shot since mid- August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports two- thirds of the country's population has received at least one dose of vaccine. That is more than 220 million Americans.

Now, a man with a knife sent people running for their lives in a Japanese train on Sunday. What we're learning about the attack that injured more than a dozen people. We'll have a live report for you.

Plus, a new "Washington Post" report paints a really chilling picture of events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th and a missed warning in the days and weeks before. That's just ahead. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

SOARES: I want to show you some live images coming in to CNN, directly from Glasgow, Scotland where you can see Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking there to Antonio Guterres of the U.N. Boris Johnson obviously waiting to welcome world leaders as the COP26 climate change conference gets under way. We have heard of course from Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the last few days where he says that the success of this conference hangs in the balance. That's what he said. He said COP26 needs to mark the beginning of the end of climate change.

We know there are very lofty goals. We have heard from our correspondents on the ground. We have heard from Phil Black talking us through what needs to be achieved here and we've heard some tough words actually from the man standing to the left of Boris Johnson, Antonio Guterres, coming out of the G20 summit. Where some pledges were made but really not on climate change. Nothing major on climate change. He wasn't happy with what we saw. Talking about doing their fair share coming out of the G20.

But Boris Johnson clearly wanting to turn things around, as he hosts this conference. He said very much is touch and go, and he has found it somewhat kind of gloomy ahead of this. But he's there, welcoming world leaders as COP26 gets under way in Glasgow, Scotland. We will bring you all of the latest developments as it kicks off in the coming hours.

Now, Halloween night turned into a real-life horror show for train passengers in Japan. A man with a knife sent people running for their lives on Sunday. Police say at least 17 people were injured when he began assaulting passengers on a moving train. State media reported the attacker also started a fire. The suspect is in custody. Police say he told investigators he wanted to kill people.

Let's go to Blake Essig who's live outside the train station near where this happened. And Blake, this is truly a horrific attack. What more are you learning from authorities?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Isa, look, it happened around 8:00 p.m. last night local time as large amounts of people were streaming into the city center to celebrate Halloween but that train never made it. Stopping here at the station right behind me, about 30 minutes shy of its final destination, after a chaotic and horrific scene broke out on board, involving a deadly weapon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESSIG (voice-over): This was no Halloween prank. As commuters in Japan headed for Tokyo city center on Sunday, some ended up running for their lives. This video shows streams of panicked people trying to escape a train car, where witnesses say a man who might have been dressed up as the comic book character the joker or possibly a different character was attacking passengers.

Observers say the suspect was waving a long knife. And according to Japan's public broadcaster NHK, set fire to the train after spraying lighter fluid across the seats. At least 17 people were injured. Including one man who police say is in serious condition, after being stabbed in the chest. Shunsuke Kimura was on the train and captured this video. He told CNN he was incredibly scared and couldn't escape fast enough.

SHUNSUKE KIMURA, WITNESS (through translator): I do feel scared by this incident, but it's something you can't ever plan for. I think if this happened to me again, all I could do is flee.

ESSIG (voice-over): Shortly after the attack began, train operators say the train made an emergency stop. Video here shows frightened passengers scrambling out of the train's windows and on to a platform to try to get to safety.

Police say they've arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder. They say the suspect dropped his knife when they approached him and told investigators that he, quote, wanted to kill people and be given the death penalty.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ESSIG (on camera): A violent crime is pretty rare in Japan, but the situation could have been potentially much worse if a gun was involved. But in Japan, gun violence is almost nonexistent. In fact, the number of annual deaths resulting from gun violence hasn't reached triple digits since the year 2000 with the number often in the single digits. And the reason, according to gun control advocates, is because firearm regulations are extremely restrictive under Japan's 1958 firearm and sword law. Most guns are illegal in the country -- Isa.

SOARES: Thanks very much, Blake Essig for us there in Tokyo.

Now, several people are injured after a two trains collided Sunday night in England. Officers have been responding to the crash at the tunnel near Salisbury station. Police and rail investigators have declared it a major incident but there are no critical injuries we know of and no one was killed. Britain's Transport Secretary tweeted his thoughts to those affected and says an investigation is under way. We'll keep you updated on that.

There's more to come right here on CNN, including a "Washington Post" report that reveals the disturbing new information about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the warnings that were missed.

Plus, it's a dead heat in Virginia, days before the governor's race, and the candidates are pulling out all the stops ahead of the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: Today 1,142 of our children have been hospitalized with COVID. We just lost two 11-year-olds. Do you want parents here to send your child to first grade with where the teacher is not vaccinated and they're not wearing masks?

CROWD: No!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)