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100 Plus World Leaders Agree To End Deforestation By 2030; World Leaders Accelerate Action At Critical COP26 Summit; At Least 20 People Killed In Attack On Kabul Hospital; Taliban Ban Use Of Foreign Currency As Foreign Aid Frozen; Republican Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia Governor's Race; Ethiopia Announces Nationwide State Of Emergency; Ethiopia Could Lose U.S. Trade Deal Over Human Rights Abuses; At Least 14 Dead After Luxury Lagos High-Rise Collapses; Australian Girl Found Alive after Disappearing from Campsite; U.S., China Race to Lead World on Climate Solution; Facebook Scrapping Facial Recognition Software; China Keeps Tight Grip on Enterprises One Year into Crackdown; Football Executives Indicted. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 03, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:24]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, you're watching CNN Newsroom. Coming up this hour, a blow from Beijing as world leaders in Glasgow haggle over a global plan on climate change. China's climate negotiator says talks of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees needs to be realistic.
The company formerly known as Facebook does and about face on facial recognition, shutting it down over privacy and ethical concerns. Alive and well and reunited with mom and dad. West Australian police have found a missing four-year-old girl not far from where she vanished more than two weeks ago.
The first few days of COP26 in Glasgow have seen a flurry of commitments to net-zero carbon emissions. Major agreements signed among nations, all with one goal, a cap on global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On day two, while the 90 countries announced they would reduce methane emissions by 30 percent within eight years, but a notable absence on the list of signatories was China. Also notable, comments from Beijing's climate negotiator who said 1.5 degrees is likely too ambitious and suggested maybe two degrees would be more doable. China is the world's biggest carbon polluter and what it does and does not do most likely decide the fate of the planet for generations to come.
Soon, day three begins in Glasgow with expectations the U.K. will announce plans for the world's first net-zero financial center. Banks and financial institutions as well as publicly listed companies will be required to publish their plans to shrink their carbon footprint. And from the British Prime Minister came a warning about rising expectations from the summit, leading to a false dawn. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We must take care to guard against false hope and not to think of in any way that the job is done because it is not. There is still a very long way to go. But all that being said, I am cautiously optimistic.
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VAUSE: With more details now, here's CNN's Max Foster reporting in from Glasgow.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): End of the great chainsaw massacre of the world's forests. The words of Boris Johnson, host of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, as global leaders more than 100 on Tuesday announced a pact to end deforestation by 2030.
JOHNSON: And the role of humanity as nature's conqueror and instead become nature's custodian. We have to stop the devastating loss of our forests.
FOSTER (voice-over): Crucially, signatories include Brazil and Russia. Two states previously singled out for allowing deforestation to accelerate in their respective territories. Russian President Vladimir Putin pre-recorded a speech to rubber stamp the deal.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): After all, our country accounts for around 20 percent of the world's forest land, we take the strongest and most vigorous measures to conserve it.
FOSTER (voice-over): The pledge is backed by almost $20 billion in public and private funding, including $2 billion from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
JEFF BEZOS, AMAZON FOUNDER: Will we in this room work together --
FOSTER (voice-over): And it covers an area of more than 13 million square miles from the northern forests of Canada to the tropical rainforest of Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Climate activists in Glasgow expressed healthy skepticism on the news.
JO BLACKMAN, GLOBAL WITNESS SPOKESPERSON: This is the problem with a lot of these commitments, there is an accountability gap. Governments made similar pledges in 2014 with the New York Declaration on Forests, but they didn't lead (ph) to anywhere near the progress that was expected.
FOSTER (on-camera): How can you guarantee that this forest deal will work better than the last one in 2014?
IVAN DUQUE, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT: I think we have very concrete actions. In the case of Colombia, we have committed to declare 30 percent of our territory, a protected area in 2022. And I think the next challenge is going to be mobilizing green financing to ensure that we conserve the land and that's why we're promoting natural conservation contracts with peasants and indigenous communities.
FOSTER (voice-over): There are reasons to be optimistic. U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry told CNN.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: I will tell you there is something bigger, more engaged, more urgent in what is happening here than I have seen it at any other COP.
[01:05:01]
And I believe we're going to come up with record levels of ambition. And different from all the past, we have private sector coming to the table in ways that we've never seen before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cutting back on methane emissions --
FOSTER (voice-over): Also on Tuesday, more than 80 nations launched an initiative to reduce global methane emissions, committing to cut emissions by 30 percent by 2030. U.S. President Biden said the set was amongst the most important things we can do to keep global temperatures in check and a cornerstone promise of his administration.
That promise now extends to the deals signatories, can we hit the target, that's the question. Max Foster, CNN, Glasgow, Scotland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well to Anchorage, Alaska now, Professor Rick Steiner with the Oasis Earth project, which works with governments, industry, and private groups to speed the transition to environmental sustainability. Professor, thank you for your time.
RICK STEINER, OASIS EARTH: Thank you for having me. Hi.
VAUSE: Thank you. The two big action plans we've heard so far from the summit is this commitment to end deforestation within eight years. We'll stop destroying the equivalent of 30 soccer fields -- 30 soccer fields of forest, I should say, every minute, as well as that commitment to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent also, by the end of this decade.
There are questions over accountability and enforcement. But overall, it said it's better to have a deal and no deal. So what would the impact be from this? And also, is this just kind of the low-hanging fruit actually, which most can agree on without too much rancor?
STEINER: Yes, I believe it is that, it is the low-hanging fruit, but it's important fruit to pick. Nonetheless, we should have done this about 20 or 30 years ago, both of these agreements. Regardless, these are important agreements. I celebrate that, many of us in the scientific community celebrate this, however, where the -- whatever is agreed at Glasgow and these U.N. summits, has to then get brought back to the member of governments for adoption in law and regulation.
That's usually where these things go off the rail. Many governments go home and do nothing with what they agreed with. And some go home and can't pass it in regulation and law. So, what will determine whether these two agreements, the methane agreement and the deforestation agreement, are robust and really make a difference is whether each government thing can take it home, and adopted in regulation and law. And that remains to be seen, the methane regulation, the U.S., the Biden administration has already done by executive order and we celebrate that, so.
VAUSE: Well, the U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry, he told CNN that he believes the world can actually still limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees areas. Here he is.
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KERRY: I believe that if people do what they've laid out as their specific plans, yes. Is it hard? You're right, it's damn hard. It's very hard. But it is better to push for that. It's better to make that your target. Better --what we've done -- and we've had all the major environmental modelers, check our numbers and our plans. They have come up and said, yes. If you do what you say you're going to do, you've got a nearly 60 percent chance of achieving the 1.5.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
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VAUSE: There are a lot of caveats said. I saw you shaking your head just as we went into that soundbite from John Kerry. You don't think it's possible that ship has sailed?
STEINER: No, that ship has sailed, that cake is baked. I think there will be enough carbon by my math, enough carbon in the atmosphere within the next two years to surpass that threshold. There will be a lag time to reach 1.5, but I think the 1.5 degrees Celsius target is history, we are going to blow right past that.
However, every carbon atom we keep out of the atmosphere is going to make it easier for our descendants and the planet to survive this chaos -- this climate chaos a century. So, it's never too late to do everything that we can and we have to do that. But the 1.5 C target is gone in my view.
VAUSE: Well, China's climate negotiator is suggesting a new goal of 2 degrees of warming because it's easier. But I want you to listen to the difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees and what it means to the Western Pacific island nation of Palau. Listen to this.
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SURANGEL WHIPPS JR. PALAU PRESIDENT: Frankly speaking, there is no dignity to a slow and painful death. You might as well bomb our islands instead of making us suffer only to witness our slow and faithful demise. Leaders of the G20, we are drowning, and our only hope is that life ring you are holding.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: So right now the world's biggest emitter of carbon emissions now says it's all too hard to try and reduce and to keep it down to 1.5 even if it's possible or not possible. Let's all aim a little lower. The reality is China is basically seen as the country which could make or break any action on climate change.
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STEINER: Yes, China, India, Russia, Brazil, Eastern Europe all objected to the coal, to the No New Coal deal. And that was a spectacular failure of COP26 so far, despite the few other successes. The problem is, is these 100 poorest nations in the world contribute about 3 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions. And they are the ones bearing the brunt of the impacts of climate change.
So it's entirely immoral and unethical and just absurd and unconscionable that the G20, which is responsible for 80 percent of the emissions, and 80 percent of world GDP, cannot step forward and reduce our emissions sufficiently to take care of this problem and put up the money necessary that we promised 10 years ago, the $100 billion a year Green Climate Fund. And it needs to be 10 times to that to support these 100 nations like Palau in their climate adaptation efforts, and it's going to be a struggle over the next few decades without question.
VAUSE: Just very quickly, we're almost out of time, but as far as that financial deal goes to help those low-income countries deal with the cost of moving to net-zero emissions as well as the other impacts from climate change, how do you see that playing out in the next day or so?
STEINER: Well, tomorrow, Wednesday, will be the day that they bring -- start the discussion of this. What I'm really worried about is this carbon global -- carbon market and offsets and credits, which would allow industry to continue to emit just by buying some forests somewhere. Buying forests is great, but you -- we have to cut emissions in half by the end of this decade, or there's really no hope to even remain below 2 plus Celsius.
So, these governments can do this. They know how to do this. We know how to do it. Science knows how to do it. The question is whether they can bring these agreements back home to their countries, adopt them in law and regulation, and get there.
And the other thing they have to do is impose a carbon tax, a global minimum carbon tax, like the G20 did with corporate tax, as well as stiff penalties for nations that are not, you know, bringing their A game into this and that includes China, Russia, India, Eastern Europe, Brazil. There has to be consequences for governments not stepping forward and committing to sufficient greenhouse gas reduction, so.
VAUSE: Yes. Professor Steiner, it was great to have you with us. We really appreciate your time, sir. Thank you.
STEINER: Thanks very much.
VAUSE: Kabul has been rocked by deadly attack at a hospital in what appears to be a direct challenge to Afghanistan's Taliban leaders. At least 20 people were killed after multiple blasts and gunfire were heard at the hospital, which has been a regular target for terrorist attacks. This time, it seems by ISIS-K.
A decade ago, the Taliban targeted the hospital's suicide bombers. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has details now on this latest attack.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: The key military hospital in Kabul, the Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan Hospital was attacked today. So the Taliban, they claimed that they had the attack under control within 15 minutes. Witnesses inside said how they had to shelter and protect themselves from the attackers.
The Taliban said that was ISIS, what was once Afghanistan's insurgency. The Taliban now governing the country and facing a more extreme Islamist insurgency of their own. The Taliban said, 15 minutes later, they had the situation under control and that they used military helicopters, presumably those taken from the previous government when it fled to help in controlling the situation along with the deployment of their special forces.
But while they said the Taliban that there were no casualties inside the hospital, health officials have suggested the death toll continued to mount. The Taliban saying that ISIS wanted to target civilians and saying that civilians indeed had been killed in the perimeter of the hospital. But it will be a stark reversal, frankly, for long-term observers of this conflict that it is now the Taliban who used to, in fact, be the ones attacking hospitals.
When the government was in place to now face the threat of its Islamist insurgency, ISIS raging in many different cities, responsible for mass casualty attacks and now it seems capable of penetrating some of the secure parts of Kabul. It comes at a time, though, of deepening economic problems, winter on setting and certainly some bid perhaps to gain an element of control of the economy too today was announced by the Taliban when they said they will be banning foreign currencies apart from the local Afghani.
A terrifying attack though, certainly, one from which the death toll continued to rise in the hours after which it happened. One, I say, remind people frankly how vulnerable the Taliban are in government here with security issues particularly with a persistent threat and attacks that ISIS are capable of putting on.
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Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.
VAUSE: A big call in a crucial race on Election Night in America and possibly some bad news for U.S. President Joe Biden. CNN projects Republican Glenn Youngkin who will be the next Governor of Virginia, a big win for Republicans in a state which had been trending Democrat in recent years. Joe Biden carried Virginia by 10 points in last year's presidential election. Youngkin looks to have 51 percent of the vote, a narrow margin but enough to be the first Republican governor since 2014. President Joe Biden and other high profile Democrats had campaigned on behalf of democratic former Governor Terry McAuliffe.
Now, in New Jersey, a much closer race than many expected. Democratic incumbent Phil Murphy is trailing his Republican rival. Former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli by a very slim margin should really address the porters a short time ago but did not declare victory, saying, we want every legal vote counted. Around 80 percent of the ballots have been processed. Murphy's campaign insisting though the race is far from over, with votes still to come from Democratic suburbs.
Still to come here on CNN Newsroom, Ethiopia has announced a state of emergency as fighters from the Tigray region form an alliance with another rebel group and threaten to march on the Capitol. Also, what we're learning about a deadly building collapse in Nigeria, the red flags raised or the high rise before Monday's disaster. That's after the break.
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VAUSE: Ethiopia has announced the national state of emergency as forces from the Tigray region join with another rebel group and threatened to march on the Capitol. The government has now advised more than 3 million residents of Addis Ababa to register their weapons with authorities and prepare to fight. U.S. State Department advising against travel to Ethiopia and urging Americans there to prepare to leave.
CNN's Larry Madowo has details.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The state of emergency just announced in Ethiopia comes just days before the conflict in Tigray in the north of the country turns a year old. In fact, a joint investigation by the United Nations and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission will announce the report on Wednesday. And the background for that, that United States believes that the parties to that conflict are validating internationally acceptable human rights. And that is why Washington is warning that it will pull Ethiopia out of a preferential trade deal unless it changes course not in the weeks, in days.
If it does not do so by January 1, Ethiopia will be out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. And this is how the U.S. explains it, according to the U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman.
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JEFFREY FELTMAN, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR THE HORN OF AFRICA: It is worrisome to see a continuation of military advances by the TPLF, airstrikes by the government against targets in Tigray that will only increase the human suffering when in the end there's going to have to be talks. So the sooner we get to talk, the better. The fewer people will suffer in Tigray and Amhara, the closer we get to talks.
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MADOWO: The Ethiopian government says withdrawing the country from AGOA would punish ordinary people. This is what the trade ministry put out in a statement, "We are extremely disappointed by the threat of AGOA withdrawal currently under consideration by the U.S. government. These actions will reverse significant economic gains in our country and unfairly impact and harm women and children."
[01:20:13]
The Ethiopian government claims that the two biggest exports undergo into the U.S. leather and apparel employ 200,000 people directly. 80 percent of them are women and they're the ones that will be worst affected.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
VAUSE: William Davison is a Senior Ethiopian Analyst for the International Crisis Group. He spent many years before that as a reporter covering Ethiopia and the region. He is with us this hour from Nairobi. William, thank you for taking the time to speak.
WILLIAM DAVISON, SENIOR ETHIOPIA ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: OK, so how real is this possibility that maybe the Capitol could fall to these two rebel groups, the Tigray's People Liberation Front, and this other group, the Oromo Liberation Army? How likely are they to march on the Capitol, and so, how soon?
DAVISON: What we're seeing is a, you know, developing military situation where particularly the Tigray forces are may very steady gains really since July, and big advances in the last few days. There's two major cities, Cambodia (ph) and D.C. (ph). So they're now in a position to either try and control the Djibouti corridor, the main trade route for Addis and Ethiopia, and also all through Southwood towards Addis.
And in Southwood, they do appear to have some support from the Allied Oromo Liberation Army. But of course, there will be continued stiff federal resistance, Amhara resistance and popular resistance of the government's called out for all out -- called for all out mobilization here. So hard to say, you know, how quickly they could take control of Addis even if they tried to.
VAUSE: Because Ethiopia is landlocked. So when you talk about that Djibouti corridor, that's pretty much Ethiopia's only access to the sea, right?
DAVISON: Yes, that's exactly right. So if the Tigray forces are able to make that move east from their current positions and control that corridor, that could achieve two things for the Tigray leadership. One, they could try and circumvent Addis Ababa and take a directly from Djibouti's port into Tigray where there is such a serious humanitarian condition.
And, obviously, by controlling that major economic corridor, that trade route, they could also start to apply pressure on Addis Ababa. And maybe that will lead to, you know, a change of heart and the recourse to negotiations that everyone wants to see here. VAUSE: This state of emergency declaration, which is now in place, it gives the Ethiopian government's sweeping powers to arrest, to impose curfews, force anyone 18 years or older to fight alongside government troops. And right now the camp (ph) searches are underway for what they call Tigrayan sympathizers, is that anyone who's essentially from Tigray, and all the elements seem to be a place for, you know, much wider Civil War?
DAVISON: It's incredibly worrying. Obviously, this very sweeping state of emergency is because of that military threat. But we have seen a very worrying uptick in anti-Tigray and hate speech calls for, you know, mass internment concentration camps. Now, we see this incredibly sweeping state of emergency, and with lots of talk of the need for essentially a ruthless approach to suspected Tigray and collaborators.
So really, it is incredibly worrying about the potential consequences with Tigrayan citizens in cities around Ethiopia, and particularly Addis Ababa. And with the Tigray forces set on advancing and the federal government showing no sign of anything but doubling down here, it is, you know, particularly worrying as it could well get worse.
VAUSE: This all began a year ago and most including the Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, thought this military operation in the north against what was a defeated Tigray in political party would be swift, it will be relatively easy. How did it now reach this point where it's threatening to bring down the government?
DAVISON: It's hard to make a quick answer to that but essentially, you know, the Tigray leadership and a large number of people, they decided they were not willing to submit to the federal government's demands. And they suffered, you know, big defeats early on in the war, but then mounted this very impressive on its own terms, guerrilla resistance. They forced the federal military out of Tigray in June to ambushes and attacks and direct confrontation. And then they've just managed to build with a huge amount of momentum ever since in June to get into the position they are.
So essentially, really wasn't a massive miscalculation to say that the Tigray leadership could be, you know, could be brought under sort of federal control like this or the region (INAUDIBLE).
VAUSE: The Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, he came to Palau, he promised that he would share, you know, Palau with -- in a more fair division among the various ethnic groups in the country. He made peace with, you know, neighboring countries, that sort of thing. But where is he now in terms of his standing internationally and within the country?
DAVISON: Well it's very, very low spot internationally after all, the atrocities in Tigray committed by the federal and allied forces including the Eritrean Army and his refusal to negotiate with the Tigray leadership which they've classified as a terrorist organization, essentially, the denial of aid and services to Tigray because of that, you know, the dissidents, terrorists, nature of the leadership, that's also, you know, caused huge problems internationally.
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Domestically, you know, things are intact at the moment in terms of the regime, in terms of the support. Obviously, there is a lot of popular support or antipathy to Tigray's leadership. But with the pressure building, it wouldn't be surprised if we do start to see cracks in the regime. But ultimately, you know, unless there is some attempts to make concessions perhaps on that humanitarian issue, maybe in terms of some of the political prisoners, the pressure is likely to increase.
The violence is set to get worse, whether in terms of the war or in terms of communal violence or in terms of this repression against Tigray and civilians. So I think more than ever, there is a need for the Prime Minister to stay true to his words, and act in a conciliatory and generous way towards his political opponent.
VAUSE: We will see what happens. Thanks so much for being with us. William Davison there from the International Crisis Group.
DAVISON: Thank you.
VAUSE: That was a scene from a deadly building collapse in Nigeria. An ambulance taking away survivors almost two days after a high-rise disaster in Lagos, which left 14 people dead. This apartment complex was being built as high-end luxury apartments. It's one of the tallest buildings while it was in the city. But there were warnings about the structure before it collapsed.
CNN's Stephanie Busari reports from Lagos.
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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN DIGITAL SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA (voice-over): It was built as a place where future residents who could afford the minimum $1.2 million price tag could live the seven-star hotel experience. Before one of the three towers of the so called luxury in the sky, high-rise complex, came crashing down into a heap of concrete rubble Monday, in the middle of the affluent-equi (ph) neighborhood of Legos.
Now rescue workers are painstakingly moving through what remains of the collapse building, looking for survivors.
(on-camera): Rescue officials say they are using a latest technology to find signs of life of those trapped in the rubble in this building, giving hope to hundreds of volunteers desperately waiting for news of their loved ones.
IBRAHIM FARINLOYE, NIGERIAN NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Two excavators are deployed to the areas where we are hearing voices and those ones are getting closer to the people who are trapped, who are still speaking with us.
BUSARI (voice-over): Rescue teams dropping oxygen tanks beneath the debris to sustain those people they believe to be alive until they can safely reach them. FARINLOYE: Hope is high. Their voices are still very, very strong and we are keeping hope that we will be getting them.
BUSARI (voice-over): As the hours pass, relative standby agonizing, hoping that the sound of voices coming in from beneath the debris means their loved ones have survived and may still be rescued.
MOTUNRAYO ELEGBEDE, BROTHER TRAPPED UNDER COLLAPSED BUILDING: That's why we are here since yesterday. He is still inside. We are waiting for news, for them to bring them out alive. We want him alive.
BUSARI (voice-over): Yet fearing the worst with each new body pulled from the rubble.
The anger rising over just what caused the more than 20-storey building and the construction for the past two years to collapse. Authorities say they're investigating what could have caused the structure to suffer such a catastrophic failure. But CNN has confirmed red flags were raised about the project last year.
In February of 2020, Prowess Engineering Center lettered Fourscore Homes, the developer of the three tower 360 degrees complex, withdrawing from the project, saying, "They no longer share the same vision on how the project is being executed."
And Lagos State deputy governor telling CNN that the building had been sealed off for several months last July amid structural concerns.
FEMI HAMZAT, DEPUTY GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE: So it was sealed because our agency came in to do an structural test, and they saw some anomalies and shut it down until those things were corrected.
BUSARI (voice-over): Fourscore Homes has so far not responded to CNN's requests for comment. On Monday, local residents tell CNN but they believe dozens of workers and project officials was still inside the complex working when the building collapse.
As rescue workers call for survivors --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody dead.
BUSARI (voice-over): -- the exact number of those still missing. Remains unknown.
Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos.
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[01:29:49]
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: In western Australia, a 4-year-old girl has been found alive more than two weeks after she disappeared from her family's campsite. Cleo Smith is now back with her mom and dad.
And CNN's Angus Watson has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER (on camera): A joyous end to a harrowing story of a 4-year-old girl missing from her family for almost three weeks. Cleo Smith rescued by police in western Australia at around one a.m. on Wednesday, local time, found in a locked house in the town of Carnarvon some 30 miles from where she went missing from her tent at a campsite in remote western Australia some 3 weeks ago.
That ended a mammoth search operation for the young girl which included federal and state police, emergency services and members of the local community. Police say they never lost hope.
But Cleo went missing from an extremely remote area of the Australian outback leading to fears that she might have disappeared forever. Her parents didn't give up hope.
Also they say that when they woke to find her missing from the tent, the zipper had been raised to a height that Cleo couldn't possibly have reached, leading police to suspect she might have been abducted.
Here is what they had to say about the moment she was rescued on Wednesday.
COL BLANCH, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN POLICE FORCE: One of the officers picked her up into his arms and asked her what's your name. She said my name is Cleo.
WATSON: A 36-year-old man has been taken into custody in connection with Cleo Smith's disappearance. Police haven't laid charges yet and are still questioning him. Police say he is not related to Cleo in any way.
Now, she was taken to hospital shortly after she was rescued. Pictures haven't been released yet but the premier of western Australia, Mark McGowan says that she could be seen smiling on her hospital bed. She is now spending time with her parents, the family now whole again.
Angus Watson, CNN -- Sidney.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And this is the photo of Cleo in hospital just released by western Australian police who posted it with the caption reading "the miracle we all hope for".
She looks pretty happy.
Still to come here, before leaving COP26, the U.S. president praise new global commitments to tackle climate change but he also had some very tough words for other world leaders, you know, the ones that show up. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Day 3 in Glasgow, the COP26 summit now just a few hours away and the U.K. is set to roll out plans to become the world's first net zero financial center. That means banks and other financial institutions will have to publish their plans for reducing their contribution to global warming.
[01:34:57]
VAUSE: It's one of several sweeping pledges countries from around the country to take action on the climate crisis. But one world leader has been notably absent, that's China's president, Xi Jinping.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Xi's decision not to attend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We showed up. We showed up. By showing up, we've had a profound impact on the way I think the rest of the world is looking at the United States and its leadership role.
I think it's been a big mistake quite frankly for China -- in respect China not showing up. The rest of the world will look to China and say, what value have they provided?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In just two days there have been some notable agreement at COP26. (INAUDIBLE) for starters, more than 100 countries have now committed to ending deforestation by 2030. The pledge which was supported importantly with $19 billion in public and private funding.
Of that, $1 billion will be earmarked simply to protect the Congo basin. In a more than 100 nations have also joined the U.S. and an EU- led effort to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the end of the decade.
Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas and has a much bigger impact than global warning, compared to carbon dioxide. And the U.S., the U.K., and the E.U. promising more than $8 billion just for South Africa to transition away from its dependency on coal.
Officials say that agreement could pave the way for similar deals with other developing countries. It could be a model for the rest of the world.
And on the sidelines of COP26, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took some time out. He sat time with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, to talk about the U.K.'s climate change commitments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think you've got to be doom and gloom. And you've got to remain doom and gloom until we really think that we have fixed this thing. This is a massive problem. I thought that David Attenborough's presentation yesterday morning was absolutely spellbinding because he set out for everybody to understand so clearly, the link between the rising carbon -- the proportion of carbon in the world's atmosphere than the rise in temperature. And you could see that link over thousands of years, then suddenly you see the spike in carbon and you see the beginnings of the rise in temperature.
And you know what is going to come and you can see the risk to the planet. And so the threat is huge. I think it's been very humbling really to listen to some of the testimonies from countries like Bangladesh, or the Maldives, the Seychelles, people who are in the front line.
Are we starting to inch forward? "Yes, I think that, arguably we are". I think that in some important ways, you are -- seeing some good commitments on trees. Stay on force, do very important for the tackling climate change. You're see some important contributions on accelerating the move away from coal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And the United States and China are locked in a competition right now to be the next green superpower. In the United States, Joe Biden is pushing hard for green initiatives in his infrastructure bill, which is stalled in Congress.
China though, is outpacing every other country when it comes to producing electric vehicles.
CNN David Culver reports the race to green supremacy is only getting started.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Devastating scenes of destruction no longer needing a Hollywood portrayal. This is real and it's happening now. The world turning to the U.S. And China for leadership in battling climate change.
The two largest economies are also the biggest emitters of carbon. Combined, they are responsible for more than 40 percent of all global emissions. Both sides making big promises.
The U.S. pledging to reduce emissions by half of 2005 levels in 2030. China, aiming to reach their peak emissions by then. America is targeting net zero by 2050. China hoping to be carbon neutral a decade after that.
But these are promises and not guarantees. Within the U.S. energy has become more efficient. About 20 percent of electricity comes from renewables like wind and solar.
But politics has forged a void in creating consistent climate solutions.
MICHAEL DAVIDSON, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO: The U.S. has a credibility challenge, there's a lot of just tension on U.S. domestic political challenges to achieving and fulfilling those climate promises.
China, for its part, tends to under-promise and over-deliver.
CULVER: Under the all-powerful central government, China's challenge is its size and rapid growth.
(on camera): Shanghai, China's most developed city, is home to more than 24 million people. Keeping all of this up and going? Well, it relies on a constant power supply.
[01:39:57]
CULVER (voice over): In recent decades, China's economy has soared. Nearly everything it seemed, made in China. Giving this once rural, agrarian nation a massive economic boom, built mostly on fossil fuels.
(on camera): China is still heavily reliant on coal. In fact, coal provides more than 60 percent of this country's power.
(voice over): In 2019, we traveled to one of China's coal hubs -- inner Mongolia. Coal mining is still very active. And we found continued construction of new coal power plants.
More recently though, attempts to rein in emissions here sparked a power crisis. Chinese social media chronicling outages across the mainland. People trapped in elevators. Traffic lights going dark. Panic spread as the winter cold moved in.
LI SHUO, SENIOR POLICY ADVISER, GREENPEACE: The power crisis is a reflection of things getting deeper and rare (ph), right. We are really trying to rearrange certain parts of our economy and our power system.
CULVER: But that is all changing fast. More than a decade ago, green energy solutions on a major scale were relatively new. Today, China is the largest investor, manufacturer and employer of wind and solar power.
China even promoting its green solutions as it hosts the upcoming winter games, pledging this to be the first Olympics with competition fueled 100 percent by green energy.
SHUO: The Chinese manufacturers are getting very competitive. The key question is for the U.S. to really carefully think about where it can play a leading role in the supply chain of renewed energy.
CULVER: The new technologies, motivating nations to get creative in securing sources of energy, a power struggle on multiple fronts.
China and the U.S. competing to battle climate change might ultimately benefit the rest of the world. But at this point it is out of necessity.
David Culver, CNN -- Shanghai. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, still to come here, Facebook is scrapping a major feature of their site. It has fueled privacy and ethical concerns ever since it was introduced about a decade ago.
Details when we come back.
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VAUSE: Facebook is ending facial recognition. That is the software which identifies who is in the photograph or a video. Now, the technology has fueled privacy and ethical concerns since it was first introduced a decade ago.
Facebook says all the data gathered will be deleted and that includes about a billion Facebook friends. All this comes as Facebook is under scrutiny -- or Meta platforms, I should say -- to how its platforms actually has fueled misinformation and the potentially harmful effects it has on younger users.
Meantime Facebook is shutting down a troll farm run by the Nicaraguan government and the country's ruling party claiming hundreds of fake accounts, almost a thousand were used to push pro government and anti- opposition content.
[01:44:50]
VAUSE: The company says "this was one of the most cross government troll operations we've disrupted to date with multiple state entities participating in this activity at once. So far there has been no response from the government in Nicaragua.
So we'll head to San Francisco now and Mike Isaac now who's a technology correspondent for the "New York Times".
Thanks for being with us.
MIKE ISAAC, TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": Thanks for having me, of course.
VAUSE: Ok. It took three years, three years for Facebook to find this network which apparently targeted domestic audience, was linked to the government of Nicaragua and the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
And it was putting this pro government, anti opposition disinformation. The obvious question is why did it take so long?
ISAAC: Yes. No, I mean it's a great question. I think you could -- Facebook I think would argue, you know, we have gotten much better over the years considering the 2016 election kind of woke them up to the amount of coordinated -- what they called coordinated, inauthentic activity or basically fake account trolling that was on the platform before.
I do think they are getting better over time. They started to figure out different types of activities but, you know, they have described it as a sort of oppositional battle where one side gets better and then the other side improves. So I don't know if they're ever going to get perfect at it, but I think it's worth continuing to pressure them to see how long it takes them to find some of these groups.
VAUSE: Ok. I want you to listen to the Facebook whistleblower, Frances Haugen. She was explaining last week before British lawmakers how so- called bad actors manipulate the social media platform. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLE BLOWER: Bad actors have incentive to play the algorithm. And they figure all the ways to optimize Facebook. And so the current system is biased towards bad actors, and biased towards people who pushed people to the extremes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Does that essentially describe what was happening here in Nicaragua? Is there any idea of what impact it might have on, you know, the weekend election.
ISAAC: So I think she is absolutely right. Bad actors are folks who exploit these networks and use it. Usually it's to financial gain of their own. So often, people will sort of make fake Facebook account, sell them off, or do something that could make them some money on a scam. But I think the rise of the sort of ideological, you know, hacking and cyber warfare, is more worrisome just because, you know, you are not shutting someone off for profit motive. You basically have these groups that are doing something for, you know, because they believe in a cause.
And that is much harder to tamp down on because these beliefs are not going to go away. They're just going to really try to find other alternate ways to do that over time.
So I don't think the battle by any means is over quite yet.
VAUSE: Well, from 2018 when this all began until 2020, Facebook saw a steady increase in the number of users in Nicaragua. Out of about 100,000 or so each year from 2.7 million to 2.9 million.
At the same time, we now know that this sort of divisive disinformation especially around politics uses online for longer and more often.
We also know that until now, Facebook has had very little investment in removing harmful content in markets outside of the United States.
So did this troll farm, either directly or indirectly ultimately improve Facebook 's bottom line?
ISAAC: That's a great point. I think you're absolutely right that for most of the company's history, they had not invested a whole lot of money on taking down some of these troll farms or other sort of manipulators. Now I believe, they said they're going to invest up to 10 billion dollars this year, significant part of their expenses in their annual earnings report.
But they -- you touched on an exact thing, which is the big problem which is that politically divisive content and things that make people upset, go viral very quickly.
And so Facebook is torn in tow. It has this incentive to make stuff on its platform go viral, but also doesn't want to incentivize people to manipulate it and use it the wrong way.
So I think it has to balance those two things that are really in contrast with each other and decide at the end of the day what is most important to them to keep the users happy, or to keep the users safe? And are those mutually exclusive?
VAUSE: Yes. It's a good question. I guess one would it has to work out and I guess we'll find out because it's not called Meta.
(CROSSTALK)
ISAAC: Oh, that's right. That's right.
VAUSE: Mike, thank you. Appreciate your time.
ISAAC: Thank you so much for having me. All right.
VAUSE: Pleasure.
The private sector in China has been the focus of one of the most consequential realignments in the country's history. A 12 month-long crackdown has seen the biggest private companies in the country lose more than a trillion dollars in market value.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has more.
[01:49:41]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a brutal year for business in China. A year ago this week Beijing slammed the brakes on the world's biggest stock market debut halting the $37 billion listing of Ant Group, the financial tech giant founded by billionaire Jack Ma. It came shortly after Ma rebuked China's financial regulators in a high profile speech.
And that moment set off a year of upheaval as China tightened its grip on a stunning array of sectors from fintech, to private tutoring, online gaming and ride hailing, to entertainment, even crypto and e- commerce.
Now, here's the timeline. In December of 2020, Chinese regulators launched an anti-trust probe into Alibaba and put a number of other tech firms on notice. And then in April, China hit Alibaba with a record $2.8 billion fine for behaving like a monopoly. That same month, Alibaba's Ant Group was cut down to size and restructured into a financial holding company.
In July, China's cyber space regulator banned the ride-hailing platform Didi from App Stores after seeing it posed a cybersecurity risk.
Later that month, China unveiled wide ranging rules that essentially shut down the $120 billion private tutoring industry.
In August, China clamped down on chaotic fan culture after a series of scandals involving celebrities like popstar Chris Woo and leading after Zhiao Wei (ph).
In the same month, China banned kids from playing online games for more than 3 hours a week. The crackdown has been sweeping and observers say it's about more than party control.
"Common prosperity is the prosperity of all the people," said Chinese President Xi Jinping in August as he pledged to redistribute the wealth, but Xi's campaign to narrow the wealth gap has weighed on the economy. The crackdown has prompted sharp falls for listed Chinese firms.
At one point wiping up to $3 trillion of China's markets. And with China's economic growth slowing down will the crackdown wind down?
KEYU JIN, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: It's moved from GDP efficiency, smokestack industry, to consumer welfare, consumer protection, social harmony as the core interest under the general umbrella of common prosperity. That will be the Chinese government's main priority even if it is at the cost of slower growth.
STOUT: As analysts ponder what's next, Jack Ma has resurfaced. Last month, he was reportedly seen on the Spanish island of Majorca where's his luxury yacht is anchored and last week at a green house in the Netherlands.
One year ago, China sent Ma a powerful message and he has been laying low since. Jack maybe back but it a brave new era of control and scrutiny.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN -- Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: First they were banned from the beautiful game, now they are facing charges. The allegations against the former presidents of FIFA and UEFA. That's up next.
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VAUSE: The disgraced former president of FIFA Sam Blatter (ph) was indicted for fraud Tuesday along with former UEFA president Michel Platini. Switzerland's attorney general said they illegally arranged payment of more than $2 million from FIFA to Platini, a payment that resulted in both being banned from football.
"CNN WORLD SPORT" Patrick Snell has details on this six year long investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Two of the biggest names in football have been indicted in Switzerland on fraud charges. Former FIFA president Sam blot and former UEFA president Michele Platini. Blatter, once the most powerful man in football as president of FIFA for 17 years and Platini, one of the most revered and talented footballers of all time, turned president of European football's governing body UEFA.
[01:54:58]
SNELL: A Swiss attorney general accusing both men of unlawfully arranging payment of 2 million Swiss francs -- that's over $2 million today -- from FIFA to Platini in 2011.
Now, in a statement, prosecutors adding this damage FIFA's assets and unlawfully enriched Platini. In the view of the attorney generally the accused have committed the offenses listed above.
Both the 85-year-old Blatter and Platini who's 66 deny any wrongdoing. Blatter, the FIFA president who oversaw the first men's world cup in Asia in 2002, when South Korea and Japan cohosted. The first men's world cup in Africa in 2010 when South Africa hosted.
He also oversaw the announcement of Qatar 2022 that's next year's men's world cup. In a statement sent to CNN Blatter saying "I look forward to the trial before the federal criminal court with optimism and I hope the story will come to an end of that all the facts will be dealt with properly."
Regarding the payment of the sum of 2 million francs from FIFA to Michele Platini, I can only refute myself. It was based on an old contract that regulated Platini's advisory activities for FIFA between 1998 and 2002.
Blatter adding that the payment to Platini was approved by all responsible FIFA bodies and that Platini paid tax on the amount at his Swiss place of residence.
Michele Platini also responding to CNN saying I fully challenge these unfounded and unfair accusations. Part of a FIFA statement reading, "The sum of 2 million Swiss Francs was supposedly due to be paid for work carried out by Mr. Platini more than 10 years before. There are no written records of any such agreement.
FIFA has already taken steps in the Swiss court to recover the sum from both individuals as it considers the money to be illicitly paid by one to the other. If and when the funds are successfully recovered, they will be channeled back into football development as they should have been in the first place. UEFA declining CNN's request for comment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Our thanks to Patrick Snell there.
And some hometown news to report before we go. The Atlanta Braves have won the World Series beating the Houston Astros taking the series four games to two. This is Atlanta's first World Series title since 1995. Most valuable player for the Braves, (INAUDIBLE) Jorge Soler (ph). Houston made it to the World Series back in 2019, they won the championship two years before that. So don't feel too sorry for them.
And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues after a short break with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church. I'll see you tomorrow.
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