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Climate Change Affects World's Poorest; COP26 Ends In Glasgow With Final Agreement; Queen Elizabeth II To Miss Remembrance Sunday Service; Angela Merkel Urges Germans To Get Vaccinated; Nigeria's Lagos Island Battling Severe Erosion; Sudan Anti-Coup Protests; Biden Says Spending Plans Would Ease Inflation; Netherlands Artist Turns Pizzas Into Skateboards. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired November 14, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
The deal is done but not everyone is thrilled with the COP26 climate agreement.
And just when Europe thought it could return to normal, it's scrambling to fight back against the fourth wave of the pandemic.
And dozens are dead after a prison riot in Ecuador. It's the same place where more than 100 were killed just weeks ago.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: Nearly 200 negotiators at the COP26 conference finally hammered out an agreement on Saturday but only after a last-minute compromise on coal. Many delegates were crushed by that change. U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres conceded the agreement fell short but was better than no deal. Here he is.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: We did not achieve these goals at this conference but we have some building blocks for progress.
I want to send a message to young people, indigenous communities, women leaders, all those leading on climate action. I know you are disappointed. But the path of progress is not always a straight line. Sometimes there are detours, sometimes there are ditches. But I know we can get there. We are in the fight of our lives and this fight must be won.
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The agreement reaffirms the importance of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It requests that countries bring more aggressive emissions targets, to next year's conference, in Egypt and it agrees to phase down the use of coal, instead of phase out. It's a small but significant change, requested by India.
Some were skeptical before the conference began. After Saturday's final agreement they branded COP26 a failure and showed off mock headstones of past COP meetings that also failed to bring action.
Greta Thunberg tweeted, "COP26 is over. Here is a brief summary, "Blah, blah, blah. But the real work continues outside of these halls. And we will never give up, ever."
Phil Black joins me now from Glasgow.
Take us through more detail on what's in this.
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, as a general rule, these conferences don't do transformational change. You have around 200 countries pursuing their own national interests while trying to achieve a consensus; makes for a grinding, painful process.
Perhaps nothing reflects that more than this being the first time after more than almost 30 years of these conferences that there is specific language talking about the need to move away from coal.
It is unprecedented. Even with that weakened language, it was supported and accepted by other countries that were disappointed by it, because they wanted to preserve other substance within the agreement; notably that very strong language based on the science about the need to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The fact that the science says, in order to achieve that threshold, then tough action, dramatic action, needs to be taken this decade in order to ensure that we can cut emissions by 45 percent come 2030.
With that in mind, crucially, it contains instructions for countries to go away, come back next year with specific, tougher, more ambitious emissions cuts in the years ahead. So what it means is that, on the whole, finally, there is an agreement out of one of these conferences that reflects the urgency of the scientific message.
And crucially it provides an opportunity, instructions for countries to still come back and still take action that meets that urgency. It's just a question now of whether those countries will step up.
BRUNHUBER: Phil, the reaction seems to range from sort of lukewarm positivity to outright disappointment.
BLACK: Yes, people like Greta Thunberg will be disappointed. It is just not what these conferences do. But on the other hand, keeping the process alive is still something of an achievement. There was some doubt about that coming into this. We knew the individual emissions cuts didn't add up to what was required. According to the rules, as they were previously, it was unlikely they
would be ramped up in time to deliver what the science says is necessary. That opportunity now exists.
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BLACK: Now there are instructions for countries to come back and step up and cut emissions deeply. We don't know if that will happen but there is still the hope, the possibility that we could get there.
So incremental change; not the transformational change that science demands but a new sense of urgency. And according to some analysts here and understanding that we now appear to be on an undisputed, perhaps inevitable low carbon path.
But it is now just a race, a question of can we get there, can we make sufficient deep changes in time to achieve what the science says is necessary before the worst impacts of climate change hit us-- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Thanks again for your reporting, from the scene there in Glasgow, Scotland, Phil Black.
Worsening climate disasters displaced more than 30 million people last year. Jagan Chapagain is secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and he joins us from Geneva.
Thanks so much for being here with us. Your organization put out a statement. I characterize it as supportive in general but critical of a number of things. Let me start first with regard to hitting that critical target of 1.5 degrees of warming. And the statement that said that specific commitments to meet this target remain too vague.
So what's missing?
What would you have liked to see on that score specifically?
JAGAN CHAPAGAIN, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT SOCIETIES: Thank you for having me and thank you for mentioning that report, that climate has displaced more than 30 million people, which is three times higher that was specified by conflict.
This aspect has not been talked about enough and that's why we wanted to highlight the plight of those people. On Glasgow itself, many of the commitments are vague and also they are too hard (INAUDIBLE) for us and the (INAUDIBLE) impact of the climate crisis is happening already now.
The climate crisis is not for the future for people as we saw in the small island of developing states and many other part of the world, the climate change had already happened. So we did not see a concrete actions there.
Of course, we talk about a lot on the coal and oil and gas but we also didn't see the commitment that had been promised many years ago to fund $100 billion a year on adaptation.
We also didn't see action on funding loss and damage for some small countries. They have already faced significant impact of the climate crisis. While there have been some incremental positive steps toward achieving 1.5 degrees but what we have seen now will not get us there.
BRUNHUBER: On the issue of loss and damage and helping some of the smaller nations, people in this country might not see helping smaller nations as a top priority even in the context of climate change.
But your organization, they did a lot of research on the effects on displacing people in vulnerable countries. That can have a direct effect on things like illegal immigration. People might not draw the link between climate change in Honduras and the migrant crisis at the U.S. border.
CHAPAGAIN: Yes, what we have found is, so far, most of the people that have been displaced because of climate related disasters have been displaced internally, within the national borders. Very small number of people have actually crossed the border because of climate.
But for the people who have been displaced, their suffering is the same, whether they are displaced within the country or they have crossed the border. If they cross the border, they have bigger challenges because there is no legal framework for those who migrate.
So there is a huge legal gap if people cross the border. But when we see this vast number of 30 million people displaced just in 2020, it will only very feasible that in a few years' time, there will be more people crossing the borders and actually adding to already the high number of people who migrate because of various reasons, not only because of conflict but because of climate related disasters.
So this aspect needs to be very high on the agenda, too, because people suffer mostly in developing countries.
BRUNHUBER: As you say, this isn't theoretical for your organization; it's happening right now and you're being called more and more to help people.
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BRUNHUBER: This past year, in the U.S., we saw devastating change on both coasts with the unprecedented fire and droughts and the Red Cross being called to help with those emergencies.
And yet even in the face of all of this, a surprisingly high number of Americans, about seven in 10 Republicans say climate change isn't an emergency, even in the face of all of these disasters.
How do you go about changing those entrenched attitudes?
CHAPAGAIN: Yes, this is a very important work (INAUDIBLE). The community-based organizers who are rooted, deeply rooted in the communities, I think that's where we prioritize a lot. We saw that also in the heart of Europe here. I was there last month
in Belgium and we see people displaced because of the climate related disasters.
In Germany, in Australia, the impact of the climate crisis is not only in the developing world; it's actually impacting everybody.
Now I think there are a few things we can do. And one of our calls to the young people has been that they continue to challenge the leadership, continue to protest and they should also continue to work toward changing the mindset.
The young people can play a very, very important role in changing behaviors and bringing the science in the front line. Although I belong to the Red Cross, so I don't want to talk about politics, but it is also very important for the general public to elect the leaders who trust on science and who take action based on science.
And I think this is a very important role that the young climate activists are playing and they should continue to play. And we strongly support those initiatives by the young people.
BRUNHUBER: We saw a lot of that energy from young people at COP and we'll see it again. We really appreciate it.
CHAPAGAIN: Thank you so much for having me.
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BRUNHUBER: We're following breaking news from the U.K. Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II won't make a public appearance this morning for U.K. Remembrance Day ceremonies as originally planned.
It was to be the monarch's first public appearance since doctors advised her to rest following a one-night stay in the hospital last month. CNN royal correspondent Max Foster joins me now.
What do we hear from the palace about this last-minute cancellation?
Is it at all related to the hospitalization last month?
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: According to a source, no, it's not related to the reason she was signed off work recently. She has sprained her back, we're told.
This was the one occasion we were expecting to see her, so there was going to be a lot of coverage and focus on the imagery to see how well she is. We will not get that opportunity now.
But the palace says it is not be related to the issues she had previously. We only found out in the last hour or so. It would be a surprise in normal times that she wouldn't turn up to this event because it's very much a part of her calendar. It's something she's utterly committed to.
Only six times in her long reign has she failed to attend this. That's because she was away or pregnant. So it will be a different sense to this Remembrance Day service. People are quite concerned, particularly when you consider that she had gone into hospital recently and the palace didn't tell us about that.
We only found out when some photographers saw her coming out. So there's speculation that this is more serious. But we have to stick to what we know, simply that she sprained her back and can't attend and is unrelated to why she couldn't attend previous events.
BRUNHUBER: Max, what does that suggest about the overall health of the 95-year-old queen?
She's the oldest and longest reigning monarch in the world.
FOSTER: I guess we have to just keep reminding ourselves of that, that she is 95 years old. If she sprains her back, it will put her out of action more than a younger person. If she was having checks at the hospital, they would be more likely to ask her to rest afterwards.
You have to remember, she's 95 years old but there's nothing to suggest there's anything more serious here. In fact, a source is pointing out to me that the queen is deeply disappointed to miss this engagement. She considers this one of her most significant engagements of the year.
She hopes to continue with her light scheduled duties next week. We do know she's doing some conference calls from Windsor Castle. She has been working a bit. But you know, again, people concerned about the language "hopes to continue as planned her schedule of light engagement."
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FOSTER: So I think we'll just have to watch and see what comes next, really, when we get to see her, whether it's on video or in person at an event.
BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks for covering this breaking news for us, Max Foster in London. Appreciate it.
A Polish soldier is dead amidst an ongoing standoff over migrants at the Belarusian border. The death appears to be a mishap but tensions remain high.
Polish police say a body of a Syrian man was found near the border on Friday. What killed him was not immediately clear but migrants are braving freezing forests and a lack of food to reach the E.U. Nada Bashir is tracking the story from London.
The E.U. is meeting tomorrow to talk about this issue.
What kind of measures are they contemplating?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. E.U. foreign ministers will be gathering in Brussels to discuss the next steps, what actions need to be taken to quell this crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus.
We heard from the E.U. foreign affairs minister yesterday confirming he has spoken with the foreign ministers of Poland and Lithuania. And we heard from U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken, he, too, also speaking with the Polish foreign minister.
There's some intense diplomatic efforts ongoing to quell this crisis unfolding. Last week we heard from the German foreign minister who said the talks on Monday are expected to focus on sanctions.
The E.U. already placed sanctions on Belarus over human rights abuses but these sanctions could be expanded to target companies and individuals that the European Union believes are involved in human trafficking, driving this crisis on the border.
We heard from the E.U. representatives from the U.N. Security Council last week, they said Belarus is manufacturing this crisis in order to destabilize the European Union's external borders and to distract attention away from its own human rights abuses in Belarus.
The focus is on the crisis on the border and the humanitarian crisis unfolding. Thousands of refugees currently stranded in Belarus, attempting to make that desperate crossing into Poland.
Now Poland beefed up its presence on the border; 15,000 soldiers and other border officials are preventing people from crossing the border. On Saturday evening, they sent a text out to those in the area, warning and urging refugees not to attempt to make the crossing.
Certainly, they won't be allowed to cross from Poland into Germany, further into the E.U. as they so desperately hope to do. So there's a serious crisis unfolding here. On Monday, we expect the foreign ministers to discuss these sanctions and also what needs to be done in the immediacy to tackle this humanitarian crisis-- Kim.
BRUNHUBER: No easy solutions there, I'm sure. Nada Bashir in London, thanks so much.
As COVID cases rise in Europe, governments are imposing more restrictions and pleading with residents to get vaccinated. Coming up, a live report on efforts to fight the spread of coronavirus across the continent.
Plus in California's Bay Area, a report shows Black students lag behind their peers when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations. We'll talk to an expert about the consequences. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: If you live in Berlin, you'd better have a COVID shot or proof of recovery before heading out on the town in the coming days. The German capital is banning the unvaccinated from restaurants, bars, cinemas and other public venues, starting on Monday.
Germany has been especially hard hit with the recent surge of COVID infections across Europe. The rise in cases has placed a devastating burden on hospitals, with beds reaching near capacity in some regions. Now Angela Merkel is addressing vaccine hesitancy, telling those who are skeptical it's time to get the shot.
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ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): Difficult weeks lie before us and, as you can see, I am worried as I am sure that many of you are, too. But let us part from it.
A year ago, we were in a similar situation. But back then, we didn't have the most effective means against the virus, the vaccine. Now it is here and we must not only access it but quickly. I ask of you, please do it and try to convince your relatives and friends as well.
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BRUNHUBER: Much of the continent is seeing a similar surge in new COVID infections. The World Health Organization said Europe reported nearly 2 million infections in the last week alone. And there were nearly 27,000 new deaths from the virus last week accounting for more than half of the deaths worldwide during that time.
For more on the escalating crisis in Europe, let's bring in CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau, live from Rome.
This is forcing the return of some tough measures yet again in Europe.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, we're looking at lockdowns. Right now we have the Netherlands looking at a three-week modified lockdown, not as strict as a year ago.
We have Austria locking down people who have not been vaccinated. All of this comes before people expected this fourth wave of a surge, because it's not really winter yet here. There's people not confined indoors the way they are generally in the winter.
But we are also looking at a slowdown in the vaccination rate, which plateaued in a lot of these countries. The booster campaign has been especially slow in many countries, including here in Italy.
BRUNHUBER: So you know, here in the U.S., we're hoping that making booster shots available to all Americans, which health officials in the Biden administration are pushing for, that that will help us going into the winter.
Is that the hope in Europe as well?
NADEAU: Well, the hope here is that people get vaccinated the first time around. You have low rates, lower rates in Germany than you do here in Italy. You have a lot of vaccine hesitancy. We saw a lot of protests this fall, no-vax protests. Those people have created superspreader events.
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NADEAU: And because the booster campaign has been so slow to roll out in European countries, the immunity from the first vaccines is waning and they're susceptible to getting reinfection if they're not given booster shots.
In Italy, they've not started giving booster shots to those older individuals. They are thinking about starting that in December. We know from the science that the immunity does start to wane.
So it's a complicated situation across Europe by the fact that there are no travel restrictions between countries. One country may be locked down; another one may not be. So going into the fall, it looks to be complicated and potentially dangerous.
BRUNHUBER: All right, Barbie Nadeau, thanks so much.
The U.S. is making progress on getting younger children vaccinated. Since emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for children 5 to 11, nearly 1 million children have received a dose.
That's a 62 percent increase in vaccination compared to a month ago. But several school districts in northern California say they will defy the governor's vaccine mandate for students. Districts that don't comply with the order risk losing millions of in state funding.
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BRUNHUBER: Tyrone Howard is a professor of education and the director of Black Male Institute at UCLA. He joins me from Los Angeles.
Thank you so much for being here with us. Vaccine mandates in schools, almost every physician I've spoken with on this program said it's a great idea to fight COVID.
But we've never talked about the effect it might have on students, especially students of different races. I want to use some statistics as an example.
The "Mercury News" analyzed county health department data. And in the Bay Area about 85 percent of all students age 12 to 17 had at least one shot. When it comes to African American students, that number drops to 52 percent. And the numbers are similar for Latino students.
So are we facing a scenario here, if those numbers don't improve fast, a disproportionate number of Black and Brown students will be shut out of their schools later this fall or early next year, when the vaccine mandates kick in?
TYRONE HOWARD, DIRECTOR, BLACK MALE INSTITUTE AT UCLA: That is precisely the fear. That is precisely the concern because part of what we know is that many Black adults, many Latino adults had a vaccination hesitancy because of safety concerns, because of the quickness in which the vaccine was created. And also because of a long and ugly history of medical racism in our country. If the adults have that type of hesitancy, it doesn't surprise us they will be hesitant to have their children vaccinated.
I do think there are some consequences that can come with it. As schools start to move to a mandate, saying students cannot come to school unless they've been vaccinated, that can be very, very unfavorable for Black and Brown children. Those children will essentially be locked out of schools.
These are also the various students who are also academically behind because of the pandemic. So you take a group of students who are already struggling and behind academically, if they're not allowed in schools or given an alternative that may not rise to the level of caliber of regular instruction, it can be really tough.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Not just in the short term; in the longer term as well this might grow even larger when they include younger kids eventually when the FDA approves vaccines for the younger kids.
Looking down the road, if this isn't changed, what might happen?
HOWARD: Yes, the consequences could be really, really devastating. When you talk about our younger children, that's the foundation of their educational development. If they don't get those core literacy skills, they really struggle for the rest of their academic careers.
If we already have achievement gaps that's been in place for decades, I think you can see those gaps get even wider. I think you can see higher dropout rates. I think that ultimately has lifelong consequences, lower employment opportunities, higher unemployment rates and a host of other negative indices that we see in young people that don't have a high school education.
That's why we have to figure out a way to address the problem because if not I think you're going to see our most vulnerable students become even further marginalized.
BRUNHUBER: It's not like the kids will be kicked out of school but they'll be moved to online schooling and so on. And this isn't just an abstract fear. We already know from the past 1.5 years, two years, about the effect that not going to in-person schooling has disproportionately on Black and Brown students.
HOWARD: Yes. So the data's been clear. There's been study after study that has shown, overwhelmingly, online learning does not work for most of students. There is a small number of students that it did work for. But the academic support they get and interacting with peers, the social dynamic, also contributes to learning.
So we know the benefits coming from being in person are not going to be there. So you're talking about separate but again unequal, which is a long history we've dealt with in this country.
BRUNHUBER: For the last minute that we have here, let's get the important thing, which is how to turn this around. Is it about access to vaccines for the kids?
I mean, they are available in pharmacies, doctor's offices, drive- throughs, mobile clinics.
Is it giving the kids access or is it you have to work through the parents to get them on board?
What's -- what can be done here?
HOWARD: Yes. I think we have to take a three-pronged approach. Number one, we have to continue to educate parents about the benefits of the vaccines, to lower fears and decrease anxiety.
The second thing is access. We're still seeing in lots of parts of our country, rural areas in particular, poor areas, that we see that Black and Brown families still don't have the access to the vaccine that they deserve. These are parents who want their children to have access but can't get the vaccination.
The third part, we have to begin thinking creatively in schools, about what will it mean and look like if you still have parents who are uneducated about the vaccine, have access to the vaccine but still don't want their children to have the vaccination?
I think schools have to figure out an in-person alternative that gives students the benefits without the alternative with the online format.
BRUNHUBER: It's a big problem and not a lot of time to turn it around. Appreciate your insights, professor Tyrone Howard. Thank you very much.
HOWARD: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Ahead on CNN, why some activists are blaming a high-end construction project for eroding parts of Nigeria's coastline.
And prices in the U.S. are rising like they haven't in more than three decades.
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BRUNHUBER: Fears of spiraling inflation have Americans worried. More details coming up. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Long and tense negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland, finally led to a climate agreement that everyone could endorse but few were happy with. A last-minute change on coal weakened the language. The British official presiding over the conference became emotional after announcing the change. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALOK SHARMA, BRITISH BUSINESS SECRETARY: May I just say to all delegates, I apologize for the way this process has unfolded and I am deeply sorry. I also understand the deep disappointment. But I think, as you have noted, it's also vital that we protect this package.
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BRUNHUBER: The agreement reaffirms the importance of holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It requests that countries have more aggressive emissions targets at next year's conference in Egypt and it agrees to phase down coal instead of phase out, changing the wording at the request of India.
With each passing day, residents of a coastal community in Nigeria are watching rising sea levels destroy their homes and way of life. Some blame climate change while others blame poor urban planning. CNN's Stephanie Busari reports now from Lagos.
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STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN.COM SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA (voice-over): The low lying community of Okun Alfa in Lagos sits along Nigeria's Atlantic coast. Erosion along the shoreline is nothing new. But the problem is getting worse.
Over time, residents say, they watch their ancestral homes and vital public infrastructure disappear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This health center was washed away about 10 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was washed away. (INAUDIBLE) have anywhere as a health center or a place, when if it is, something happened that you can rush a patient (INAUDIBLE).
BUSARI: For decades, this community in Lagos suffered from flooding and erosion due to rising sea levels. But they say these breakers put here about 10 years ago have helped to solve some of this issue. But still, they remain worried.
BUSARI (voice-over): Climate change is one culprit but some also are pointing their fingers elsewhere.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Eko Atlantic is raising the standard for quality of life in Nigeria.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BUSARI (voice-over): Touted as the next economic capital of Africa, Eko Atlantic is a new city being built on 6.5 million square meters of land reclaimed from the ocean bed in the Victoria Island district of Lagos.
The eroding coastline is protected by an 8.5-kilometer great wall of Lagos. But the surrounding community says the construction has made things worse for them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the project is about to commence, none of us are called. They have to call us. We have to say our own certain experience that we have.
BUSARI (voice-over): The company behind the project insists it is not to blame and goes so far as to say that the Victoria Island area of Lagos would not exist without the Eko Atlantic project.
DAVID FRAME, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SOUTH ENEGYNX NIGERIA: A contract between ourselves and the Lagos state government to effectively arrest the erosion of our beach (ph) that was threatening the very existence of Victoria Island and in turn, find a permanent solution. That permanent solution is Eko Atlantic City.
BUSARI: But they're saying this has caused it to worsen.
FRAME: Well, that is not the case.
BUSARI (voice-over): But that is the case and environmental advocates say --
OWOYEMI WAHAB ELEGBELEYE, UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS: If the people of Okun Alfa or any other place on the island claims that it is because of the construction of Eko Atlantic City bringing about flooding in their own areas, they cannot be wrong because the water will definitely find its level in other areas.
BUSARI (voice-over): Where that water does go will impact those in this area forever.
BUSARI: Are you worried that this community will sink underwater?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water has carried a lot of the community away. We are crying that if this is happening, is going to demolish the village.
BUSARI (voice-over): Stephanie Busari, CNN, Lagos, Nigeria.
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BRUNHUBER: A doctors' group says Sudan's military forces killed at least five protesters, on Saturday.
The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors also reporting numerous injuries from live ammunition and people exposed to tear gas. Demonstrators taking to the streets on Saturday to protest military rule after pro-democracy activists called for marches nationwide. This was the scene in Khartoum. Larry Madowo joins me live.
What more do we know about what happened?
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know these five people died as a result of the police and security officials using live ammunition. Four of them from Sudan. The fifth one is said to have choked on tear gas that was deployed in some of these marches.
The protesters are criticizing the security officers in Sudan for using live ammunition in peaceful protests. This is another round of civil disobedience that's been called by the Sudan Professionals Association, by local resistance committees, that have been raising concerns about this military takeover since October 25th, when that coup happened.
The man who is in charge of Sudan strengthened his grip on power a few days ago by appointing a new sovereign council without any civilian members of the government. There has been a power-sharing agreement since the former leader of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir was thrown out.
Now there is a huge international concern that all those gains have been eroded.
BRUNHUBER: We saw civilian members of the old government being arrested. Now word of yet another arrest; this time a member of the media.
What can you tell us about that?
MADOWO: That's right.
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MADOWO: We know the Al Jazeera bureau chief in Sudan, the network is saying that police raided his house and took him into custody. Al Jazeera condemns that. They are condemning the reprehensible actions of the military, calling on the authorities to release El Kabbashi immediately and to allow its journalists to operate unhindered, free to practice their profession without fear or intimidation.
This is a new front in the actions of the military. There's still members, like you mentioned, of the civilian government, of the power- sharing agreement, the civilian members who have not been released since they were arrested on October 25th.
Even the prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, though he's still in house custody, he's not been able to give any public statements or been seen in public since that coup back on October 25th.
BRUNHUBER: All right. More troubling news from that country. Thanks for bringing to us. Larry Madowo, really appreciate it.
Ecuador's president called an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday to address the latest rush of deadly clashes in the prisons there. Gang violence killed dozens of inmates in one of Ecuador's most overcrowded prisons, the same prison where deadly clashes broke out weeks ago. Stefano Pozzebon has the latest.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The government of Ecuador has called a crisis cabinet after at least 68 inmates were killed and 35 were injured in clashes in the Litoral penitentiary in the coastal city of Guayaquil.
This is the same prison where 118 inmates were killed in September in similar clashes. In both cases authorities put the blame on rival gangs, competing for control of the prison. Guillermo Lasso, the president of Ecuador, did not speak to the nation but went on Twitter to demand that the constitutional court to pass new regulation aimed at reestablishing orders in the jail.
Ecuador's jails are overcrowded and clashes between inmates are common. In the year so far, more than 300 inmates were killed in prison violence, according to the country's prison service.
And the entire prison system has been under a state of emergency since Septembers due to the ongoing wave of violence. The inmates are often well-armed with high caliber guns and explosives.
Just on Friday, the Ecuador police announced it had seized seven firearms and 27 packages of ammunition that were being smuggled inside Litoral penitentiary. But that could not prevent the violence from escalating once again.
At least 900 policemen and the armed forces were deployed to the prison on Saturday as more clashes were reported -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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BRUNHUBER: Just ahead, gas, groceries, housing, prices in the United States reach record highs not seen in decades, leaving many to wonder, how high can it go?
Later, it's off to the Netherlands, where a restaurant owner is combining two of the things he loves most, pizza and skateboarding.
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BRUNHUBER: Climate change and the environment are top concerns of many people around the world. Right now, Americans have a more immediate problem, surging costs, a continuing labor shortage and a clogged supply chain that left people in the U.S. growing increasingly nervous.
The country saw consumer prices hit a 31-year high last month. It's not clear when things will get better. Nadia Romero has more.
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NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From coast to coast, wallets are being stretched to their limits. Let's talk about California first and that is where the highest gas prices, the most expensive, $3.66 per gallon of unleaded fuel, that ties the all-time record, set, nearly a decade ago. That happened on Saturday.
But it is Atlanta that has the, overall, highest inflation rate in the country. The southern city has an inflation rate because of gas prices, housing and the cost of groceries, as well. Its inflation rate, 7.9 percent compared to the national average at 6.2 percent.
This data shows Georgia has become one of the top places to move in recent years, the demand for housing in the Atlanta metro area, outpacing supply, resulting in higher rents and home prices.
Beyond Atlanta, metro areas, nationwide, see spiking costs for basic items like gas, food and furniture, compared to last, year according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists, also, linked to surge in pricing to bottlenecks in the supply chain.
The result of a collision between pent up consumer demand and a lack of resources. Georgia governor Brian Kemp touted a new mega rail system, at the port of Savannah, saying, it could alleviate some supply chain issues. But he also said the Biden administration needs to do more to address inflation concerns.
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GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): There's a whole another problem with inflation. You need to ask somebody at the White House about that. Everyone is worried about gas and groceries and everything else that you are buying. This is unsustainable. They want to spend more money up there. So people need to get more realistic, with real economics.
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ROMERO: With all of the rising costs, whether it be gas prices, groceries, housing it is no surprise new data coming out of the University of Michigan, shows that the consumer sentiment is at a 10- year low -- Nadia Romero, CNN, Atlanta.
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BRUNHUBER: Amid that disappointing news, the Biden administration is changing its tune on inflation, acknowledging Americans could feel the financial pinch longer than expected. CNN's Joe Johns, at the White House.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The presidents evolving approach to inflation, a reflection of concern, not just at the White House but also, up on Capitol Hill about spiking prices, almost across the board of the United States. . And the administration, earlier this year, fond of saying the situation was transitory and it would end soon, it was just a reflection of the supply and demand problems, created by the pandemic. Now the indications are it may not start subsiding, until the middle of next year, if not the end of next year, creating a political problem for congressional Democrats, up for reelection in the midterms, next November.
Republicans are attacking the president's spending progress, saying that is the cause of the inflation. He is pushing back. He says his program are anti inflationary. Take a listen.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we are going to -- we'll see ease, and I say, yes, ease, lower inflationary pressures on our economy.
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BIDEN: And we will be carrying this out, what I call blue collar blueprint in America, one that builds the economy from the bottom up and middle out and one not from the top down.
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JOHNS: Expect to hear more of that messaging in the next several days, the president expected to sign his big infrastructure bill Congress just passed, on Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he flies to New Hampshire and Michigan, to sell it -- Joe Johns, CNN, the White House.
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BRUNHUBER: The FBI is investigating after thousands of fake emails were sent from a legitimate FBI email address. One of the messages received by CNN claims to be a Homeland Security department warning about a supposed cyberattack.
According to a non-profit that tracks digital threats, the emails hit at least 100,000 inboxes. The FBI said Saturday the affected hardware was taken offline. So far the agency declined to comment on how the fake emails were sent out.
We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: Any pizzamaker will tell you the key to a good crust is in the tossing.
[05:55:00] BRUNHUBER: But one man in the Netherlands is taking that idea to a new level. CNN's Jeanne Moos explains.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If two of your favorite things are skateboarding and pizza, wait until you see what a pizzeria owner in the Netherlands is dishing up.
SAMON KOSHBARI (PH), RESTAURANT OWNER: So I was like pizza, skateboards -- pizza skateboard. I have to make a pizza skateboard.
MOOS (voice-over): It took him more than six months to perfect the process. But Samon Koshbari (ph) took that half-baked idea and made it work. He started with this pizza stool and then graduated --
KOSHBARI (PH): This is a tabletop with pepperoni in it.
MOOS (voice-over): -- to tables and skateboards. The Slice skateboards sell for around 800 bucks a piece. It takes about three weeks to make one. The pizza has to be de-greased and dehydrated, covered with resin, sanded and polished. Sad to say --
KOSHBARI (PH): It's odorless.
MOOS (voice-over): People are always asking for custom people skateboards.
KOSHBARI (PH): Can you make me a vegetarian pizza?
MOOS (voice-over): But preserving that is even harder so he sticks to margarita and pepperoni. Samon (ph), AKA Flourboy, considers them pieces of art. But they do function.
KOSHBARI (PH): Three times heavier than a regular skateboard.
MOOS (voice-over): So it's not for everyday use. And no amount of elbow pads or napkins would help if a trick went wrong and a skater got impaled on a Slice. For Flourboy, this is a marriage of two loves.
KOSHBARI (PH): That's amore.
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MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. In North America, "NEW DAY" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "TECH FOR GOOD."
