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Fiona Bears Down on Canadian Maritimes; Pakistani Prime Minister Warns UNGA Nations of Future Climate Change Disasters; Former Mongolian Leader Demands Putin Stop War; Biden Pans GOP Agenda for 2022. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 24, 2022 - 03:00   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 (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Canada's East Coast is bracing for what could be its strongest storm in a generation while Florida watches what could become the first major hurricane to hit the state in years. We're tracking both systems.

Plus, Washington has a warning for Moscow amid a sham referendum in parts of Ukraine. Details with the latest on Russia's partial mobilization.

And it wasn't the ending the tennis legend had in mind but Roger Federer still managed to dazzle.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin in the Atlantic where two powerful storm systems are making their way toward land.

First, Fiona, a deadly storm that caused massive destruction across several Caribbean islands, is now battering the Canadian Maritimes. Hurricane warnings are in place as damaging winds and heavy rain pound the region. Residents from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland did what they could before the sun went down to prepare.

And now that the storm has arrived in earnest, hundreds of thousands are without power.

Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared in Florida as tropical storm Ian forms over the central Caribbean. The storm is currently a few hundred miles south of Jamaica and moving west. Ian is expected to strengthen as it makes its way to Western Cuba by Monday evening. (WEATHER REPORT)

BRUNHUBER: A new warning from Pakistan's prime minister to other world leaders: focus on fighting climate change because climate disasters won't be limited to Pakistan.

In a speech before the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the widespread flooding that pushed one-third of Pakistan underwater wasn't triggered by anything Pakistanis have done.

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BRUNHUBER: Listen to this.

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SHEHBAZ SHARIF, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: Why are my people paying the price of such high global warming through no fault of ours?

We have no contribution in this. Nature has unleashed her fury on Pakistan without looking into our carbon footprint, which is next to nothing. Our actions did not contribute to this. The real cost of global inaction and climate injustice are having a crippling effect on both our treasury and our people right here, right now.

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BRUNHUBER: Sharif blamed the climate crisis, the cause of the floods, on countries that emit greenhouse gases. More than 1,600 people have died in the floods.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is warning Russian president Vladimir Putin, telling him to tread carefully with the controversial referenda now underway in occupied areas of Ukraine on joining Russia.

President Biden says the voting is just a pretext for Moscow to try to annex those territories. He says Russia will pay a swift and severe economic price if the annexation happens.

Many Western leaders are dismissing the referenda as a sham vote and the G7 echoed that sentiment Friday, saying it wouldn't recognize the results. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy anticipated that reaction. Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The world will react absolutely fairly to the pseudo referenda. They will be unequivocally condemned, as well as to the criminal mobilization that the occupiers are trying to carry out in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine that they still control.

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BRUNHUBER: For more we're joined by Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.

Ivan, the pushback against these so-called referenda seem to be growing.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. You know, you do have supporters of this. These are the Russian-installed kind of occupation officials in occupied territories of Ukraine, some of whom have gone on record, saying this is a dream come true.

They want to reunite with what they call their motherland, Russia. And then we had pro-government rallies that were organized and allowed to take place in St. Petersburg and in Moscow on Friday, shows of support for these referenda.

And Kremlin officials, who said that if the referenda pass and support joining Russia, that the Kremlin would move quickly to annex these territories and then would view any attack on them from Ukraine as an attack on Russia itself.

So you can kind of see how the logic is being prepared here. Meanwhile, Ukrainian government officials are urging Ukrainians to boycott these votes. They're calling them a sham. They're accusing Russians of making people vote at gunpoint.

And those criticisms are being backed up by everybody, including the NATO secretary-general, by top diplomats and President Zelenskyy himself, who is calling this a crime against the nation. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Ivan, again today, we're seeing long lines at the border, as Russians flee the prospect of mobilization.

WATSON: Yes. We may have these images to share with you just now from the large checkpoint between Georgia and neighboring Russia, filmed within the last hour on the Georgian side of the terminal, of mostly men crossing in, predominantly men.

CNN has spoken with at least 10 men, Russians coming into Georgia in the last hour, nine of them saying they are evading the mobilization, if not the first wave of this conscription that Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday, then fears of a second wave.

That could press them into duty to then serve and fight in the trenches on the Ukrainian battlefields. This is just one border crossing, where travelers today say that the wait to cross into Georgia is anywhere from 8-20 hours.

But there has been a surge of cross-border traffic on the border with Finland, on the border with Kazakhstan.

And then I want to direct you to a former president and prime minister of Mongolia, who has unusually come out very critical of the Russian president, urging him to stop the war and saying that they would welcome people fleeing Russia to Mongolia. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TSAKHIAGIIN ELBEGDORJ, FORMER MONGOLIAN PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER: Your mobilization brings oceans of suffering. Mr. President, stop your senseless killings and destruction. I have a message to those who are fleeing Russia. The world will meet you with open arms and hearts.

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WATSON: Kim, I just might add, he is accusing -- and other human rights activists are accusing -- the Kremlin of unfairly, disproportionately pressing non-Slavic ethnic minorities, buryats (ph), people living in Siberia, indigenous communities into the military, to go to the battlefields in Ukraine over the Slavic, the ethnic Russians, of Russia in this war effort. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Thanks so much, Ivan Watson. Appreciate it.

Ukrainian troops say they have improved their position around an eastern city that Russia is trying to take. One official told CNN that the situation in Bakhmut remain, quote, "difficult but controlled." Nick Paton Walsh was there and spoke with residents, who have been forced underground.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Russia forces a fake choice and a sham vote on occupied Ukrainians, elsewhere, Igor (ph) and Xena (ph) make the daily deadly choice of their own. They must brave the shelling to go and get food.

XENA (PH), DONETSK REGION RESIDENT (through translator): We have no relatives. Nowhere to go.

IGOR (PH), DONETSK REGION RESIDENT (through translator): It's worse and worse.

XENA (PH) (through translator): That's it. We're going home.

WALSH (voice-over): They've heard of Russia's stage referenda here in Bakhmut but Moscow makes itself felt here with artillery, rather than imposing a ballot, likely having entered the city's east.

Streets in a strange quiet, as if in the eye of a storm where nobody is in control. They will still have to fight their way in.

A sign of how things are changing fast here, Ukrainian forces have blown the bridge in the middle of the city, in the last day or so. Russian forces getting close.

The people left ask us not to film the outside of shelters as the Russians will target them and they've already gone underground as much as they can.

They are saying some of these things are taken from buildings that have been bombed and brought to here. A lot of people want the back of their head filmed, possibly because they're concerned that, in the days ahead, they may be under Russian control.

He tells me perhaps 20,000 people are still hiding out here but there is no real way to know.

The choice Russia imposes on Ukrainians here is spending nights underground and scurrying between shelter.

Days of hot words from Putin haven't cooled Ukraine's advance. The threat of nuclear annihilation carry slightly less aura here on the road to liberated Izyum, where it looks like the apocalypse has already come, bar the radiation.

Ten days ago, Russia was kicked out of here after heavy fighting; even the Russian Orthodox Church has collapsed. The devastation seems to almost spur them on.

Announcements in Moscow about partial mobilization haven't really changed the dynamic here of an army that feels it is moving forward.

They've heard about Russia's mobilization and nuclear bombast here, too.

"It will have a role," he says, "But you need to train and supply people, so it won't make much difference as you've destroyed most of their armor."

"There's nothing worse than nuclear war," another says, "But you must understand, these decisions aren't taken by one person and we see in Russia, not everyone supports those moves."

This liberated road is where Donetsk region begins. Ukraine already taking back the places Putin made central to his goals where faked ballot boxes and absurd claims of official Russian sovereignty cannot change who owns and who scarred the land -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Donetsk region in Ukraine.

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BRUNHUBER: We now have some idea of what Republican priorities will be if that party retakes control of Congress in November. And President Biden, well, he's not impressed. You'll hear what he had to say and talk more about the midterms with CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus, a live report is coming up on the latest in Iran, where the death toll from days of street protests continues to rise, amid a government crackdown. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: With less than seven weeks until the U.S. midterm elections, the White House is panning Republicans' proposed agenda if they regain control of Congress.

Speaking to a packed rally in Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden ridiculed the Republican objectives as either vague and without substance or contrary to the values of many Americans.

Now those goals had been laid out a few hours earlier by House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy at an event in Pennsylvania. Here's what both had to say, starting with Biden.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The House minority leader Kevin McCarthy went to Pennsylvania and unveiled on what he calls a commitment to America.

Now that's a thin series of policy goals, with little or no detail, that he says Republicans are going to pursue if they regain control of the Congress.

In the course of nearly an hour, here's a few of the things we didn't hear. We didn't hear mentioned the right to choose. We didn't hear mentioned Medicare. We didn't hear mentioned Social Security.

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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MINORITY LEADER: As we went across this country listening, we heard the same thing, kitchen table to dining room table to inside the factory.

Can I afford it?

Can I afford to fill up my tank?

Can I afford the food, the milk?

Can I find baby formula?

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BRUNHUBER: CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins me from Los Angeles. He's also a senior editor for "The Atlantic."

Thanks so much again for being here with us. Ron, let's start with the Republicans. As we just heard, they unveiled their platform, Commitment to America, which is a far cry from Newt Gingrich's Contract for America in the '90s, as least when it comes to the scope of the policies.

Do you think it helps them on their quest for a majority in November?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I don't think it's going to make much difference one way or the other. It gave you a sense of direction. But it was really just directional. There's very few specifics in here that they can either run on or that can be used against them.

Clearly they want to say they're going to be more attentive to inflation. They don't really say how, other than cutting spends and cutting taxes. And they want to increase domestic energy production. They say nothing about climate.

There are phrases in there that certainly Democrats can use to suggest that they are unifying behind the idea of a national abortion ban, which many of the House Republicans, as you know, have already endorsed anyway.

But overall, I don't think this is going to move the needle that much one way or the other because there just isn't enough substance there.

BRUNHUBER: Why is that?

Is that lack of specificity to do with the fact that the party as a whole has such a wide range, between Marjorie Taylor Greene and the few, you know, moderates that still remain, trying to get issues that they can all agree on?

Or is it just that the party under Donald Trump kind of has eschewed basically big issues completely?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Well, of course, there was no party platform in 2020 for what may have been the first time ever. I mean the party platform is kind of, you know, supporting Donald Trump.

I think all of what you said is part of the reason. I think the bigger reason, though, Kim, is that Republicans want this to be a midterm in the traditional frame, which is essentially about the party in power.

I mean, this Commitment to America is largely saying, whatever you don't like about how the Democrats are running things, we're going to make better. You know, we're going to solve inflation. We're going to reduce crime. We're going to get a better handle on the border.

In fact, Americans are dissatisfied with the Democratic performance on all of those fronts. But of course, they don't really say how they would make it better, because they don't want it to be a debate about their issues. They want it to be a focus primarily on the Democratic performance.

I think that ship has already sailed.

We talked about before the combination of the Dobbs decision, the Uvalde massacre and the increased visibility of Donald Trump has already, I think, transformed this from a traditional referendum midterm that is fundamentally about what Democrats have done, into something much more of a choice and which many voters are also considering what Republicans would do if returned to power.

And that is really what has brought Democrats back into the game over the course of the last three months.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let's talk about that, then. As we heard earlier in the clip, President Biden blasted the Republican platform as thin. And then in his speech, he specifically leaned into criticizing Republican attempts to restrict abortion access.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

BRUNHUBER: Here he is. Listen.

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BIDEN: Republicans want control of the Congress. Abortion will be banned. By the way, it will be initially banned. But if they win Congress, I will veto it.

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BRUNHUBER: So obviously, Ron, abortion will be a major midterm issue for both parties. This is a question we ask all the time.

But with, you know, fewer than 50 days to the midterms, do you think it will resonate more with Democrats or Republican voters in November?

BROWNSTEIN: I think now that the Supreme Court is acting clearly with Democratic voters. Basically, we have a remarkable divergence unfolding.

I talk to pollsters who will say that what we are watching this year is something we really haven't seen. Normally, you have a fairly large overlap between the views in both parties about what the top issues facing the country are in any given year.

And the difference is Democrats think Democrats will handle it better and Republicans think Republicans will handle it better.

That's not what we're seeing this year. It's almost like we're having two parallel elections. If you look at polling, voters in the Republican coalition are saying they are concerned about inflation, crime and the border.

Voters in the Democratic coalition are overwhelmingly saying they're concerned about abortion, gun violence, democracy, health care and climate. And in effect, you are seeing each side mobilize their electorate around different issues.

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BROWNSTEIN: And one thing the president said today caught my ear. He may have said this before but I thought he said it more explicitly than ever before, that, if you give me two more Democratic senators, which is a reference to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, if you get to 52, we will codify a national right, restoring the right to abortion.

And I will sign it into law.

BRUNHUBER: Ron Brownstein, always appreciate your analysis. Thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

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BRUNHUBER: Italians are set to go to the polls on Sunday and they could elect the country's first female prime minister. We'll get the latest live from Rome. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get you up to speed with the latest developments in Ukraine. President Biden is warning Moscow of swift and severe economic costs if it annexes parts of Ukraine where referenda are going on.

And the votes in four occupied regions are being dismissed as a sham by the West. Ukraine says residents are largely ignoring the process but say some are being forced to cast ballots.

The United Nations is calling for an independent investigation into the death of a young Iranian woman, who was arrested last week for how she was dressed. Mahsa Amini's death has sparked large anti-government protests in dozens of cities, prompting an apparent crackdown by Iran's security forces.

Iranian state media reports at least 35 people have died so far in the unrest. Precise casualty figures vary widely, depending on the source and CNN can't verify the number of people who have died. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following this for us from London and joins us now live.

Salma, what can you tell us about the growing outrage and the crackdown against the protesters?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Demonstrations continued again late into the night yesterday, Kim. And along with that, of course, that brutal suppression of dissent that we've seen from Iranian authorities. It's really hard to overemphasize just how brave, how courageous these

acts of defiance against the Iranian state are. I know we have one clip to show you. I just really wanted to give you an example of what these women are doing. It's a social media video.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): We cannot independently verify it but you can see in that clip a woman standing atop a curb. She's shouting down at these morality police women, refusing to put on her head scarf. And they react. They try to grab her.

She yells, "I am doing this for Mahsa Amini."

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ABDELAZIZ: Scenes like this are being repeated across the country. Dozens of Iranian cities have had protests. And security forces have responded with brute force. Rights groups saying live fire has been used on the ground. Social media video showing horrific wounds, people shot in the head, people shot in the chest.

What's extremely concerning here, Kim, is there are ominous warnings that this crackdown is only going to expand, that authorities might uptick, might use more violence. I'll tell you why.

The country has been under an internet blackout essentially for days now. We heard from the military, from the Iranian army, saying they're willing to get involved against what they call conspirators.

The Iranian president, after his time at the UNGA, arrived back in Tehran yesterday, addressed a crowd of supporters outside the airport and talked about these protesters, calling them enemies of the state that are disturbing national security.

Iran yesterday using the power of the religious institutions, the mosques during Friday prayer, to get out the government's message, to encourage supporters of the Iranian government to come out in favor of them.

So really things coming to a head and, again, here, the fear is that death toll that you mentioned, 30 people. Of course, there's varying estimates but that death toll you mentioned could only rise. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, we'll go live to Rome, where Italy may be making both history and a hard right this weekend as voters head to the polls.

And a CNN exclusive interview with the British prime minister. How she's defending her government's massive tax cut package amid record inflation. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Italians could make history in Sunday's election. The first female prime minister could be voted into office in a country that's seen more than 60 governments in the post-war period. Barbie Nadeau is standing by live in Rome.

Barbie, this election could take Italy in a very different direction and have an outsized impact on the European Union.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. People are watching this election not just in Europe -- not just in Italy but all over Europe. It could have huge ramifications when it comes to the relationship with Russia and when it comes to the economy and things like that.

Now, of course, Italian politics are always very complicated. So even though we know what we think is going to happen going into the polls, things could always change. Let's take a listen.

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NADEAU (voice-over): Italian politics have never been for the fainthearted. And Sunday's election is already getting a lot of buzz.

And the latest twist is anything but straightforward. Italy has had 67 governments and 30 prime ministers in the last 75 years. Italians head to the polls again on Sunday to try to find the next government. Mario Draghi's fell in July. He spent 17 months in office.

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NADEAU (voice-over): In 2018, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement won the most votes as a party but were unable to find a stable coalition partner.

Giuseppe Conte, who wasn't even listed on the ballot, was chosen as a compromise prime minister until infighting led to the collapse of his government and the appointment of Draghi, before squabbling brought an end to his reign.

The leading coalition, who call themselves center right, is anchored by Giorgia Meloni and her far right Brothers of Italy party. The Roman native started her political career in a neofascist party.

Coalition partners include Matteo Salvini, with his anti-immigrant Lega party, and Italy's longtime former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, with his Forza Italia party.

The latest available polls show the coalition in the lead. But there are already fractures in their coalition and, amid economic fears, calls from some in the coalition to rethink sanctions against Russia. DARIO FABBRI, "DOMINO MAGAZINE": Sanctions here in Italy, of course,

they're perceived as counter-effective and harming Italy's economy first and then Russia's economy. I think they will try to soften our approach toward sanctions.

NADEAU (voice-over): A center right victory would likely also mean a clamp-down on immigration. They have campaigned strongly to stop irregular migration across the Mediterranean Sea.

The left-leaning Democratic Party is banking on former prime minister Enrico Letta, whose government lasted just 10 months in 2013 and 2014 but lacks a strong coalition partner, while polls show that the Five Star Movement has lost some support and many Italians are frustrated.

MAURIZIO TAGLIANI, CAFE OWNER (through translator): Neither Giorgia Meloni nor Letta, nor Conte, I don't feel represented at all.

NADEAU (voice-over): With some voters saying they're undecided and others say they won't vote at all.

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NADEAU: And, you know, Kim, that's probably the most important thing about this. A lot of people may not vote at all. A lot of people are undecided. And there's a huge fraction of those people who could swing the way this race goes.

It's supposed to be really bad weather tomorrow. A lot of people might not go out and vote at all. It's really up for grabs in some ways if you look at it.

BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Looking at the country, the political climate in the country is so different since the last election, you know, post-COVID. You talked about the ongoing war and all of its effects.

So is that why Italians are sort of looking for something, a different type of leadership?

NADEAU: Yes. You know, when you look back to 2018 and the anti- establishment Five Star Movement did so well. Now they were really in charge when we went through COVID and when all of these restrictions were put in place.

And I think a lot of people don't want to give them another chance. That's probably what analysts are saying why they're not doing well. Italians seem to be looking for something different.

If the polls are correct, they're looking for something much different, a far right. The center right coalition is anchored by very far right parties, so that could change a lot, not just in Italy but across Europe, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: We'll be watching that and the turnout as well as you indicated there. Barbie Nadeau in Rome, thanks so much.

British markets tumbled in reaction to the U.K. government's unveiling of a series of sweeping tax cuts and spending plans. The FTSE 100 closed at three-month lows Friday and the pound sank to a 37-year low against the U.S. dollar. Jake Tapper spoke with Liz Truss, who defended her government's controversial plans. Listen to this.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Your government just unveiled a new tax proposal this week that would reverse plans to raise the corporate tax rate. You also proposed lifting the cap on bonuses for bank executives.

In the U.S., President Biden is taking a very different approach and, obviously, he has a very different view on economic measures such as the one you are proposing.

He tweeted this week, quote, "I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked. We're building an economy from the bottom up and middle out."

And so, President Biden is in essence saying that he thinks your approach doesn't work. The opposition in Parliament says you're recklessly running up the deficit and turning your back on so-called compassionate conservatism.

LIZ TRUSS, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't really accept the premise of the question at all. The U.K. has one of the lowest levels of debt in the G7. But we have one of the highest levels of taxes.

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TRUSS: Currently, we have a 70-year high in our tax rates.

What I'm determined to do as prime minister and what the chancellors are determined to do, is make sure that we are incentivizing businesses to invest. And we're also helping ordinary people with their taxes.

And that's why I don't feel it's right to have higher national insurance and higher corporation tax, because that will make it harder for us to attract the investments we need in the U.K. It'll be harder to generate those new jobs.

And, you know, I want the U.S. economy to be successful, as well. I want the European economy to be successful, as well. I want freedom- loving democracies to succeed.

And one of the things that we are doing here in the U.K. is moving forward on our infrastructure programs, road building, broadband, mobile telephones. And I know that is what the administration in the U.S. is doing, as well.

But, of course, we all need to decide what the tax rates are in our own country. But my view is, we absolutely need to be incentivizing growth at what is a very, very difficult time for the global economy.

And we have also put in place a package of measures to support consumers with energy prices, to make sure that nobody is having to pay more than 2,500 pounds on their bills, which is very important, as well.

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BRUNHUBER: Just ahead, a memorable goodbye as a legendary player ends a storied tennis career. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Tropical weather systems forming in the Atlantic and Caribbean could cause yet another delay of the launch of the Artemis I rocket. It's scheduled to lift off Tuesday morning but officials won't make a final decision until sometime later today.

On Friday, the U.S. Space Force says it expects clouds and scattered showers during the launch window. Two earlier attempts were scrubbed due a hydrogen leak.

A NASA spacecraft about the size of a school bus is on track to deliberately crash into an asteroid on Monday. While the space rock will be relatively close to Earth, about 7 million miles or 11 million kilometers, there's no risk of it hitting us.

But scientists want to see if this deflection technology could change the speed and path of any asteroid that may be heading to our planet.

A special sight in the night sky Monday for astronomers, both professional and amateur. Jupiter will be closer to Earth than it's been since 1963 according to NASA. The solar system's largest planet will be the brightest object in our sky other than the moon.

So stargazers will have a great view, weather permitting of course. Scientists say Jupiter will seem bigger and brighter because it will only be 367 million miles away.

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BRUNHUBER: All-new image of the new British monarch at work. On Friday, Buckingham Palace released a photo of King Charles taken last week by Britain's press association. He's pictured with the king's red box, which contains papers from British government ministers, Commonwealth representatives and others.

[03:55:00]

BRUNHUBER: And in the background, you can see there a picture of his parents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, given to the couple by the late queen's father, King George VI.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back in just a moment with more news. Please do stay with us.