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Rescuers Face Huge Challenge After Hurricane Ian; Storm's Wrath Took 19 Lives; Florida Needs Billions of Dollars to Rebuild; Russia Making Moves in Ukraine Like Crimea 2.0; Young Adults Died in a Blast in Kabul; Pyongyang Fired two Ballistic Missiles; President Xi Jinping Let People Know He Rules China. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 30, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

This is CNN Newsroom.

Hurricane Ian isn't done yet after leaving Florida looking like a war zone, this killer storm is gaining strength and barreling towards South Carolina with landfall expected later today. Ian is expected to crash ashore around the same time as high tide, greatly increasing the risk of flooding.

Now back in Florida, the devastation is immense with communities swamped by flood waters. Emergency crews are carrying out search and rescues across the state in what's become a 24/7 operation. There have been at least 700 rescues confirmed as of Thursday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): First responders are doing targeted searches, just going home by home, checking to see, if people are OK, and then responding to specific reports. If they're missing loved ones. There will be, of course, be many more rescues that are added to the tiller. Now we -- we absolutely expect to have mortality from this hurricane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: So far, at least 19 people are confirmed dead in Florida and that death toll is almost certain to rise. The fire marshals says this is likely the largest natural disaster in state history, and millions of people still have no electricity.

One of the hardest hit areas is Sanibel Island, its mayor says emergency crews are still trying to get help to those who need it. The barrier island and vacation spot was cut off when the hurricane took down part of the causeway to the mainland. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR HOLLY SMITH, SANIBEL, FLORIDA: Our first priority was getting on the island for search and rescue as there were significant number of people that remained on the island during the catastrophic weather event that we faced.

Right now, you know, it's important for us to just go ahead and say, OK, do you have food and water? Are you OK, as we go to those next areas? Because it's going to take a few days for us to get to all of the places that there have been reports and continue to get those reports coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The scope of the overall destruction is coming into sharper focus as crews reach areas cut off by flooding and rubble.

CNN's Ryan Young shows us the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: Look at this mess.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than two million people still without power after in left behind a wake-up destruction in southwest and central Florida.

BRYAN GARNER, FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT: Flying debris, falling trees, tornadoes, life threatening storm surge and flooding have created significant restoration challenges across the state. And in some cases, the need to rebuild rather than simply repair parts of our energy grid.

YOUNG: As crews rush to restore power, flood waters continue to rise leading to water rescues across the Orlando and Kissimmee area. Crews are using airboats to pull people from their water log homes.

UNKNOWN: On 2004, we had a hurricane, but, you know, it wasn't that bad. I mean, we took off. We evacuate, and when we came back, there was water in the street, but not like this.

YOUNG: The destruction in southwest Florida, massive, homes, underwater, torn apart, and some even on fire. People's entire lives uprooted by Ian. These images show how powerful hurricane Ian was when it slammed into southwest Florida as a category four storm. Bringing with it destructive wind, record rainfall and storm surge reaching 12 feet in some places.

DESANTIS: I mean, you got a hurricane that's a massive hurricane coming in at 155 miles an hour producing this type of storm surge, dumping rain, causing flooding. If you can make it through that, then you probably did it, did it pretty good. And so, this is a 24/7 effort to stabilize and to restore.

YOUNG: And Ian swamped this hospital in Port Charlotte from both above and below, forcing hospital employees to move patients.

UNKNOWN: Very, very quickly we got people out of the ICU. The problem then ended up being that this water gushed down the stairwells as you see there, and onto other floors.

YOUNG: Yes, we saw scenes of flooding all over central Florida, residents say they've never seen the water rise so fast. The rain was unrelenting for hours and people are just hoping to dry out sometimes soon.

Reporting in Orlando, Florida, Ryan Young, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Meteorologist Karen McGinnis has been tracking the storm for hours. So, Karen, the key question here, where is it headed?

[03:04:55]

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Boy, I, it would be wonderful if we could absolutely nail that down. We know somewhere along the South Carolina coast, all the computer models are in fairly good agreement, which I'll show you in just one second.

I want to show you this. We can see some of the convection making its way on shore, the coastal South Carolina, also coastal Georgia. Most of it has been light precipitation, but now, we're seeing the rainfall pickup and the wind has pick up.

Tybee Island wind gust of 46 miles an hour off the coast of Edisto. A lovely beach area off the coast of the southeastern coast of South Carolina had a wind gust of 62 miles per hour. So, let's get into the nitty gritty here. It's situated just about 170 miles to the south, southeast of Charleston.

If you went northward, there's Charleston. This is what we're anticipating as far as the deep convection is concerned going into Friday into the evening. Then for Saturday, you can see it moves fairly rapidly, so that does suggest that that rain shield is probably going to be picking up. This is not a classic looking hurricane. Far from it.

But the hurricane hunters investigated and it looked like there was a window there where the winds went from 75 to 80 to 85 miles an hour, and some higher gusts. But now that, wind coming out of the north and northeast, along the South Carolina coast, the entire state is under a state of emergency and that will allow for them for cleanup, for help and assistance, once this passes through.

But you will notice definitely this rainfall is going to get heavier and heavier, four, six, eight, maybe 10 inches of rainfall, 85-mile- an-hour winds. That's the latest update moving to the north northeast at about 10 miles an hour. So not slow, not fast, but wow, there's a lot of rain here from Florida all the way up to North Carolina.

Charleston, 40-mile -- 47-mile per hour wind gusts there. And about midday is when we think this will make landfall. Where? Computer models are suggesting somewhere between Charleston and Myrtle Beach could be at the point of high tide. What would that mean? A four to seven-foot storm surge. This is very low-lying area, very vulnerable.

If you have a plan, I hope you stick with it. I hope it's successful for you. We saw what happened in Florida. This could be devastating. It's not a category four system, it's a category one. It still has a chance to develop. Here are those computer models. And it takes it in probably splitting the difference between Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

I know I've taken a lot of extra time here, but I wanted to really show that, Kim, because, this is in the area where folks really need to take precautions. Back to you.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. As you highlight this could still be incredibly dangerous. We'll bring you back a little later for an update. Karen Maginnis, thanks so much.

Well, the best way to fully appreciate the enormity of Hurricane Ian is to survey the devastation from the air.

CNN's John Berman rode along with Lee County's sheriff on a helicopter flight over Fort Myers to see it for himself. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: All that debris just littered everywhere. These were buildings. This was the building right there.

CARMINE MARCENO, SHERIFF, LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA: They were buildings, restaurants, and what used to be the Fort Myers Pier.

BERMAN: How far back does the sand go?

MARCENO: It goes straight through to the bay side.

UNKNOWN: Hold up your nose right there.

MARCENO: Empty spots that you see. There were homes.

BERMAN: I'm sorry, so these, these on this beach here, there used to be homes.

MARCENO: You're going to see the empty lots right here as you see those lots right there. Those were homes, those were hotels. Those were real property, two, three, four, five stories high washed away.

BERMAN: The buildings just ripped off to their foundations and just swept backwards.

MARCENO: That's right. When you look to the right side here, there's actually boats thrown into the mangroves, vehicles inside the water submerged, there's a -- there's a car in a canal right there. So, we can see that it's like a Jeep.

UNKNOWN: Got that tower. BERMAN: This is like Mexico Beach. Look at that. I can see the foundation or where those houses were right there. How many rescues have you done today?

MARCENO: We've done dozens, as you can see. Look, look to the front of our, these are major, major boats thrown into the mangroves.

BERMAN: Where?

[03:09:54]

MARCENO: Boats up in the mangroves right there. Not just one dozen thrown everywhere.

BERMAN: How long will it take to get this back?

MARCENO: When I look at this, this is not a quick fix. This is not six months. This is long term. This long term. I mean, you're talking about, you know, not -- not refurbishing structures. You're talking about no structure left. You're talking about found. It's concrete. You're talking about homes that were thrown into the bay. This is a long-term fix and it's life changing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Ian left a trail of destruction in southwest Florida, including Sanibel Island. The storm trapped people in their homes ripped apart a causeway, flooded streets, and knocked out power.

Sanibel Island resident Kim Carman spoke to CNN earlier about the destruction. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM CARMAN, SANIBEL ISLAND RESIDENT: No, it's total devastation. I never dreamed I'd see anything like this in my lifetime. And quite frankly, a lot of people are going to be absolutely financially devastated from this event. A lot of people did not, especially off island, carry flood insurance. I'm not sure about the ones on island, but I'm sure that they were more prone to have the flood insurance.

But a lot of people are just facing total financial devastation. You look at it and it does not look real. It is just so overwhelming that, you're right. You can't wrap your brain around it. And it does -- it doesn't -- I don't think any of us have totally processed it yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And in St. Augustine the entire town was reeling after bearing the full force of Hurricane Ian. Coastal waters flooded the historic city after breaching the sea wall. WJXT reporter Ashley Harding has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY HARDING, REPORTER, WJXT: Taking a look at what it still looks like even hours later after the water breached the sea wall by the bridge of lines, you can see that people are still walking through shin-deep water, and it is still creeping up here into the Plaza de la Constitution.

And speaking of that, we want to show you what the other side looks like. You can see that at one point those bicycles were almost halfway submerged. It started to recede a little bit, but sandbags are out for local businesses. And if you look over here, other businesses have boarded up as well.

And again, if you look straight down to where we're looking, you see that there is still some flood water there. People are urged and advised to be as safe as possible. It does take time for flood waters of this magnitude to fully recede. Again, we saw that water breach the sea wall near the -- near the Castillo de San Marcos and the Bridge of Lions, just waves crashing up against that sea wall alarming a lot of people in this area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And if you would like to safely and securely help people affected by Hurricane Ian who need shelter, food, and water, please go to cnn.com/impact and you can find several ways you can help there. Please do stay with CNN for continuing coverage of Hurricane Ian. We'll have more on the catastrophic damage and the flooding left the storm in its path in Florida, and we'll have what's expected next coming up. Stay with us.

[03:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Ian is taking aim at the southeastern U.S. coast after cutting a deadly swath through Florida that's left scenes of destruction with debris scattered across the disaster area. Homes are still submerged from the storm surge that engulfed parts of the state. The storm has killed at least 19 people, and officials confirm at least 700 rescues statewide with those numbers expected to rise.

More than two million homes and businesses are without power. So, Ian is now churning over the Atlantic as a category one storm. Forecasters say the storm is strengthening and is expected to make a second landfall in South Carolina in the coming hours.

Now, over and over we've been hearing from Florida residents who were shocked by how quickly Hurricane Ian turn from an inconvenience to life threatening.

CNN's Brian Todd has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Up and down Florida's west coast residents facing flooded homes, neighborhoods underwater, streets littered with abandoned cars, roofs torn off, boats wrecked, roads blocked by flooding and debris after a stormy night of tearing wind, rushing water and last-minute escapes as the category four hurricane ripped through.

UNKNOWN: All of a sudden --

(CROSSTALK)

UNKNOWN: Within hours we are flooded.

UNKNOWN: -- the house flooded. It just started going deeper and deeper, and by the time we were walking out, we were mid-thigh in water.

TODD: The Naples Fire Department carrying out water rescues even though some of their own stations were flooded. First responders even spotted on jet skis. Bill Hogan says the water reached two or three feet in his house. He thinks the boat on his lawn came from two blocks away.

UNKNOWN: Which would give you some sense of, you know, of how much water was here. There was at least three feet of water throughout the whole street.

TODD: Fort Myers, among the hardest hit from the waterfront to downtown, to inland neighborhoods.

UNKNOWN: Been in the house since 1987. Pictures, memories, gone.

TODD: Fort Myers Beach now a debris field. In Port Charlotte, flooding at a hospital's ICU.

UNKNOWN: We got people out of the ICU. The problem then ended up being that this water gushed down the stairwells as you see there, and onto other floors.

[03:20:01]

TODD: The causeway to Sanibel Island breached in several places. Anyone who stayed there now cut off from the only link to the mainland, more than 2.5 million customers lost power with repair crews just beginning to fan out. Officials warning residents that hazards remain.

MARCENO: There are things that could truly hurt you in the water, there could be electricity, there can be down power lines.

UNKNOWN: Please dot get in the road unless it is an emergency.

TODD: And it's not just the west coast damage, extending well into central Florida. Orlando saw more than a foot of rain prompting high water rescues.

UNKNOWN: Only macro. This first trailer here is actually underwater.

TODD: And residents at a nursing home evacuated. In Kissimmee, trapped victims brought to safety with airboats. This family saying, they lost everything and were taken out a window. Another woman wishes she had evacuated before the storm. UNKNOWN: I heard the neighbor screaming. I went to look out the

window. That car was submerged, so we tried to get the vehicles out, but it was too late.

TODD: Even in the east, Jacksonville and St. Augustine seeing coastal flooding in strong winds. We've come across scenes like this with people tossing out their biggest possessions all over the city of Naples. City officials telling reporters that they believe the property damage to the city itself could go as high as $20 million. The damage to personal property like this could be as high as $200 million. And one city official saying that's a conservative estimate.

Brian, Todd, CNN, Naples, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, Hurricane Ian is far from over. The storm is now saying it sites on South Carolina. After the break, CNN's Randi Kaye has a look at the damage in South Florida. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: When the surge took out my sliding glass doors, I mean, within 10 seconds the water was up to my armpits. And at that point, you know, it was just struggling to try and get out of the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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.

Hurricane Ian is gaining strength as it hurdles toward the South Carolina coast. The National Hurricane Center says the category one storm is now expected to make landfall near Myrtle Beach in the coming hours. The Monster Storm has already killed at least 19 people in Florida, and the death toll is expected to rise as emergency crews reach areas cut off by the storm.

In the ravaged community of Fort Myers Beach, an official tells CNN, there's nothing to come back to. Millions of people across the state still have no electricity.

Now let's go to hard hit Fort Myers, Florida, a community devastated by high winds and heavy flooding brought by Ian.

CNN's Randi Kaye is there and takes us through some of the damage left by the storm surge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: We are just on the edge of legacy harbor. We are not in a boatyard. This was not ever a boatyard, but these boats are now on dry land. Here is one, for example, these boats were in the harbor during the storm and before the storm. But they ended up here because of the force of this 10-foot storm surge and these -- these high winds that came along with Hurricane Ian.

I just want to show you, if you can see it back here, there are, from this side, there's about one, two, three, four, five boats stacked up right next to each other. They were in the water once again. Again, not where they are supposed to be. They are still supposed to be in the water, but they are here on dry land and this is a huge piece of the dock.

I just wanted, this was also in the water with the boats and is now the waters well on the other side of where we are. So that come through the air with this giant piece of the dock as well. There's a couple of -- of oars on the ground there as well. And I just want to show you something from one other perspective here, which is really remarkable.

Let me just carefully climb over here. Just look at this. This is on this boat, which is also on its side, not supposed to be here. This is the -- the boat's line. OK. This, John, if you look, is still attach to the dock. This piece of dock came along. This boat brought its piece of dock with it right here to this now brand-new boatyard that was never supposed to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to bring in meteorologist Karen McGinnis who's tracking Ian's trajectory. So, Karen, the eye test. Yes, I mean, it tells me the obvious. The storm has been really, really bad. So, what do the numbers say?

MAGINNIS: Well, we had a couple of updates over the last six hours or so ago, and we look at the data coming in, observations from cities in coastal South Carolina. The wind is picks up. The rain has gotten heavier, had been fairly light and fairly persistent, but now we're seeing it heavier. The winds are getting stronger.

I just want to show you this, this gives you some idea some of the deeper convection is starting to make its way in. Across the south coast of South Carolina. Edisto, one of the cities that's seeing gusty winds, also Tybee Island. And a buoy data came out off the coast of Edisto, and that was a 62-mile-per-hour wind gust.

All right, what do we anticipate? Well, somewhere along the South Carolina coast, a projection, a forecast that it will be making landfall, but not just there. We've got this broad field, rain field, that even going into the weekend, we're looking at that precipitation just kind of filtering up across Virginia and into Maryland and into New Jersey and into Pennsylvania.

[03:30:04]

You're not going to see the heavy rainfall like we're looking at projecting for coastal South Carolina. I want to show you where we see some of these regions right around Myrtle Beach, into Merle's Inlet, Paul's Island into Sullivan's Island. Wow. Would they really hit in 1989. I mention that. This is not a hurricane Hugo. That was 1989. That was category four. This is category one, but its impact is still going to be very broad across this region, especially at time of high tide. Could see four to seven-foot storm surge because it's low lying, very vulnerable. Lots of people live in these coastal regions love it because it's beautiful, but also environmentally very challenging.

Charleston. We've got Ian, that lies just about 170 miles to the south, southeast of Charleston, and Ian is moving towards the north, northeast at some point, is going to make that little jog along the coast.

And the computer models are in fairly good agreement somewhere between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. It looks like it splits the difference, at least at this point. You may remember that Ian was supposed to make landfall in Tampa. It didn't. It was further south and we have seen, Kim, we've shown all day long just the level of devastation there, but not just there. Also, in Puerto Rico it was devastating there as well. The entire Puerto Rican Island was without power and 16 reported deaths so far. Back to you.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I can't forget that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thanks for highlighting that. We'll keep coming back to you in the coming hours. I really appreciate that. Karen Maginnis.

MAGINNIS: Thanks, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: A Moscow is hours away from starting the process of annexing occupied parts of Ukraine.

Still ahead, a ceremony in Moscow on the heels of referendums widely slammed as bogus. Stay with us.

[03:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER:

BRUNHUBER: The Kremlin is expected to hold a ceremony in the coming hours that would begin the process of annexing about 18 percent of Ukraine. The move comes after so-called referendums in four occupied territories in the east. According to pro-Russian officials, voters overwhelmingly supported joining Russia.

But reports from the ground suggest the voting was often held at gunpoint with arm soldiers taking ballot boxes door to door. And this video purports to show that it. Although CNN can't verify the location, the referendums have been dismissed as illegal and a sham in much of the west.

On Thursday, U.N. Secretary Antonio Guterres condemned any annexation effort as a violation of everything the international community stands for. And U.S. President Joe Biden made it clear it's a non-starter for Washington. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The United States will never, never, never recognize Russia's claims on Ukraine sovereign territory. The so-called referenda was a sham, an absolute sham, and the results were manufactured in Moscow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Now one of the big questions about the annexation is what is Putin getting out of it? And some experts say it's something or anything that he can call a victory.

Nic Robertson explains.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The outcome never in doubt Putin's illegal and sham referenda in eastern and southern Ukraine never more than a pretext to annex them to Russia.

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: He's trying to create a situation in which he claims that now that they are an integral part of Russian territory, he's engaging in self-defense by defending these territories.

ROBERTSON: Putin did it with Ukraine's Crimea 2014 illegal invasion, illegal sham referendum, illegal annexation to Russia.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We were ready to do it.

ROBERTSON: And then threats of nuclear attack should his land grab be resisted. It's the same play this time. Last week reupping his nuclear threat over the referendum regions, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. "Not a bluff," he says. But Putin looks weak. His bluff already called.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively.

ROBERTSON: Putin is in a corner. Battlefield losses mounting in Ukraine.

ANDREY KORTUNOV, DIRECTOR GENERAL, RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL: Defeat is not an option for the Russia leadership. There should be something that can be presented to the public as a victory.

VOLKER: He has staked his legacy as a great Russian leader on taking lands that he believes rightfully should belong to Russia.

ROBERTSON: Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelenskyy says Putin plans to conscript Ukrainians from their newly annex territory to fight for Russia just as he has done in Crimea.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Ukraine demands punishment for trying to steal our territory.

[03:39:57]

ROBERTSON: Zelenskyy vows to fight back for every inch of his country specifically what Putin has annexed. In Moscow, Putin cannot or will not read the reality of what's happening with his disastrous war, and is ready to sign into law his rubberstamp for the fictitious vote. It will have level meeting outside of Russia Moscow.

JOSEP BORRELL, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: I can speak on behalf of the member states of the European Union that none of them recognize this falsified outcome.

ROBERTSON: But all this may be part of Putin's calculus.

KORTUNOV: They didn't count on any recognition of the referenda result.

VOLKER: What he must be striving for is to brandish the nuclear weapons, make all kinds of threats to Europe, and then say, OK, so let's negotiate a settlement.

ROBERTSON: It's just like the beginning of the war. In plain sight, Putin creates and use sham laws to get what he wants. His miscalculation now he's losing the war. He can't dictate terms.

Nic Roberson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Twenty-three people were killed in an explosion in an educational center in Kabul, according to a doctor at a local hospital. Thirty-six others were wounded.

Salma Abdelaziz is on the story, and she joins us now from London. Salma, just a horrific attack there. I've spent some time reporting in that neighborhood specifically because it has a history of being targeted by extremists. Take us through what might have happened here.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely terrifying suicide attack in the early hours of this morning in Kabul taking place at an education center. Now, this is an education center for young men, young women who are trying to take mock university exams ahead of the real exams later on.

Now it is unclear who the perpetrator of this attack is. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but, Kim, you pointed out two very concerning hallmarks in this attack. First of all, an eyewitness that spoke to CNN pointing out that predominantly, it appeared to this eyewitness that the victims were young women.

Of course, that's highly concerning in Afghanistan where the issue of female education is controversial and one that the international community has of course been pushing for.

And then the second hallmark here, the one that you pointed out is that this attack took place in a neighborhood that is predominantly a Hazara community area that is a minority group, a predominantly Shia minority group in Afghanistan. They have been targeted in the past by terror attacks. Hundreds of members of that minority community killed in terror attacks.

Rights groups say that the Taliban has little -- done little rather to protect them. So, questions here, fears here about what the target was in this attack, who is behind it? And again, that fear of what it means to be a young woman trying to get educated in Afghanistan.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Salma, now expanding this, looking at the larger security situation across Kabul and across Afghanistan. Now, what is that now since the Taliban took over?

ABDELAZIZ: That's a very complex and difficult question to answer. In many ways, you have to look at the lead up to what happened before the Taliban takeover, and you had this period in time a few years ago. And I remember being on the ground for that when ISIS and the Taliban seemed to be competing over who could carry out a more horrific attack.

Now with the Taliban in power, of course they are trying to restore a sense of security, a sense of order, but you still very much have ISIS on the ground operating, threatening, causing, concern. Again, we don't know who's behind this attack, but that is where eyes will be today.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. All right. Thanks so much for the update. Salma Abdelaziz.

Pyongyang conducts more missile tests after U.S. vice president visits the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. We'll have a live report from Seoul after the break. Stay with us.

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: On Thursday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visited the demilitarized zone which divides North and South Korea. Well, just hours after she left, Pyongyang fired two short range ballistic missiles from the country's west coast. Now, this after launching two missiles from the East coast the day before.

CNN as Paula Hancocks joins me now live from Seoul with the latest. And Paula, this is just the latest in what seems to be a record setting number of missiles fired by North Korea.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim. The amount that they have launched so far this year is a record. They have never had a year where they have been so many missile launches. Twenty-one launches have happened so far this year, 19 of them ballistic missiles, which is a technology which is not allowed by United Nations Security Council resolutions.

But what we saw over the past day or so was really North Korea giving a tidy bookend to that one-day visit by the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to Seoul and South Korea, with these -- these ballistic missile launches. Now, they were short range, but it certainly seems as though, they were meant to send a message. They fired them in the evening, which is unusual for North Korea.

And while we always try and put some kind of significance onto timing when it comes to these launches, I think the fact that they were bookending this -- this visit so conveniently is too much of a coincidence to believe it's not connected.

[03:49:53]

Of course, another reason North Korea may not be happy at the moment and carrying out these launches is because there is currently a trilateral naval exercise going on today this Friday, and there were Navy exercises earlier in the week.

Japan, South Korea, and the United States are carrying out anti- submarine drills in international waters off the east coast of Korea. We'd actually heard from the South Korean presidential office saying that just last week, their national security department had warned that the presidential office that they believed a submarine launched ballistic missile test may be coming up from North Korea.

So, this is one of the preventative exercises, that the three nations are carrying out at this point. Now, the meeting and the visit itself, as I say, was only one day from the vice president. She did go to the DMZ, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It's an area where presidents and south -- and vice presidents traditionally go to show the defense commitment that the United States has for South Korea.

She stood at an observation post. She looked through binoculars into North Korea and said, quote, "it is something to actually see this with your own eyes." She also did address the launches from North Korea saying that they have a destabilizing effect. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks so much. Paula Hancocks in Seoul.

China's president has made a second public appearance this week putting to rest internet rumors about his political downfall.

On Friday, President Xi Jinping honored the people who died for the establishment of the modern China. But earlier, he was absent from the public eye for days which led to online speculation that he may have been overthrown in a coup. It went so far that the hash tag China coup was trending on Twitter over the weekend.

Will Ripley has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Without saying a word, Xi Jinping silenced the internet. The Chinese president reappeared on state media this week, his first public appearance in 11 days ending rampant rumors of his downfall. UNKNOWN: The world is asking one question. What's going on in China?

RIPLEY: The rumors were explosive, a military coup in Beijing removing China's most powerful leader since Mao.

UNKNOWN: When you found out he returned to Beijing on the evening of 16th was controlled at the airport and is now under the house arrest.

RIPLEY: Some Indian media ran with the rumor, a trending topic on Twitter over the weekend, called ridiculous by many China experts.

DREW THOMPSON, VISITING SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE: I think the origin of the rumors were questionable at best. The validation or the people who sought to validate those rumors were taking a big leap and a big stretch.

RIPLEY: How did the rumors go viral? Experts blame zero covid rules and China's secretive system.

Is it that opaque nature of the Chinese Communist Party regime that had allowed this rumor to have so much oxygen, because people just don't know what's going on.

THOMPSON: So, so certainly the lack of transparency into the Chinese government gives rumors such as the one that spread last weekend, certain plausibility.

RIPLEY: No official explanation for Xi's absence. Experts say it was likely China's mandatory 10-day quarantine after a state visit to Uzbekistan.

J. MICHAEL COLE, SENIOR ADVISOR, INTERNATIONAL REPUBLICAN INSTITUTE: The issue with China is that it's such a closed society. It's so difficult to get access to credible inform. That speculation it become rampant.

RIPLEY: Fueling the frenzy, unverified, undated video of a military convoy supposedly near Beijing. Along with routine events taken out of context, like a top Chinese general leaving his command post and thousands of domestic flight cancellations blame those on COVID, not a coup.

The rumor comes at a politically charged time for China days before a crucial Communist Party Congress. Xi is all but certain to secure an unprecedented third term.

COLE: Any period prior to a major political event in Beijing is always accompanied by, you know, high levels of speculation.

RIPLEY: Speculation spread on social media by anti-China influencers silenced when one of the world's most powerful leaders reappeared still very much in control.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): Yes, it says a lot about the Chinese system that you can have the leader of a country of 1.4 billion people vanish for 11 days. And there's no explanation, no mention of it, not even any attempt to try to address the rumors that were spreading like wildfire around the world, hitting the United States, Europe, and of course, in India where the media really picked it up.

[03:55:06]

And Kim, it from the Chinese perspective, it didn't really matter to them. It doesn't matter what happens outside because they control so much the narrative inside China, from the media to the internet, to the political views of people themselves. Because if they speak out, they could very well be punished. It just goes to show that the amount of power that Xi has consolidated for himself, which he will essentially be politically coordinated at that party Congress in the coming days.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Fascinating story. Will Ripley in Taipei. Thanks so much.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more coverage of Hurricane Ian after this short break. You're watching CNN.

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