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Truss Hopes Speech Can Rebuild Confidence Among Tories; U.S. And South Korea Test-Fire Missiles In Continued Response After North Korea Launch; Russia Strategy Under Scrutiny Amid Losses In Ukraine; Students Join Anti-Government Protests In Schools Across Iran. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 05, 2022 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN Newsroom. Coming up this hour. Russian retreat, Ukrainian forces retaking occupied territory on two fronts, but in many parts of liberating land without people only destruction.
Also ahead, damage control. Liz Truss will soon speak at the British Conservative Party conference, a crucial moment for a prime minister less than a month in the job.
Once bitten, twice shy, Twitter seems less than enthusiastic about Elon Musk sudden reversal to put his original $44 billion offer back on the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Three builders a speech of a lifetime for British Prime Minister Liz Truss is now fighting to save her floundering leadership of the Conservative Party. She said to address the annual party conference in Birmingham in the coming hours are the plan to save the British economy faces fierce criticism from Labour and Tories alike.
She's already abandoned a tax cut for the wealthy. But the prime minister is expected to tell conservators she plans to carry on with her pro-growth, pro-aspiration, pro-enterprise agenda. Critics call it trickle down economics, which has a dubious track record at best is a failure. Even Truss amidst the challenges are huge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you enjoying being Prime Minister?
LIZ TRUSS, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I am. It's a challenging role. It's a challenging time. But what I am focused on is delivering for the British people.
UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Is it harder than you thought? TRUSS: I came in with very clear expectations that this was a tough time for our country. But I'm prepared to do what it takes to get us through these difficult times to get us through this difficult winter. And to come out stronger as a country. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Right now from Abu Dhabi, Julia Chatterley, the host of CNN Business Program, First Move, welcome to the program.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, "FIRST MOVE" HOST: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: Liz Truss, she's now in this position of having to deliberately make or break speech, which will likely determine her economic agenda, possibly even her political future. She hasn't been in the job a month, the speed at which she got to this point is truly impressive.
CHATTERLEY: I don't think suggesting that this is the speech of lifetime actually is being melodramatic. And it's on two fronts to your point. It's about the politics. And it's about the economics. And at this moment in time, they are so inextricably linked.
On the political side, she's got to show that the party is united that she can pull the party and the country together and get through the next two years to the next election without tipping the economy off some kind of economic cliff, which is part of the challenge.
And then on the economic side, the plan here is critical. And she continues to push this high growth ambition, just a pulled a piece of the speech out just to talk about it. Because I do think this is very important. And I've got the quote here. She's going to say we need to grow the pie so that everyone gets a bigger slice. That's why I'm determined to take a new approach and break us out of this high tax low growth cycle. And this is what the plan is about getting the economy growing, rebuilding Britain through reform.
I completely agree with the reforms. I completely agree with the idea of trying to support those that are suffering from high energy prices. Cutting taxes is the big problem here, John, and the real danger. And I don't think they've deviated much on that even abandoning this top rate of tax by effectively pressing the foot on the accelerator for the economy, at the same time as the Bank of England is forcibly pushing their foot down on the brake. And that's part of the conflict here that we've still not got away from, in my mind.
VAUSE: Is Liz Truss someone who's sort of playing the role of Prime Minister. So parenting that you like saying is not really understanding what they actually mean and aware of the consequences? And is that sort of at the core of many foot problems right now?
CHATTERLEY: I think everybody that comes into this position is playing a role in the beginning, even if you have a sense of what you need to do and what you need to do to shape the economy out of relative doldrums. The problem is, the UK economy does not operate in a black box. It will be great to try and re galvanize the economy and to cut taxes if we weren't suffering from high inflation. If interest rates all over the world weren't going up, and there wasn't this dramatic overhang from Brexit. We can't escape that.
[01:05:00]
John, I'll give you a call a couple of data points. Before the Brexit referendum, the UK economy was around 90 percent of the size of Germany. Today it's around 70 percent. And real, real wages in the United Kingdom are lower than they were back in 2007. That's the backdrop she's facing among all the other challenges.
So the idea of trying to break the economy out of a low growth cycle is a good one. The problem is you can't operate in isolation. The good news is, and I can show you what's going on with Sterling versus the dollar today, it seems like investors are realizing that she understands that they've been desperately wrong footed in the past couple of weeks.
But there has to be far more clarification. There's still more than 14 billion pounds worth of unfunded tax cuts that they're talking about. If they don't pull back on these or postpone these, there's going to be more turbulence to come. So is she playing a role? Yes. Does she need to adjust the role that she's playing? Yes. And will she confirm and be able to stay in that role to be seen.
VAUSE: I guess the question is, how many of these problems are of her own making? How many things like you're avoiding a crashing pound could have been avoided, if she just listened to advice.
CHATTERLEY: Most of them, I would argue. We know this now that they didn't consult cabinet members, broader party members, those independent voices in the economics industry that would have come around and said to them, you cannot have X billion dollars or pounds worth of tax cuts, without any funding, and then just leave the world to try and work out where that's going to come from for two months before they provide a comprehensive plan.
Arrogance, stupidity, you can pick, they need to come up with a reasonable and better explanation of the reforms, which are a good thing, but also why they think now is a good time to be cutting taxes for the highest earners, when for the poorest people in the country they're suffering an overwhelming cost of living crisis. The communication on this was terribly poor. And that's what has to begin today. Better communication all around.
VAUSE: Julia, we're at a time but it is interesting that they say they get it but then they go on the same path that was caused all the problems in the first place. So I guess we'll find out what happens next. It's good to have you with us. Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you.
VAUSE: Be sure to stay to CNN for live coverage of Liz Truss' speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham. That's 11:00 a.m. in London, 6:00 a.m. in New York.
A day after North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan, the U.S. and South Korea testified for missiles off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force.
But in a separate exercise, South Korean missile crash due to abnormal flight and the incident is now under investigation. Meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden and the Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida discuss Pyongyang's missile launch and vowed to work towards the denuclearization of North Korea. This morning out from U.S. official John Kirby.
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JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR: We and this is not the first time we've done so in response to provocations by the North and make sure that we can demonstrate our own capabilities bilaterally with the South Koreans and with the Japanese and try laterally between all three countries to make sure that we have the military capabilities at the ready to respond to provocations by the North if it comes to that.
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VAUSE: We'll have a live report from South Korea coming up later this hour.
Ukrainian forces are moving in on Russia targets on the battlefield as a fast and powerful advance in the south. Here's from inflicted some heavy losses. One video from the Kherson region shows Ukrainian soldiers stepping on a Russian flag and then lighting it on fire.
While elsewhere, Ukrainian forces can be seen raising their nation's play ago but another underrated town. This as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his troops are advancing even further towards the Russian occupied city of Kherson.
Timeline shows how the war in Ukraine has unfolded from the end of February in the invasion until the very end of September. The red on the map showing Russian troop presence and how it's shifted and moved around and disappeared in some parts. Ukraine's president is praising his army's achievements on the battlefield.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Ukrainian army is quite rapidly and powerfully advancing in the south of our country as part of the current defense operation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: At least one person was killed after Russian forces launched kamikaze drones against targets in the key region and the south of Odesa. In parts, Ukrainians deliberately land without people. Everywhere there is devastation and in one town in the Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian soldiers say they've uncovered what appears to be a torture chamber.
According to local police among the grim discoveries there, a container filled with gold fillings from extracted teeth. Local residents say there was a constant sound of screaming from the building.
[01:10:00]
CNN's Nick Payton Walsh is following developments and has worn out from southern Ukraine.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (on camera): Days of bad news keep piling up for Russia here. We've just come from the east, where they have just over the weekend lost control of a strategic hub for Russia's occupying forces in Ukraine Lyman, that fell after weeks of pressure of Ukrainian forces moving south from their recent success in the north. And it's having a knock on effect in the east of Russia's areas that it now claims under these processes being rubber stamped in Russian parliament to be Russian territory.
But the bad news in the south is potentially more significant near where I'm standing. We've seen an extraordinary advances by Ukrainian forces and just the last days to, possibly even just this day, even confirmed by the Russian Ministry of defense's own maps, they released a map on Monday, but the updated version this day showed about a quarter or a third, potentially, of the territory that Russia used to say it controlled on the western bank of a key river that splits the southern areas it wants to try and control Dnipro River.
Well, they now admit that that's fallen to Ukraine in just the last 24 hours. That's utterly startling, because there have been repeated concerns expressed by pro-Russian advocates and military analysts to that essentially, the forces on that western bank in the Kherson region, vital strategically for Russia's bid to control Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, that Russian forces they're reinforced, as they were recently are actually increasingly poorly supplied and cut off from the rest of Russian forces in the more easterly part of Ukraine.
There was concerned that if Ukraine continued to put pressure on certain parts that Russian forces there could begin to collapse. Well, that appears to be happening at a rate which I think frankly outstrips even the most pessimistic predictions of observers.
So, we're seeing this loss of territory in the southern areas to the possibility that it could continue to grow over the days ahead. Bad news in the East as well, after weeks of bad news in the northeast around Kharkiv too, but still, in Moscow, they persist with what's only fair to call (INAUDIBLE) declaring these areas to actually be Russian territory proper, even though they're losing parts of them.
And even the Kremlin just a 24 hours ago, accepting that they didn't actually know where the boundaries in Kherson and Zaporizhia, two of the areas they now say Russia, where those boundaries began and ended. And so they continue to consult with the local population.
So, a very surreal series of messages coming from the Russian government, with a very clear admission from their military that they're losing fast on the western side of the river in Kherson region and continued startling advances from Ukrainian military that just appear to be had nothing but momentum on their side. Nick Payton Walsh, CNN, Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
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VAUSE: Jill Dougherty is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a CNN contributor and during her time as a correspondent for CNN was the bureau chief of both CNN Moscow and CNN Hong Kong. It's good to see you.
JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUS PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Hey, John.
VAUSE: So last week, during Putin's annexation announcement, he offered a ceasefire talks with Ukraine. Here's the Russian president, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We are calling on the key regime to immediately ceasefire and all military actions and the war they started back in 2014. And return to the negotiation table. We are prepared for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: On Tuesday, the Ukrainian President responded with a decree prohibiting talks with Moscow, why would the Ukrainians anyway since they've had the momentum right now on the battlefield, but explain what is happening here with Putin? Is this an example of the Russian prison trying to make sort of a fantasy world come to life by sheer force of will while ignoring reality? Or is this sort of part of the Kabuki Theater coming from the Kremlin, which is mostly for a domestic audience?
DOUGHERTY: I think I go with number two. Essentially, I think this is what President Putin has been saying since the beginning, which is they started it the Ukrainian started it. Russia did not start it. We're all for talks. But the Ukrainians won't come to the table. It's -- I don't think it's really anything new.
And of course, he knows this isn't going to happen. It gives him a say, you know, internationally, it makes him look like he's open to negotiations. But right now, his troops are really in trouble. And there's, you know, just no way that there's going to be any negotiation, at least at this point.
VAUSE: There's the old Russian joke from the Soviet days, we pretend to work or they pretend to pay us. And since Putin invaded Ukraine, it's sort of been we pretend to support your war while you pretend to be winning. But the partial mobilization seems to have ended that arrangement.
We have this reporting from CNN. According to official data from the EU, Georgia and Kazakhstan, around 220,000 Russians have fled across the border since the partial mobilization was announced. And then CNN's Matthew Chance reports on the increasing unprecedented criticism of Putin within Russia. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's coming from a sort of very powerful so a group of, you know, section of society explicitly that they're criticizing battlefield tactics and battlefield commanders.
[01:15:06]
But indirectly, that's a criticism of Putin, particularly because he's the person who it's believed has been calling the shots when it comes through this, this military operation. And so yes, he's facing an unprecedented amount of criticism from within.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So without some kind of tangible victory, or real tangible victory in Ukraine, does this criticism just go let grow louder and louder and louder? How loud does it have to get before Putin actually, is it?
DOUGHERTY: I think he's hearing it, but I think he's controlling it. I mean, you know, if you look at the media right now, there's a -- number one, they're all over the map in trying to explain what's happening, the fact that they are losing that the military are losing the field, and also the fact that they had to call up more troops. So both of those are problems for Putin.
And I think that criticism, and you find different parts of it. Part of it is, well, the military aren't doing their jobs, and is one chief propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov said, basically the people who are doing that making the mistakes should be shot. So that's one part of it.
Then the other part is, oh, no, we're not really fighting the Ukrainians. We're fighting NATO. And that is, you know, when excuse, NATO is powerful. And you see a lot of, you know, a lot of comments about NATO and how powerful they are, which explains why the Russians are losing. They're all over the map.
But John would say, in the end, that the media are still controlled by the Kremlin. So when they do this, there is kind of a technique that they use, which is when there was a lot of criticism and a lot of worry, et cetera. They let the, let's call it the steam out of the pressure cooker. When people are discontent, they let it out a little bit. Let's have some criticism here. Let's have, you know, comments about the military there. But in the end, directly, they still are not criticizing Putin.
VAUSE: Yes, good point. Putin strength over the years has been this determination to never back down. That appears to be the case in Ukraine. We have this report from the Moscow Times that the Kremlin is a draft budget, which shows spending on the Russian army this year, will amount to almost 5 trillion rubles, $86 billion, not the 3.5 trillion originally planned. In subsequent years spending will also exceed forecasts. The same time the Kremlin is increasing expenditures on the police, apparently fearing opposition protests.
Is that alone indicative that even Putin is aware of the limitations of his propaganda machine because he's gearing up for protests? And he's also doubling down in Ukraine?
DOUGHERTY: Well, he's already been doing that, John, you know, if you look at the really brutal repression of the people who came to onto the streets to protest this war, the Kremlin knows that they are facing some criticism, but they have cracked down so hard that a lot of people simply will not go on to the streets. And then you have the people who, as you just said, are leaving.
So, I do think that is a sign that they know that there is some discontent, but it's kind of you know, under the covers so far, but they no, it's there. And so I think by putting more money into the police, security forces, et cetera, they're preparing to stop anyone who's going to come out and in any way really criticizes war.
VAUSE: Well, Jill, as always, it's so great to have you with us. Thank you.
Sanctions upon sanctions upon sanctions and border come with U.S. and EU preparing to sanction Iran over a brutal response to anti- government protests. Those details on that. Also ahead, been an ongoing anti-government protests. Key internet sites in Iran go dark. If history is prologue, it's a grim omen of what is yet to come.
And then later this hour, Barbie on a mission. She said (INAUDIBLE) camera behind headed into space, find out why.
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[01:21:12]
VAUSE: University students in Iran second biggest city (INAUDIBLE), this is not a protest. It's a revolution, that might just cause chills for the hardline religious leaders in Tehran. For weeks tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets and cities and towns nationwide outrage over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
She died after being arrested by the morality police for allegedly wearing a hijab incorrectly. Iranian state media reports 400 demonstrators who've been detained since the start of the unrest have now been released. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 35 journalists have been arrested.
Meanwhile, the EU is considering imposing sanctions on Iran of what its top diplomat calls, quote, The killing of Amini and source says the U.S. is expected to issue new sanctions as early as this week. The White House is not revealing any details just yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We stand with all the citizens of Iran who are inspiring the world with their bravery. And we see a role or making sure that we show our support and you're taking this very seriously. And you'll hear more this week.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live from London CNN's Nada Bashir covering the story for us. Nada, I guess when we talk sanctions against Iran, this is already a heavily sanctioned country. I guess at what impact will even more sanctions have in this instance?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, John, but we are seeing from the White House that effort there to take a firmer stance on the situation in Iran. We saw on Monday, President Biden taking that firm approach, expressing his condemnation of the violence that we've seen over the course of these protests and expressing his support for those peaceful demonstrators protesting for fundamental basic human rights in Iran.
And as you heard that press secretary on Tuesday outlining that the White House will be looking at stepping up that measures over the coming week. But according to a source in Washington, we are understood that it is looking like there will be further sanctions from the U.S. express later this week.
This is in addition to sanctions that are already in place by the Biden administration on for example, authorities like the morality police in Iran, that authority charged with enforcing those pretty restrictive regulations on how women dress was a source of major violence as we've seen in the past.
And of course, he as you mentioned that we are expecting further sanctions from the European Union as well. We saw yesterday that meeting of European Parliament members in Strasbourg to discuss the situation in Iran as well as to discuss the prospect of an investigation into the death of Mahsa.
I mean, there was a resounding support for that proposed investigation as well as of course called for further restrictive measures. That was the message we heard from the EU's diplomatic chief use of morale yesterday, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEP BORRELL, EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: We will continue to follow what's happening in the country and to use every opportunity to raise our position and our concerns and human rights in Iran. As I mentioned, we will continue to consider all the options of our disposal, including restrictive measures, the Foreign Affairs Council will decide about it on the next meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASHIR: Among those EU countries supporting those measures, we have heard from France publicly backing proposed further sanctions from the European Union saying this could include things like an asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian officials.
But it is clear now that the international community is continuing to take that firm stance as we do continue to see protests up and down the country in Iran, many of them of course sparking of course, universities from students even young schoolgirls taking a stand removing their hijabs in class sharing pictures and videos quite a defiant approach against what is of course a deeply repressive regime. John.
[01:25:05]
VAUSE: Nada, thanks so much for being with us. Nada Bashir there in London. Well, a number of social media platforms have gone dark in Iran. US says it's trying to help Iranians communicate through this blackout but accuracy those efforts are falling short. CNN's Katie Polglas explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
KATIE POLGLAS, CNN INVTESTIGATIVE PRODUCER (voiceover): As protesters took to the streets of Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, video clips of this uprising began to flood the internet, making sure the world saw and heard the desire for change. But then it went dark.
ALP TOKER, DIRECTOR, NETBLOCKS: Starting with Instagram, then WhatsApp, then LinkedIn.
POLGLAS: NetBlocks is one of the global leaders on internet monitoring. They quickly observed alarming activity in Iran.
TOKER: What's been astounding is the variety of internet restrictions and disruptions that have been put in place.
POLGLAS: Users inside Iran confirmed the shutdown sending CNN screenshots of the sites they couldn't access. The Iranian government has a long history of restricting the internet protests in 2019 prompted the most severe shutdown to date, and attempt to hide from the world a violent crackdown on dissent.
But the Iranian people have become experts at finding workarounds, a young tech savvy population, vast numbers of them use VPNs, virtual private networks. Now even this may be difficult. This teenager told us via text from inside Iran, that the government is disabling VPN one by one.
However, the obstacles Iranians face have come not just from their own government, but also from the international community. For the last decade, U.S. sanctions led many major tech companies to withdraw from Iran completely. Mahsa Alimardani is an internet researcher focusing on freedom of expression online in Iran.
MAHSA ALIMARDANI, SENIOR INTERNET RESEARCHER AT ARTICLE 19: There's a massive, you know, population of Iranian technologists around you and developers who rely on certain services like Google Cloud Platform or Google App Engine. And so this has been basically blocked from the U.S. side because of sanctions, and this has had a detrimental impact.
POLGLAS: Activists say that removing alternatives that Iranian users has actually bolstered the Iranian government's efforts to set up a national internet.
ALIMARDANI: Infrastructure stays local, the data stays local, the ability for the authorities to censor and control what's going on in the internet remain centralized into their hand.
POLGLAS: Following the latest protests, the U.S. Treasury finally announced updates to their sanctions in order to encourage tech companies to operate in Iran.
ALIMARDANI: It's been almost 10 years that Iranians have had to wait for this update in the license. And while better late than ever, it has been a belated action by the U.S. government. And so there has been a lot of harm done in the interim.
POLGLAS: The onus is now on tech companies to act. Many large tech firms, including Google and Meta have said they plan to open up new services to Iran after the U.S. announcement. But activists say they're doing a fraction of what's possible.
AMIR RASHIDI, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL RIGHTS AND SECURITY, MIAAN GROUP: United is kind of isolated, so we need to break that isolation. So we need to see more help coming from other big tech companies like Google.
ALIMARDANI: The crucial services really have not been worked on yet. So there's a lot to be desired.
POLGLAS: Google told CNN ongoing legal or technical barriers may block the provision of certain services, but we are exploring whether additional products might be made available. Meanwhile, those inside Iran remained frustrated at the inaction. This young Iranian told CNN tech companies were restricting them and not the government. Katie Polglas, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: With this note, CNN has contacted the U.S. and arrangements for comment, but we're yet to receive a response. Members, the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team was speaking out left outraged and demanding immediate change in the wake of a damning report on abuse and sexual misconduct in the sport.
An investigation found systemic misconduct by coaches and teams stretching back to youth leagues. One veteran says players are horrified and heartbroken that every owner and executive who failed to protect them should be gone.
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BECKY SAUERBRUNN, U.S. WOMEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: We are angry that it took a third party investigation. We are angry that it took an article in the athletic and the Washington Post and numerous others were angry that it took over 200 people sharing their trauma to get to this point right now.
And I think for so long, this has always fallen on the player to demand change. And that is because the people in authority and decision making positions have repeatedly failed to protect us and they have failed to hold themselves and each other accountable. And what then who are you actually protecting and what values are you upholding? You have failed in your stewardship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:29:47]
VAUSE: The owners of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars, (INAUDIBLE) in Monday's report have announced they are stepping back from their clubs.
Just ahead here, South Korea has a goal -- to become a world leader in weapons sales. Let's go shopping. Stay with us. Find out what Seoul is selling.
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VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
We're turning now to one of our top stories.
The U.S. and South Korea responding with their own show of force as Pyongyang launched a missile over Japan.
Both countries also staged bombing drills, with fighter jets in the Yellow Sea. And on the diplomatic front, the White House says North Korea's latest missile test was dangerous and reckless.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. PATRICK RYDER, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: There has been indications in the past that the DPRK is preparing a test site for what would be its seventh nuclear test. If they do do such a test, from our perspective, it would clearly constitute a grave escalatory action and seriously threaten regional and international security and stability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let's go live now to Seoul. CNN's Paula Hancocks standing by. Paula -- if memory serves, the United States and South Korea, they've never really responded like this. They're certainly not in this way to, you know, missile launches by North Korean. Certainly not to the extent that we've seen with a missile launches of their own.
I guess, is that in response to what has been an unprecedented number of missile launches by the North?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well John, what we have seen from the U.S. and South Korea side is that they've had two of the sort of shows of force and rails, in just the last 24 hours.
That's more than they usually do. But they have responded this way in the past. And the reason they say that they do this is to try and show North Korea that they are able to respond if need be, at any time. They have that capability.
That's what we heard from John Kirby as well, the National Security Council Coordinator, saying that they want to show the military capabilities are at the ready to respond to provocations by the North.
Now there were, as I say, two of these drills, and just less than 24 hours, in the early hours of this morning. This Wednesday morning. They have surface to surface missile fired from the East Coast of Korea.
And on Tuesday, when this launch took place by North Korea later in the day. We saw a bombing drill with fighter jets on the West Coast of Korea.
[01:34:50]
HANCOCKS: So what we have seen as well is on the diplomatic front, the U.S. President Joe Biden speaking to Japan's prime minister, calling what had happened, this overfly of a missile by North Korea of Japan, and calling it dangerous and reckless.
So certainly diplomatically, they are increasing, trying to increase the pressure on North Korea. But of course, it is difficult when North Korea appears dead-set on testing its weapons capabilities at the moment. He's showing no signs of wanting to engage in any way with the United States or with South Korea, John.
VAUSE: How about a sort of show of force, if you like. There was another exercise and that's by the South Koreans involving two locally made missiles. One launched, the other did not. Not exactly the best picture a country which wants to have a goal of increasing weapons sales around the world.
HANCOCKS: The timing, yes, was not ideal, that's for sure, John. This was two -- well, in fact we've had a clarification by the military saying that just one extra missile was launched by them. It did fail. It exploded near the area it launched, caused a fair bit of concern in the immediate area, although the military say there were no casualties.
But South Korea's military and its companies hand and hand have been really pushing to try and make themselves into what the president would like to see which is the number four weapons exporter in the world. This is how it's going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: This is the ultimate sales pitch. A highly choreographed attack on a hillside in the South Korean countryside -- K2 tanks (ph), K-9 Howitzers, Apaches and drones. A combined assault all for show for a near 2,000 strong audience, generals, government officials, and potential buyers from more than two dozen countries around the world.
Fresh from South Korea's biggest ever weapons exports to Poland, estimated to be worth some $15 billion according to officials.
South Korea's weapons manufacturers are now emboldened by President Yoon Suk-yeol's pledge that his country will become the world's fourth biggest weapons exporter.
LT. GEN. CHUN IN-BUM, SOUTH KOREAN ARMY: Trying to achieve a number four is not going to be an easy task. But it's something to go after.
HANCOCKS: On the southeast coast of the country, in the city of Changwon, (INAUDIBLE) is assembling testing K2 tanks before shipping. It's sending almost 1,000 to Poland, a deal with a NATO country at a time where Ukraine financed and equipped by NATO countries, is fighting Russia's invasion is significant.
Poland's ministry of defense says that these K2 tanks will in part replace the Soviet era tanks that they donated to Ukraine in the fight against Russia. They also say they expect the first batch of 180 tanks to start to be delivered this year.
The company believes it's K2 tanks, cheaper than its rivals, are a good choice of price and performance.
KIM HYUN-WOO, VP OF DEFENSE FACTORY, HYUNDAI ROTEM: Our K2 is continuously being upgraded and produced. Countries that buy the tank have the advantage of continuing to operate and maintain the weapon at an affordable price.
HANCOCKS: Five minutes down the road is Hanwha) Defense, boasting multi-billion dollar deals with nine countries, including Poland and Australia.
It's now setting its sights on the United States, pitting its K9 Howitzer and k10 ammunition resupply vehicle.
Production is at a maximum. This plant alone can produce up to 100 K9 Howitzers a year, among other weapons systems. We are told they also have a stockpile ready to go and ability to deliver systems quickly is key at this volatile time.
Hanwha says their main strategy is not just to sell their technology, but to share it long term with a customer.
LEE BOO-HWAN, EXECUTIVE VP, HANWHA: We went to a long term partnership in their country. It is our main strategy focus to enter their markets.
HANCOCKS: One advantage South Korea has according to the experts, experience in building fighting machines for extreme weather, tough to rein, and tricky neighbors.
IN=BUM: The North Korean threat has given us a good reason, a motivation, to make sure that our weapons are very good.
HANCOCKS: South Korea is a highly-militarized country, a country still technically at war with North Korea, that peace treaty was never signed. And with a mandatory military service still in place for men. Successive governments and companies are now working together to export the results of that militarization around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANCOCKS: And this all comes at a time, John, when many countries around the world are looking to buy more military equipment. Many of them having donated a lot to Ukraine and it's fight against Russia, John.
[01:39:55]
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. We appreciate your report. Paula Hancocks live for us in Seoul.
Straight ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Donald Trump again turns to the Supreme Court for his legal woes, this time over the thrown or classified documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort by the FBI.
And the White House said to be in a spasm and panicking over output -- (INAUDIBLE) lead by OPEC Plus which could lead to a drastic cut in -- in oil production.
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VAUSE: Mr. Donald Trump asking the Supreme Court to intervene in the former president's latest legal troubles. They filed an emergency request in the dispute with Justice Department over a trail of classified documents which was seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.
CNN's Jessica Schneider has more now reporting from Washington.
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JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former President Trump's legal team asking the Supreme Court to step in to this ongoing saga over the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago. Trump's lawyer filing an emergency request at the Supreme Court, asking the justice to once again let the special master reviewing all of these documents seized, regain access specifically to 100 classified documents.
And if the special master were to get access to those classified records, that would actually mean that Trump's legal team would also get to see them. That's something that they've long been fighting for.
Now this was a very narrow emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on very technical grounds. They basically said the 11th Circuit never even had the authority to stop the special master from reviewing those classified documents in the first place.
This request from Trump's team, it did go directly to Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative. He oversees all petitions coming in from the 11th Circuit. And he has set a deadline for next Tuesday for the Justice Department to respond to this.
Eventually, though, all nine justices will likely weigh in on this. And Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court several times in the past few years with little luck though. There have not been favorable outcomes for him.
In fact, earlier this year, the justices allowed the January 6 Select Committee to get access to Trump's White House records, despite Trump's objections.
And back in 2020, they actually ruled that he could not block his financial documents from prosecutors in New York. Now since this was filed as an emergency order the justices could potentially rule very quickly here after DOJ response early next week.
So we will see how quickly the court moves and what they do.
Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, a notice (ph) from OPEC Plus, meeting in the coming hours with fears that they could announce a big cut in production. Any reduction in output would increase energy and gas prices just weeks before the U.S. midterm elections.
And Europe faces historic energy costs to end (ph) Russia's war on Ukraine. The Biden administration has as launched a full show pressure campaign, to try and persuade Middle Eastern allies against the cut.
One U.S. official says, gloves are off.
More now from CNN's Anna Stewart.
[01:44:51]
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is an expectation that OPEC and its allies will announce an output on Wednesday when they meet in Vienna. A global session gets large on the demand outlets. And here at the forum, and the opening remarks, the energy intelligence president said they expect that output cut to come in at 1 to 1.5 million barrels per day which is really significant. That's 1 percent or more of the world consumption of oil.
Now any cut will draw ire of course in some likely corners like the U.S. administration. They would like the OPEC pumping more oil, not less. They want to keep prices low or actually get prices even lower. They want to reduce inflationary pressure.
Interestingly, also to some criticism from a less likely corner from the CEO of Saudi Aramco, Anni Mahsa (ph) warned about reducing global oil supplies. He said this.
When you erode that catastrophe bet, the world should be worried because there's not going to be any buffer for any hiccup, any interruption, any unforeseen advance anywhere in the world.
And there could be further strains on this market, Actually just within this year. If you look at the supply side, the tightened western sanctions on Russian oil, in December, The G7 plans to impose a price cap on Russian oil.
At the same time, the E.U. plans to ban imports on of Russian seaborne oil as well. Then you look at the demand side. If China were, for instance, to relax its COVID-19 restrictions. We could see a big increase in demands. The oil market is already tight. And we know what that means. It means higher prices, and of course, more inflation pressure. And this market could get tight still.
Anna Stewart from the Energy Intelligence Forum, in London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: there was cheering and there was probably a little reek as well, no chewing and probably a little rift as well on Wall Street, after the Dow running strongly for the second day surging 825 points today. That was gone up more than 1,500 points this week, no longer in dreaded bear market territory.
The S&P 500 and I think we're also up but (INAUDIBLE) were also up but still shy setting in up its territory. More than 20 percent of their all-time highs.
Take a look at how Wednesday is now looking for U.S. markets, the Dow futures down by 4 percent, Nasdaq also down by 0.4. S&P500.
For months, Elon Musk has been trying to back out of buying Twitter but now in a surprise turnaround, he posed a regional offer of R4 billion back on the table.
That sent Twitter stock price surging more than 20 percent in trading after being halted twice. Now sitting at $52 to stop the agreed upon price in the original.
But there is a catch. In return, Musk wants Twitter to drop a lawsuit which the company filed his attempt to renege on the deal. In June, Musk claimed he was misled over the number of fake accounts on Twitter.
Josh Constine is a partner at the venture capital fund, SignalFire. He joins me now from San Francisco. Josh, it's been a while. Welcome back.
JOSH CONSTINE, VENTURE PARTNER, SIGNALFIRE: M1: Thank you so much for having me.
VAUSE: Ok so here's Twitter's very brief response to Musk's offer saying the intention of the company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share."
That's a pretty good deal for Twitter, considering before word of this new offer came through.
We looked at the stock price, midday, it was around $42, which as you know, a lot lower than 54. At the same time, Twitter has not agreed to drop the lawsuit. Seem to be sort of dragging its heels a bit, apparently there's some
concerned at Twitter that this could be a legal ploy? So what do you make of all this? What's happening here?
CONSTINE: You know, Elon Musk could smell the sour stench of defeat in the court battle he was facing. And he would honestly just rather pay ten billion dollars over the normal price of Twitter just to avoid losing at anything.
And I think he knew that this was going to be a huge problem for him. And even more of his dirty laundry could be aired, if he had to go into this court battle. You already saw his text messages that other big wigs in tech begging him to get to be part of that deal come out last week.
And I think he realized that he was going to end up having to do this anyways. And if he got dragged into the deal, forced by the court to make this acquisition, it would probably spooked Twitters shareholders as well as its teams.
So this is the better outcome knowing that it was somewhat inevitable.
VAUSE: Explain to me how a company that has not turned a profit in eight of the last 10 years, is worth $34 billion? Let alone $4 billion
CONSTINE: Twitter is a fundamental communications utility. Celebrities and world leaders around the world, all use it to be able to get the word out to their followers, about major happenings on the planet.
Meanwhile, it jokes so much of Internet culture's is birthed there. It's a place where the average kind of person to experience news in realtime. There's an incredible deep value to this product.
It's not going anywhere. There is nothing like it in the world. And so there's no true competition. So the only thing really holding back is Twitter itself. So sure, maybe an experienced business person like Elon could come in and help make the company a little bit better. Make its business better.
[01:49:49]
CONSTINE: But at the same time, you know, Elon is going to realize that human beings are a lot more complex than electrical circuits. And all of his scientific knowledge is not going to help him make sense of Twitter's moderation policy concerns.
So I think it would -- he's not the best person to be running this company, to be frank.
VAUSE: Well possibly an indication of that as you said back in May, that he would reverse Twitter's lifetime ban on former president Donald Trump. So is there any indication he may not follow through on that?
CONSTINE: No, it's hard to say what he will do once he gets power. You know he's very fickle, but his perspective has largely been that's where there needs to be this bastion of free speech. He essentially wants to turn it into a gladiators coliseum of hate speech. Where you have the loudest person win.
Most everyone else -- in the world, wants Twitter to stay Twitter and so there's a huge disconnect especially given Twitter spent the last ten years trying to solve these safety and trust issues on the platform. Deal with its hate speech and harassment and bullying problems.
And Elon basically said, he wants towards verse all of that. So you immediately saw Twitter and bullies who are part of those teams start heading for the exit. I had several sources contact me -- saying I don't even know if my product is going to exist once Elon takes power.
So I'm leaving the company. So I think is a huge problem not only for Twitter as a company, but for the public at large. We can't give any fascist and bullies this massive algorithmic amplification -- and that's kind of what Elon Musk wanted to hear here.
So I think it'll be bad for the world, honestly if he takes control of this app.
VAUSE: Twitter is a nasty place as it is already, so it's going to get, worse it's going to get a lot worse.
But anyway, here's the first tweet from Musk since we brokered off a new .
Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating -- the everything up.
What is x? And why do we want accelerate it?
So x is Elon Musk's idea for a super app. Something that would contain the functionality of most of the most popular other products in America. Its idea is modeled after WeChat, the idea is Modeled after WeChat, the most popular app in China which contains features that are approximately Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, PayPal, and even the apple app store.
And Elon thinks that the same thing could work here. But Americans have never showed interest in these monolithic apps that give so much power to a single company. And people are already worried about how much power Facebook has. And only owns a chunk of that, that functionality.
So I don't think his idea for super app would actually succeed here. And chasing those other pieces of punctuality, trying to become like WeChat, trying to become like Tiktok, would derail Twitter from its true purpose and utility, as a micro botting (ph) surface where everyone in the world gets a voice.
VAUSE: And they get to yell at each other.
CONSTINE: And they get to yell at each other.
VAUSE: Thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Take care. CONSTINE: Thanks so much for having me.
VAUSE: And people say we don't have good news. The EU may soon have one charger to rule them all. New rules approved by the European Parliament would force all electronic makers to use USB-c chargers for small and medium devices starting in late 2024.
Larger devices would follow two years later. The measure would most affect companies like Apple, which uses its own unique chargers for iPhones and tablets, boo. Apple argues the move would render as many as a billion devices and accessories useless.
(INAUDIBLE) now heads to the European Council for final approval. I think it's a good idea.
Move over, Astronaut Barbie, this time, it's for real. Barbara Millicent Roberts in orbit on board the International Space station and this iconic piece of plastic is on a mission.
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[01:55:01]
VAUSE: Traffic came to a near standstill as a massive dust storm rolled across parts of Arizona on Monday. The video catches the moment for this haboob-covered vehicles on the road in Mesa, that's what it's called. The storm rolled over the plain and (INAUDIBLE) communities. No injuries were reported. It was a big one.
It's World Space Week and to try and peak the interest of girls to become astronauts and scientists, Europe's first female commander of the International Space Station, answered calls from a number of young girls on Tuesday. And floating alongside her, lookalike Barbie.
Here's Isa Soares.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From Barbie girl to Barbie astronaut. The famous toys reaching new heights, traveling all the way to space, to inspire young girls to consider careers in science. This Barbie's modeled on astronaut Samantha Cristoforeti (ph) Europe's first female commander of the International Space Station, and the first Italian woman in space.
To mark the start of a World Space Week, Samantha beams into earth along with her look like, to answer questions from young girls across Europe. And they were very curious about her job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you want to become an astronaut?
SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETI, FIRST FEMALE COMMANDER, INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Growing up, I was fascinated by the night sky. And the idea of flying to space, and the sense of adventure and exploration.
SOARES: But there also had some more practical concerns. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you eat pizza on board?
CRISTOFORETI: Unfortunately, a proper pizza needs to be prepared in a proper oven. And we don't have that on board. We have only an electric oven to heat up food bags.
Sometime ago though, we found a way to eat something similar to pizza which wasn't bad at all.
SOARES: Samantha's Barbie astronaut first hit the shops in 2021. With some of the profits going to charity, women in aerospace Europe. She will soon return to earth along with will she put on display at the European space station, embodying Barbie's motto for girls all over the world. That you can be anything.
Isa Soares, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well done, Barbie.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. The news continues, there's my colleague and friend Rosemary Church.
See you right back here tomorrow.
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