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Rishi Sunak Hours Away From Becoming U.K.'s P.M.; Brittney Griner To Appeal Drug Conviction; Hindu Temple With Ties To Sunak Celebrates His Big Win; Food-Fueled Climate Protests; Climate Protesters are Using Food and Art to Bring Attention to their Cause; Eight Women to Testify in Harvey Weinstein Trial; NASA Kicks Off Independent UFO Study; Slavery is on the Ballot in 5 States; FBI and Sheriffs Talk Potential Violence Ahead of Midterms. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 25, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:32]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. It's a brand new day for British politics or is it? Does Rishi Sunak have what it takes to turn the British economy around?
Ukraine says Russia could be trading nuclear secrets for Iranian drones. We will have the latest from the battlefield.
And later, Brittney Griner's almost three months after her conviction on drug charges in Russia. The American basketball star is now getting her chance to appeal.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: It is 7:00 in the morning in London where Rishi Sunak will soon become the U.K.'s third prime minister in just a matter of weeks, but this time he is set to make history with his appointment. Sunak will be the first person of color in that post and also the first Hindu to lead the U.K. And at 42 years old he will be the youngest person to take the office in more than 200 years.
In the coming hours, outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss will chair her last cabinet meeting before leaving 10 Downing Street for the last time and meeting with King Charles III. Sunak will also have an audience with the king where he will officially be appointed to the post.
While the incoming prime minister was met with cheers at the Conservative Party headquarters in London on Monday, we heard that at the top of the show but Sunak will soon need to address the very serious challenges facing the U.K., including a major economic crisis and political turmoil. Among his top priorities will be the rescue to rescue the economy and fill the fiscal deficit. He will also need to work on uniting his own party tackling high inflation and soaring energy bills. Sunak says he is ready to face the enormous task ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RISHI SUNAK, INCOMING PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: The United Kingdom is a great country. But there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge. We now need stability and unity. And I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And CNN's Bianca Nobilo joins us now live from Downing Street in London. Good to see you, Bianca. So, not only is this an historic day for Britain in terms of Rishi Sunak becoming the first prime minister of color, the first Hindu P.M. and of course, the youngest in 200 years. But he also represents this new hope for a united and stable future after so much chaos. Can he live up to all those expectations and of course, rescue the economy?
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, Rosemary. A new dawn for Britain was what was plastered on the front of the Daily Mail and the expectations for this incoming prime minister are enormous. He is pioneering in many ways as you outlined and he will take office at a time of unprecedented turbulence in the last few decades. In fact, M.P.s I've spoken to said there's been no prime minister since World War II that has had such a forbidding and intimidating in entre.
So, is Rishi Sunak the right man for the job? Well, his M.P.s hopes that he will be the person to try and knit the party back together to stabilize markets and to restore Britain's position and ensure it for years to come. But the man himself is an equal parts, groundbreaking and actually very conventional.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO (voice over): After making the runoff in the second leadership contest in his many months, it's second time lucky for Britain's new prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
SUNAK: I will serve you with integrity and humility. And I will work day in, day out to deliver for the British people.
NOBILO: But that is where his luck runs out. Sunak inherits a party at its lowest level of popularity in a generation. Changing prime ministers at a pace never seen.
[02:05:08]
LIZ TRUSS, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: I am resigning.
NOBILO: The last Liz Truss became Britain's shorter serving leader ever at a mere six weeks. But the former chancellor has not sugar coated the challenges Britain faces, assuring that he has the economic credentials to steer the nation through the crisis.
SUNAK: Borrowing your way out of inflation isn't a plan, it's a fairy tale.
NOBILO: Born to parents of Indian descent, Sunak is Britain's first person of color to become prime minister. But his path to power is a tale as old as time. Educated at one of Britain's most exclusive schools Winchester College on to Oxford University like over half of the country's prime minister's then into the finance industry. After being praised for slick performances during the pandemic, he was tipped to become the next leader.
And his wife Akshata Murthy, the daughter of the Indian billionaire founder of Infosys, came under fire for her non-domicile status, sparing her a huge tax bill. Sunak ranks among the U.K.'s and has been labeled out of touch with ordinary voters.
SUNAK: -- friends who are in a working class, but I'm not working class but I mix and match --
NOBILO: This 2001 BBC documentary clip when he was still at university later went viral and it didn't help.
Now Sunak leads Britain at a time when millions fear they won't be able to afford their food and heating this winter. Sunak will be tested and judged immediately.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: The country and Sunak's party will be expecting today to begin to illuminate some of the areas of Sunak's future governing and policies which currently remain obscure because of course in this much expedited leadership, not quite contest really ultimately, which unfolded yesterday, Rishi Sunak didn't have the opportunity to present the policies on how he would tackle what is a worsened economic crisis from the last time he espoused how he would tackle the economic calamity before leaving the U.K.
He also hasn't given much indication of how he'd addressed many of the other challenges that are facing the country. We don't know what kind of character he will bring to governing, we're not sure who will populate his cabinet with but it's likely to be a broad church of individuals from across the party to try and deliver action to back up his lip service to creating unity.
CHURCH: So massive challenges lie ahead for him. What about the British people? What are people across the U.K. saying about him and what he would bring to the prime ministerialship?
NOBILO: Well, of course, the circumstances are quite unusual, Rosemary. To some extent the population has been disengaged from this leadership contest. And that's because they are excluded. Apart from that small sliver of Conservative Party membership who were involved in the last round of the leadership contest between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak where he was decisively beaten by Truss. This has been a fairly private and internal affair within the Conservative Party. Certainly this last leadership contest that saw Sunak become victorious yesterday happened very quickly. It was decided among the party itself largely in Westminster, largely in private discussions as well, in ways that are quite esoteric and removed from the public at large. So one of the jobs that Sunak will have today, Rosemary is to address the nation and establish himself as their prime minister too.
A lot of the focus in recent weeks has been on the Conservative Party psychodrama. How and when and if to depose Liz Truss's prime minister, who to replace her with. So, Sunak will have that job front of mind today to try and introduce himself to the population and make the case that he empathizes with the struggles they're going through and he's the right man to lead them through this crisis.
CHURCH: We're watching to see what happens. Bianca Nobilo Joining us live from London. Many thanks.
Fireworks lit up the skies of Southampton, England for Diwali. The Hindu festival of lights but this year's show was extended in honor of Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister. The display was put on by a Hindu temple cofounded by his grandparents. The temples president says this is a Barack Obama moment for people of Indian or South Asian descent in the U.K. Meanwhile, at the White House, the U.S. president hosted a Diwali event and commented on how the holiday coincided with Sunak's win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As my brother would say, go figure. And the Conservative Party expected to become the prime minister I think tomorrow when he goes to see the king. Pretty astounding. A groundbreaking milestone and it matters, it matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[02:10:04]
CHURCH: But is this actually a step forward for people of color in Great Britain? Later this hour I will speak with a professor who says this is a momentous occasion but not really a cause for celebration.
Ukraine's president warns that Russia could help Iran with its nuclear program in exchange for drones. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says so far, Russia has ordered about 2002 Iranian UAVs, many of which have been deliberately crashed into Ukrainian targets. Western officials have condemned such use of drones and the U.S. House Speaker criticized Iran for literally supplying them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think Iran is making a big mistake. We've been trying for a while now to have a nuclear agreement with Iran so that we can make the world a safer place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: According to Reuters, Russia will address the U.N. Security Council in the coming hours about its claim that Ukraine might use a so-called dirty bomb on the battlefield. Russian officials have insisted that Ukraine will detonate an explosive mix with radioactive material in its -- on its own territory as part of a false flag operation. But NATO and Ukraine are rejecting that claim. And the U.S. has suggested it's actually Russia which might use a dirty bomb and warned of consequences if it does.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We're concerned when we hear this type of patently false disinformation emanating from the Kremlin. We know the Kremlin's track record when it comes to these types of claims.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And we go live now to Kyiv on CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. Good to see you, Nic. So Russia set to raise the issue of an alleged dirty bomb plot in a close meeting with the United Nations Security Council Tuesday. What more are you learning about this?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Ukraine insists it doesn't have a dirty bomb. And to that effect, they've invited in the international U.N. nuclear watchdog, the IAEA officials, and they've said that they will come and look at sites here and show everyone that Ukraine does not in fact, have a dirty bomb. President Zelenskyy has said that when Russia says this, it is a false flag. This is Russia, laying the groundwork for what it will do.
That's the concern. The message very clearly to Russia, the -- in their defense ministry, both the Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and the armed forces chief in Russia have both had phone calls from western counterparts, several phone calls, this is unusual. Both warning Russia against the possibility of escalation of Russia, using this pretext that Ukraine is going to use a dirty bomb as a pretext for an allegation for escalation.
So, the message is becoming very clear for the international community to Russia don't escalate over this. Russia is persisting. We know they're losing on the battlefield. We know that Putin can't afford to lose on the battlefield. The question obviously for everyone is, is it rhetoric or is this something that he'll carry through? And of course, that's the atmosphere President Putin wants to create.
CHURCH: And Nic, you mentioned the battlefield. Russian forces are preparing defensive positions and a potential retreat from Kherson. What were you learning about that?
ROBERTSON: The civil administration there, the official in charge Russian-appointed official last week said that they were pulling out the administration. Witnesses on the ground tell CNN indeed, that's what's happening. Banks are being pulled out. The money is being pulled out. The fire service is being pulled out. All sorts of things support civilian life, civilians themselves are being told to leave by Russian forces.
The intelligent -- the defense intelligence chief here in Ukraine said that he believed Russia was putting in new forces into Kherson. The indications are, though, that these may be conscripts. And not some of Russia's better fighters who may in fact be being withdrawn at the moment. But Ukraine's military in their latest report says that they've seen Russia laying mines or leaving paths between those mines and possibly preparing for a pullout to the eastern bank.
The Russian side or the pro-Russian supported side of the -- vitally important strategic to the Dnipro River. So, there is the groundwork Ukraine believes are being prepared for Russia actually to withdraw but they may still fight for it before that happens.
[02:15:01]
CHURCH: All right. Our Nic Robertson joining us live from Kyiv. Many thanks for bringing us up to date.
Well, Russia is not letting up on the city of Mykolaiv pounding the region with missile strikes in recent days. Many residential areas have been hit leaving people in a constant state of anguish. While in nearby Kherson, residents nervously wait for the expected Russian withdrawal. More now from CNN's Clarissa Ward.
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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): By now it has become a familiar routine in Mykolaiv. In the relative calm of daylight hours, residents cold through the wreckage of the night before.
On this day, it's an apartment building on the outskirts of town. Two Russian S-300 missiles hit at 1:00 in the morning.
WARD (on camera): So this here is where the first strike hit. And then you can see the second one just smashed in to the top of that building.
WARD (voice over): Five people were injured but miraculously no one was killed. In one apartment, Andre (ph) is busy cleaning up. He tells us this is what the Russians do.
They shoot not at military objects but where people live, he says. The fact is the anger towards them is rising and it won't go away. Not a month, not a year, not even 10 years.
In this southern port city people have become used to hardship. Since April there has been no fresh water here. The main pumping station was hit in a Russian strike. Now they gather every day and patiently wait to stock up. A few blocks down another line. This one for humanitarian aid.
Will I be able to get something today? This old woman asks. We already have 100 people on the list. The organizer replies.
Mykolaiv is less than 20 miles from the nearest front lines and just 35 miles from the Russian held city of Kherson. Last week, Russia announced that civilians must leave Kherson, warning of an imminent Ukrainian attack. Ukraine called it propaganda to distract from recent Ukrainian military gains. It is difficult to get a picture of what's really going on in Kherson. But we managed to connect with one resident who we will call Vitaly (ph) who took these videos.
The streets he says are empty. But there are people in the markets. Most vendors no longer want to take Russian ruble. They prepare for a potential Russian withdrawal.
WARD (on camera): Do you have a sense of whether Russian forces have left the city or not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are fewer Russian soldiers here but you find them around the city. Several days ago there was a rotation and they brought in new soldiers. Part of the soldiers who were here for a while they left and the new ones came. Probably they are mobilized conscripts. They don't even know what city they're in.
WARD: And why did you decide to stay? Are you not frightened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's our city. We believe that we have to wait until our army comes. I can't say we are not afraid, we are afraid. But this is our decision.
WARD (voice over): The people who remain in Mykolaiv have made a similar decision. Back at the strike site the cleanup has already begun as the city braces itself for the next attack.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The legal team for U.S. basketball star jailed in Russia says she's not expecting miracles as she appeals her case. A court is expected to hear Brittney Griner's challenge against her nine-year prison sentence over the coming hours. She was arrested at a Moscow airport in February and accused of having cannabis oil in her luggage. The U.S. State Department is signaling there may be progress in freeing Griner and U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan who's also been imprisoned by Russia.
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PRICE: I can say there have been active discussions including in recent days, but our imperative is to see Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner returned home. We are not going to do anything to say anything publicly that could impair that ability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Same as Clare Sebastian is tracking the Griner and Whelan cases from London. She joins us now live good morning to you, Claire. So, what more are you learning about Griner's appeal?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So this is an attempt by her legal team, Rosemary, to either have her nine-year prison sentence that was handed down in early August overturned or reduced. I think this is now critical to her according to her lawyers because this is really the last recourse she has under the Russian legal system which handed down that very harsh sentence.
[02:20:01]
If you bear in mind the small amount of cannabis oil that she admitted to carrying in her luggage into Russia and the fact that the maximum sentence for those charges was 10 years. This was seen as a very harsh sentence. So she, according to her lawyers is certainly hoping that it will at least be reduced because after this the only hope for her to get home before the end of that prison sentence would be this prisoner swap.
And as yet, the outcome of that is extremely uncertain. So she will be taking part in this hearing today but only via video conference and from the detention center where she has spent the last eight months, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Claire Sebastian joining us live from London. Many thanks for that update.
And just ahead, dozens are reported dead in a military airstrike in northern Myanmar. Find out why the attack is causing outrage in the international community.
Plus, financial markets in Hong Kong did not react well to the reshuffling of Xi Jinping's government. We will see how stocks are faring today. That's ahead.
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CHURCH: Hong Kong stocks are trying to recover from their worst day in almost 14 years. The Hang Seng plunged nearly 6-1/2 half percent on Monday. Foreign investors are wary about the lack of economic reformers in Chinese President Xi Jinping's new government. The index is on a bit of a rollercoaster today but you can see there it's up at point-one-three percent.
Well, the U.S. Justice Department is cracking down on alleged Chinese spies. Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced charges against six people for -- are accused of working under the cover of a feat -- fake think tank to recruit Americans to work as assets for the Chinese government. Prosecutors say they tried to bribe their targets with lavish gifts including all expenses paid trips to China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL: The indictment alleges that between 2008 and 2018, the defendants use the cover of a purported Chinese academic Institute to target co-opt and direct individuals in the United States to further the PRC's intelligence mission. Those directors included attempts to procure technology and equipment from the United States and to have it shipped to China.
They also included attempts to stop protected First Amendment activities, protests here in the United States which would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Two others are accused of trying to undermine the U.S. government's case against a Chinese telecommunications company. A person familiar with the investigation tells CNN that company is Huawei.
Well, as many as 50 people are dead after a military airstrike in northern Myanmar on Sunday. That is according to local media. CNN cannot independently verify the number of deaths. This video was shared by a rebel group in the region and they claim it shows the aftermath of the attack.
[02:25:07]
According to Reuters, the strike hit a concert organized by an ethnic minority group opposed to the ruling military. The ambassadors of 14 countries signed a joint statement criticizing the military authorities saying this attack underscores the military regime's responsibility for crisis and instability and its disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law.
And for more on this, I'm joined by Monique Skidmore. She is a professor and expert on Myanmar, with us now from Melbourne, Australia. Thank you so much for joining us.
MONIQUE SKIDMORE, PROFESSOR AND EXPERT, MYANMAR: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So dozens reported dead in this military airstrike in northern Myanmar and the international community is outraged. 14 countries signing this joint statement criticizing the military regime. But what needs to be done to stop these attacks on innocent people apart from just words in a joint statement which is apparently what we keep getting?
SKIDMORE: That's right. And this attack is part of a campaign of intensifying airstrikes. So there have been some calls, for example, the Burma campaign, U.K. is calling for fuel not to be sold to Myanmar. But the jets that have been used the fighter jets that were scrambled from Mandalay to bomb this celebration in Kachin State on Sunday, that they were Russian, a YAK-130s. So we've got a lot of weaponry being sold by multiple countries to Myanmar.
And we've got fuel, we still have -- they have considerable means that the international community have not been able to cut them off from.
CHURCH: So what does this airstrike by the military regime signaled to you in terms of how far they're willing to go believing they can get away with this without the world intervening in any way? SKIDMORE: This is another example of some behaviors that that are very -- that are unusual, even by the scale of ruthlessness of the many military regimes in Myanmar. So we're seeing people executed. We're seeing foreigners jailed for long periods of time. We're seeing drone strikes just in the last day on children in Chin State. And we're seeing intensified airstrikes this week in Karen state and Kachin State.
And these are on civilians. And they're also planned. There was only 30 minutes in the air for these fighter planes. So they were very carefully planned to have a very short flight path. So there wouldn't be time for the consumer independence army and further its political wing to be notified. So they're being ruthless, the planning is getting better. And they're -- even for them, even for the military regime in Myanmar the tactics that they use in this battlefield have tactics are being used now more and more commonly upon civilians.
So that's a real escalation that we haven't seen for many years now in Myanmar.
CHURCH: Yes. That is significant. And of course, a video we mentioned was shared by a rebel group in the region claiming to show the aftermath of that airstrike. And Reuters reports, it hit a concert organized by an ethnic minority group opposed to the ruling military. So how well organized are these groups fighting back against the military regime that clearly feels threatened by them?
SKIDMORE: So, I think what we're seeing and there's often many reasons for what the military in Myanmar does. But I think what we're seeing is a concerted campaign that's been rolled out since about February to try to get rid of the students who after they've participated in those long marches in Mandalay and Yangon, they fled to the jungles to the ethnic minority groups who have armed wings.
And they were trained given weapons and now they're creating joint forces. So one of the airstrikes that occurred this week, you heard the morning after the bombing on the concert, it was a combined force of this Kachin Independence Army. And these young students who have called the People's Defense Forces now. So the military regime is trying to root out the students and they think it's quite an unholy alliance that many of the old ethnic minority independence armies have now joined together to support and shelter and train the students.
And what they fear, of course, is what the national unity government is trying to set up, which is a federal army to work against the military regime.
CHURCH: And so what do you want to see happen at the United Nations?
[02:30:04]
SKIDMORE: Well, it -- I think one of the most significant things that could be done which I doubt would be done, would be the National Unity Government, which is all of the MPs who fled the country to able to be recognized as a legitimate government in Myanmar and not the current military regime. That would be very significant step, because the coordination of aid and all of the U.N. organizations in Myanmar would go through the National Unity Government and not through the military regime.
SKIDMORE: But secondly, we've got to find a way to stop having countries like Russia, China, Iran selling weaponry, seller cyber warfare strategic setups to the Myanmar military to allow them to extend the control, not just of the airspace but also of cyberspace.
CHURCH: Monique Skidmore, thank you so much for joining us.
SKIDMORE: Pleasure.
CHURCH: And just ahead, the role of race in the rise of Rishi Sunak. Why so many salvation community are thrilled about his appointment and others not so much.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being somebody who is nonwhite like myself, I would've wanted somebody with a few more -- I don't know scruples probably.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Let's get you up to date now on our top story. Rishi Sunak is about to make history in the United Kingdom. The former British finance minister is set to meet with King Charles in the coming hours where he will be appointed prime minister. Sunak is expected to address the public but he's already said his first priority will be to tackle the economic instability that's gripped the nation in the wake of the COVID pandemic. At age 42, Sunak will be the youngest British prime minister in more than 200 years. He's also the first Hindu and first person of color to hold the position.
But within the U.K.'s large South Asian community, there are mixed feelings about his big win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's a proud feeling as an Indian. I am -- so, I like him. If he becomes a partner of the U.K., it's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: None white or white, it doesn't make any difference because he is born in England and he's born and brought up here only. So, I don't think there is any difference.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Being somebody who is nonwhite like myself, I would've wanted somebody with a few more -- I don't know scruples probably. Being a bit more left leaning maybe especially coming from, you know, a minority. And having suffered certain things, you know, you would want somebody to understand that and I feel like he doesn't. I might be wrong, let's will see.
[02:35:00] CHURCH: I want to bring in Neema Begum who is an assistant professor of British politics at the University of Nottingham. Thank you so much for being with us.
NEEMA BEGUM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, BRITISH POLITICS, NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY: Good morning.
CHURCH: So, it is, of course, a historic moment for the U.K. as it welcomes a new prime minister. This time, one of color, a Hindu and the youngest in two centuries. But you've said that while it is a momentous occasion, it's not cause for celebration. Why do you say that?
BEGUM: I think for -- it's not necessarily a cause for celebration for all ethnic minorities. Rishi Sunak has had a very privileged upbringing. It doesn't necessarily reflect the circumstances or lifetimes of most ethnic minorities in Britain and his policies don't necessarily reflect the priorities of ethnic minority voters.
CHURCH: So, what is Rishi Sunak said in the past that makes you and others question whether he truly supports ethnic minorities and can be a prime minister for all the people of the United Kingdom?
BEGUM: Well. for one thing, he's boasted about moving government funding away from the deprived urban areas where ethnic minority communities tend to be concentrated towards more affluent areas like Tunbridge Wells. He said that (INAUDIBLE) and political correctness shouldn't prevent police from exercising stop and search powers when we know that black men are significantly more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. He's also supportive of the Rwanda deportation policy. So, there are going to mixed feelings amongst ethnic minority voters, the majority of him still vote for the Labour Party.
CHURCH: So, talk to us about what kind of a prime minister he might be and whether he can unite his fractured conservative party?
BEGUM: I think compared to Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak is seen as a safe pair of hands, is going to potentially stabilize the economy. I think early indications is that the markets do have more confidence in him than Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng. That the conservative party is deeply divided through and there are significant challenges ahead of him with the cost-of-living prices, inflation being highest in 40 years and the energy crisis, it's going to be a tough winter for a lot of people.
CHURCH: And, of course, in the end, Sunak needs to win a general election when that happens. Can he do that, do you think?
BEGUM: It's difficult to say because (INAUDIBLE) are polling very poorly if there was a general election the late -- sorry, tomorrow, the Labour Party will win by a landslide. It's -- we'll have to see in the next couple of years. It's very unlikely that he will call a general election anytime soon. There will be criticism that he hasn't democratically elected, similarly with Liz Truss and a very small number of people have coronated him as the new prime minister or as he's going to become the new prime minister with the support of a few hundred people or just over.
CHURCH: Neema Begum, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
BEGUM: Thank you.
CHURCH: And do stay with CNN for all the latest on Britain's new prime minister, Rishi Sunak. We will have special extended coverage planned in the 10 and 11 a.m. hours in London.
Well, is it activism, vandalism or both? How climate protesters are using food and art to bring attention to their cause.
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[02:40:00]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Harvey Weinstein's second sexual trial began in a Los Angeles court room. On Monday, prosecutors say eight women will testify that were assaulted by the former Hollywood film producer. Among them, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, wife of California governor, Gavin Newsom. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges that stem from a series of incidents alleged to have happened between 2004 and 2013.
Well, four people have been arrested in London after a wax figure of King Charles was defaced. At least two protesters smeared chocolate cake on the wax work of -- at Madame Tussauds on Monday. They were demanding the government stop granting permission for fossil fuel use and they weren't the first climate protesters to target a museum with food.
In Germany on Sunday, demonstrators covered Monet's Haystacks painting in mash potatoes before gluing themselves to the wall. And earlier this month, tomato soup was thrown at Van Gogh painting in London.
Well, Brazilian football legend, Pele, is now 82 years old. The athlete considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time has his birthday on Sunday and he had this message for fans and friends on Instagram.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PELE, THREE-TIME WORLD CUP CHAMPION (through translator): My friends from Brazil and from all over the world, I'm very happy to be here with you and that God gave me health to be here to thank you for everything I have received. 82 years are a gift from God. I hope we stay together a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Over his career, Pele scored more than 1,000 goals. He is the only player to hold three World Cup medals, the 1958, 1962 and 1970.
And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is up next and I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.
[02:45:00]
CAMEROTA: John, what is that thing?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, you never hear pilots swear like that. That never happens. I don't know what it was. I don't want to be a skeptic here because, again, I grew up through Roswell. I want to believe this. You're making a bad face of me.
CAMEROTA: You do want to believe.
BERMAN: I don't know what it was. You may want to come back to me.
CAMEROTA: Well, why don't you just say it's an alien? Why won't you say that?
BERMAN: Because Neil deGrasse Tyson --
COATES: Because he wants to be an incredible journalist still.
BERMAN: Neil deGrasse Tyson, we all respect, right?
COATES: Yes.
BERMAN: You know, he points out that like everyone on Earth has got at least one of these things now, some of us have two of them. And given that we all have these things to take really good pictures with them, how come all the pictures that we pour over and try to, you know, pull some kind of kernel, shred of evidence that it's a UFO are like this?
COATES: Why? That looks just like a UFO.
BERMAN: I don't know what it is.
CAMEROTA: Because they're too far out in the atmosphere and the only people that can see them are these navy pilots?
BERMAN: Do swear who swear like sailors ironically.
COATES: Yes.
BERMAN: I --
COATES: Is that a burner phone, John? That's my real question. Why do you have two phones for this right now? That's --
CAMEROTA: Charley, you were in Congress. Do you know some classified information about what that is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not. I remember being invited to a briefing or two on this subject, which I blew off.
CAMEROTA: Why?
COATES: Why would you blow that off?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I had more important things to do. But seriously -- but, you know, look, hey, the navy couldn't figure this one out. So glad we have the space for us now. But if you were the cadets on this one, see if they can figure it out. But I'm glad they're going to do some research on this because apparently, they can't explain it.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you talk about things that are aerodynamically unsound, well, I put bumblebees and helicopters in that category, they fly anyway.
CAMEROTA: Also, inexplicable. Agreed.
COATES: Well, look, I mean, we all kind of joke around and I give you a hard time about this. But in all honesty, I'm actually very into agreed. I do believe there must be some --
CAMEROTA: How could you not be?
COATES: I'm very intrigued by it. But here's the thing, I think that there's something to the idea that every time someone hears about it, there is some glazing over effect and I don't know why. Is it because -- are we afraid as a civilization that it might be true or do we look at this -- it's all been -- it's been so Hollywood-atized (ph) in these issues that we think, well, that can't possible happen? What is it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a mix of both of those. And I think that there is part of us, and maybe a lot of people, that actually do want to believe it. But like, John, doesn't want to be the one to jump in to say, yes, this is actually an alien, because we don't know enough about it.
BERMAN: I've been burned so many times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, there you go. Exactly. But I also read that so many times, there have been things like this, maybe not like those kinds of pictures, but whether it's like a blue light that no one can explain. And then, finally, it comes down to, it is some scientific phenomena of light and sound and whatever else is out there in the atmosphere, and that might be what this ends up being.
CAMEROTA: Maybe, maybe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But we don't know. Maybe or maybe not.
CAMEROTA: But I was really riled by that navy pilots who were on "60 Minutes" who said that what they both saw separately, in separate planes, was something that we don't have the technology for. The technology does not exist on Earth for that -- whatever they saw, to move in the direction that it moved at the speed that it did and pop up in another place. And so, that was a few years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, maybe --
CAMEROTA: I'm ready for NASA to now get to the bottom of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe we also don't have --
COATES: Well, the fact that NASA is legitimizing it though is something that is telling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's huge.
CAMEROTA: Of course. What is it?
COATES: I mean, NASA is saying -- I mean, all of us are layman, right, compared to anyone at NASA.
CAMEROTA: I'm a rock on this.
COATES: You are a rock and your day job, of course, and your free time. But the idea that NASA is to -- is adding some level of gravitas, I think it moves the needle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's actually used for -- look, hey, NASA just -- they just took out that asteroid or re-directed it.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was pretty interesting.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And -- but look, I'm glad they're going to do the research. I'm glad they're going to study this, and let them figure out what it was. I'm not going to speculate that it's aliens.
BERMAN: I want to believe. And I do. I mean, I think we should look into it. We shouldn't close off the possibility, but I do think the standard to be convinced is a little higher that -- look at that blur.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But, John, to your point, and to answer in Neil deGrasse Tyson, it could be. You've talked about this, Laura, that we don't even have the technology, that this doesn't contain the technology to photograph them, it, they, whatever pronouns they might want to be using. Right to show.
CAMEROTA: You've just introduced an entire new confusion. You are right, what pronouns will they used when they land on Earth? Well -- all right.
COATES: Speaking of what you probably couldn't believe, do you know what is unbelievable to so many people on out there, that slavery is on the ballot in five states. It's not extraterrestrial.
CAMEROTA: You're going to explain this to us.
COATES: I am going to explain why, after this.
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[02:50:00]
COATES: So, voters in five states had the chance to wipe slavery and indentured servitude off the books on election day.
CAMEROTA: And I had no idea they were still on the books.
COATES: I mean, if you thought, and people would brightly thing that slavery was outlawed in this country, oh, back in 1865 with the 13th Amendment, let me remind you, it's actually one exception to it. The text of Section 1 of the Amendment reads, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been be duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place in the jurisdiction, excuse me.
So, slavery and I mentioned servitude have been on the books as a potential punishment in more than, what, a dozen states? Though the penalty hasn't been enforced since the civil war. Well, listen, now voters, Alysin, in Alabama, in Louisiana, in Vermont, Oregon, Tennessee, they have a chance now to remove the punishment from their state's constitution, once and for all. Essentially saying that the 13th Amendment will be universal and not include those who have been prisoners as well. But the way they're doing it is causing a little bit of confusion.
CAMEROTA: OK. So, let me just make sure understand this.
COATES: Yes.
[02:55:00]
CAMEROTA: Slavery is still legal if you are a convicted -- if you are a convict. So, in prison, in those five states, if you are a convict, I assume of like a murder or rape, I mean, something, obviously, where you are doing some hard time.
COATES: Or a felony.
CAMEROTA: Just any felony?
COATES: Well, the key is that there's always been an exception to be able to use like a chain gang essentially.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
COATES: If you think about chain gangs or the idea of forcing someone to perform services without being able to do anything --
CAMEROTA: With no pay?
COATES: Without any pay. So, the idea of slavery, I mentioned servitude, you have these languages there. Let me just show you an example of why this is on the ballot and what they're saying. So, in Louisiana, for example, here is on the ballot, it says, do you support an amendment to prohibit their use of involuntary servitude except as it applies to the otherwise lawful administration criminal justice?
Meaning, keep the 13th Amendment as it is, yes or no? Do you want to have an exception that you can force them to work in and of itself?
CAMEROTA: That is confusing. But I'm also conflicted about this. Don't we want prisoners -- particularly murderers and rapists, don't we want them to have to do hard time. Isn't that a good punishment for convicted murderers? I mean, in other words, we don't want them to get off easy and not have to do hard labor or to be -- do we want them to be paid for that in prison?
COATES: Well, we curse on other countries for having labor camps all the time, the idea of thinking about having somebody who is doing their time, being incarcerated, does it require hard labor that doesn't have any pay to it? And does it -- who does it benefit, is the question? And the voters are now going to decide, do they want that exception or not?
I mean,l it's fascinating, Alysin, because most people races on the ballot and they don't realize that it's still even something that has to be voted on.
CAMEROTA: Well, thank you for raising that for all of us. I'm sure we'll get comments on that. Meanwhile, the FBI and local sheriff's offices are concerned about the potential for violence at the polls, all because of misinformation. That is coming up.
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[03:00:00]
