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Putin Denies Intention to Use Nuclear Weapons; Elon Musk Fires Twitter Top Executives; North Korea Fires Two Missiles in Response to South Korean Military Drills; Exodus in Nigeria of Young Professionals; Brazilian Presidential Election on Sunday; Last Days Of Campaigning Before Sunday Runoff; Prince Harry's Memoir To Be Released January 10Th; Rowing Team To Cross Atlantic For Ocean Protection. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired October 28, 2022 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN HOST: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," Ukraine is strengthening its true positions against Russia bracing for the heaviest battles ahead in the fight for Kherson. CNN is on the frontlines as Putin lobs a new threat at the west.

Plus, Kim Jong-un continues to fire an unprecedented number of missiles with two more just in the last few hours, while a live report coming up. And Twitter has got a brand-new boss as Elon Musk's takeover is finally official. And the new era starting with a flurry of firings.

We begin this hour in Russia where President Vladimir Putin appears to be playing down fears of a nuclear standoff with the west. He denies threatening to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine saying he was only responding to nuclear blackmail from western leaders. Putin also accused western at least of playing a, quote, "dangerous, bloody and dirty game" by blaming Russia from the world's problems.

Fighting on the ground in Ukraine has slowed in the past few days with Kyiv's forces slowed by rough terrain and bad weather in the Kherson region. Ukraine's military reports Russian troops there are facing shortages of equipment and warm winter clothing. But Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid are taking their toll.

The capital city is on the brink of complete blackouts with severe and unprecedented restrictions on power use. Ukraine's president says the country must be prepared. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Shelling will not break us. To hear the enemies anthem on our land is scarier than the enemies rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of darkness. The darkest times for us are not the times without light, but those without will. Our military is a strong. Volunteers are tireless. Partners are reliable. And people are indominable. We know that the darkest night becomes the dawn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Russian state media reports the situation in the Kherson region is stabilizing with less frequent artillery fire and no counter attacks from Ukrainian forces. CNN's Fred Pleitgen visited the front lines to get a firsthand look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Across this fields are the Russians, that means we need to get into the trenches that snake their way through this battle space in southern Ukraine.

(On camera): So, this is the actual front line between the Russians and the Ukrainians. They say that the Russians are only a couple of kilometers in that direction and obviously there's a lot of shelling that goes on here almost all the time.

[02:05:02]

(Voice-over): A destroyed tank turret right outside the Ukrainian position shows just how fierce the fighting is here. Spent cartridges from cluster bombs and Russian flak vests also still lying around. While some thought that the Ukrainians might quickly oust the Russians and take back the key city of Kherson and the trench of feeling of stale mate.

UNKNOWN (through translation): There are shelling every day, in some places less. In some more. We would shoot back but we have nothing to shoot with here.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Inside the main headquarters, the unit commander, who goes by the call sign Nikofor (ph), shows me the gear they used to monitor the Russians movements and communicate with their own units. He says they have observed the Russians strengthening their defensive positions here.

UNKNOWN (through translation): They have dug in very well for the moment, but with our efforts, we are showing them that we are stronger and are slowly pushing them back from our territories.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): This territory was all Russian controlled, but now Ukrainian troops are inching ever closer to Kherson. Having taken out most Russians supply routes across the massive Dnipro River, Ukraine's president says Moscow's forces need to get out of this region or risk being besieged.

ZELENSKYY: They are not ready to go out of Kherson. But they know that it will be, if we will have success, they will not have possibility to exit. PLEITGEN (voice-over): Ukraine's military is pushing Russian troops

back on several frontlines across the country. And as his army displays clear signs of weakness, Russian President Vladimir Putin ripping into the U.S. and its allies during a speech in Moscow.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translation): World domination is what the so-called west bets it's game on. But that game is without a doubt, a dangerous, bloody, and I would say filthy one.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But the Ukrainian troops in the trenches say they are resisting for their own country's sovereignty and hope to retake much of this key area in south Ukraine before winter sets in. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, in the Kherson region of Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Parts of Ukraine's capital are in the dark following the latest barrage of strikes on the country's energy system. Some power facilities caught on fire as Russia knocked out at least 30 percent of the region's power supply on Thursday. Electricity was later restored in some areas.

Officials now say more than a quarter of a million homes in the Kyiv region are still without power and a complete blackout in the capital was avoided only by imposing severe power cuts.

Now, Russia has been striking Ukraine's power system for weeks now. Ukraine says Moscow's goal is to make life more difficult for Ukrainians ahead of the usually harsh winter. CNN has gained an exclusive access to a power plant that has been crippled by Russian attacks. As Nic Robertson reports, taking cover has become the norm for its workers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The sirens are going off. We've only just arrived at the power plant. Everyone is going into the bunker. We're going to have to go in too.

(Voice-over): There is no fuss, everyone here knows what to do. We've agreed not to show faces or name the power plant for security reasons.

(On camera): We've been given these safety jackets to wear. Officials here are telling us it's quite normal for them to end up in the bunker several times a day.

(voice-over): The coal-fired power plant hit twice since Putin began targeting electrical facilities 17 days ago. Cards, dominoes, messaging love ones passes the time. But as this 29-year veteran of the Soviet-era plant tells me, every minute in the bunker is time wasted. They need to be up top, preparing the bomb damage. An hour and a half later, the all clear. Everyone back to work.

(On camera): One of the first things you notice here, it's just how quiet it is. No generators thumping away. (Voice-over): Around the corner, engineers already out of the bunker,

making repairs. But those cables, the easy bit. Russian cruise missiles and drones ripped through the hardest part of the plant to repair.

(On camera): The drone they say got tangled up in the high voltage cables up here. Ripping equipment apart, all on the ground here, all- around burnt-out cables. And over here, burned out equipment. And the problem officials say is that this part of the site was the most sensitive part. It's been offline since.

(Voice-over): Officials here convinced Putin's power engineers are advising his military how to crash Ukraine's grid.

[02:09:59]

PAVLO BILODID, STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, DTEK GROUP: For sure they know the weak place and actually they've hit it four, three times in the same place.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): As for how long repairs will take, no one knows.

BILODID: The equipment is quite unique. As to produce some of them, we need from 8 to 18 months and actually this -- we don't have so much time.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The clock despite some speedy repairs, ticking in Putin's favor. More than 40 percent of the grid taken off line in less than three weeks.

(On camera): This is where the cruise missile impacted two drones came down over there. The pylons here were taken out. They have been repaired already, but that's the big test right now. Can Ukraine repair faster than Russia could bomb and destroy? Nic Robertson, CNN, at a power plant in Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Now, earlier we got a firsthand account of the power situation in Kyiv from a Ukrainian lawmaker. She said now that the power is in short supply, preservation is key. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: We know that we have to save energy and this is why we turn on lights only in one room in the evening because we know that they are critical places where the electricity is needed, for example, hospitals or other critical objects of infrastructure.

And this is why we are all, again, acting as one and trying to save as much as possible. The outages are dire (ph) and sometimes it's electricity available for only a couple of hours a day. As of right now, 40 percent of Ukrainian energy infrastructure is destroyed and every day these destructions continue. So, it is so, so, so terrifying, that today on the eight months of the

war, we are begging for the same thing that I was begging at the very beginning of the invasion. To help us protect our skies because the destructions come from the skies with the missiles and the kamikaze drones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian officials didn't say how long it may take to fully restore power. And Kyiv residents are helping one another during the power outages. You see here this man is leaving bags with essential supplies in the elevator of his high-rise building. Officials have warned residents to avoid using elevators during air raid emergencies. But walking 15 or 20 stories just isn't an option for many people, so this man drops back with essential supplies for them including water, energy bars, a flashlight, even bubble blowers for kids. His wife says that in some way, difficult times are bringing neighbors together. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIUDMYLA LOGGINOVA, PREPARING FOR POWER OUTAGES IN KYIV (through translation): We talk more, we smile more to each other. Yes, it brings us together rather a lot, even though this is a bad occasion for doing so. Still, people want to support each other. Now we know who and where people's wives and children are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And if you want to safely and securely help people in Ukraine who need a shelter, food, and water, please go to CNN.com/impact and you can find several ways to help there.

The world's richest man is now in charge of one of the most influential social media platforms. A source familiar with the deal tells CNN that Elon Musk has completed his acquisition of Twitter. Now, this is him meeting with Twitter employees at the company's headquarters in San Francisco this week.

According to two sources, one of his first decisions was to fire three top executives including CEO Parag Agrawal. Musk's future decisions could shake up the entire social media ecosystem. He will also decide if former U.S. President Donald Trump will be unblocked. Musk has given mixed signals on that in recent days.

And on Thursday, Musk trying to address some concerns related to his ownership, telling the advertisers that the platform cannot become a free-for-all-hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences.

And hours ago, Musk tweeted, quote, "The bird is free." But one analyst believes Musk's move can be good for Twitter's bottom line. Vittoria Elliott, a reporter for "Wired Magazine" spoke with us earlier. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VITTORIA ELLIOTT, PLATFORMS AND POWER REPORTER, WIRED: Even if

Twitter is private, it is still going to be a moneymaking venture and this seems to also be initiative to assure advertisers that even though these sort of principles around free speech are things that he has been very vocal about as sort of an outside observer of the platform, that they can feel safe that their content is not necessarily going to be running next to hateful or bullying or some other form of content that they would consider an offensive.

Now, whether or not that plays out exactly as Elon hopes, whether or not advertisers feel comfortable with the direction of the company, that is yet to be seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:15:01]

BRUNHUBER: North Korea calls South Korea's military drills a provocation and tends to respond with missile tests. All those patterns are playing out once again on the Korean Peninsula. We'll have the latest details on those launch straight ahead.

Plus, more and more young professionals Nigerians are moving to other countries. We'll find out what's pushing them to leave their homeland. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: We are learning new details about the latest North Korean missile tests. According to the South Korean military, Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles a short time ago. They fell into the waters east of the Korean Peninsula, that as South Korea wraps up joint military drills on its east coast.

The North has called those exercises, quote, "provocative." Now by CNN's count, this would be North Korea's 26th missile test this year alone, a major escalation. Kristie Lu Stout is live in Hong Kong with the latest. Kristie, what can you tell us?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South Korea is calling today's test, quote, "a grave provocation." We know that North Korea has fired two more short range ballistic missiles, making this the 28th such tests so far this year. We also know this it comes just as South Korea's Marine, Air Force, and Navy have been wrapping up this joint military exercise, an amphibious landing exercise in the east of the country.

It also comes ahead of a planned large-scale Air Force exercise drill between the U.S. and South Korean due to take place on Monday. This is what we have learned from Korea's Joint Chief of Staff earlier today. They said around noon, local time, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off the east of the country. They travel a total of about 330 kilometers.

The South Korean military of course on high alert, also issuing this statement, let's bring it up for you, saying this, quote, "Our military has strengthened its surveillance and vigilance and is maintaining a fully prepared posture while closely cooperating with the U.S," unquote.

After the launches, we know that the U.S. military is also on alert, it also added that the missile tests by North Korea pose no immediate threat. According to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, they said this, quote, "While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launches highlight the destabilizing impacts of the DPRK's unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. The U.S. commitments to the defense of the republic of Korean and Japan remain ironclad," unquote.

North Korea has been carrying out a flurry of missile tests this year. Just within the last month, they fired that missile over Japan, the first such missile test since what, 2017. We also know that this year, North Korea has high fired the highest number of missiles since 2011. That was the year when Kim Jong-un took power.

Tension has also been rising since the two Koreas earlier this week. We had North Korea and South Korea exchange warning shots at sea.

[02:20:02]

A couple of weeks ago, South Korean warplanes scrambled in response to North Korean military jets edging too close to their shared and highly fortified border. There are also concerns and world leaders are watching very closely to see if North Korea will conduct another nuclear test.

Fears are rising on that front. If that test happens, it'll be the first such test since 2017. Already, we've heard of a statement in the last couple of days from the United States and its allies in the region, Japan and South Korea seeing in the event, of a nuclear test by the North that they have already agreed to what they call, an unparalleled response. Back to you Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Alright, thanks so much. Kristie Lu Stout lives in Hong Kong. So as Kristie just mentioned, it's not known if or when North Korea will conduct its seventh nuclear test. So, is it time for the U.S. to admit that ending Pyongyang's weapons program is a lost cause? CNN's Paula Hancocks talks to North Korea watchers with that question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kim Jong-un shed his five-year military plan with the world last year and missile and nuclear wishes.

Last month he passed a law making his country's nuclear status irreversible.

And it is not up for discussion. Which raises the question, is the U.S. push for denuclearization a relic of the past?

ANKIT PANDA, STANTON SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: We simply have to treat North Korea as it is rather than as we would like it to be. I think nobody disagrees that the denuclearization would be a very desirable outcome in the Korean Peninsula. It's simply not a tractable one.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): There's a growing body of academics suggesting tacitly accepting North Korea as a nuclear state as in the case of Israel which claims nuclear ambiguity well believed to have had to nuclear weapons since the 1960s or India before it carried out its 1998 nuclear test.

JEFFREY LEWIS, PROFESSOR, MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: In both of those cases, United States knew those countries had the bomb. But the deal was, if you don't talk about it, if you don't make an issue of it, if you don't cause political problems then we just -- we're not going to that response. I think that's the same place we want to get to with North Korea.

HANCOCKS (on camera): Pyongyang has claimed that it's deploying tactical nuclear weapons to its field unit, a claim that CNN cannot independently confirm. But, at this point, there is no indication that the Biden administration is listening to the growing conservative voices here in Seoul, calling for U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to be re-deployed to the peninsula.

PHILIP GOLDBERG, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA: All this talk about tactical nuclear weapons, whether it comes from Putin or from Kim Jong-un, is irresponsible and dangerous.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Which leaves talk of a possible arms freeze in return for sanctions relief.

LEWIS: Often when you're dealing with a typical problem, a freeze is a really solid way to start things out. It takes a little bit of a pressure off and it opens up space for other kinds of negotiations.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Especially if a certain topic is on the table.

PANDA: There's a sort of cooperative options which would require the North Koreans being willing to sit down at the table and talk about some of these things with us. I don't think in the current environment that we are really close to sitting down with the North Koreans.

ANDREI LANKOV, PROFESSOR, KOOKMIN UNIVERSITY: If Americans want to talk about denuclearization's, they are not going to talk. And if Americans are not talking, they will launch more and more missiles and better and better missiles.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBVER: Amnesty International is urging the U.N. to call a special session in response to Iran's deadly crackdown on anti- government demonstrators. The rights group accuses security forces of killing at least eight people in less than 24 hours in four provinces, many of them mourners. Meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader is vowing to punish the perpetrators

who attacked the Shia shrine that killed at least 15 people on Wednesday. ISIS is said to have claimed responsibility, but authorities now insist anti-government protesters are also to blame releasing this video on state media, of people that says were behind the carnage. The government also claims to have evidence that, quote, "foreign meddlers" have created a multi-layer plan to weaken the country.

A growing number of Nigeria's smart, young, ambitious residents are packing up and leaving their homeland. -- looks at what's driving the big move.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAILA HARRAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST (voice-over): This is the sound of Nigeria's so-called brain drain.

NNAMDI NWAOGU, IT PROFESSIONAL: I have very deep sentiments about Nigeria. But for posterity's sake, I want to be able to give my children a better quality of life. I can't get by here.

HARRAK (voice-over): The here Nnandi is talking about is Lagos, Nigeria. He's relocating to England where he is pursuing a master's degree.

CHRIS MAURICE, CEO AND CO-FOUNDE OF YELLOW CARD: What you have in Nigeria is just classic brain drain, right?

HARRAK (voice-over): Chris Maurice is the chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange, Yellow Card Financial, which has business in Nigeria.

MAURICE: You have, you know, the most talented people, the smartest people are leaving, right, and they're getting jobs elsewhere. They are relocating.

[02:25:03]

HARRAK (voice-over): Some of the reasons for the exodus? Inflation. And Nigeria is at a nearly two decades high. There's a lack of confidence in the government ahead of the 2023 elections. And that's uncertainty is leading to flight. According to the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors, the health care sector is particularly hard hit.

Nearly 800 resident doctors have already left this year. And a large portion of the group's leadership is planning to do so. Many of those leaving Nigeria are making their way to the U.K. There's a 300 percent increase in Nigerians getting British work visas this year to June alone. Other educated Nigerians are heading for Canada, Australia, and the United States.

NWAOGU: Lots of us, and I'm sure speaking for most Nigerians in the middle class or lower middle class. In the middle-class range, we have serious doubts if this is the time for that group to blossom. HARRAK (voice-over): Some companies are trying to slow the exodus by

paying Nigerian employees in dollars and offering stock options. But political stability and the economic opportunity may be more likely to entice Nigeria's best and brightest to stay. Laila Harrak, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Brazil's head to the poll Sunday to choose their next president, what some consider the country's most important election in history. We'll have a look at what's at stake next on "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom." Brazil votes for a new president on Sunday in the second round of the election that's been described as the most important in the country's history. Far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, is being challenged by leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The election comes as Brazil struggles under high inflation, limited growth and rising poverty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: We've always had a special love for Brazil's poorest. I want to tell them my commitment. God willing my re-election is to keep working for all our Brazilian brothers. I'm sure I will come out with a double down strength to keep working until Sunday late in the afternoon when the polling finishes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Lula won the first round of voting on October 2nd but failed to get enough support to avoid a runoff. Polling shows Lula has a sizable lead over Bolsonaro and he's looking to carry that lead to victory. Here he is.

[02:30:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUIZ IGNACIO LULA DA SILVA, FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT: Speaking in a foreign language.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know that I'm a candidate to rebuild this country, get this country back to normal and make every institution work properly. In fact, it's a shame that you carry on your shoulders the deaths of 400 people that could have been avoided if you had bought the vaccine at the right time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Joining me now to talk about it is Elena Lazarou, an Associate Fellow with Chatham House London-based International Think Tank. Thanks so much for being here with us. So I want to start with what we just heard there. The polls, as I mentioned, they show Lula ahead by quite a bit. But do they tell the whole story because, you know, those polls showed Lula had a huge lead in the first round, which didn't really pan out?

ELENA LAZAROU, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you very much for the question. And thank you for having me. Indeed, that's a very big open question. What we see now when we look at a variety of polls is a difference of between five and 7 percent with Lula in the lead, but that's actually smaller than what we saw in the first round. And yet, when we saw the results, the -- Bolsonaro came up with about 42.4 percent and Lula 48 percent.

So it's actually the polls don't necessarily reflect the results. There's a lot of reasons for that. We see this across the world. A response to pollsters is not only always genuine. Voting intentions may have changed.

It's almost been a month since the first round, and both candidates have been doing their best to harness support from parts of the base of the opponent. And it's also not clear yet where the 7 percent that the two -- the third and fourth candidates received would go. So, the polls are looking good for Lula, but they're not showing a result that would make us certain that he's going to secure the win.

And also, what I think is very clear, unless we're very surprised is that whoever wins will have a very small lead, which of course, as we know, including from other countries means a polarized country, a very difficult is in harnessing congressional support. So, polls are indicative, but they're not certain.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. So, this run-off, it seems to be getting dirtier. I mean, Lula was being accused of Satanism, Bolsonaro being accused of cannibalism, I mean, what have -- what have you been seeing?

LAZAROU: Well, I mean, in the run-off -- proceeding the first round, I think we've seen a lot of that. And this is not just now. I think, the -- there's been a poisonous mood between the left and the right in Brazil, broadly defined, far right, and the Labour Party. So, all these kinds of narratives are out there and they've also been really reinforced by various tactics of disinformation and fake news. After between the first and second rounds, we actually saw a rather civilized debate between the two candidates. And if it was a week ago, I'd say that that kind of narrative that you're discussing is a bit on the low. But this past week, we've seen a lot happen in that sense.

We've also seen Bolsonaro's son and himself suggesting that the media is favoring Lula in specific regions. We've also had some episodes of violence this week -- there's been a violent interaction between supporters of both parties. And obviously, when this happens, those narratives have a tendency to enter their echo chamber and be sort of repeated and really be endorsed by some parts of the base on both sides.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let me ask you since you mentioned Bolsonaro's son. There are fears that if Bolsonaro loses, he wouldn't accept defeat, and his son, you know, claimed again, without proof that his father was the victim of "the greatest electoral fraud ever seen" and in which echoes obviously, what we've heard in this country from Donald Trump, so how real is the fear that Bolsonaro could do the same thing? And if he did, what would happen? I mean, could it -- could it stoke actual violence?

LAZAROU: Yes, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, the playbook that played out on January 6 in the U.S. seems to resonate in several countries. And we've seen echoes of that in the language, but also in the mobilization of the base. It's -- if you had asked again to -- immediately after the first election, it seemed that Bolsonaro had played down the discourse where he contested the electoral system and the electronic voting. This past week, again, with this attack on with regard to the media, I think we're seeing some nuances that this might happen, that there might be that kind of discourse and mobilization, violent even after the election. I mean, this issue about the media was taken to the Supreme Electoral Court, and it was dismissed as invalid. So there is no real proof there.

But again, as we know very well, it's not always about the proof. Sometimes it's about the passion of the base in believing in one side or the other. And we're living in a moment in Brazil where the rejection of the opposite candidates is really high. So, people are very much voting against a candidate which means that they're really passionate about the opponent not becoming president. And of course, in that situation, it's more likely to see violence and protest.

[02:35:12]

BRUNHUBER: Yes. We only have a minute left, but I did want to ask this question because, in other countries, we've seen plenty of concern about this election, how it'll affect the rest of the world because of the candidates differing views on the climate. So just quickly, if you can, what's at stake here?

LAZAROU: I mean, I think two big things, climate, and democracy. And you've mentioned climate. What we've seen during the Bolsonaro years is the deregulation of issues to do with the Amazon of climate protection, environmental protection. And we've seen a really big increase in deforestation, which comes from various extraction processes and agriculture in the Amazon, which is the -- belong of the world.

Lula has increasingly promised a sort of Brazilian Green Deal or a green agenda. So that's definitely something that we're -- that we're looking at very carefully. And the world is looking at that, of course, because the world is looking to Brazil as one of the biggest providers of oxygen and really important as part of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and other environmental conventions. And I think the world is really looking to Brazil as a place to promote sustainability. So that's something that's coming in very strongly in the media across the world.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, especially in the context of the upcoming Climate Conference. That's all the time we have. Thanks so much, Elena Lazarou, really appreciate your insights.

LAZAROU: Thank you for having me. BRUNHUBER: Yes. We'll have a look here. Scary moments for some airline passengers on Wednesday. Their damaged plane was forced to make an emergency landing after experiencing severe weather while traveling from Santiago, Chile to Asuncion, Paraguay. Images show the badly damaged aircraft with its nose cone missing as windshield smashed. And video shared with CNN shows the frightening moments before the landing. Have a look here. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's terrifying. Their -- authorities say an investigation is currently underway. 48 people were onboard the plane. The airline tells CNN all passengers and crew are safe.

The details are emerging about Prince Harry's memoir which is expected to include memories of his mother Princess Diana's funeral. The title and release date are just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: The highly anticipated memoir by Britain's Prince Harry will be entitled Spare and is due to be released on January 10. It was originally expected this year. Now it's not clear if Queen Elizabeth's death caused the delay or if it'll be mentioned in the book. Proceeds go to several charities. CNN's Max Foster explains the title and what's known about the contents.

[02:40:03]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Spare is a reference to being the spare heir, number two to Prince William effectively growing up and Prince Harry would often be called the spare. That would often be his nickname. And it's something that he'll analyze in this book as we understand it.

It all starts at that very poignant moment during Princess Diana's funeral when we saw her two young sons walking behind the coffin, everyone wondering how they were feeling, what will become of them. And this is Harry's perspective, his view on that. According to the publishers, with this role, unflinching honesty spare is a landmark publication, full of insight, Revelation, self-examination, and hard- won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

For Harry, it is his chance to tell his story. He's been frustrated that he hasn't been able to tell his side of the story as it was as he grew up in royal life. And this is his chance to put that on the record in a book coming out in January. I'm told by Prince William's side and by King Charles's side that they will not be making a comment. They haven't had a preview so far either. We'll wait to see what's in the book. Max Foster, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Dutch police have arrested three climate activists for gluing themselves to the famous Johannes Vermeer. Painting Girl With A Pearl Earring. Videos of the incident surfaced on social media Thursday showing two men gluing themselves to the pieces that hung in a museum in The Hague. On another through what appeared to be red paint. Authorities say the painting didn't suffer damage and will be back on display as soon as possible.

Other works of art have been doused with random food items by climate protesters who then glued themselves to walls. That happened earlier this week in Germany to Monet's painting grain stacks. The painting was pelted with mashed potatoes but was unharmed since it was covered by glass. Then a couple of weeks ago, activists threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh's painting Sunflowers and then glued themselves to a wall at a Gallery in London.

Well, a team of rowers is gearing up to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the eight-meter-long rowing boat for a good cause. The three-member Arabian Ocean Rowing Team plans to start the 5000-kilometer journey in December departing from La Gomera off the coast of Africa, bound for the Antigua in the Caribbean. And they plan to row two hours on and two hours off all day and all night for 50 days, all to draw attention to the problem of ocean pollution. Listen to this.

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TOBY GREGORY, ARABIAN OCEAN ROWING TEAM FOUNDER: Unfortunately, we've been told by scientists that at every step on our journey, we're going to be finding microplastics in the water, which is frankly unacceptable. And if they're at every stage in our journey on the water, what does it say about our oceans? What does it say about what we're eating? What we're swimming in? Now, people are aware of this, but they're not doing anything. So, we hope to use our voyage and -- to raise awareness about this.

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BRUNHUBER: The team has partnered with the UN Environment Program for the clean seas campaign and they'll conduct tests and collect samples for scientific research.

Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN NEWSROOM." Please do stay with us.

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