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Drones Hit Ukraine's Power Grid; Russia Defends Their Invasion of Ukraine and Stand with Their Lies; Ukraine Fights to Fully Retake Kherson; Twitter with a New Boss; North Korea Launch Another Missile Today; Violence Not Winding Down in Iran; Brazilians Vote for Their New President; Plane Manage to Land Despite Severe Damage; Law Enforcement on Full Alert Prior to Midterms; Stock Markets with Mixed Reaction; Russian and Ukrainian Forces Not Giving Up Kherson; U.N. Report Warns Countries of Their Pledges. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 28, 2022 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Ahead on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: A CNN exclusive look at a Ukrainian power plant pummeled by Russia as attacks intensify on Ukraine's power grid.

Plus, the world's richest man now owns Twitter. We'll look at what's in store for the influential social media platform under Elon Musk's control.

And is enough being done to stop global warming or are we coming up short? Two different reports with two very different pictures?

UNKNOWN: Live from CNN center, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: We begin in Ukraine where parts of Kyiv 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, but 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.

President Zelenskyy later trying to give a morale boost to the nation with these words. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): I just wanted to support you for a few seconds. The day was not easy. Barbarians are attacking our energy, but I am sure we will go through this darkness courageously and with dignity. The main thing is to keep the light in your heart. Everyone has their own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: 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's been crippled by Russian attacks. As Nic Robertson reports taking cover has become the norm for its workers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: 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 into. There's no fuss. Everyone here knows what to do. We've agreed not to show faces or name the power plant for security reasons.

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.

The coal fired power plant hit twice since Putin began targeting electrical facilities 17 days ago. Cards, dominoes, messaging loved 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 repairing the bomb damage.

An hour and a half later, the all clear everyone back to work. One of the first things you notice here is just how quiet it is. No generators thumping away. 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. 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 burnt-out equipment. And the problem officials say is that this part of the site was the most sensitive part. It's been offline since.

Officials here convinced Putin's power engineers are advising his military how to crash Ukraine's grid.

UNKNOWN: For sure they know the weak place and actually they hit it for three times in the same place. ROBERTSON: As for how long repairs will take, no one knows.

UNKNOWN: The equipment is quite unique, to produce some of them we need from 8 to 18 months. And actually, this would not have so much time.

[03:04:57]

ROBERTSON: The clock, despite some speedy repairs ticking in Putin's favor, more than 40 percent of the grid taken offline in less than three weeks. This is where the cruise missile impacted. Two drones came down over there. The pylons here were taken out. They've been repaired already, but that's the big test right now. Can Ukraine repair faster than Russia can bomb and destroy.

Nic Robertson, CNN at a power plant in Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to downplay fears of a nuclear standoff with the west. He claims he never intentionally said anything about using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and he took a few swipes of the U.S. and its allies accusing them of playing a dangerous, bloody, and dirty game by blaming Russia for the world's problems. He says the world is facing the most dangerous decade since the end of World War II. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia is not challenging the Western allies. Russia is just defending its right to exist and to freely develop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right, let's go live now to Paris where CNN's Melissa Bell is following the latest development. So, Melissa, long speech by Putin there. What stood out to you?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A long speech. Many of the claims we'd heard before his vision ideologically of the need to move away from a unipolar world as he describes it to a multipolar one, presenting himself not just as a champion of countries wanting to stand up for themselves.

But also, of those parts of the west that he speaks to directly are the far right on cultural issues, for instance. So, it was a nearly three hour speech of many of the usual claims, but he was interestingly at one point pressed by the moderator on the war in Ukraine on the invasion.

Remember that at home, we've seen the conscription efforts cause a huge backlash. It is an unpopular invasion. We've seen those many hundreds of thousands of young Russians fleeing the country altogether. In answer, he claimed that things would only have been worse if Ukraine had been allowed to continue being armed by the west and that he'd had to act when he did.

But again, a speech that comes at a time where on the ground we're seeing a much greater determination on the part of Russia after the nomination of that General Surovikin at the helm of Russian efforts in Ukraine to really take on that civilian infrastructure.

Equally, on those front lines, both around Kherson and in the Donbas the fact is, Kim, that Ukrainian forces continue to make advances.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And back to Putin's speech and, you know, you mentioned conscription, then we heard later Russia planning to bolster its forces with prisoners and prisoners with diseases. What more can you tell us about that?

BELL: This had been an allegation made by the Ukrainian side now recognized by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Now, remember that I mentioned just a moment ago the nomination of that general to the Russian war efforts in Ukraine.

It came at a time also about three weeks ago when we saw Yevgeny Prigozhin, a very close ally of Vladimir Putin and a man who has now recognized that he funds and created the Wagner group that is one part of those forces on the ground, that have, is certainly in the beginning when they began to become involved in March because they are more battle hardened because they have the experience, to help make a difference to Russia's fortunes.

What we've heard now is Yevgeny Prigozhin, who's taken a much more front and central role over the course of the last few weeks, admit that they are using convicts, including those who've got been diagnosed with HIV, hepatitis C, and sending them into battle. These soldiers wear wristbands according to color to say what disease they carry with them. Yevgeny Prigozhin, defending the idea that they should be allowed to fight.

But the most important thing that he's recognizing that they are being sent in a measure, of course, also of Moscow's desperation as it seeks to fill its depleted ranks. But an important admission also because of the more open role that Yevgeny Prigozhin is now playing. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Very interesting. All right. Thanks so much, Melissa Bell in Paris.

Well 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 running low on equipment and winter clothing.

Ukraine's president says he's confident of victory in Kherson and that if Russian forces don't leave the area now they risk being trapped.

Russian state media report the situation in the region is stabilizing. Russia 24 quotes a Kremlin appointed governor who says there's been less shelling and artillery fire and no counter attacks from Ukrainian forces. Now earlier Ukrainian lawmakers spoke with CNN about the importance of

recapturing Kherson. She said the liberation can't come soon enough for the sake of people who may still be in the city. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:10:00]

KIRA RUDIK, MEMBER, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Kherson is critical indeed. This is the regional center, the only major regional center that was captured by Russians at the very beginning of the invasion. And we, of course, are hoping and praying that our military forces will be able to regain it for all the sakes, for everybody's sakes. And of course, for the sake of the people that right now are there.

The issue is that at every city and village that our forces are liberating we are finding the same things. Torture rooms. We are finding mass graves and raped women. And we understand that every single moment when we are talking with you right now there are people who are suffering, who are suffering under the occupation.

And we do, really, really pray that our forces will be able to help them and liberate them as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And joining me now from Kyiv is former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk. Now chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Thanks so much for being here with us.

So, I want to first ask you about the situation there where you are in Kyiv. We saw earlier pictures of Kyiv's head of police studying by candlelight. What's the mood there in the city as these attacks on the city and the country's power infrastructure continue?

ANDRIY ZAGORODNYUK, FORMER UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: We have a few hours per every district. So, it's not that critical, at least at the moment. People continue normal lives as far as much as they can. And, but yes, sometimes, sometimes there are power outages in different -- different parts of the cities in different periods of time.

Unfortunately, day before yesterday, there were particular hits in the Kyiv region so these power outages are supposed to be expected to be more significant in the next few days. But people didn't change. I mean, we -- they still continue working. They still trying to continue life as they can.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Now we heard yesterday from Vladimir Putin in a long and, you know, sometimes odd speech. So, what do you make of the continued allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb and these accusations that the U.S. has a military biological program in Ukraine.

ZAGORODNYUK: Well, obviously this is just a made-up story. I mean, we are not -- this is dirty bonds is a terrorist method. It's not a military method. It doesn't make us any good because basically it just creates a contaminated area. Where we're supposed to use it no one knows. I mean, we obviously don't.

And all, luckily all international community they -- they're with us because they -- we're very transparent about what we do during this war. And of course, they know that we're not even close to even thinking about contemplating something like that.

So, so it all doesn't make sense and everybody is wondering why Kremlin came up with that, you know, difficult and complicated story, which they're trying now to explain everyone. And obviously people are concerned that they are planning something like that themselves, which happened before like a full scale (Ph) operation. And then try to -- try to blame Ukraine.

Question is where they may use it? And that obviously concerns everyone. People think about Zaporizhzhia power plant, people think about Kherson. So, there are a number of options. And so, yes, it's obviously some kind of a dangerous sign.

Generally, about Putin speech, generally it shows that he hasn't changed for a second his strategic goals despite of all the setbacks and despite losing on a ground, which means that Putin will go till the end. And that means that, for us, we need to plan for the victory. We need to plan for pushing them out with military means. And that's the only way out.

BRUNHUBER: Well, you mentioned pushing them out and Kherson, I mean, Russians seems to be strengthening there as we saw in our reporter's piece. Some Ukrainian troops they're running out of ammunition. How confident are you that Ukraine can turn the tide in the battle for that vital city?

ZAGORODNYUK: Actually, the tide is currently favorable to Ukraine because Russians are leaving Kherson in great quantities. They -- they're evacuating the so-called administration out of the city. Kherson -- Kherson is in a right bank, basically on a western bank of Dnipro River. And most of the region is on the eastern bank. And the river is extremely wide in that region.

So, for them to evacuate quickly, they need to do it like now. And that's exactly what they're doing. So, they're preparing for actually leaving the city. At the same time, they're enforcing their positions there. They're putting some additional troops in order to diff -- to fight before they leave the city.

But, generally they're already -- they're already planning to go. And logistically there is absolutely no way they can defend it. So, I believe that Kherson is just a matter of time. It's not going to be easy, but it's a matter of time.

[03:14:59]

BRUNHUBER: Yes. You've been very bullish on Ukraine's chances of recapturing its territory, not just in Kherson all of the lost territory. You wrote a piece about how Ukraine can, quote, "win big," and in it you said, to win Ukraine doesn't need a miracle. It just needs the west to increase its supply of sophisticated weaponry.

So, how worrying is it for you then that there seems to be growing ambivalence from some American legislators from both sides of the aisle about the scale of funding for Ukraine's continued war effort.

ZAGORODNYUK: Well, first of all, we have a quite substantial group of Congress people and Senate members who are still supporting the country. And they understand that after we are -- we went to do the battle for so long and so seriously, we need to win.

I mean, there's absolutely no way, there is any other option out, to be honest. I mean, there's no other constructive way except that we win and we have chances to win. We -- we've been -- we've been pushing Russians out of our land. Yes, it doesn't happen that fast, but Russians are getting weaker and weaker every day.

We see that mobilization doesn't work too much and they're becoming weaker. And so, basically victory is not something out of fantasy world. It's actually absolutely real scenario.

We are concerned about some statements of some -- of some U.S. politicians, but we believe that the majority still supports us. So we are -- we are positive about this.

BRUNHUBER: Listen, we really appreciate your time. Former Ukrainian defense minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk, thanks so much.

And later this hour on CNN, we'll take you to the front lines as Ukrainian soldiers take on the Russians. Have a look here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Stay tuned for Fred Pleitgen's report coming up in about 30 minutes from now.

All right. Moving to a developing story here in the U.S. Elon Musk has completed his acquisition of Twitter according to a source familiar with the deal. Now, this picture here, 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.

Now, Musk has suggested Twitter could be in for a major shakeup now that he's in charge, including possibly allowing former US President Donald Trump back on the platform. Well, a short time ago, Musk tweeted, quote, "the bird is freed." It's not entirely clear what that means. But earlier we asked one analyst whether more job cuts could be in the pipeline for Twitter. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VITTORIA ELLIOTT, PLATFORMS AND POWER REPORTER, WIRED: You know, I think we don't yet know. I think it'll obviously depend on the areas of the company that it -- that it affects. But Twitter is not a company like some of the other big techs where they have a hund -- tens of thousands of staff members, you know, there's still a pretty lean team. It's still a smaller team than a lot of the other social platforms.

So, you know, I think we can assume that cutting staff at that level will have significant impacts. And you know, I think it's important to point out, especially when we're thinking about key things like content moderation and, and content policy, which has obviously been a sort of major point of contention.

Again, with Musk as an outside observer, you know, that's something that every platform, even platforms with a lot more people and greater reach than Twitter have struggled with. And so, I can only assume that, you know, having fewer people to respond to those concerns is not necessarily going to make it easier or faster or more effective.

But again, we don't necessarily know where in the company these cuts are coming from. And you know, whether or not the company will still be functional when we have that level of staff cuts and whether or not once Elon is actually in charge, if that's something that he's still going to think is an appropriate measure to take once he's sort of had a chance to understand the teams a bit more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, North Korea is at it again. We're getting new details on its latest missile launch, one of those in a live report coming up.

And in Iran, the regime appears to be ramping up its crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. And their fears it's about to get worse.

And Brazilians head for the poll Sunday to choose their next president in 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. Please stay with us.

[03:20:00]

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BRUNHUBER: We're getting new information on the North Korean ballistic missile tests carried out earlier today. The South Korean military is releasing details on how far those missiles flew and how fast. Now, this is the latest in a flurry of missile launches by North Korea throughout the year. So, let's get right onto CNN's Kristie Lu Stout. What more can you

tell us?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kim, well, South Korea calls it a, quote, "serious act of provocation." This is the 28th missile test that North Korea has conducted so far this year. It comes just as South Korea is wrapping up joint military exercises on the east of the country and had to plan large scale military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea due to kick off on Monday, October the 31st.

This is what we learned from the South Korea joint chiefs of staff earlier today. They issued a number of statements saying this. that North Korea earlier, about noon, local time, fired two short range ballistic missiles. They traveled a total of about 230 kilometers.

We do have a statement from the JCS saying that the U.S. and the South Korean military, rather, on high alert saying, quote, "our military has strengthened to surveillance and vigilance, it's maintaining a fully prepared posture while closely cooperating with the U.S." unquote.

Now the U.S. military is consulting with its allies. It's closely watching the situation. It also said that these missile launches do not pose any immediate threat.

Let's bring up a statement from the Indo-Pacific command of the United States saying 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 impact of the DPRK's unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs. The U.S. commitments to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remain ironclad" unquote.

Now North Korea has been carrying out a flurry of missile tests this year. In fact, it was earlier this month, it fired a missile over Japan, the first such missile tests since 2017. So far this year, North Korea has fired the highest number of missiles since Kim Jong-un took power back in 2011.

Tension has also been rising between the North and the South. Earlier this week, they exchanged warning shots at sea, and earlier this month we saw South Korean war planes scramble in response to North Korean military jets that were inching too close in South Korea's view to their shared and highly militarized border.

Fear and concern also rising about North Korea conducting another nuclear test. Even when it does, it would be the first one since 2017. We learned a couple days ago the United States, along with its allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, have said that they have already agreed to a, quote, "unparalleled response' in the event of a new nuclear test by North Korea.

Back to you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right, we'll be watching for that. Kristie Lu Stout, live in Hong Kong.

The Iranian government is calling for nationwide rallies today to condemn the deadly attack on the Shah Shrine. Iran Supreme leader is vowing punishment for the perpetrators and what the government's calling a terrorist act.

ISIS is said to have claimed responsibility, but authorities now say anti-government protestors are also to blame. State media released this video of the alleged assailants as new demonstrations swept the country.

CNN's Nada Bashir is tracking the growing unrest.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, protests in Iran are once again gaining momentum, but the crackdown on demonstrators is also intensifying.

[03:25:02]

On Thursday, we saw video emerging from the city of Mahabad in the West Azerbaijan province of protestors clashing with the Iranian security forces following a funeral held for a protestor who was reportedly shot dead on Wednesday.

Videos emerging showing tear gas being deployed against protestors, buildings set alight even, according to Amnesty International, live fire being used against protestors. Yet another example of the excessive and lethal force being used by the Iranian security forces against protesters who have been taken to the streets over the last six weeks in response to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Many now calling for regime change.

There are also concerns that the regime could now be setting the pretext to double down on its violent and brutal crackdown following an attack on the Shah Cheragh shrine in the Shiraz southern city on Wednesday, according to the authorities, this attack has been claimed by the Islamic state.

According to state media, the regime has now identified three key assailants who they say opened fire on worshipers on Wednesday evening, killing at least 15 people and injuring 40 more as foreign nationals. But this could essentially play into the narrative that the regime has been pushing forward for weeks now that the protests that we're seeing across the country have been stoked, encouraged, and facilitated by foreign agents, namely the United States and Israel, who they accuse of encouraging unrest and creating instability in the country.

On Thursday, Iran's armed forces said that the attack on Wednesday, which they characterize as a terrorist incident, was a product of these protests and that those taking to the streets are complicit in this violence.

Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the Iranian regime will respond directly to this incident, and they have called now for a rally to be held on Friday against the violence that we've seen. But there are concerns being expressed by human rights groups across the board that this could set the pretext for the Iranian regime to really double down and intensify an already brutal and deadly crackdown of peaceful protestors, who continue to take to the streets demanding regime change, demanding that their fundamental human rights are upheld and respected, and crucially demanding that the rights of women across the country are also respected.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

BRUNHUBER: Prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was buried in his hometown of Islamabad on Thursday. Sharif was killed by police in Kenya on Sunday in an apparent case of mistaken identity. Sharif was known for his reporting in print, broadcast, and social media.

He fled Pakistan in August due to charges of sedition for allegedly criticizing state institutions. And close associate told CNN Sharif's life was threatened and some blame Pakistan's intelligence services for his death.

But in a rare move before the funeral, Pakistan's intelligence chief refuted those claims. Pakistani President Arif Alvi, and the first lady offered condolences to Sharif's family.

Brazil votes for a new president on Sunday, a second and final round of voting in an election that's been described as the most important in Brazilian history. Leftist former President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is challenging far right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

The election comes with Brazil's economy struggling with high inflation, limited growth, and rising poverty. Neither candidate received more than 50 percent in a first round vote earlier this month, forcing the two into Sunday's runoff ballot.

And I spoke last hour with Elena Lazarou, an associate fellow with Chatham House, a London based international think tank. And I asked her about the polls that show Lula ahead by quite a bit, but were wrong in the first round. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELENA LAZAROU, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE: What we see now when we look at a variety of polls is a difference between 5 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 out with about 42.4 percent and Lula, 48 percent.

So, it's actually the polls that don't necessarily reflect the results. There's a lot of reasons for that. We see this across the world. Our 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 candidate received would go so. 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. Very -- difficulties in harnessing congressional support.

[03:30:05]

So, polls are indicative, but they're not certain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, some scary moments for some airline passengers on Wednesday. Have a look here. They're 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 and its windshield smashed. And video shared with CNN shows the frightening moments before the landing. Have a look here.

Authorities say an investigation is currently underway. Forty-eight people were on board the plane. The air -- the airplane tells CNN all passengers and crew are safe.

All right. Still to come, the U.S. stock market ends the day in positive territory and the GDP comes in higher than expected. So, we'll look at what it means for American consumers, next.

Plus, with the U.S. midterms fast approaching many states across the country are rethinking security. We'll get the details next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.

All right, let's take a look at other key stories making international headlines today.

No, it is a done deal between Israel and Lebanon. Years of negotiations have ended with an agreement defining their maritime border in the Mediterranean. The U.S. brokered the deal, which assigns ownership of major oil and gas fields in the sea.

Now, the two countries are still technically at war, so the paperwork was signed by the Israeli prime minister and the Lebanese president in two different locations.

Britain's new prime minister is sitting out the big global climate summit next week in Egypt. A statement from Downing Street says other senior ministers will represent the U.K. at COP 27, but Rishi Sunak is apparently dealing with other pressing commitments. He took office on Tuesday. The publisher of Prince Harry's memoir says it will be released on

January 10th, and the title is Spare. That's a reference to him being the so-called spare heir, meaning number two to Prince William. We're told the book will include memories of his mother's -- mother Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 when Harry was only 12 years old. Proceeds will go to several charities.

[03:34:55]

Chinese state media say the COVID situation in most part of Tibet has improved and that more areas are getting back to normal. That's after people in Lhasa held a rare protest against lockdown measures that have been in place for more than 70 days, meaning residents aren't allowed to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. Lhasa is one of nearly 100 Chinese cities under full or partial lockdown. On Wednesday, Lhasa's health department reported eight new COVID cases.

But it's Ebola now spreading in Uganda. The number of confirmed cases now over 120. The Ugandan health ministry says healthcare workers are among those getting sick, and that hopefully more treatments for the virus are on the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANE RUTH ACENG, UGANDA MINISTER OF HEALTH: There is no known treatment for Sudan Ebola virus. Currently, the number of promising treatment options that the Ministry of Health is using under trial, including monoclonal antibodies and repurposed drugs like Remdesivir donated by the U.S. government. However, the doses available are still very few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: U.S. financial markets closed mixed on Thursday despite solid third quarter numbers in U.S. production.

Investors are looking to next week when another aggressive rate hike by the Fed is expected. Despite growing fears of a recession U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says CNN, that she doesn't foresee that happening.

The Dow in the Thursday trading up nearly 200 points, but futures have been pointing down in recent hours. And some not so good news for the tech sector. Facebook's parent company Meta posted its second ever quarterly decline. Its stock fell 17 percent and its third quarter earnings were half of what they were last year.

Meanwhile, the latest GDP figures came back better than expected, raising hopes the U.S. may dodge a recession for now.

CNN's Rahel Solomon has the details.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. economy bounced back over the summer. Gross domestic product rose by an annualized rate of 2.6 percent in the third quarter, topping analyst estimates of 2.4 percent. It's the first quarterly increase this year after two consecutive contractions. The growth was mostly fueled by higher exports and lower imports.

Government spending also helped with sharply higher defense spending. President Biden touting the latest GDP figures saying, quote, "we got further evidence that our economic recovery is continuing to power forward."

But the report also showing signs of stress in housing and consumer spending. Housing investment plunged in the quarter, and the growth of consumer spending, which accounts for more than two thirds of U.S. economic activity. Well, that's slowed to a just 1.4 percent pace amid hot inflation. To put that in perspective, it was 2 percent in the previous quarter.

The GDP data will likely have little impact on the Federal Reserve, which has been trying to tamp down inflation. Fed officials are expected to press on with rate hikes at their policy meeting next week.

Rahel Solomon, CNN, New York.

BRUNHUBER: Well, as many around the world struggle to pay their gas and electric bills. Energy giant Shell has posted another giant profit. It just recorded a net income of $9.5 billion for the third quarter. That's more than twice what it recorded last year. Shell and other energy companies have benefited from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has pushed oil and gas prices to eye watering highs.

With the U.S. midterm elections fast approaching, cities all across the country are ramping up security, including in New York City where law enforcement officials are urging the public to remain vigilant.

CNN's Brian Todd has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An urgent warning from America's largest police force. More vigilance is needed for security for the upcoming midterm elections.

The New York Police Department issuing a new bulletin warning that, quote, "malicious actors, especially racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists and anti-government, anti-authority extremists will continue to prioritize the targeting of political rallies, voting sites, poll workers, and election officials.

JOHN MILLER, CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, CNN: You've got poll workers, and election officials literally quitting their jobs because of the atmospherics. They are worried about what they are seeing and about what they are hearing.

TODD: The NYPD says there are currently no credible threats to New York City polling sites, but there have been threats elsewhere. We spoke with Scott McDonell, the clerk of Dane County, Wisconsin. SCOTT MCDONELL, CLERK, DANE COUNTY, WISCONSIN: We've gotten social

media threats. I have, in fact, we had someone wandering around all in camo in the April election, shaking on doors trying to get into places. By the time the police reacted to that, he was long gone.

[03:39:54]

TODD: Recently armed individuals in tactical gear were seen outside a ballot drop box in Mesa, Arizona. Officials in Texas have asked the Department of Justice to send monitors to Harris County where Houston is, where efforts to intimidate election workers have been reported. Incidents that prompted this vow from the U.S. attorney general.

MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Justice Department has an obligation to prevent, to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone who's qualified to vote and will not permit voters to be intimidated.

TODD: Law enforcement officials and analysts say the threats are being fueled by extremists who still promote the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, and that they'll use all sorts of tactics to intimidate voters.

MARY MCCORD, FORMER ACTING ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: It can be things that suggest to a person that they are being watched, that maybe what they're doing is illegal, following voters to their cars, recording their license plate numbers. Certainly, asking their many questions about their eligibility to vote or any kind of thing like that.

MILLER: The online chatter is like nothing we have really seen before in terms of an election season. They're talking about attacking political meetings.

TODD: And a new CNN report says, federal funding for enhanced security measures at election offices and polling places often isn't getting to officials who would put those measures in place because of bureaucratic snafus or breakdowns in communication.

MCDONELL: If there's money available at the national level, we don't -- we don't know about it. There's no coordination, and it's really deeply frustrating for us on the frontline.

TODD (on camera): As a result, Scott McDonell says, security at his election office in Dane County, Wisconsin heading into the midterms is, quote, "a joke." Security analysts tell us they're worried that the threats and the holes in security at some election sites will prompt some voters to stay away from the polls this time figuring it's simply not worth it.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Still ahead this hour, along the front lines in Kherson as Ukraine forces battle the Russians. Why some say the fight has ground to a stalemate. Plus, the United Nations fires off another dire report about climate change, warning that time is rapidly running out to change course.

Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: All right, let's get you up to speed on the latest headlines from the war in Ukraine. Russian attacks have pushed Kyiv to the brink of complete blackouts. The city has ordered severe and unprecedented restrictions on electricity. One power company CEO says hundreds of thousands of homes in the area have no service.

Vladimir Putin is downplaying fears of a nuclear standoff in Ukraine. The Russian president denies he ever considered using nuclear weapons on the battlefield. He says western elites are playing a dangerous game by blaming Russia for the world's problems.

Meanwhile, fighting in the Kherson region has reportedly slowed in recent days. Ukraine's president says Russian forces are showing no signs of retreat, but they risk being trapped there if they stay.

[03:45:02]

And bad weather and rough terrain are making for a difficult fight in the Kherson.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen caught up with Ukrainian soldiers patrolling the frontline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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

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.

A destroyed tank turret right outside the Ukrainian position shows just how fierce the fighting is here. Spent cartridges from cluster bombs and Russian flack vests also still lying around. While some thought the Ukrainians might quickly oust the Russians and take back the key city of Kherson, in the trench a feeling of stalemate.

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

PLEITGEN: Inside the main headquarters, the unit commander who goes by the call sign, Nikofor, shows me the gear they use to monitor the Russians movements and communicate with their own units. He says they've observed the Russians strengthening their defensive positions here.

NIKOFOR, 59TH BRIGADE, UKRAINIAN ARMY (through translator): 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: This territory was all Russian controlled, but now Ukrainian troops are inching ever closer to Kherson. Having taken out most Russian 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.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: They are not ready to go out of Kherson. But they know that if will be it, if we will have success, they will not have possibility to exit.

PLEITGEN: Ukraine's military is pushing Russian troops back on several front lines 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, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): World domination is what the so-called west bet its game on. But that game is without doubt a dangerous bloody, and I would say filthy one.

PLEITGEN: 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 sits in.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN in the Kherson region of Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Well, as U.N. figures on global emissions show countries are falling far short of what's needed. Coming up, CNN's Derek Van Dam walks us through the latest data. Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kim, this new United Nations report released ahead of COP 27 starting early next month, highlighting emission gaps across the planet that are needed to make up for scenes that are taking place across various parts of the planet.

I'll highlight all those details coming up after the break.

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[03:49:57]

BRUNHUBER: The head of the International Energy Agency says Russia's invasion of Ukraine has helped jumpstart a global transition away from fossil fuels. The agency's annual report found that international energy markets have begun pivoting away from Russian oil and natural gas as countries look for alternative energy sources. And as more economies make the shift, the IEA predicts global emissions will peak by year 2025. The IEA's executive director says, countries are learning that renewables offer much less risk of disruption than pipelines from Russia. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FATIH BIROL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY: Governments are putting real money on the table to accelerate the clean energy, not necessarily for environmental climate reasons, but mainly for energy security reasons. They see that the clean energy renewables or nuclear power or electric cars are, are an insurance for energy security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The COP 27 climate Summit begins on November 6th in the Egyptian capital resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Now, despite the beautiful backdrop, the U.N. is painting a grim picture of what's at stake ahead of the meeting.

So, for the second time in two days, the U.N. is sending a warning to the world's largest economies. Commitments to cut emissions are inadequate and will only reduce emissions by less than 1 percent by the end of the decade.

Well, there's no easy answers of course. Agriculture accounts for nearly a third of all global emissions, mostly from equipment and transportation, which means food security has to be taken into account. But to head off a climate disaster, the IEA says the world needs to dramatically slash emissions and begin investing 4 to $6 trillion per year in alternative energies.

Now, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres didn't mince words as he laid out the consequences of failure. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: The global and national climate commitments are falling pitifully short. The window to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees is closing fast. Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 45 percent this decade, but as today's emissions gap report confirms, they remain at dangerous and record rise and still rising.

And the current policies, the world is headed for 2.8 degrees of global heating by the end of the century. In other words, we are headed for a global catastrophe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right, for more on this, let's bring in Derek Van Dam at the CNN weather center. So, Derek, the stakes just couldn't be higher.

VAN DAM: Yes. It seems like we're a continuing to kick that bucket further and further down the road. Right? Well, this is such an important time for the United Nations to come out with this emissions gap report. And I want to highlight what the details are of this critical, critical report leading up to COP 27.

Basically, the Emissions Gap Report, what it's doing is analyzing the pledges that countries have already made, and analyzing the difference that what is needed in order for us to curb, global warming below that 1.5 degree Celsius threshold that we agreed upon in 2015 at the Paris Climate Accord, the COP 21 Conference.

We already know that since we started releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, these heat trapping gases, we have warmed since the industrial revolution, 1.2 degrees Celsius. Our goal is to limit that warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less.

That's what we agreed upon over 200 nations in the Paris climate accord back in 2015. But according to this latest report, the Emissions Gap Report, it says, under our current climate policies without restriction. If we were to go forward with no major cuts in emission, we'd warm to 2.8 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

So, you can see the pitfalls there. And as Guterres was talking about, unfortunately we are failing pitifully, falling pitifully short of what the emissions should be looking like as we speak. And unfortunately, this leads to more devastating landscape altering wildfires, droughts, and food scarcity issues.

So, what needs to be done? Well, according to the report, in order to get back on track to that one-and-a-half-degree goal, the report actually states that we need to cut our current emissions by 45 percent by the end of the decade. And if that's not good enough, well at least to limit warming to two degrees, we have to cut our current emissions by 30 percent.

That's a very tall order considering the trajectory that we are on the past seven years have been the warmest seven on record and of course 2022 looking very hot as well. Kim?

BRUNHUBER: All right, thanks so much Derek Van Dam. I appreciate it. And one of the authors of the U.N.'s Emissions Gap Report was Taryn Fransen of the World Resources Institute.

And earlier she spoke with CNN about why even tiny change in the planet's temperature can trigger outsized weather events issues. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:55:05]

TARYN FRANSEN, CO-AUTHOR, U.N. EMISSIONS GAP REPORT: This report measures the gap between what countries are promising to do to cut emissions by 2030 under the Paris Agreement and what they need to do in order to meet that global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

And I think I -- it's sometimes when we hear these decimal points, it can be easy to underestimate how important each fraction of a degree is. But we've already seen increases in wildfires, devastating tolls on ecosystems, as well as food systems and water systems that people rely on. And well under that 1.5-degree goal. If we surpass that goal, those impacts increase very rapidly. So, it really does make a big difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Dutch police have arrested three climate activists for gluing themselves to the famous Johannes Vermeer painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. Have a look. Videos of the incident surfaced on social media Thursday showing two men gluing themselves to the piece as a hung in a museum in The Hague, while another through what appeared to be red paint.

Authorities do say the painting didn't suffer permanent damage and will be back on display as soon as possible.

And before we go, a team of rowers is gearing up to cross the Atlantic Ocean and it's for a good cause. Have a look. The three member Arabian ocean rowing team plans to travel 5,000 kilometers in an eight-meter- long rowboat. They'll depart from La Gomera off the coast of Africa in December and row to Antigua in the Caribbean.

Now the team plans to row two hours on and two hours off all day and all night to draw attention to the problem of ocean pollution. And they partnered with the U.N. environment program for the Clean Seas campaign, and also conduct tests and collect samples for scientific research.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOBY GREGORY, ARABIAN OCEAN ROWING TEAM FOUNDER: Unfortunately, we've been told by scientists that at every stop 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 erosions? 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 to raise awareness about this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. That wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Kim Brunhuber. You can follow me on Twitter at Kim Brunhuber. And CNN Newsroom with Max Foster is next.

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