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South Korean Jets Scramble After North Korean Aircraft Detected; CDC Releases More Flexible Guidelines for Opioid Prescribing; Children's Deaths Fuels Outrage Against China's COVID Policy; Nets Star Kyrie Irving Apologizes in Antisemitism Case; Dolly Parton, Eminem Among This Year's Inductees. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired November 04, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Were put in a readiness posture to respond to any potential threat. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the U.N. Security Council will meet today to discuss the worsening situation on the Korean Peninsula. CNN's Blake Essig joins us now live from Tokyo. Blake, we're hearing a lot here, obviously stimulated by North Korea's actions, of escalatory military actions on both sides. What efforts are being made to decrease these tensions?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, Bianca, as you mentioned, you know, there haven't been any missiles flying back and forth between North and South Korea today, but the tensions continue to escalate. And perhaps in order to ease those tensions there is hope that perhaps that U.N. Security Council meeting will help change the tensions, the continued escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

But for now, the incident you just described lasted about four hours and took place at the same time as the now extended joint drill between the United States and South Korea. It's called "Vigilant Storm." It was extended one day extra. It was only supposed to last five days, it'll last six now following yesterday's failed intercontinental ballistic missile test by North Korea. This is North Korea's newest missile the day that it was tested, the Hwasong-17 ICBM which Kim Jong-un showed off in a highly produced propaganda video earlier this year. And it's believed to have failed midflight after its second phase separation. That's according to a South Korean government source.

But even if this ICBM did fail, progress was clearly made since the last time it was tested back in May -- in May according to the South Korean government. It's believed that the same type of ICBM only flew to an altitude of 540 kilometers. Yesterday it reached an altitude of about 2,000 kilometers and likely failed in the third and final stage of flight. Those stages include the boost, midcourse and terminal phase when the missile reenters the atmosphere and strikes its target.

But the key here is that no one single test is special on its own. And North Korea gains knowledge from each and every weapons test that it conducts. And just like anything you do, the more you practice, the better you do. So, when talking to experts they say that North Korea's aggressive pace of testing is what's most concerning.

Now as for what could be next, experts say ICBM and nuclear tests are a set and with the U.S. midterm election and G-20 coming up, a nuclear test could be carried out soon especially with North Korea's tendency to conduct tests ahead of important events to move itself up the agenda -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Blake Essig, thank you.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: For the first time in six years the CDC is easing its guidelines for doctors prescribing opioids.

NOBILO: It's a significant move away from the most strict parameters. Some experts say made it too hard for patients suffering from serious pain to get the medicine. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Max, Bianca, these new opioid guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are seen is some ways as a course correction to guidelines that were given out in 2016. Those really are now seen as being too rigid. Obviously, something needs to be done about the opioid problem in the United States. But those guidelines were seen as sort of putting all patients in one basket when in some ways some patients really do benefit from opioids. For example, some cancer patients.

So, before we get into the guidelines, let's take a look at who is experiencing pain in the United States. About 1 in 5 adults have chronic pain and about 1 in 14 adults have experienced pain nearly every day over the past three months that limited their life or work activities. The CDC essentially is saying for some of these patients opioids might be appropriate for some perhaps not. So, let's take a look specifically at what they're saying.

The CDC is recommending nonopioid therapies for subacute or for chronic pain. In other words, if the pain is not acute, non-opioid therapies would be preferred. Also, if you are going to prescribe opioids, they tell doctors don't discontinue them abruptly. And also, if you're going to prescribe opioids, consider offering naloxone at the same time. Naloxone an antidote for opioid overdoses and the CDC is saying, if you are going to be giving someone opioids, you should consider giving them naloxone at the same time -- Max, Bianca.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Thank you to Elizabeth.

NOBILO: In the U.S. death caused by drinking alcohol spiked during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol use killed more than 49,000 people in 2020. The alcohol induced death rate increased 26 percent between 2019 and 2020. And that's nearly the same jump in one year as over the decade before. [04:35:00]

The CDC says that alcoholic liver disease was the underlying cause of more than half those deaths and it says that the death rate was higher for middle age men 55 to 64 years old.

FOSTER: Yes, many people predicted it, didn't they? Because the sales were going up so much.

Now China's strict zero-COVID policy and lockdown causing a tragic situation to become more desperate by the day. Children are dying from COVID and other illnesses due to lockdown restrictions. CNN's Selina Wang has more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A 14-year- old girl lies in bed, convulsing at a COVID quarantine facility in China. Someone comes over saying, the kid has a fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and no one is coming. She died soon after.

A man who says he is the girl's father posted this video online, filming his daughter's body, he is demanding justice.

I beg the Communist Party to investigate, he says.

CNN hasn't been able to independently verify the videos, they have been censored in China.

Along with these videos of a father desperately trying to revive his three-year-old son, he can't get his child to the hospital office than enough, because of COVID restrictions in Lanzhou City. The boy later died.

Enraged residents turned to the streets, swarms of armed police hold them back. In Lanzhou City, some are forced to quarantine outside in the cold, in parking lots.

This viral video, which CNN could not verify, shows others forced to stay in male bathrooms, sleeping under urinals.

In year three of the pandemic, every positive case and close contact is still sent to government quarantine facilities like these, and this one, the video says it's a quarantine site for kids in Gansu Province. A little boy jumping on bricks to avoid the pool of dirty liquid. This is where they use the bathroom.

Distraught parents crowd outside to protests. Protesters rushed to the streets in Lhasa, Tibet, demanding the end of a lockdown that lasted for more than 80 days.

And in Zhengzhou City, workers are fleeing Apple's biggest iPhone plant after a COVID outbreak. Masses of workers carrying their luggage, walk long distances across highways through villages, even farm fields, those left behind at the factory claim living conditions are subpar. Videos appear to show workers literally fighting for boxes of supplies.

China's leader Xi Jinping claims zero-COVID puts lives above all else. But for many, it's precisely the policy itself that's ruining the lives.

This woman sobs on the ground crying, that after she was caught with her mask pulled down, the government suspended her business for 30 days, losing a month's income. Metal spikes, which the man filming, says were installed on a compound gate to prevent residents from leaving or red plastic barriers.

This one separating a father from his daughter. The little girl worried, asked her dad how he's going to get home. But her father, like millions across China, likely has no idea when he can go home or when all of this will end.

Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: A U.S. basketball star apologizes after he tweets about a movie described as antisemitic. That just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: Welcome back. U.S. basketball star Kyrie Irving has apologized on Instagram hours after his team suspended him for at least five games. The Brooklyn Nets initially disciplined the point guard after he tweeted a link to a documentary which was criticized as antisemitic. The team and Irving also agreed to give anti-hate groups a half million dollars.

FOSTER: But later the team said it was dismayed Irving refused to apologize while talking to reporters on Thursday and acknowledge hateful material in the movie. Now Irving has apologized to Jewish groups saying he wants to focus on healing and to learn and grow from the controversy.

CNN's Carolyn Manno is here with us to discuss all of this. And I think what's frustrating people is the apology came after he was suspended so it seemed like a reaction to that.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is an idea here that this is damage control and that much wasn't done at the beginning of this controversy to avoid all of this. I mean, Kyrie Irving's been described as mercurial and complicated. But the fact of the matter is, this is very simple. He offended an entire group of people and failed to apologize and failed to say, I am not antisemitic. And the Nets hoped he would have taken that time to apologize for all the pain that he caused but it took way too long. He was given multiple opportunities to do that. In yesterday seemed to be the breaking point for the team when he met with reporters for the second time this week and still did not apologize. This is what he said at that time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KYRIE IRVING, BROOKLYN NETS PLAYER: So, I take my full responsibility, again, I'll repeat it, for posting something on my Instagram or Twitter that may have had some unfortunate falsehoods in it. But I also am a human being that's 30 years old and I've been growing up in a country that told me I wasn't worth anything, and I was from a slave class and I come from a people that are meant to be treated the way we're treated every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: After that availability which went on and on Brooklyn decided to suspended Irving.

And the team put out a statement which said in part: Such failure to disavow antisemitism when given a clear opportunity to do so is deeply disturbing, is against the values of our organization, and it constitutes conduct detrimental to the team.

And then shortly before midnight an apology finally. Irving posting to Instagram: To all of the Jewish families and communities that are heard and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize. I initially reacted out of a motion to being unjustly labeled antisemitic, instead of focusing on the healing process of my Jewish brothers and sisters that were heard from the hateful remarks made in the documentary.

And listen, the larger picture here is that athletes are allowed to participate in democracy here in the United States. Everyone is allowed to feel certain things and have different point of views but, you know, this is very clear-cut. And you have to be very careful what you say and what you promote on a social platform that reaches millions of people, especially in such a divisive time where there's hatred to be found just about anywhere. And his failure to grasp that and to apologize for that was alarming. And now finally it seems that he's come around.

[04:45:00]

If he didn't, I can't envision a scenario where he will be able to stay with the team.

NOBILO: Caroline, has there been any other fallout from Kyrie's inflammatory post?

MANNO: Well, you mentioned earlier that the Nets and Kyrie said that they would donate half a million dollars to anti-hate groups. Unfortunately, the Antidefamation League says now that they cannot accept that money in good conscience. We'll see if that changes from the CEO now that there has been something of an apology on Instagram.

But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who is Jewish, said yesterday that he plans to meet with Kyrie and it's an opportunity to have a discussion. Irving and the Nets have had a lot of drama over the last couple of years. It's been well documented. His decision not to get the vaccine and he's had problems with other teams too. So, this is just the latest example of him struggling to figure out how to make all the pieces come together.

NOBILO: Carolyn Manno, thank you.

FOSTER: Now former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is in stable position after being shot in the leg in what his political party calls an assassination attempt. A gunman opened fire at a political rally killing one person and wounding Khan and several others before being detained. Khan a former cricket star was on the seventh day of a nationwide tour calling for new elections when the shooting happened.

NOBILO: Protests broke out across Pakistan in support of Khan after the shooting. Khan accuses Pakistan's prime minister, interior minister and a senior intelligence official of being behind Thursday's attack.

FOSTER: Pope Francis has been experiencing intermittent knee pain. And it was so bad on Thursday he was unable to walk around the papal plane during a trip to Bahrain like he usually does. The 85-year-old, the pontiff has been walking with a cane since he tore a ligament earlier this year. During the trip he asked members of the press core to speak with him whilst he was sitting down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Thank you very much for your work. I would like to greet you one by one, but the problem is that today I have a lot of pain and I'm not up to moving around the plane so I'll sit down and you come to me. I greet you from here. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: The trip is aimed at improving ties with the Islamic world. Pope Francis will also say mass for the Catholic community in Bahrain and 80,000 people, who are mostly foreign workers, according to the Vatican.

FOSTER: Still ahead, it's been a very good week for the Houston Astros. They are now just one game away from winning it all.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, SINGER, SONGWRITER: Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living, barely getting me by, it's all taking and no giving

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: So, so your holding the --

FOSTER: It would be nice to work 9 to 5 again, won't it.

NOBILO: Would be, yes. Singer, songwriter and entertainer Dolly Parton may be best known as a country star, but the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame says that she's too good not to be included in this year's list of inductees.

DURAND DURAND: I'm on the hunt down there for you, I'm after you lost in the crowd and I'm hungry like the wolf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: British new wave band Durand Durand -- not so new anymore. I remember the time that they were. It is also amongst the seven artists whose work has earned them special acclaim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMINEM, RAPPER: Daddy been no, he won't have it, he holds back that he won't, his daddy leaves home, he knows that when he's home. He's so sad that he knows that when he goes back to his mobile home

that's when back to ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And it's been 25 years since rapper Eminem scored his first commercial success which also makes him eligible for this year's class at the rock and roll hall of fame. The other four artists will be honored are the Eurythmics, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon and rock duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. The induction ceremony will be held Sunday in Los Angeles.

FOSTER: What's the link between Eminem and Downing Street?

NOBILO: Thank you very much, Max. Well, when I'm at Downing Street and it's very cold and my cheeks freeze, I rap Eminem songs to myself in one of the little stoops to keep everything moving.

FOSTER: Tell the cameraman to record that and put it onto the CNN's social media feed.

NOBILO: Nobody wants to see that, I don't think. Who's your favorite out of that list?

FOSTER: Well, I've got some crossover with my 11-year-old son on Eminem.

NOBILO: Oh, really.

FOSTER: Because he didn't believe me when he said he was of my era.

NOBILO: Is he of your era?

FOSTER: Yes.

NOBILO: OK. We cleared that up.

NOBILO: On to major league baseball before she pursues that any further. One night after pulling off only the second no hitter in world series history Houston has taken the lead in the fall classic. The Astros led off the Phillies 3-2 on Thursday, in Philadelphia. NOBILO: Center fielder Chas McCormick making a stellar catch in the

ninth that broke thousands of Philly hearts. The Astros have now won three games in the best of 7 showdown. The series shifts back to Houston on Saturday for game 6 where the Astros could win it all.

They're already billionaires and two of the most successful men in America now music mogul Jay Z -- another one who sometimes I rap at Downing Street -- and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are reportedly considering making a joint offer to buy the Washington Commanders NFL team.

FOSTER: On Wednesday the team's owner said they were thinking about selling. The potential sale comes months after a U.S. House oversight committee investigating owner Dan Snyder accused him of fostering a toxic workplace.

Now the outlook for the holiday season suggests shoppers won't skimp on gifts for loved ones.

NOBILO: No, but the number of people on that gift list, maybe smaller than last year as families struggle with high inflation.

FOSTER: I think that's true, people buy less but keep the quality up. According to the holiday shopping forecast and the National Retail Federation, retail sales are expected to rise 6 t0 8 percent of the November to December shopping months.

[04:55:02]

Now online shopping is expected to jump 10 to 12 percent and industry analysts say shoppers are more likely to use credit cards or dip into their savings to pay for those holiday gifts.

NOBILO: Have you started Christmas shopping?

FOSTER: No. But we do, do it quite early because I get very -- you know, you want that specific thing, don't you? It's never available at the end.

NOBILO: Well, I used to be really good and make a spreadsheet throughout the year of items that people in my close family said that they wanted.

FOSTER: Wow.

NOBILO: Then very bad at impromptu Christmas gift shopping.

FOSTER: Yes, and it worked.

NOBILO: Yes, it's really good, but I know because I got distracted by these concerts and stuff. And so now I have ...

FOSTER: And rapping.

NOBILO: Yes, I've got nothing. FOSTER: Talking about holidays, this could be an item for beer lovers.

I may have this on my shopping list. It's a Christmas tree stand, obviously, designed to fit around a keg of miller light beer. The U.S. beverage company is describing it as an ultimate way to enjoy its Pilsner.

NOBILO: And the whole idea is to make a holly jolly Christmas a little more friendly for beer drinkers. To make the package complete the company is also selling Christmas ornaments or "beernaments." See what I did there?

FOSTER: I see what you desire.

NOBILO: As it calls them. It fit snuggly around a can of brew but can also be later used to decorate the tree.

FOSTER: Has anyone expressed concerns for how this will affect Santa's --

NOBILO: I think looking at Santa though, I don't want to be judgmental. He looks like he's no stranger to a keg.

FOSTER: But we don't want to slow him down. I mean, he'll be sitting there getting drunk. Falling not a chimneys. It's going to be chaos.

NOBILO: Yes, that's true.

FOSTER: I'm not really sure we should promote it.

Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

NOBILO: And I'm Bianca Nobilo. "EARLY START" with Christine Romans is next right here on CNN.

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