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Trump Loyalist Picks as Homeland Security Secretary; Israel's Far-Right Finance Minister Calls for Sovereignty in the West Bank, Palestine and E.U. Condemns His Push. Philippines Braces for More Tropical Cyclones This Week; Italy's Pompeii to Cap Daily Tourist Limit After Overwhelming Summer Visitor's Record. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 12, 2024 - 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)

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Max Foster, in London.

Just ahead, Donald Trump is wasting no time in filling top administration roles as he taps some of his staunchest defenders for key cabinet positions.

Israel's 30-day deadline. Aid groups say Israel has failed to meet U.S. criteria to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. We'll speak to a member of one of the organizations behind that report.

And two commercial planes are hit by gunfire whilst flying over Haiti's violence-ridden capital city.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Max Foster.

FOSTER: First on CNN, one of Donald Trump's most crucial picks yet for a coveted cabinet position. Sources say he has selected Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security. The South Dakota governor, a long-time loyalist, will be in charge of a sprawling agency that controls customs and border protection, immigration enforcement and emergency management, as well as the Secret Service.

Noem has been on Trump's shortlist for Vice President, but there was backlash to her recent book. In it, she admitted killing her 14-month- old dog for not showing signs of being an ideal hunting dog.

A word came a few hours ago that Trump is likely to choose Marco Rubio for Secretary of State. But it's not clear if the Florida senator has been formally offered the position. These are some of the other expected staff selections, which include EPA Administrator and U.N. ambassador, many other cabinet positions like Attorney General and the Secretaries of Energy, Interior, Labor and Treasury have yet to be announced.

For a closer look at the likely layout of Trump's inner circle so far, here's CNN's Alayna Treene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, we're told, offered the role of national security adviser to Florida Republican Mike Waltz. Waltz is a former Green Beret. He had served in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. And his military experience could help him as he navigates some of the wars abroad, including in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

Now, Waltz's pick really is keeping in what Donald Trump is valuing most for some of these top positions, and that is loyalty. We saw him name Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. CNN reported that Stephen Miller is going to be named deputy chief of staff for policy. There's been a number of other people, Tom Homan, to serve as his border czar, Elise Stefanik as his U.N. ambassador.

All of these people have one thing in common, and that is that they are loyal to him, particularly so they are loyalty stretching back to the time that he had departed the White House in 2021, when many people had tried to distance themselves from Donald Trump following the January 6 attack.

All of these people stood by him, and I'm told that is his version of rewarding them. Now, I also want to note that Waltz, like some of these other picks, has been seen at Mar-a-Lago in recent days. He's also been a strong defender of the former president on television, particularly when it relates to some of these military matters.

Now, another influential voice that we are continuing to see him move sway with is Elon Musk. He has been at Mar-a-Lago virtually every single day since Donald Trump won the election.

And I'm also told that he's been not only calling up Trump allies and lawmakers, but they are calling him as they seek to exert as much influence as they can in this process, really hoping that Musk will help them paint a bigger, a better picture of them to the president- elect.

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: With me from Oxford in England, Richard Johnson, a lecturer in U.S. politics at Queen Mary University of London.

I wanted to ask you first of all, Richard, about Elon Musk. I mean, we're none the wiser about what his actual role is here, but are you getting the feeling that he's an advisor helping shape this new cabinet or will have a position in the cabinet himself?

RICHARD JOHNSON, LECTURER IN U.S. POLITICS, QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: I'd be somewhat surprised if he had a full-time government role. Partly just because he's in charge of running these major business operations. And in order to take on a government position, he would surely be expected, according to ethics rules, to separate himself out from his business interests, which I just can't see him doing. So I think he'll probably stay as some kind of informal advisor.

[03:05:02]

How long he actually has the ear of the president is another question. I mean there were many people who had hear Donald Trump in his first term, but often those relationships did not last particularly long.

And unlike someone like Susie Wiles, who Trump has now installed as his chief of staff, who he's known for many years, Musk is someone who Donald Trump didn't have long standing deep relationships with until he became a major presidential candidate and president. And so I suspect that Musk is going to be a temporary advisor to the President. I would be really surprised if he's there four years from now.

FOSTER: Are they all yes people, the people he's appointing?

JOHSON: Certainly the administration views that one of the big problems of the last time they appointed members was that they were not chosen with any sense what their loyalty was to the president. I mean, people were showing up at Trump Tower with their C.V.'s.

It reminded me a little bit of when, before the age of the Civil Service Reform Act, the Pendleton Act of 1881, presidents used to be able to appoint everyone down to the postmaster or postmistress at Presidents like Abraham Lincoln used to throw in the White House for a few hours a day, people would come with their C.V.'s to make their case to the president, and he would decide whether or not they would be the local customs agent or whatever in their community.

They had an air of that kind of chaos about it. I think this time, partly because Trump has really transformed the Republican Party much more so now in his image than was the case eight years ago, he is able to have this much stronger sense of who's demonstrated loyalty not just in words but in actions over the past few years.

So I do think that of course it's not just loyalty to him, although that's really important. But I think it's also a sense that there's loyalty to his agenda and his mission. And that's become clearer, I think, for himself as well over time. So I think we should be expecting much greater alignment, both in terms of personal loyalty and what we might call programmatic commitment.

FOSTER: And when you look back on previous presidencies, do you look at this one thinking it's shaping up to be an incredibly powerful one if he has a very loyalist cabinet combined with a loyal Senate possibly quite a loyal House as well and you could arguably say he's got a pretty loyal Supreme Court as well seeing as he appointed many of the key members. What, you know, how would you describe the power of this presidency shaping up?

JOHNSON: I mean even compared to the first Trump term, Trump is in a much stronger political position than he was in 2017. You know, he has transformed the composition of the Republican caucuses in the House and the Senate. In 2017 there were plenty of senators, people like Jeff Flake or John

McCain, who were effectively never-Trumpers. The Republican caucus now has basically cleared those people out. And this is also true in the House, that House is much more MAGA now than it was in 2017. And we also have to think, as you mentioned, Max, that the court has shifted really profoundly.

When Donald Trump first became president in 2017, you had people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, a kind of Republican moderate, a centrist on the court. Both of those individuals have now been replaced by full-throated, more conservative members of the court. And so Trump enters into an ecosystem where Congress is very quiet, the court is much more deferential, I think it will be much more deferential to his executive action than it had been eight years ago.

And really, I mean, probably one of the biggest signs of this is when Trump said that he would like the new Senate majority leader, whoever that may be, maybe Rick Scott, to, as soon as the Republican Senate comes into session, to then go into recess. Why? So that Trump can appoint his cabinet without them having to go through confirmation hearings.

Now, it's not that the Republican Senate would block those confirmation hearings. No, it's not that the Republican Senate would block those confirmation hearings, but he does want Democrats on the committees to be able to ask them tough questions. I mean, this really, if they did that, that really is an extraordinary sign of Senate deference to the president, which would be hard to find a historical parallel to.

FOSTER: Yeah, it's a truly historic moment, isn't it? Richard, in Oxford, thank you so much.

[03:10:00]

What about what this means to the rest of the world then? Well, the possible selection of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State would be a clear indication. Trump's willingness to aggravate China, perhaps, the Republican senator was sanctioned by the Chinese government four years ago.

CNN's Marc Stewart, live for us in Beijing with details. Tell us a bit about, I mean, people know the name Marco Rubio, don't they? But what does he stand for?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Well, Max, it has certainly been very critical. Hawkish is often the diplomatic term to describe his view and his approach to China. And the Chinese government is well aware of that. As you mentioned, he has been sanctioned twice for his involvement, his stance on two very tender issues in China. One is human rights, the other is the Hong Kong protests.

Now the government for the most part is trying to play this diplomatically safe. In fact, just about an hour ago at its daily news briefing, its only response to this potential appointment was this is an internal American affair. But make no mistake.

Beijing, Xi Jinping, very well aware of Marco Rubio. He served on the Foreign Relations Committee and has been very keen to express his views about China and its position on the world stage. Let's listen to some remarks he made back in 2023.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): China today is the single most formidable adversary the United States has ever faced. Soviet Union was not an industrial power, a technological power, a commercial power. And we have both foreign policies, geo-economic policies, and military postures that were built for a world that no longer exists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: I think it's notable to point out he calls China an adversary in that remark. So there are some questions about how things will move forward. He has -- he is sanctioned by the government, most likely meaning his travel to mainland China would be restricted. We have reached out to the embassy in Washington. It is not something that they have responded to nor today at this press briefing, but it's something that is going to have to be navigated.

The issues facing the next secretary of state are going to be lengthy. We have trade, we have tariffs, we have the issues surrounding the South China Sea and Taiwan. It is getting a little bit of chatter on social media. One person saying that it's kind of funny that this incoming Secretary of State wouldn't be able to travel. So we're going to have to see how that plays out. Max.

The government from the start, after Election Day, has been really trying to push this diplomatic front of mutual respect, mutual coexistence, a win-win relationship. But the presence of Marco Rubio, if this indeed happens, does tell China that this new administration is going to be very firm and tough toward China.

FOSTER: It's going to be interesting. Marc Stewart, thank you.

Israel's far-right finance minister says Donald Trump's election win brings an important opportunity for Israel. Bezalel Smotrich's comments come as he calls for Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank next year and orders preparations for the annexation of settlements. The Prime Minister's office has yet to comment. It's not clear whether Smotrich's push has any chance of being implemented soon.

Around half a million Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. Smotrich says Israel was on the verge of applying sovereignty during Trump's first term, but says now is the time to do so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEZALEL SMOTRICH, ISRAELI FINANCE MINISTER (through translator): I intend, with God's help, to lead a government decision that says Israel will work with the new administration of President Trump and the international community to apply the Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria for American and international recognition and to end the Israeli-Arab conflict in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The Palestinian Authority condemned his comments and the E.U.'s top diplomat wrote this on X, quote, "I unequivocally condemn Mr. Smotrich's call to apply sovereignty in the West Bank a clear step towards illegal annexation. Such rhetoric undermines international law, violates Palestinians' rights and threatens any prospects for a two-state solution."

CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me from Abu Dhabi with the latest. How much weight does Smotrich's words carry, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Max, I would have said that if the U.S. election result was different then not very much at all. But the fact is we don't know what President-elect Trump will make of this.

[03:15:02]

We're hearing from the foreign minister, Gideon Sarr, that this was discussed during President Trump's first term, the annexation of the settlements in the occupied West Bank. Now, it didn't happen, but what we have seen is that other things happened that Israel had really been pushing for. So we can only look at precedent at this point.

This is what the far right in Israel has wanted for a long time, to claim control of the occupied West Bank. We heard Smotrich there saying it's the only way to remove what he called the threat of a Palestinian state. So the way that the Israeli far-right looks at this is very different to the way the rest of the world looks at it and up until recently, the way that the United States sits, that main ally looks at it.

But what we saw during Trump's first term is that there were some pro- Israel policies and decisions that were made. For example, he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, something that's went against decades of U.S. policy and international policy as well. There are many countries around the world that still believe that these settlements violate international humanitarian law.

There are also a number of U.N. resolutions against these settlements, which Israel to this point has ignored. And of course, you look at the Golan Heights. This is an area that Israel captured from Syria back in the 1967 war and have been occupying. Trump, in his first term, also recognized Israel's sovereignty over that area.

So this is really why the far right in Israel is feeling empowered at this point and feeling like they can put these policies forward, something which will have international condemnation. Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Paula in Abu Dhabi, thank you. A group of aid organizations say the Israeli government has failed to

meet the criteria requested by the U.S. to improve the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. The group released a joint scorecard today coinciding with a 30-day deadline to act on more than a dozen measures set by U.S. officials.

The scorecard was compiled by Enera, CARE International, Medglobal, Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children. They said, quote, "Israel not only failed to meet the U.S. criteria that would indicate support to the humanitarian response but concurrently took actions that dramatically worsen the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza."

Let's go to Gaza now. We're joined by Rachel Cummings, humanitarian director with Save the Children's Gaza response. Was this deadline in any way met, any of the elements of it?

RACHEL CUMMINGS, HUMANITARIAN DIRECTOR, SAVE THE CHILDREN'S GAZA RESPONSE: Good morning. I mean, absolutely not. You can see from the report that the requirements to support civilians in Gaza are not in place. The operating environment is not allowing humanitarian aid, humanitarian actors to access supplies and access populations in absolutely desperate conditions across the whole of Gaza.

So no, the fundamental need for supplies and access and safe passage of humanitarian actors to reach populations, they are not in place, absolutely not. No.

FOSTER: In fact, you're arguing, well, you know, this letter is arguing that the situation is dramatically worsened. So it actually had the opposite effect almost.

CUMMINGS: Yeah, I mean the data that we've seen in terms of the number of trucks, if you take that as a metrics of supplies reaching populations, has dramatically decreased in October with an average of 36 trucks passing into Gaza each day.

Now, we need at least 150, optimal would be 500 trucks a day just to provide that sort of scale of the needs that we're that we're trying to address here so that's just one metrics but in terms of the situation in the north which is unfolding across the whole of October and continues you know it's been designated an active combat zone.

Yet we have over 200,000 people in the north of Gaza, people being in a compact zone to Gaza City, which has received approximately 100,000 people in the last three or four weeks. So the situation is absolutely desperate.

[03:20:00]

FOSTER: Obviously you're not a political group, but have the Israelis explained to you in any way on the ground at your level, why there are some issues here and why it hasn't opened up as much as you'd hoped?

CUMMINGS: No, we have no rationale, we have no explanation as to why the situation as you said is deteriorating. What we do is negotiate as best we can through the U.N. in terms of accessing our supplies. Save The Children, along with other aid organizations, have supplies on the wrong side of Gaza.

So in Egypt, in the West Bank and in Jordan, we try all routes to get our supplies into Gaza. But it is extremely challenging, very complex network to get aid in and it's not working.

FOSTER: Is your concern then going past this deadline that things can only get worse because there was at least international pressure around the deadline to improve things, but now it's passed?

CUMMINGS: You know, every day I think it cannot get worse, and actually every day it gets worse. What we're deeply concerned about in Gaza is of course children and the impact that this war that's been lasting now for over 12 months is having on the mental health and health of children. They're living in the most desperate conditions with inadequate water and sanitation.

There is not enough food, people are starving in Gaza and yet children face the brunt of this conflict. They are living in absolute fear and constant fear of bombardment and forced displacement. And of course, in Gaza now there is nowhere to go and nowhere is safe in Gaza for people to go.

FOSTER: Rachel Cummings with Save the Children in Gaza. I really appreciate your time today. I know how busy you are. Thank you.

Up next, we'll go live to Azerbaijan to get the latest on the COP29 summit. And I'll be speaking with an expert on what Donald Trump's presidency could mean for the global fight against climate change.

Plus, the U.S. State Department warns against travel to Haiti. There's two commercial aircraft that were hit by gunfire at the capital's airport. Details next on "CNN Newsroom."

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FOSTER: The COP 29 climate summit underway in Azerbaijan. Dignitaries began their 12-day conference under a cloud of uncertainty after Donald Trump's re-election. The U.S. President-elect disputes the existence of man-made climate change and he's vowed to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement once again. U.S. climate envoy John Podesta said his country remains committed to its green energy goals, even with Trump set to take charge.

[03:24:56]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PODESTA, U.S. CLIMATE ENVOY: What I want to tell you today is that while the United States federal government under Donald Trump may put climate action on the back burner, the work to contain climate change is going to continue in the United States with commitment and passion and belief.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Climate activists held a silent protest on the sidelines of the summit's opening day. Demonstrators said the U.N. prevented them from chanting or making speeches, and they could only congregate in designated areas.

For more, I'm joined by CNN's chief diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. And you wonder if there will even be a climate envoy for the U.S. in future?

NIC ROBERSTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You do. Trump has said that he will pull out when Biden rejoined after Trump pulled out of the famous Paris COP21 summit.

FOSTER: He said he would.

ROBERTSON: He said he would. And that's a signal. Why is that important? Because other countries will follow what the United States does in many cases. We know that climate issues is a deeply unpopular political issue for many, many governments at the moment. Why? Because people's economies are hurting, and they see investment in green areas as a negative. I think it's very interesting today.

Well, just let's first list leaders that aren't going and President Biden isn't there, for example, Emmanuel Macron of France, Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union, Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, President Putin of Russia, President Xi of China --

FOSTER: So all the big polluters basically.

ROBERTSON: -- the Mexican president who herself was a climate activist, the COP host for next year, the president of Brazil isn't there either, he had a full banged his head, but many leaders will not be there.

Interestingly, British Prime Minister is there, vowing to bring Britain's carbon emissions down by 81 percent by 2035. But the reason that he's there, and I think this is the cell that governments want to make but are finding it difficult to make, and he's there because he said it's in green energies where the new jobs going forward come from.

FOSTER: If America isn't involved in these climate talks and China's only marginally involved, it does make a lot of countries facing a cost of living crisis wonder whether or not it's worth the massive investment they're putting in when it's not going to have ultimately much impact if the two big polluters aren't involved.

ROBERTSON: Well, and it's not going to keep them in office either because you spend money on addressing climate issues and that's not money that's going back into the economy in other ways, short-term fixes for short-term elections.

You know, the other thing that's big on the agenda at this COP is paying the poorer nations who were suffering the effects of climate change. This was something that was outlined in the last summit. But this summit it's about better allocation of that money and pushing those resources out to those countries. But even, you know, the sort of climate change hugging British Prime Minister, if you will, is saying, we're not going to put any more money in that. That's already been allocated. We're going to talk about how it will be allocated.

It's the money around this that's so sensitive. And of course, that's the short-term view. But that's how politicians generally work, the short-term view.

FOSTER: Nic Robertson, thank you.

Bob Ward is the Policy Director of the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. He joins us now from Baku, Azerbaijan. What's the atmosphere like there then?

BOB WARD, POLICY DIRECTOR, GRANTHAM RESEARCH INSTITUTE-LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, obviously the election of Donald Trump has cast a little bit of shadow over it, but I think the delegates here are really focused on a very important agenda, and that's about unlocking the money that's required, the investment that's required to get things done here, and I think most people are focused on that at the moment.

FOSTER: Do you think, you know, Nic's just outlined all the key world leaders who aren't there? It must be quite a disappointment when actually they're the ones that can change things because they're the big polluters.

WARD: Well, it's good to have them here to provide moral support, but the real business gets done by the negotiating teams here and we won't find out if they've made progress until next week. Everybody's very clear about the task ahead of us. There has to be a new agreement on the finance for developing countries and that's the main issue here.

There are some of the issues being discussed, but if that money is unlocked, then that will help drive ambition because next year we have the absolutely critical process of every country coming forward with their more ambitious pledges for action. Because at the moment collectively the world is just not doing enough to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

FOSTER: So what would be success for you at the end of next week then? What specifically do you want to see in the communique that comes out?

[03:30:00]

WARD: Well I would like to see an agreement around the climate finance issue. At the moment it's clear that roughly about a trillion dollars a year need to be mobilized in order to help the developing countries. Half of that money would come from the private sector, a small amount would come from public finance, but we need that agreement for the developing countries.

They will probably agree to a smaller sum which will represent mainly the public money but if we don't have that agreement it will undermine the discussions that are due to carry on next year about ambition. MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Well it would

undermine COP wouldn't it because the accusation is often that nothing substantial comes out of these meetings and apart from the Paris one.

WARD: Well, it's absolutely untrue that nothing comes out of this. And remember, we're talking about a process in which more than 190 countries have to reach consensus. I mean, that doesn't happen on any issue at all in the rest of the world. So we do make progress, but it is slow because you have every country taking part and reaching an agreement.

And so when people say, why isn't more done? I say, it's amazing that anything gets done given that that's the process. And we have been making extremely important progress on these issues but not quickly enough.

FOSTER: But that must be the big frustration for you, this unanimity that's needed to make any change because in the COP's that I've covered before, you do get a situation where everyone is agreed apart from one or two countries and the finger often pointed to countries like Saudi Arabia who manage to veto a wider agreement. So is it time for reform of that, the way that COP is set up and agreements are reached?

WARD: Well, climate change is a global issue. We won't get this done until global emissions get to net zero. That means every country has to participate. That's why this multilateral process is so important.

And you can't start excluding countries, because then you won't get the kind of global action that's required. It is certainly true that some countries come here and play games. Saudi Arabia is notorious for doing that to try and protect their short-term commercial interests around the world, but even they are now understanding that they are exposed to the impacts of climate change.

Climate change is making life much more difficult in Saudi Arabia as well, because it's increasing the amount of extreme heat that they're experiencing and it's causing lots of problems around drought. So there is no country that has spared the impacts of climate change, and every country has a vested interest in making these talks succeed.

FOSTER: Good luck with them. Bob Ward in Baku, Azerbaijan. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

WARD: Thank you.

FOSTER: Now, women are expected to fill some key roles in President- elect Donald Trump's administration. A look at who could end up in his inner circle and what it was like the last go-around, next.

Plus, Russia launches more devastating airstrikes in Ukraine. We'll take a look at Moscow's strategy on the battlefield as it awaits a new U.S. presidency.

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[03:35:00]

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FOSTER: Right now, Moscow is levelling tremendous military pressure on Ukraine. Russian forces are ramping up their ground offensive on the Eastern Front. Thousands of troops, including North Koreans, are fighting to push Ukrainian forces out of Russia's Kursk region.

And Russia has been launching relentless airstrikes on Ukrainian cities for weeks on end. Ukrainian officials say several people were killed on Monday across central and southern Ukraine. One haunting example, a woman and her three children killed in the city of Kryvyi Rih.

Now, Salma joins us now. I mean, we're at the point with this conflict where it's just more of the same every day, but we need to step back every so often and look at the intensity of what's going on.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the intensity of what's going on, and for Ukraine, with very little to no results so far. I mean, those front lines have barely moved if in fact have moved for Russia's favor in the recent months. And now Russia is preparing this massive assault on Kursk.

So this is this part of Russia where Ukrainian forces had this summer entered into Russia, occupied that territory. Now 50,000 troops among them, according to President Zelenskyy, 11,000 North Korean forces poised to push through and push out those Ukrainian forces who are outmanned and outgunned. And what Ukrainian defense officials fear is that the goal for President Putin is to regain that territory before President Trump comes to office. Take a listen to how he laid it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Our forces' strikes on Russian arsenals have reduced the amount of artillery used by the occupier, and this is noticeable at the front. That is why we need decisions from our partners, America, Britain, Germany, on long-range capabilities. This is vital. The further our missiles and drones can hit, the less real combat capability Russia will have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: You hear there President Zelenskyy rather optimistically beating the drum again for long range capabilities. He's saying, please, please let me fire deeper into Russia. It is hard to imagine when you do have a President Trump who is coming soon, who has said, I essentially want to stop this conflict as quickly as possible, freeze the war, if you will, that he would push for longer range missiles for escalating this conflict further.

And again, going back to Kursk and those 50,000 troops waiting on those front lines, what all parties now are preparing for with a President Trump is the possibility of being dragged to a negotiating table. And what would be President Zelenskyy's negotiating position at that point?

FOSTER: And so one of the theories at least, we don't really know what's going to happen in those negotiations, but is that Trump might agree that Russia should be allowed to keep the parts of Ukraine it's controlling. That would explain why President Putin is desperate to push back on Kursk because he wouldn't want Ukraine keeping part of Russia, presumably.

ABDELAZIZ: I think beyond the actual battle lines, President Putin is showing his strength and he is showing President Zelenskyy's weakness. What he is essentially illustrating or wants to illustrate on those front lines is Ukraine can't win. It's not going to have a battlefield victory.

And after pouring billions of dollars into it, you, the West, you have to come up with a different solution. That's President Putin's message in Kursk. It's beyond what's happening on the ground. It is bigger than that. It is pointing out the flaws of President Zelenskyy, the failures of NATO and the lack of success they've seen on the ground more than two years into this war.

FOSTER: So, yes, Salma, thank you.

Now Haiti has suspended all flights to the International Airport in the capital until November 18th after two commercial jetliners were hit with gunfire in Port-au-Prince. JetBlue says it's stopping all service to Haiti after a bullet was found in the exterior of one of its planes upon arrival from Port-au-Prince. That discovery came shortly after a Spirit Airlines flight from Florida was hit by gunfire as it tried to land in the Haitian capital.

Stefano Pozzebon has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: What we know as of now is that on Monday morning a plane owned and operated by Spirit Airlines was hit by gunfire as it was approaching landing at the International Airport in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.

[03:40:00]

The airline said in a statement that the flight, which originated in Fort Lauderdale in Florida, was safely diverted to the Dominican Republic. However, one flight attendant reported minor injuries in the incident. And footage and photos verified by CNN show bullet holes on the body of the plane and inside the main cabin.

The airport in Port-au-Prince has been shut down as a result of this incident that occurred as this deep political, social, and security crisis in the Caribbean nation shows really no sign of resolution. Last month, a U.N. helicopter was also targeted by gunfire as it was flying over Port-au-Prince, and the same occurred to vehicles owned and operated by the U.S. embassy that was driven on the streets of Port-au-Prince, which is ridden by criminal gangs all across the capital. On Monday, the Transitional Presidential Council swore in Alix Didier

Fils-Aime as the new democracy and security to the nation and we will be monitoring closely whatever happens in Haiti in the weeks to come.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Toxic smog filling the skies over Pakistan. Still ahead this hour, we're live in Islamabad with details on the government's attempts to clear the air.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: No respite yet for the Philippines, which is bracing for two possible typhoons just days after being hit by back-to-back tropical storm. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What a couple of weeks for the Philippines. I mean, this is an area that is used to typhoons, but four so far and possibly two more on the way. Yinxing and then Toraji and here's Yinxing, making landfall as a category three hurricane equivalent here across the northern part of the Philippines that has now moved toward Da Nang, kind of falling apart. This really made landfall at the end of last week.

But here's the landfall here right around Da Nang kind of coming on land and really losing an awful lot of power. Here's Toraji as it moved a little bit farther to the south but still made torrential rainfall, especially in the mountains.

There will be places and if you add it all up from the storms that have already made landfall and the ones that are still due to make landfall because there are still two out there, there will be places that will have 2,000 millimeters of rainfall from these storms just over the past couple three weeks.

Here is another storm. Here's Usagi. This was tropical storm number 27 earlier. Now has a name. Guess where it's headed? Right toward the Philippines. And yes, maybe a glancing blow to the northern part of the island of Luzon here. But there's still going to be significant rain in the same places that have picked up so much. That likely makes landfall on Thursday.

[03:45:00]

There are still a few more back out there to the east. And yes, they're going to get very close as well. It's kind of the crossroads here into the Philippines of one storm after another with the wind gusts with the next storm probably somewhere in the ballpark of 140, maybe 150 kilometers per hour.

Here's Man-yi. We're still watching this. This is way off toward the east. But there's Guam. We'll have to watch out for that because there's certainly a landfall possibility there somewhere in the 100 kilometer per hour. But again, it's more of that surge in the wind and obviously the rainfall is still to come. So one, two, three, four, they're all lined up and most of them, at least this year, have been getting too close to the Philippines.

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FOSTER: New satellite images from NASA show just how extensive the toxic smog has become over parts of eastern Pakistan. Officials say this season smog has reached unprecedented levels. It's all thanks to a dangerous combination of coal-fired power plants, traffic, burning waste, and weather. On Monday, air quality levels in Lahore reached more than four times the level considered hazardous by IQAir.

CNN producer Sophia Saifi joins us from Islamabad with the latest. So, I mean, what's it like now?

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Max, it's grim. I'm in the capital city of Islamabad, which is quite green, but even here in the northern part of the country, the AQI levels are close to 301, which is the safe limit.

Now, just a four-hour drive away in Lahore, which is the second largest city of the country, 14 million people are living in a toxic bubble of dirty air. Their numbers over there have been above 1,000 every other day for at least the past couple of weeks.

Multan and other city in the province of Punjab went up to 2,000. People are incredulous, they are exhausted, they are concerned. This is an economic, educational and health emergency.

Hospitals are being overwhelmed. The UNICEF has come out and said that 11 million children under the age of five are at peril because of this dirty air. Millions of children are now at home because schools have been closed. A lot of them don't have access to online schooling, which is what has been recommended. At the same time, offices are running at 50 percent capacity.

There's a lockdown that's being considered. At the same time, critics are saying that the government has just simply not done enough. A lockdown is not enough to deal with this crisis. They're saying that brick kilts, farmers, the toxic emissions that are coming out of different industries need to be tackled.

But at the same time, at a more macro level, there hasn't been enough rain. This is autumn. Autumn is supposed to be beautiful in this part of the country. It's still very hot. And the rains that come at this time of the year have simply not arrived. And this is a global problem. It's a climate change issue and something that Pakistan is being affected by. It only puts out less than 1 percent of global emissions. So it is something that will potentially go away with the annual rains if and when they come.

And till then, people are just going to look up to the sky and continue to feel suffocated in the province of Punjab and beyond. Max?

FOSTER: Okay. Well, thinking of all you guys there, thank you so much for joining us, Sophia.

Dangerous wildfires being fueled by bad weather on the east and west coasts of the U.S. In California, the Mountain Fire is just one of the multiple blazes firefighters are attempting to contain. So far, it's burned an area larger than 10,000 football pitches and is less than 50 percent contained due to the strong winds there, as you can see.

On the East Coast, an historic drought is driving the Jennings Creek fire, burning in New York and New Jersey.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has details on how the fires are affecting local residents.

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GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a New York City park to forests across the Hudson River in New Jersey, unprecedented fires are burning across the Northeast, fueled by strong winds and months without significant rain.

The Jennings Creek wildfire in New Jersey has scorched thousands of acres and is still going.

Across New York and New Jersey, 600 wildfires have burned since October.

MAYOR THOMAS HOWLEY, GREENWOOD LAKE, NEW JERSEY: In my over 50 years of living here, this has been the most significant and probably most potentially dangerous situation I've seen or been involved in.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Dario Vasquez, an 18-year-old Parks and Recreation employee, was killed Sunday while he was responding to a fire.

UNKNOWN: This is a very dangerous profession. This is a very dangerous incident that we have here.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Strong winds across the region have carried the heavy smoke across New Jersey and New York, leading to air quality and red flag warnings for millions of people. The water supply is also under strain.

[03:50:07]

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: October was one of the driest months we've had in recorded history.

PAZMINO (voice-over): A man was charged with arson after he fired an illegal shotgun believed to have sparked a fire in Jackson Township, New Jersey, prompting evacuations in surrounding communities.

UNKNOWN: My daughter and I, we packed up our important papers and all of our prescriptions and got the dog ready and when they said go, we were ready to go.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Authorities are cracking down on cycling at night in the city of central China. Why young people are filling the streets singing the country's national anthem, next.

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FOSTER: Italian authorities plan to start limiting the number of tourists allowed to visit Pompeii each day. The site of the ancient volcanic eruption has been a popular attraction for many years, but after a record-breaking summer season, the cap is being introduced to ensure public safety and to better preserve the site as well.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more.

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BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Starting November 15th, the site of Pompeii in southern Italy will start limiting visitors to just 20,000 a day in an effort to combat mass tourism and make this experience safer in the event of an earthquake, the site organizers say.

The new regulation comes after a record summer of visitors with peaks of over 36,000. Visitors will also have to buy personalized tickets with their names on them in an effort to stop travel groups from buying up tickets to sell at higher prices.

The changes are part of an effort to make important tourist destinations like Pompeii sustainable by focusing on the quality of the experience for the visitor rather than on the quantity of tickets sold. Pompeii was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. and is an ongoing archaeological dig with just two-thirds of the site excavated.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

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FOSTER: In China, huge numbers of university students have been taking night-time bike rides to Kaifeng. It's an ancient city known for its historic sites and soup dumplings. The government had encouraged the trend to promote local tourism but now it says the situation is pretty out of hand.

Senior international correspondent Will Ripley has more.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pedaling under the glow of streetlights, tens of thousands of Chinese students on a 40-mile impromptu adventure from Zhengzhou to the ancient city of Kaifeng, students have been biking here for months, most joining for the thrill, some for the popular and juicy jumbo soup dumplings.

Others just letting off steam. Under the intense pressure of finding a job, China's economy is spiraling. Youth unemployment is skyrocketing.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We wanted to take the challenge of riding a shared bike to Kaifeng City. We're only young once.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Some riders carry Chinese flags.

Others sing the national anthem. State media even released this viral video. Students chanting about their passion. Then came the crackdown. Authorities closed key bike lanes this weekend, citing safety and traffic concerns.

[03:55:04]

Bike-sharing companies issued warnings. Some colleges restricted students from leaving campus. All temporary measures, police say.

Authorities insist the situation became unmanageable. Traffic disruptions from abandoned shared bikes. Massive youth gatherings. All of it happening in China. An authoritarian state led by a party that itself came to power with the help of mass movements, often led by students.

From Tiananmen Square in 1989 to the COVID lockdown protests of 2022, large organized student gatherings rattle the ruling party's nerves, even if participants insist they are not political.

It also happened in Shanghai, the site of huge Halloween celebrations last year. This year, heavy crowd control. Police escorting away plenty of people in Halloween costumes. One of the most conspicuous? President Donald Trump.

RIPLEY: Chinese censors have been working overtime to get this scrubbed off the internet. Every time we mention this topic, our signal inside China goes to bars and tone. And it likely has to do with the sensitivity of this imagery. In the spring of 1989, for example, university students in Beijing rode their bikes to Tiananmen Square to join pro-democracy protests. Of course, we know that ended in a bloody crackdown by the Chinese military.

In late 2022, it was mostly young people who took to the streets in major Chinese cities protesting the COVID era lockdowns. And so to see young people gathering even for something as benign as a craving for dumplings, not happening in today's China.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The wait is finally over. China unveiled its highly anticipated J-35A stealth fighter, a jet during an air show today, more than a decade in the making, the new military asset widely seen as part of Beijing's bid to match the U.S.' aerial power.

Few details known about the aircraft's performance or stealthiness. It really is a mystery. But we do know that it's designed mainly for air combat operation and can also conduct air-to-surface attacks. That's according to a report by China's military-affiliated media, at least.

Thanks for joining us today. I'm Max Foster. I'll be back with another hour of Newsroom alongside Chrissie, after this.

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