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New Push For Palestinian Statehood As Gaza War Ramps Up; Estonia's Allies Denounce Russian Air Incursion; Jimmy Kimmel To Address Controversy On Tuesday Show; Donald Trump Links Tylenol With Autism Despite Evidence It's Safe; Chipmaker Nvidia to Invest $100 Billion in OpenAI; White House Official Says U.S. Algorithm of TikTok to Be Overseen by Oracle; Russia Hosts Its Answer to the Eurovision Song Contest; NASA Inducts 10 New Astronauts as It Pursues Bold Missions. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired September 23, 2025 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of our viewers watching from all around the world and streaming on CNN Max. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.
Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, France recognizes a Palestinian state at the U.N. joining a wave of countries seeking to end the war in Gaza.
And late night's Jimmy Kimmel is going back on the air, inside the conversations that led to his return and why some local stations are still holding out.
Plus, we'll go inside Russia's international song contest, which looks to cast itself as a rival to Eurovision.
ANNOUNCER: Live from London. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.
ABDELAZIZ: The U.S. president will be among the first speakers during the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, which is now just a few hours away. Donald Trump is also set to meet with Ukrainian and European Commission presidents in the coming day, he'll also hold talks with Muslim and Arab leaders who want to see him pressure Israel to agree to a cease fire and stop its renewed attacks on Gaza.
Now, all of this comes as demands for a two-state solution grow louder and louder. The U.N. Secretary General described the situation in Gaza as intolerable and called Palestinian statehood a right, not a reward. The Israeli prime minister is accusing the countries recognizing a Palestinian state of, "Giving a massive prize to terror."
France, Belgium, Malta, Monaco and Luxembourg declared their recognition on Monday, joining the overwhelming majority of U.N. member states. But these moves are largely symbolic without support from the United States, which has veto power and remains Israel's staunchest ally.
The prime minister of Luxembourg, one of the latest countries to call for a two-state solution, says, what's going on in Gaza now violates international humanitarian law.
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LUC FRIEDEN, PRIME MINISTER OF LUXEMBOURG: We have always been friends of Israel, and we remain friends of Israel. We want an immediate release of the hostages, but at the same time, we need to give the Palestinians hope for the future and also make sure that the Israelis can live in peace and the only way forward is to make sure that now these two-states solution gets, yes, I would say new energy a second chance.
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ABDELAZIZ: CNN's Melissa Bell has a closer look at this growing push for Palestinian statehood.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: France has become one of several countries to recognize the state of Palestine. It was a move announced several months ago by the French and the Saudis attempts to bring together a conference that would aim to put back at the heart of Middle Eastern politics and peace efforts, the idea of a two-state solution, as one senior source here in Paris explained that that very idea had become radical.
As a result of not just what's happened in Gaza over the last couple of years, but also what's been happening in the West Bank, the aim of the French to place it back in a central position. This is what the French president had to say.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): The time has come. This is why true to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, two peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This is why I declare that today France recognizes the state of Palestine.
BELL (voice-over): The aim explained the French president, not simply the recognition of Palestine, but the fact that there could be no peace without recognition between one side and the other, and that this then was now a prerequisite for what should follow, which was a peace plan adopted earlier this month by the U.N. which would see things like an international force deployed to Gaza in place of the IDF to try and secure peace.
The first aim, he said, would be to bring peace to that region with a second phase aimed at reconstructing Gaza and figuring out how a post peace Palestinian state might function.
BELL: There has been a lot of speculation about what exactly this might mean and what difference it will make on the ground, given the rejection of the idea both by the United States and by Israel, what allies around France and those who have backed this proposal and followed France's lead's hope is that this will increase the isolation of the United States and Israel and potentially bring more pressure to bear on the possibility that talks can once again start on hopes for peace in the Middle East.
[02:05:19]
Melissa Bell, CNN, in Paris.
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ABDELAZIZ: Steven Erlanger is the New York Times Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for Europe. He is with us now live from Berlin. Good morning.
First of all, Steven, thank you so much for joining us.
Now this wave of recognitions are mostly symbolic, of course, but can they actually empower Palestinians in any way, strengthen their hand at the negotiating table, perhaps, or refocus efforts on a two-state solution. What are the practical gains that can come out of this?
STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT FOR EUROPE, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, the practical gains are basically nothing, to be honest. There are symbolic importance to this. There is new attention to a two-state solution.
But the fact of the matter is the current government of Israel, which is pretty popular because of the war it's waged against Iran and Hamas and Lebanon has set its face against a two-state solution. But it's done that a decade ago. The world knew this.
If you were going to recognize the state of Palestine to try to push a two-state solution, it would have been better done before this war. It would have been better done before so many settlements were set up inside the West Bank, because the problem is to Israelis, at least, this looks like political cowardice, in a way, bending toward domestic anger inside countries like France, Britain, about Israel's occupation and war in Gaza.
Now, that war is horrible. Everyone can recognize that, but this is meant to be leverage against Israel, and it's not going to work.
So, to some degree, my fear is it will be counterproductive, and that Israel will then move to annex more of the West Bank in response to these efforts. That's my concern.
ABDELAZIZ: Yes, and you talk about it being counterproductive, that it is in a weight against Israel now. But could it potentially influence the United States? Because the U.S. is now the sole permanent member of U.N. Security Council not to recognize Palestinian statehood. It is an outlier. It is isolated. Could this push the U.S. diplomatically?
ERLANGER: Maybe under a different administration. We'll have to see what happens. Certainly it won't push it under Trump. I mean, Trump's been very clear. And Germany and Italy also oppose this, by the way. They also want a two-state solution, but they think this declaration is empty and it's too early that you cannot recognize a state that doesn't yet exist, and the state must emerge out of negotiations between the two parties, between Israel and Palestine. It can't be imposed on life by airy declarations at the United Nations. That's the concern.
So yes, under another administration in America, under another Israeli administration, under another Palestinian administration, there hasn't been an election in Palestine since 2006, these countries could have used this leverage push for more reform from the Palestinian Authority just widely disliked inside Palestine.
I mean, there are ways to make this work better that are not simply rhetorical.
ABDELAZIZ: And you've sort of test -- touched on this in your answers, but I want to dig deeper on it. First of all, of course, Israel is threatening to retaliate against this wave of recognitions by annexing parts of the West Bank. Could this further weaken Palestinian statehood, the prospect, rather of Palestinian statehood, could it backfire for Palestinians and for the states that are involved in this wave of recognitions? What other options do they have diplomatically here to push?
ERLANGER: Well, this is my worry. I'm not advocating it. Don't misunderstand me, my worry is Israel, which already is talking of itself as Sparta, at least in Bibi Netanyahu's words, will do exactly what the world wants it not to do. Bibi has said very clearly there will be no Palestinian state.
And in fact, when you look at the polls, no majority in Israel or in the Palestinian world believes in the viability now of a second Palestinian state. So, this is the concern. There's no easy answer.
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I do think countries, if they want to push it, they could exercise more leverage on Israel. They could really boycott Israeli goods. They could put sanctions on Israel. They could do a lot of things to put economic pressure upon Israel. I think they think that's probably not going to work, but there are things they could do.
They could also, as I say, they could have put, you know, more people in the West Bank. They could provide more aid to the Palestinians in a serious way. They could push for reform of the Palestinian Authority. They could do many things. I think that would marginally move the game. The aim of an independent Palestine further ahead.
ABDELAZIZ: So, perhaps too little too late in your words, perhaps not the right diplomatic move, or rather not the most effective one, but it has taken place.
And for Palestinian diplomats, the United Nations, others seeking to harness the energy of this moment, what happens next? What is the next step? ERLANGER: Well, I think you're right. I think this is encouraging for them, and it is encouraging that the world is behind an independent Palestine and that it is isolating Israel on this issue.
I mean, I do think that matters, but I don't know what happens next. After all, last week, 147 countries of the United Nations already had recognized Palestine. And did it produce a Palestine? No. Would it make much more difference now that France and a reluctant Britain and Canada have done so? I fear not.
ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much, Steven, for that insight. Very important breakdown there.
Now, NATO's political decision making body is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss Russian incursions into Estonian airspace. Estonia requested NATO Article 4 consultations after three Russian jets entered its airspace without permission, they also requested a special U.N. Security Council meeting.
Now, Jennifer Hansler has all the details on that.
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JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: The U.N. Security Council on Monday convened an emergency session to discuss Russia's incursion of jets into Estonian airspace last week. This was a significant gathering attended by a number of foreign ministers, including the Estonian foreign minister, who are all here for the U.N. high level week of the General Assembly.
Now, countries condemned Russia's escalation. They said this is an aggressive maneuver coming after the drone incursions that we saw both in Poland and Romania in recent weeks. The newly instated U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz, vowed that the U.S. and its allies would protect, "Every inch of NATO territory." He also said that whether this was intentional or not, it is alarming.
And he called on Russia, which is a permanent member of the Security Council, to do its part to uphold international peace and security. He also called on them to return to the negotiating table and speak with the Ukrainians.
Now, this meeting comes ahead of a meeting of the NATO North Atlantic Council, where they will discuss in detail this incursion. Estonia has invoked Article 4 of the NATO charter to discuss potential security guarantees around this incident. We have already seen NATO step up its defenses on that Eastern flank after the incursion into Poland. So, there will be a lot to be discussed, both in Brussels and here in New York about this Russian escalation.
Jennifer Hansler, CNN, United Nations.
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ABDELAZIZ: Next, Disney reverses its decision to keep late night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air. We'll see what changed since they pulled his show less than a week ago when we return.
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ABDELAZIZ: Jimmy Kimmel is preparing a return to late night television after Disney reversed its decision to pull his show off the air. The suspension was prompted by comments Kimmel made following the death of political activist Charlie Kirk, igniting a debate on free speech. But while "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE" will return to ABC, not everyone will be able to see it.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more on this sudden reversal.
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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: When Jimmy Kimmel returns to his show on Tuesday night, he will address the controversy surrounding him and his show. That is what a source tells me that Kimmel is planning to address the entire situation with the FCC threatening Disney and with his show ultimately being pulled off the air.
Now, what he will say remains to be seen, but a source told me last week that Disney and ABC have never censored Kimmel, that he has always been free to speak his mind about politics and about President Trump, and it wasn't until last Wednesday when the FCC made threats and when station groups pulled Kimmel show that Disney decided, let's wait a beat and let's temporarily take your show off the air because. Because I was told by a source, Kimmel refused to back down with his planned monolog in which he had planned to take aim at the MAGA base and at Fox News.
Now, I was also told from the get go that Disney never planned for this to be a cancelation. Kimmel was never fired. In fact, sources have told me from the beginning of this entire controversy that Disney was always hopeful that they would bring Kimmel show back, and that they were working with him to find a path forward.
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Now, Stephen Colbert, whose show was canceled by his network, CBS, he wasted no time talking about Disney's decision to bring Kimmel back. Take a look.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Well, just a few hours before we taped this broadcast, we got word that our long national late nightmare is over, because Disney announced that "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE" will return to air on ABC tomorrow, Tuesday night. Once more, I am the only martyr in late night.
WAGMEISTER: Now Disney in explaining why they are bringing back Kimmel show, they said in a statement that last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive.
While regardless of what Jimmy says when he returns, he is absolutely going to upset at least some viewers, and that has been proven because Sinclair has said that they will not be airing Jimmy show on Tuesday, and they will continue to evaluate the situation. Back to you.
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ABDELAZIZ: Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris commented on President Trump's role in the Jimmy Kimmel controversy. Speaking with NBC, she repeatedly called her 2024 election opponent, a tyrant, and urged the so called titans of the industry to stand up to him.
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KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I always believed that if push came to shove, those titans of industry would be guardrails for our democracy. One by one by one, they have been silent. They have been -- you know, yes, I use the word feckless.
We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That's what we're dealing with right now.
But at some point, they've got to stand up for the sake of the people who rely on all of these institutions to have integrity and to, at some point be the guard rails against a tyrant who is using the federal government to execute his whim and fancy because of a fragile ego.
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ABDELAZIZ: Medical experts are criticizing the U.S. President's announcement linking the use of acetaminophen while pregnant with autism. Donald Trump made the announcement despite decades of evidence that the common pain killer is, of course, safe.
CNN Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes, has more.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump making a series of announcements on autism, and perhaps the most controversial, linking autism to acetaminophen, pregnant women who take that drug. This has been something that has been somewhat of an ongoing back and forth for years, with results being largely inconclusive.
According to the medical community, who stresses that taking acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, is still safe for pregnant women. In fact, it is the only option for pregnant women feeling pain or fever. This is what President Trump said.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Taking Tylenol is not good. I'll say it. It's not good. For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. HOLMES: Now, again, there are still questions about this, particularly given that medical professionals have warned for quite some time that having a high fever, particularly when you're pregnant in the first trimester, could lead to birth complications or pose grave risk to both the mother and the child.
President Trump would not take questions on that topic. But of course, we have reached out to see where the administration stands on this idea of whether or not it is more dangerous to have a fever like that and as a pregnant woman, or if it is more dangerous to take Tylenol.
Now there was other parts of this announcement. He also said the FDA would be telling doctors or warning physicians of the risk of acetaminophen, that they would be labeling acetaminophen with these risks for pregnant women.
And on top of that, they also said they would be doing more studies, pouring more money into research, and making some drugs available to children with autism, and there's still a lot of questions about this.
One thing to keep in mind here, when we discuss this is that there are a lot of parents out there who are seeking any sort of answers, but this still felt particularly the way this was announced, as though it might lead to more confusion than answers on the topic.
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However, some might think this is a step in the right direction. As, again, they have been seeking for answers on what causes autism.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
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ABDELAZIZ: And still to come, new information from the White House on who may end up controlling TikTok in the U.S. We'll have the latest here.
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ABDELAZIZ: Chipmaker Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in fellow tech titan OpenAI. The deal which is set to be finalized in the coming weeks involves two key transactions. OpenAI will purchase data center chips from NVIDIA in cash with deliveries expected to begin in late 2026, and the chipmaker will look to acquire a sizable chunk of OpenAI's non-controlling shares. The scale of the deal and the high- profile nature of both companies could trigger antitrust scrutiny from the U.S. government.
And now to TikTok, the Trump administration has been looking for investors to take over TikTok in the U.S. citing national security concerns. CNN's Clare Duffy has details on what that new ownership might look like. CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: What happens to the TikTok algorithm had been one of the major outstanding questions surrounding this deal because the TikTok algorithm is one of the major reasons the app is so popular. But it had also been at the root of some of these concerns that the app poses a national security risk, with U.S. officials worrying that the Chinese government could force parent company by dance to manipulate the algorithm and influence Americans.
So if this deal goes through, ByteDance will provide a copy of the algorithm to this new majority American-owned joint venture in the United States. That group will review the algorithm. They'll retrain it on American user data, and then the tech company, Oracle, will continually monitor how the algorithm is serving up content to American users.
Now, the White House says the list of investors who are participating in this TikTok deal has not yet been finalized, but we do expect that Oracle will be involved along with private equity firm Silver Lake and President Trump said over the weekend that Tech CEO, Michael Dell, and both Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch may also be involved. Now, a source tells CNN that it's actually Fox Corp. rather than the Murdochs individually who are likely to invest in the company.
But stepping back a bit, I do think that of course, U.S. users will be happy to hear that their access to the app has been preserved. But I think it's going to be interesting to watch the reaction to this idea that this new ownership group, which is going to include at least some Trump allies, is going to be controlling what they see on the app. That is something I'll be watching closely as this deal moves forward. Back to you.
ABDELAZIZ: If you can't beat them, copy them and brand it as your own concept. Up next, an on-the-ground report from Russia's version of the Eurovision Song Contest. Stay with us.
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ABDELAZIZ: After being banned from Eurovision in 2022, Russia has now launched a rebooted Soviet-era international song contest, Intervision. CNN's Fred Pleitgen went along to see some of the 23 acts drawn in from a variety of countries.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Forget the Eurovision Song Contest, this is Russia's answer, Intervision Song Contest, held here in Moscow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I can tell you for sure that there is nothing quite like the crowd in Russia.
PLEITGEN: Now of course, Russia was kicked out of the Eurovision in 2022 because of its full-on invasion of Ukraine, so they decided to do their own song contest for countries around the world and this is it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For me, this show is better because many countries from around the world participate in it. And it is important that this event can spread the culture of different countries around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This year, we have 23 countries. I hope that next year, there will be 50, twice as many.
PLEITGEN: Now, there are more than 20 participants from 20 countries, and there was supposed to be an American contestant as well. But what we're hearing is that that American contestant apparently has pulled out of the contest. Nevertheless, the countries that are represented here, many of them are traditional allies of Russia, like for instance, China, India. You also have Venezuela and Cuba, but also former Soviet Republics, like for instance, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan also as well.
Now, this event is a little bit different than the Eurovision Song Contest that it seeks to rival in that it's obviously not European countries, it's international countries that are here. But the Russians are also saying that one of the things that they want to promote here is traditional values. So, what we'll not see here is any rainbow flags or other LGBTQ symbols because showing those is actually banned here in Russia. Instead, people that we've been speaking to say that they want to see some of those more traditional values of the countries that are represented.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): And besides, the promotion of truly traditional values. Sorry, but heterosexuality is still important to us.
PLEITGEN: The Russians say that they hope that this event could be very successful, that it could become a yearly event. They also claim that with the countries that are involved, that more than 4 billion people are able to watch this event.
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ABDELAZIZ: NASA just took one giant leap towards its bold plans for the moon and Mars. The U.S. Space Agency announced its 2025 Astronaut Candidate Class on Monday. NASA's 10 new astronauts were chosen from a pool of more than 8,000 applicants from across the country. The group dubbed America's best and brightest includes six women and four men who will join the agency's astronaut corps. NASA is gearing up its race to return to the moon before attempting an unprecedented crewed mission to Mars.
Thank you for joining us. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. "World Sport" is up next. Then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom."
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