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Two People Killed in Attack on British Synagogue; Trump to Lay Off Thousands of Federal Employees During Government Shutdown; NATO Surveillance Flights Keep Watch Over Eastern Europe; Israel Intercepts Gaza Aid Flotilla, Detains Hundreds; Chef's Recipes Help People in Gaza Cook with Few Ingredients; Taylor Swift Drops New, Eagerly Anticipated Studio Album. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired October 03, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Polo Sandoval, coming to you live from New York. Wherever you may be watching from, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.
Ahead in the program, Britain's prime minister says that the U.K. must defeat the rising hatred after an attack on a synagogue in Manchester leaves two people dead.
And it's day three of the U.S. government shutdown, and the White House promising to permanently get rid of thousands of federal employees.
And a much lighter note: Taylor Swift's new album, "Life of a Showgirl." It dropped 30 seconds ago. We'll talk to a Harvard professor who taught the class on Swift to find out what all this hype has been about.
ANNOUNCER: Live from New York, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Polo Sandoval.
SANDOVAL: We want to begin with police in Manchester, England, and what they describe as a terrorist incident. Two people killed and several others injured in a stabbing and car ramming at a Jewish synagogue.
It happened on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, as people gathered for a morning prayer service. The suspected attacker was a British citizen of Syrian descent and was killed by police.
Video obtained by CNN shows two people being arrested nearby, and police say three people now in custody.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the very latest on this. But first, a warning that his report does contain some graphic content.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody else get back. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): As
the injured lay in the street, armed police shout at the alleged attacker, whom they identify as Jihad al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent whom they say was wearing what appeared to be an explosive device.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has a bomb. Go away.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Then shoot as he refuses to comply. The deadly events unfolding early Thursday morning outside a synagogue in the Northern city, Manchester, on the holiest day of the year for the Jewish community, Yom Kippur.
Gary Wernick was inside the synagogue.
GARY WERNICK, SURVIVOR OF SYNAGOGUE ATTACK: I saw a somebody, somebody I knew sitting in a chair or being put in a chair covered with blood. And I realized that was not a place for me to be. And I went back. At that point, I knew it was a serious incident.
ROBERTSON: And what do you think can happen at that moment?
WERNICK: You get killed.
ROBERTSON: You thought that could happen to you?
WERNICK: Yes, yes.
ROBERTSON: You might die?
WERNICK: Yes.
LAURENCE TAYLOR, HEAD, UNITED KINGDOM COUNTER TERRORISM POLICE: Two people have died. The attacker has been shot dead by the police. Based on what we know, counter terrorism policing has declared this as a terrorist incident.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): In this exclusive CNN video shot in a residential street barely a quarter mile from the synagogue, two 30- year-old men were arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism and taken away.
Police say a 60-year-old woman arrested on the same charges, too.
ROBERTSON: Do you feel safe living in the U.K. now?
WERNICK: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), I think, has always been unsafe.
ROBERTSON: It's a safe place to bring your girls up?
WERNICK: No.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Police also praising the public for their quick actions, preventing even more bloodshed.
CHIEF CONSTABLE SIR STEPHEN WATSON, GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE: There were a large number of worshipers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack, but thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshipers inside, as well as the fast response of the police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access.
ROBERTSON: The attack so serious the British prime minister cut short a trip to Denmark, returning in a hurry to the U.K. to chair a meeting of his top security officials.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I'm already able to say that additional police assets are being deployed to synagogues across the country, and we will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For some, it will feel too little, too late. Across the U.K., antisemitic attacks have been on the rise. So, too, the fear that something like this could happen.
VICKY, MANCHESTER RESIDENT: We do have orthodox people on this road. They're probably not safe now, and they have lots of children. Somebody to note, today is Yom Kippur. I just feel this has been definitely planned.
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ROBERTSON: And after his security cabinet meeting, the British prime minister saying that this was an attack on Jews because they are Jews.
Around here, people feel that this is one of the worst antisemitic attacks in the U.K. It is a collective trauma that will be felt way beyond the victims' family and friends.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And we're now entering day three of the U.S. government shutdown, which is likely to stretch into next week. Congress, they will be back in session on Friday. And Democrats, they are once again expected to vote against the Republican short-term funding bill.
Now, as of now, no votes are scheduled to happen over the weekend. The Senate Republican leader, he says that, though it may be unlikely, he's not ruled out a possible meeting with his Democratic counterpart.
The House Democratic minority leader blasted Republicans for refusing to negotiate over healthcare subsidies. That is the main sticking point in the shutdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Unfortunately, Republicans have shown zero interest in even having a conversation. After the White House meeting on Monday, we've seen behavior by the president that is unserious and unhinged. And Leader Schumer and myself haven't gotten a single phone call as it relates to a follow-up conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: So, what about the president? Well, President Trump, he's been meeting with the White House budget chief to decide which federal agencies will face these possible cuts.
Russell Vought said earlier this week that mass layoffs would happen in a day or two. And that basically means the ax could fall in the hours ahead.
CNN's Rene Marsh picks up our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Before this shutdown officially went into effect, Vought had already gotten the wheels turning in this direction.
In a memo, he told --
MARSH (voice-over): -- agency heads to consider mass layoffs for employees working on programs and projects whose funding has lapsed, there's no other source of funding, and it's not aligned with the president's agenda. Those were the three criteria.
Right now --
MARSH: -- it is not clear which agencies will see these mass layoffs, but the White House told reporters that the number of employees affected would be in the thousands.
But what is also happening simultaneously are cuts to programs the Trump administration doesn't like.
MARSH (voice-over): Vought announced on social media that nearly $8 billion in funding for what he calls the "Green New Scam," which was funding for clean energy projects in Democratic-led states, had been canceled.
It's worth pointing out what is different from what we have seen in shutdowns in the past is that the president is out, front and center, not necessarily negotiating an end to the shutdown but instead saying that he'd use it as a, quote, "unprecedented opportunity" to essentially make things painful for Democrats and hollow out the federal workforce and eliminate programs that he doesn't like.
AFGE, which is the largest union representing federal workers, they filed a lawsuit. They say that these mass firings during the shutdown that the Trump administration wants to carry out is illegal. They argue that it is an abuse of power.
And they also point out that, in order to carry out these mass firings, that they essentially would require people to work. Again, they are calling this all an illegal abuse of power.
In their lawsuit, they say, quote, "This is a cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in congressional deliberations, and it should be declared unlawful."
MARSH: Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: An important update to share with you now. The Munich Airport is now reopened.
It closed for hours on Thursday night after drones were spotted in the area. The closure affecting thousands of passengers and many flights.
Unexplained drone sightings temporarily shut down airports in Denmark last week, and there have been a series of suspected Russian airspace incursions in places like Poland, Estonia, Romania.
NATO is also responding to those incidents by beefing up its military presence along Eastern Europe. Operation Eastern Sentry includes surveillance flights looking out for Russian drones, as well as warplanes, and that specifically near the alliance's borders.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen flew one of these surveillance -- or flew on one of these surveillance planes that keeps an eye on possible Russian intrusions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are ready for --
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A quick takeoff from an air base in Western Germany. We're on a NATO E-3 Sentry surveillance plane on a mission: deterring Russian incursions into NATO airspace.
PLEITGEN: The reason why these flights are so important is that this plane has a massive radar on top, and it can see really far in all directions, about 650 kilometers for higher flying objects, a little less for lower flying objects.
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But that means that it can see planes and other aircraft coming towards NATO airspace long before they get there.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): While Moscow is praising what they say are improved relations between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, it's also been testing NATO's readiness.
NATO jets recently scrambling to shoot down several Russian combat drones that crossed into member state Poland's airspace.
And in late September, NATO says Russian MiG-31 fighters flew over Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes, while alliance interceptors were rushed to escort them back out, even though Russia denies its planes ever crossed into NATO territory.
This is part of the U.S. and its allies' answer. More surveillance flights, the operation named Eastern Sentry.
Captain Jacob Anderson says if Russian jets come close, they'll see them. CAPT. JACOB ANDERSON, U.S. AIR FORCE: At that point we -- we've
probably been watching them for a while. So, we're pushing them over the military tactical data links. So, it's not just us that are aware of it. It's the whole theater is aware that this track is approaching the airspace.
PLEITGEN: If we go back and look at the map, we can see that we're cruising around Eastern Europe right now. This is Kaliningrad, that part of Russia. You have Belarus down here.
So, the plane is situated here, but can still look very far into territory, even beyond the borders of NATO.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And the E-3 needs to stay in this area for hours, only possible thanks to U.S. Air Force tankers providing gas to extend the mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything you need to see is in front.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Air-to-air refueling a plane the size of a commercial jetliner is extremely challenging, the pilots tell me.
MAJ. JASON SANCHEZ, U.S. AIR FORCE: Essentially, the power management, the lateral management, ensuring that you feel nice and comfortable in your close, your to and from a certain position.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Crew members come from various NATO member states, all of them with the same stake in the mission's success, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Wahnon tells me.
LT. COL. STEPHEN WAHNON, U.S. AIR FORCE: It's not one nation. It's -- it's all of NATO that's represented on this -- on this aircraft right now.
So, when we are patrolling these -- these borders, they're our borders, right? So, it means a lot for us to be here to defend our borders.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): And NATO says surveillance, seeing possible threats before they get close, is key to keeping those borders safe.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Geilenkirchen, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: Russian President Vladimir Putin says that his country will respond quickly if it believes that Europe is provoking it. On Thursday, he seemed to dismiss a recent statement by President Trump, who called Russia a, quote, "paper tiger."
Mr. Putin said if Russia was that weak, NATO should find a way to deal with it. But he also issued a warning to the U.S. about a powerful missile that it's considering supplying to Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Can Tomahawks harm us? They can. We'll be shooting them down and improving our air defense systems.
Will this damage our relations, which are now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel? Of course it will. But how could it be otherwise?
Using Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel is impossible. This would mark a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And the next hour, we'll talk more about what those weapons could potentially do for Ukrainian forces.
But still ahead here on NEWSROOM, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, one of the hundreds of activists detained while trying to deliver aid to Gaza. Why Israel sees the flotilla of ships as a provocation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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SANDOVAL: The White House says the U.S. president, Donald Trump, will determine exactly how much time to give Hamas to accept a plan to end the war in Gaza.
The president so far has said that they had 3 to 4 days to respond, which would be Friday or Saturday.
Israel supporting the U.S. plan, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hamas has been reviewing this 20-point proposal, which calls on the group to disarm. It's a move that the group has rejected in the past.
The White House would not explicitly say whether Trump would actually enforce this deadline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president made it very clear he wants to hear back from them very soon. I will leave it to the president or the secretary of state to speak on that.
But we expect and we hope that Hamas will accept the plan that was proposed by Special Envoy Witkoff. It's a good plan. And as you know, it's been applauded by leaders all over the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDOVAL: And hundreds of activists are detained and awaiting deportation from Israel after the country's military intercepted dozens of boats trying to break its blockade and deliver aid to Gaza. The U.S. and Israel condemning the flotilla as a provocation. But in Europe and other parts of the world, there has been widespread criticism and protests in solidarity with the flotilla.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Water sprays the crew of a Gaza-bound aid ship. The Global Sumud Flotilla, says one of its vessels was, quote, "deliberately rammed" and others targeted by water cannons by the Israeli military.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put your life jacket on.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): One by one, dozens of vessels were intercepted in international waters and boarded by Israeli forces. Live streams were cut, activists detained.
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Numerous flotillas have tried to break Israel's 18-year blockade on Gaza in the past. All were intercepted by Israel or came under some form of attack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free Palestine!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free Palestine!
HANCOCKS (voice-over): This is the largest flotilla to date.
Organizers call the interception, quote, "an illegal attack," saying they were carrying food, medicine and baby formula.
Israel says the activists were, quote, "not interested in aid but in provocation."
As the interceptions began Wednesday night, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in Italy, Turkey, and several other countries.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a nonviolent flotilla. We have no weapons. We carry medicine, food and serum to save lives.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Israel released footage of the most famous passenger, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, saying she is, quote, "safe and healthy."
GRETA THUNBERG, ACTIVIST: If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken against my will by Israeli forces. Our humanitarian mission was nonviolent and abiding by international law.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The Israeli Foreign Ministry says activists are being transported to Israel, where their deportation to Europe will be processed.
In 2010, Israel's military killed nine Turkish nationals when it boarded the Mavi Marmara flotilla, trying to break the blockade. It sparked international outrage.
More than 500 participants from dozens of different countries did not make it through the Israeli blockade, nor were they expected to. What they did was increase international scrutiny on the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, at a time that Israel finds itself increasingly isolated over its actions there.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: We're going to shift gears after the break, including Taylor Swift's newest album, which is out. The fans are ready for it. That's an understatement. We're going to have the details on Swift's 12th studio album and what it could mean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [00:26:49]
SANDOVAL: Well, in the middle of a famine, people in Gaza are struggling to find food. And when they do, they want to make the most of it. And that's where Chef Yasmin Nasir comes in.
She makes videos for Instagram and TikTok, helping people in Gaza adapt recipes to create something special, even when their resources are painfully limited.
Our CNN's Becky Anderson spoke with the chef.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YASMIN NASIR, CHEF: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: If you have one coal, boil it. Kebabs!
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chef Yasmin Nasir is a viral phenomenon, teaching people inside Gaza how to make creative recipes with the scarce ingredients available.
NASIR: I think more or less like an engineer rather than a chef.
I speak to the people in Gaza directly, because I want the insights. I want to respond directly to their reality and not just offer generic ideas.
I either put social calls on different social platforms. Can you please update me today? What available ingredients do you have?
Once I did that social call, and most of the answer came that they have dates available, and they want something like a dessert. And they want some -- some sort of a cake, but they don't have eggs, and they don't have any leaveners.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Soaking dates in water, adding a bit of flour, and steaming it, creating sweetness out of almost nothing. A small treat that's enough to make 3-year-old Leen's day. LEEN, 3-YEAR-OLD: I am Leen. I am 3. I'm in Gaza.
Warm water. Mash the dates. Mmm.
NASIR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Seitan.
It's very popular in the vegan diet. It's seitan chicken made from flour and water. And you add whatever spices that you want to mask The flavor of chicken itself.
And honestly, I don't know what type of flours they have in hand. So, what I do is I -- I perform a test kitchen that takes several days. And I get, like, the cheapest type of flour in cost.
And why I do this is because I find it extremely sensitive to make them waste the only resources they have.
If we see a couple of videos of people that are lucky enough to have a cup or two of flour and a bit of baking soda and a bit of rice, it doesn't mean that there's no famine.
Even in famine, they gather around the smallest meals, Becky, turning survival into an act of resilience.
Let's be very honest. They're sick of alternatives. They don't want alternatives or substitutes to chicken or meat. They want chicken, and they want meat. And they want eggs.
But this should not be happening in the 21st Century. Famine is not natural. Its manmade, and it's being used as a weapon of war.
What I want the world to remember is that Gaza's families are not statistics. They're not numbers. They're mothers. They're fathers and their children who deserve dignity.
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Gazans just want to survive. They want to live. And it's our collective responsibility to make that possible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
GRAPHIC: Thank you, Chef Yasmin. It turned out delicious. All of Gaza loves you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: That's a chef trying to overcome scarcity. Our thanks to Becky Anderson, and we'll be right back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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SANDOVAL: Well, if you thought that Taylor Swift was no longer on top of the cultural mainstream, think again. Her eagerly awaited 12th studio album was released just a few minutes ago.
"The Life of a Showgirl" features 12 songs Swift said that she wrote while on her Eras Tour last year. It's about her experiences during the tour and also life with her fiance Travis Kelce.
Fans showing that they are more than ready for the new album. Thousands of Swifties flocking to a Spotify pop-up experience here in New York City over the last few days.
And of course, there's no shortage -- shortage of excitement.
Joining me now from Minneapolis, Harvard professor Stephanie Burt, also the author of "Taylor's Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift."
Stephanie, welcome to the program. Thank you so much for making time for us on what Swifties would argue should probably be a national holiday. Thank you so much.
I just read in the "Rolling Stone" piece that was timed with the release, that they -- they write that Taylor Swift conquers her biggest stage ever. I didn't think that was possible after "Eras."
So, in your view, why was this -- why is this so highly anticipated?
STEPHANIE BURT, HARVARD PROFESSOR/AUTHOR: It's highly anticipated, because she's great.
She has a -- you know, a very large skill set. And if she didn't look good and have endless energy and a good marketing sense, she wouldn't be where she is.
But she's where she is, because people want to hear the songs, and they've wanted to hear the songs since before they knew who she was. That's how she got there.
And they have -- we have, we Swifties, have kept wanting to hear the songs over and over through what is now 12 albums, and that -- that comes from the writing.
She's that good. And she's brought us with her and reinvented the way that she writes. And it helps, I think, that she's changed up her collaborators and her styles. She hasn't made the same album 12 times. She hasn't even made it twice, not even with "Evermore."
And the biggest stage for her, really, the biggest "Wow, she's somewhere new" is that she seems, as an adult, to have finally find -- finally find. Finally found the right guy who treats her right.
And as we all know, she's engaged. And a lot of the album seems to be about that.
Of course, I, like the rest of the world, have only been listening for, you know, 10 or 20 minutes. And it's got more variety in it than I was expecting, both sonically and lyrically.
But -- but she's on.
SANDOVAL: Stephanie, in a few seconds, I wonder if you could elaborate on the Harvard course that you taught, "Taylor Swift and Her World," a course that you hope to teach again in the future. I mean, how much altitude and interest did you have
BURT: I don't know about altitude, but you know, I've -- I think -- I've thought about songwriting for a while. And Taylor's not the first songwriter I've been obsessed with, but she's the first one with a massive, massive following, who I've been obsessed with and thought maybe I can, you know, fill a seminar room.
But when I offered the course, I really thought it was going to have 12 students, 20 students; committed Swifties who would just sit around a big wooden table and talk about the songs and read works of art, 18th Century poems, a novel by Willa Cather, things like that, that were connected to the songs.
I just thought it would be a seminar. And we ended up with 200 people. I didn't want to turn them away, so we hired a bunch of teaching assistants, got a lecture hall and a grand piano, and it happened.
It was a lot of fun, but it was not something I expected at all. Nor did I expect to write a book until it happened. And here we are. It's fun.
SANDOVAL: You wrote a book and also a piece for "Vanity Fair." And in it you write, "She's excelled as a songwriter and as a performer by staying both aspirational and relatable. Swifties and casual fans see parts of ourselves in her."
And then you write, "But we also see someone we wish we could be."
BURT: Yes.
SANDOVAL: Expand on that in a final thought. I have a few more seconds with you.
BURT: So, a lot of us either listen to pop music because we hear our own feelings reflected back to us, or because we think it would be awesome to have those experiences.
Taylor is really good at putting both of those into one song. The girl in "15" has 15-year-old problems, but she also has the kind of problems -- all the guys want her -- that many of us wish that we could have.
The woman in "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" really has to work through all this heartbreak. And it's rough. But she also gets to work through all this heartbreak, and she can do it.
Taylor, as a writer, has both of those sides really down and down in a way that we remember and sing along with.
[00:40:00] SANDOVAL: Stephanie, I will not take any more of your time that can be best used listening to the new album right now. Thank you so much for your analysis. And of course, the serious work that continues also on university campuses, as well. There is an intersection there, I think. And -- and I'm glad that -- that you found it. Our thanks to you.
BURT: Thank you. So am I. Thanks for having me.
SANDOVAL: And I want to thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Polo Sandoval. I'll be right back with you with much more news at the top of the hour. For now, though, we leave you with WORLD SPORT.
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(WORLD SPORT)
