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U.K. Charity: Nearly 2K Health Care Workers Killed In Gaza; U.N.: Nearly All Of Gaza's Residents Have Been Displaced; Protests in Portland Confined to Single City Block; AG Pam Bondi Dodges Questions, Attacks Democrats; Study: Plastics Pose "Grave, Growing" Danger to Humans; Combatting the Latest Deepfake Scams. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 08, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:38]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom, two years into the Israel Hamas war, hopes are rising for a possible cease fire deal and the release of hostages. Key negotiators will arrive in Egypt soon for a critical third day of talks. The U.S. and Canada signal trade talks are progressing, but still there is no deal.
And CNN reporters in three different countries wore chemical tracking wristbands. The results are alarming. We'll break it down for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Lynda Kinkade.
KINKADE: After two years of devastating conflict, a glimmer of hope in Egypt, a source telling CNN that Israel and Hamas have made progress during the first two days of cease fire talks. Key negotiators from Israel, the U.S. and Qatar will arrive in the coming hours, including U.S. special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son in law.
Ron Dermer, a close ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is also expected to join as talks enter the third day. The renewed talks come as Israeli marked -- as the Israelis marked two years since the October 7 attacks. Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged to secure the eternity of Israel, calling the conflict a war for our very existence and our future. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I'm here in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv where thousands of Israelis have come out to watch a very emotional commemoration ceremony marking two years since that October 7th massacre. We have seen Israelis here listening as stories have been told about that day, tales of tragedy as well as stories about the remaining 48 hostages still held in Gaza. But mixed with that sorrow and that somber mood has also been some optimism, some hope, even if it is cautious optimism because of those negotiations that are currently unfolding in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh. And indeed, I'm learning right now, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, that there has been, quote, progress in those negotiations in their first two days. That source also telling me that as a result of that progress, high level delegations will be traveling to Sharm El-Sheikh, arriving there on Wednesday in order to begin to work on the, quote, "remaining details and to establish a mechanism to implement an eventual deal." We understand that among those high level officials traveling to Egypt include the Qatari prime minister as well as President Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff. That trio is indeed set to meet on Wednesday, I'm told, to begin to try and see if indeed they can close this deal.
We also heard from Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas' chief negotiator, who said that Hamas is looking for, quote, "procedures and guarantees" from sponsoring countries, including from the United States and President Trump, specifically that the war will not resume if indeed they agree to this cease fire agreement, which again is based on President Trump's 20 point plan to end the war and bring all of the hostages home.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
KINKADE: Well, the effects of the week long U.S. government shutdown are starting to show with Republican and Democratic lawmakers still no closer to a deal. Major airports across the country are experiencing delays due to staffing issues and shortages of air traffic controllers. Officials say they're seeing more people call out and have had to close some control towers due to the shortages. Here's what one pilot flying into Hollywood Burbank Airport in California had to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just getting a heads up, you said everything's closed for like our clearances?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clearance is closed. Grounds closed. Locals closed. The tower is closed due to staffing. Please contact SoCal on the 800 number and the green book for your clearing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, another hot button issue is whether furloughed federal employees will be paid for time they didn't work during the shutdown. Axios reports a White House draft memo suggesting that there have been conversations about employees not getting back pay. CNN has not reviewed that memo and it's not clear how seriously that idea was being considered. President Trump says most of those employees will be taken care of.
[01:05:13]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the most part, we're going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of, and we'll take care of them in a different way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: This week marks the last partial paycheck for some government employees until the shutdown ends. The Congressional Budget Office expects roughly 750,000 federal workers to be furloughed during the shutdown.
After months of back and forth, the U.S. and Canada appear to be making some progress towards a trade deal. President Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House Tuesday. One Canadian minister said the meeting was positive, substantive and more detailed than previous talks, adding that both leaders had directed their negotiators to quickly land deals, particularly regarding steel, aluminum and energy. CNN's Paula Newton reports.
PAULA NEWTON CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Mark Carney really set expectations low going into these meetings. He did not have any illusions that he was going to come out of the Oval Office with a trade deal, but he did come up with some frank discussion. In fact, the lunch and the cabinet level meetings went on longer than expected. I want you to listen to Prime Minister Carney right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: There areas where we compete, and it's in those areas where we have to come to an agreement that work. But there are more areas where we are stronger together. And that's what we're focused on. And we're going to get the right deal. Right deal for America. Right deal, obviously, from my perspective, for Canada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: That is an admission that the new trade deal between the United States and Canada will not be like the old one in terms of the conditions that President Trump will set on these. Having said that, the prime minister definitely has the president's attention. They have a good relationship. And I want you to listen now to President Trump talking about a potential trade deal. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think they're going to be very happy. We have a lot of things that we're working on that people don't talk about. They talk about, you know, competitiveness. He's a very competitive person. And they talk about things that we don't necessarily agree on, but I think they're going to walk away very happy, I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: So happy is clearly in the eye of the beholder. I mean, look, no one in Canada is under any illusion, conclusions that the deal that they have right now with Mexico, the United States and Canada, that they can resuscitate that. But in terms of getting those sectoral tariffs lifted, steel, aluminum, all kinds of energy, it is important that even in the next few weeks they might come up with some kind of a deal on that. That's according to cabinet officials. And perhaps it will lead to more productive talks on a wider deal, not as favorable to Canada as others have been, but at least a more comprehensive deal in the months to come.
Paula Newton, CNN, Washington.
KINKADE: Well, Canada is the only G7 country that is yet to secure a trade deal with the U.S. to avoid steep tariffs under President Trump. Earlier, I asked CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar what's preventing an agreement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: You know, there shouldn't be anything preventing that. There is any country that the U.S. should be getting closer to, its Canada, for all sorts of reasons. Rich source of natural resources, important security partner in the Arctic which is becoming a real geopolitical hot zone. The U.S. And China and Russia are all fighting over territory, rare earth minerals, more shipping being done to the region. Very important to have Canada on board in that area.
I suspect that this may come down to personality types. I predict a deal will be made eventually. It's just impossible to think that the U.S. and Canada would be in a long term trade war. Certainly it would be pretty devastating for the Canadians who do need the U.S. in terms of trade more than the U.S. needs Canada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Political chaos in Paris. The French prime minister will soon try once again to form a government. We'll look at what might happen if he fails. And the U.S. attorney general faces questions on the Epstein files, National Guard deployments and political investigations. Why Democrats say all they got were deflections and attacks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:13:51]
KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kincaid. I want to go back now to our top story in the war in Gaza. As talks to reach a ceasefire continue, so too does Israel's bombardment of the enclave. More than 66,000 Palestinians, including more than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war began according to the U.N. agency for Palestinians. There's also been 455 malnutrition related deaths with children accounting for more than one third of those.
And According to a U.K. based medical charity, nearly 2,000 health care workers have been killed in the past two years. That's more than two health care workers per day.
We want to welcome Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa who is the emergency coordinator in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders. He joins us live from Khan Younis. We appreciate your time today. Thanks for joining us.
AITOR ZABALGOGEAZKOA: Thank you. Good morning.
KINKADE: So the war has caused mass displacement, infrastructure collapse, tens of thousands of deaths. Two years into this war, how would you describe the current humanitarian situation?
[01:15:00]
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: Well, still being more and more catastrophic because after the recent operations in Gaza City, another 400 to 500,000 people moved to the south. A lot of them, they couldn't -- they are not now, you know, in good shelters, they don't have water and they are overcrowding the health facilities. And the food is still being a problem even if there is a new commercial lines and humanitarian either transport open and allowed into.
KINKADE: And even before the latest attacks on Gaza City, Gaza's health care system was described as beyond collapse. How has your ability to deliver care evolved over the past two years and what are the biggest challenges right now?
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: Well, it has been systematically affected. Now we cannot reach the facilities that were helping and were operating in Gaza City and the ones that they are in the south are really overcrowded. We mess -- we miss everything from fuel to medicines. And also most of the needs are beyond our capacities and beyond the capacities of humanitarian actors. We are talking that hospitals like Nasser Hospital has been attacked repeatedly. And it's a hospital that has been hosting over 1000 inpatients when it is designed for 390 beds.
KINKADE: So how many staff members from MSF do you have currently working in Gaza? What kind of support are they getting? And have you seen any improvements or is it being completely deteriorating now?
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: No, still deteriorating. I meantime there is -- there is military activity and war. It continues deteriorating. We are around 1080 colleagues, only 30 of us, or 25 of us, we are foreigners, the rest are Palestinian colleagues and they are struggling in a daily basis to make anything from shopping for food, to get water. And then of course it comes also added to the difficulties in the -- in the, how is it, in the -- in the daily work where they face lack of material and, you know, frequent mass casualty incidents, et cetera, et cetera.
And added to that, we got -- we got the horrible incident, terrible incident a few days ago where we lost another two colleagues in an airstrike when they were perfectly identified, waiting for a commuted bus to go to work.
KINKADE: So tragic and such a waste of life. Of course, across Gaza, half the population, over half the population is under the age of 18 and many have lived through these repeated bombardments, displacement and of course loss of life. After two years of conflict, what kinds of trauma are you seeing? Not just physical, but also mental. And how is MSF addressing those invisible wounds?
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: We are trying -- we are trying but I mean it's impossible to try to describe the amplitude and the magnitude of what is going to -- the impact that is going to have the mental health in the people in the -- in the next months and years to come. So we are trying our best with very little -- with very little means to try to deal with children in the -- in the health centers and in the -- in the -- in the hospital departments. But you know, this is going to have a huge impact in the future.
KINKADE: If a cease fire deal were declared tomorrow or were declared any time this week, what would be your organization's immediate priorities for assistance?
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: For our assistance, it will be to scale up, try to scale up the how is the hospital beds that we are managing and also trying to scale up primary health centers and the support to the Ministry of Health hospitals that they are now cut off in Gaza City.
KINKADE: We wish you and your team all the very best as always. Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, thanks so much for your time. I appreciate it.
ZABALGOGEAZKOA: Thank you very much for talking about Gaza.
KINKADE: Well, it is deadline day in France, where the prime minister is making an 11th hour bid to find common ground with political rivals and forge a new coalition. Sebastien Lecornu resigned Monday after just weeks in office, but agreed to the French president's request to hold one final round of talks. He'll be meeting with the Greens and Socialists in the coming hours. And the stakes are incredibly high for President Emmanuel Macron, who is facing calls to step down. He was seen walking along the River Seine in Paris Monday after Lacornu resigned. CNN's Melissa Bell reports.
[01:20:03]
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Last ditch negotiations are underway here in Paris as Sebastien Lecornu tries one last time to cobble together a functioning government. This at the request of President Macron, who asked him after he'd resigned on Monday to give that government one last chance. He has to convince those parties who'd agreed to work with him originally about the composition of the government, and he has until Wednesday evening to do so. He tweeted himself, Sebastien Lecornu, about these negotiations, said, saying that the urgency here was to try and deal with the budget. The French government has until the middle of October to get before Parliament budgetary proposals that need to involve budget cuts if France is to avoid its looming debt crisis.
All of this putting extra pressure on the shoulders of a man who's giving these last ditch talks a try. Should Sebastien Lecornu fail in convincing his partners, those parties with which he had hoped to work, to do so, then we understand that the French President will be taking his responsibilities. What he means by that is far from clear. Essentially three options before him either dissolving Parliament once again. But polls show that a snap parliamentary election would see the far right do even better the last -- than the last time Parliament was dissolved in June of 2024.
He could also try and name another prime minister, but at this stage, he's seen five prime ministers come and go since the start of his second term and there are fears that once again this might not work and once again waste time. The third option, which had seemed very unlikely because the French president had said all along that he would not be resigning and would be sticking it out till the presidential election of 2027, would be that he calls a snap early presidential election. The trouble with that polls also suggest that the far right would do very well, with the latest polls suggesting they would get up to 35 percent of the vote. Minister Bell, CNN, Paris.
KINKADE: The newly elected mayor of a town in western Germany is in a critical condition after she was stabbed outside her home. According to local reports, 57-yearold Iris Stalzer had to be airlifted to hospital after she was found with life threatening injuries. The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has called the attack a heinous crime. Authorities have not confirmed a motive for the stabbing, but police say there is no indication the attack was politically motivated. Stalzer is due to take office in November following her victory in the runoff election late last month.
Well, to Ecuador now, where five people have been arrested after protesters attacked a convoy carrying the president. Officials say the suspects will face terrorism and attempted murder charges. Video released by the Ecuadorian presidency shows hundreds of people on the road around the convoy with some throwing rocks.
President Daniel Noboa was not harmed, but the country's energy minister claims this was an assassination attempt and says signs of bullet damage were found on the president's car. Last month, the presidential motorcade was attacked by crowds in another province. Protesters argue the government is violently repressing dissent over President Noboa's new policy on diesel fuel subsidies. And an indigenous activist group says the government is carrying out a brutal crackdown on protesters.
Portland, Oregon, is ground zero for the Trump administration's military crackdown. Just ahead, we're on the ground in the Pacific Northwest to see if the war zone President Trump claims is there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:28:48]
KINKADE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Great to have you with us.
Dramatic video coming in from Chicago shows the rising tension between U.S. Border Patrol agents and protesters. Two masked agents are seen trying to detain a man in a black shirt and gray shorts on Saturday. Bystanders yelled out for his release as the man cried out for help and tried to free himself. A federal official says the agents eventually let the man go when they were called to assist in another incident. A group of National Guard members from Texas has arrived in Illinois potentially to help protect immigration agents. The city of Chicago and the state of Illinois are suing to stop that deployment.
U.S. homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says she left a meeting with Portland, Oregon's mayor feeling extremely disappointed. She's threatening to send four times the amount of federal offices to the city if authorities don't follow through on additional security measures. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has a look at the state of the protests in Oregon's largest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yet another image from another day at the ICE facility in Portland that doesn't fully tell the story here.
[01:29:49]
Protests start small during the day, a man in a capybara costume fits the city's unofficial slogan, "Keep Portland Weird". About a dozen people hold signs and play music. The entire protest zone is less than a block long.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It looks like a war zone.
PROKUPECZ: President Trump's depiction has locals curious.
KRISTI O'NEILL, PORTLAND RESIDENT: We wanted to see the war zone. So we found some coffee on the way, and we talked to. some really nice people. And it's really peaceful.
PROKUPECZ: As night falls, tension begins to fill the air.
You see, the officers are coming out now because a car is coming out. And every time a car comes out, these officers come out. They push the crowd back.
And that's usually when there are some altercations. It's when they come out, they push the crowd back as they wait for the car to come through.
Federal agents monitored the crowd from the roof, at times firing pepper balls on the pavement below.
You can see there the pepper balls are coming from the roof. So on this side you have a lot of the Trump supporters and the pro- administration and pro-ICE people.
And there have been some clashes back and forth with some of the other protesters. And they say that someone, one of them, protesters, burned an American flag.
Keep in mind, this is all happening on less than a single block. Not even in the city center. TRUMP: Portland is burning to the ground.
PROKUPECZ: The rest of Portland is not in chaos. The streetcars are running. Guitarists play outside the famed Powell's bookstore, and there's a guided tour in the Pioneer Courthouse Square.
If you weren't looking for it, you'd never know anything was happening on that one city block outside the ICE building.
REP. MAXINE DEXTER (D-OR): I need people to not take the bait.
PROKUPECZ: That's why Maxine Dexter wants all these protesters to leave the ICE facility. The Democratic Congresswoman from Portland supports their message, but fears they're playing into President Trump's hand.
DEXTER: The question is are we being strategic? Are we being effective? And I would argue that being down there, taking a risk, that you become a player in this reality TV vision that Donald Trump has of Portland is a mistake.
PROKUPECZ: It seems unlikely she'll get her wish.
Protester Justin Allen doesn't think any of these people are going away.
JUSTIN ALLEN, PROTESTER: So long as there are these threats from the most powerful man in the world, people, maybe not myself every day, but other people will show up and I don't think there's any way, nor is it a wise decision to attain peace via hiding.
PROKUPECZ: So for now, the likely images you'll see out of Portland are these.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond (SIC).
Well, Democrats in Congress are demanding answers on the deployment of federal agents and National Guard members. But Attorney General Pam Bondi went on the attack.
CNN's Michael Yoshida reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: United States Attorney General Pam Bondi testifying before U.S. lawmakers?
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I took office with two main goals. To end the weaponization of justice and return the department to its core mission of fighting violent crime.
YOSHIDA: Bondi sparring with Democrats over the Trump administration's push to deploy the military in U.S. cities. BONDI: I wish you love Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.
And currently the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you're not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Sat on this committee for more than 20 years. That's the kind of testimony you expect from this administration. A simple question as to whether or not they had a legal rationale for deploying National Guard troops becomes grounds for personal attack.
YOSHIDA: Bondi also asked about allegations from Republican senators that as part of the January 6th investigation, the FBI improperly spied on them by obtaining phone records of GOP lawmakers.
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): You've seen this document, Attorney General Bondi. What was going on here? Who ordered this? Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States senators.
YOSHIDA: Bondi saying she's looking into the matter. The AG also pressed on other issues, including drone strikes of suspected drug cartel boats, the so-called Epstein files and investigations and personnel decisions, which Democrats argued had been motivated by politics. Bondi often deflecting and attacking.
(CROSSTALKING)
BONDI: -- you rail against dark money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know -- wait a second. Wait a second.
BONDI: You work with dark money groups all the time, Senator.
You shut down the government.
You voted to shut down the government, and you're sitting here.
YOSHIDA: In Washington, Michael Yoshida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: The Trump administration has ordered FBI employees to search for papers and records related to the disappearance of famed pilot Amelia Earhart.
[01:34:50]
KINKADE: Two law enforcement sources told CNN that the FBI workers in Washington and New York have until Wednesday to respond to that request.
President Trump announced last month he plans to declassify and release all government records related to the aviator.
Earhart was trying to become the first woman to fly around the world in 1937 when her plane went missing over the Pacific Ocean. She was declared lost at sea after a 16-day search. Well, still to come, plastics and the effect on our health. A CNN
reporter spent five days tracking their exposure to chemicals using a special wristband. We'll have a look at the results next.
[01:35:31]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back.
Scientists are warning about the harm that plastics and chemicals cause to the climate and to our bodies. A recent report in the medical journal "The Lancet" says plastics pose a grave, growing danger causing disease and death at every stage of life from infancy to old age. And it's harder than ever to get away from them. CNN's Bill Weir shows us what kind of exposure we face every day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just like (INAUDIBLE) to the local grocery store.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: This is our colleague Laura in London.
LAURA: It's a cold, Wednesday morning.
JESSIE HEUNG, SENIOR NEWS DESK REPORTER: It is hot. Its humid.
WEIR: This is Jessie in Hong Kong.
HEUNG: It is a very busy Monday morning here in Hong Kong.
WEIR: And that's me, Bill, on my New York City commute.
Who knows what kind of fume exposure I'm getting on a daily basis?
Together --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bracelet finally arrived.
WEIR: We are guinea pigs on three continents. And with the help of these special wristbands and an international team of pollution experts.
HEUNG: I'm just heating up some food. I have a gas stove at home, which is quite common in Hong Kong.
WEIR: We'll spend five days measuring our exposure to the dozens of different chemicals --
LAURA: I'm just going to put a little bit of makeup on before work.
WEIR: -- that come from living on a planet made of plastic.
BJORN BEELER, INTERNATIONAL POLLUTANTS ELIMINATION NETWORK: Studies have shown there's over 16,000 chemicals in plastics. Of that, 20 -- about 25 percent are known to be hazardous chemicals, and the vast majority of other chemicals, there's been not enough scientific data to show if it's safe or not.
WEIR: Thanks to my better half, Kelly, we really try to avoid chemicals, all natural cleaning products, if we can. We filter our water drink out of glass. We have an air quality monitor here as well.
And for the better part of the last five days, I've either been at home or at the office. I haven't had to get on an airplane. That's rare.
So this is somewhat of a controlled environment to just see how clean my immediate surroundings are.
LAURA: Every time I walked into a cafe or a restaurant or down a really busy road, a grocery store, you know, got on the train to go to work.
But perhaps the place that I've most thought about it is when it comes to what I'm actually putting on my body. So you know, perfume or lotions, also cleaning products, you know, what I'm using to clean the house?
HEUNG: I became quite aware when I was going through my daily life and, you know, at dinners or just walking around on the street, I'd wonder like, oh, I wonder what around me is potentially putting chemical pollutants in the air, whether that's my gas stove or things from a construction site. It made me realize how many construction sites I pass through on a daily basis.
WEIR: What do we pick up?
BEELER: Here, you got a lot of chemical exposure, unfortunately.
WEIR: Really?
BEELER: Everything that we looked for, we found.
WEIR: All of our samples included flame retardants and UV stabilizers, an alphabet soup of BPA, BPF, BPS, and around two dozen chemicals on each of our bands.
BEELER: And then the most important one, I would say that everyone should know is called phthalates.
WEIR: Phthalates.
BEELER: Phthalates.
WEIR: It's spelled with a p-h.
BEELER: It is the worst way to spell it. It's like an alphabetical mess.
But phthalates are super important because when we first looked at them, they're everywhere. WEIR: Phthalates are what makes plastic moldable and flexible. They're
more regulated in Europe than Asia, and Jessie's levels are a bit higher than Laura's.
But it is so common globally, it's long been known as the everywhere chemical.
They are also endocrine disruptors, which hack human hormones and cause problems from cradle to grave, from fertility and child behavior to depression, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
BEELER: Studies have shown about 100 percent of Americans have phthalates in their body. And it's so ubiquitous, it's everywhere. If you look around your room, in your house, your clothes are made of plastics, your furniture is made of plastics. Everything's getting turned into plastics.
But by 2060, like about 35 years from now, we're going to have four times more plastic on the planet than we have today.
WEIR: Wow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: And Bill Weir joins us now from Syracuse, New York. Good to see you, Bill.
That was a fascinating piece that you just put together, but also quite alarming. What surprised you most about our daily exposure to these harmful chemicals?
WEIR: Yes. I guess just how prevalent they are. You know, we're very conscious about this in my household, and I'm on the road a lot. I'm in a hotel room tonight here, so you're kind of at the mercy through much of your days if you travel for work.
But the idea that we learned as we did research on these, that people who work actually picking out recyclables from landfills can have a lower exposure than people who work in offices.
[01:44:50]
WEIR: Because at least they're outside and are ventilated. I mean, so much of this comes down to exposure, the length of exposures and the combination that is really unknown.
You know, we are guinea pigs in many ways in this world that's increasingly made of plastics. And one, you know, analogy that the experts there told us, it's sort of like a room filling up with smoke, right?
Over time when you triple, quadruple the production of plastics globally, that goes up. And so the most vulnerable will feel it first, depending on your age and health, genetics, those sorts of things.
But there's just so much we don't even know about what this really does to our bodies.
KINKADE: Yes. I mean, I'm wondering what it means that these wristbands picked up, dozens of chemicals after just a few days of wearing them.
How worried should we be? And is it just surface exposure or are these chemicals actually making it into our bodies?
WEIR: Well, we know from the microplastics that are being found in human brain tissue and reproductive organs. And that's all -- that's downstream on the plastic supply chain of these chemicals that go into them in the first place.
So that's what so much needs to be done. Right now, we know that about a quarter of these thousands of chemicals are hazardous from cradle to grave at different stages.
But what do we know about the combination of all these coming together? One plus one does not equal two. It equals three when you're adding all these different chemicals together.
And in the way the system is set up, at least in the United States, is you have to do rigorous science to connect a specific chemical with a malady in order to get that company to stop or come up with regulations around it.
And by that time, there's a dozen new chemicals that have been introduced into the supply chain.
So it needs -- it comes down to, you know, international treaties, which there have been attempts but have failed recently, to just stop the production until humanity turns off the tap.
How are we going to clean up what's already here and then including the stuff that's -- that we see is getting into our bodies?
But that really, given the state of the world, has gone nowhere diplomatically.
KINKADE: Yes. I mean, it's interesting when you mentioned, you know, how difficult it is for our laws to keep up with the real-world and this exposure.
I was speaking to a friend who works at the CDC who said, you know, they banned certain chemicals from products, and then companies come along and they might change the name of that chemical on the ingredients list.
So, I mean, what should we as consumers do to protect ourselves?
WEIR: Well, I would hazard to predict that the demand might be such that it would make good business sense to make the kind of wristbands we wore for this commercially available. Right now, they're not. It's a scientific tool.
But, you know, knowledge is power. And there is a real movement, at least in the United States, even in the Trump administration, with mothers concerned about our food supply and clean air and water and these sorts of things.
So there is some common ground but we'll see if it really comes down on big giant petrochemical companies, you know, helping everyone understand what is in these products that we -- that seem, you know, reasonably priced at the store.
But now we're learning that has all these sort of hidden costs that come with this miracle product that is, you know, made modern life and it serves us in so many ways plastics can.
But the disposable stuff and the really toxic stuff, obviously, we're seeing more and more evidence that needs to be addressed.
KINKADE: Yes, a fascinating piece. Great to have you in the program. Bill Weir, thanks so much.
WEIR: Thanks, Lynda.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, CNN takes a look at how hackers are scamming millions of dollars from businesses by using deepfake videos.
[01:48:42]
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KINKADE: Welcome back.
Tesla has unveiled new, cheaper versions of the company's two main cars -- the Model 3 and Model Y. The roughly $5,000 price cuts aim to create a more affordable starting tier for buyers.
It comes after the expiration of the $7,500 EV tax credit for U.S. consumers. So what's the ripple effect of these price reductions? Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MURPHY, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC ADVISORY, HAIG PARTNERS: When you start cutting price and devaluing the product, It means the existing product that's in the market, hundreds of thousands of Tesla Model 3s and Ys that are in the U.S. have now also been devalued.
So when those consumers come back in to trade-in those vehicles and tries to use the equity in their vehicles to buy the next new Model Y or 3 or other vehicle, it's going to be very difficult for them to do so, and their equity is a lot lower. It's a big problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, hackers are targeting businesses with video deepfakes that can trick people into sending money, sharing passwords, or revealing sensitive information all in seconds.
CNN's Clare Duffy gets advice from an expert on how to avoid getting scammed by A.I. deepfakes.
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CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Wow, that looks a lot like Clare. I can't -- it's a little bit creepy.
There's a new type of A.I. scam that's increasingly targeting businesses and eventually maybe anybody.
Last year, an exec at Ferrari was targeted by someone posing as the company's CEO and a finance worker at a multinational company paid out $25 million to scammers that use deepfake recreations of the company's CFO.
So I'm here in Silicon Valley to meet up with ethical hacker and SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac.
She's going to walk me through how these scams work and how people can protect themselves.
Explain to us what we're going to see today.
RACHEL TOBAC, CEO, SOCIALPROOF SECURITY: So you're going to see a demo of what it looks like when somebody uses a deepfake to try to trick somebody with your likeness.
DUFFY: Ok.
TOBAC: And it's not too hard to make.
DUFFY: Ahead of our meeting, Rachel created a deepfake version of me using software commonly used by hackers, pulling video and audio of me posted on YouTube.
It can be played back on something like a Zoom call without the person on the other end realizing that it's a recording.
We have a colleague of mine in New York who is ready and waiting. She knows this is coming because you are an ethical hacker. We didn't want to trick anybody here.
TOBAC: Right.
DUFFY: But talk about how this would actually happen in the wild. If she were there unsuspecting, what would happen?
TOBAC: She would probably get a text message or an email, hey, I'm on the road. I need something. Call real quickly or something.
So it'll look like it's coming from you. And when she gets on there, she sees you quickly ask for something like a wire transfer or a password, or a code.
And usually these types of conversations aren't lasting. They're short and they're sweet.
DUFFY: Ok. All right. We've sent that email. We got it queued up. And we'll see when she answers.
Hey, thanks for jumping on so fast.
Can you remind me of our password for our shared drive? I need it for an interview starting in 30 seconds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, that looks a lot like Clare. The movements, though, are a little bit off. Like it definitely doesn't seem human.
I've never seen Clare look this surprised also. She's usually very chill.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sorry, my connection is bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok, Clare. This is a little bit creepy.
DUFFY: All right. Misha, can you hear us on your end?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes. I heard you guys laughing a little.
DUFFY: This is real. This is real Clare, not the fake Clare.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right?
DUFFY: What are your thoughts like if this had been our boss, Dave calling you really quickly to ask you for something, do you feel like there would have been red flags going off? Or do you think that you might have been fooled?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There definitely were red flags going off. I feel like your movements were very jerky. But yes, this is so realistic. It sounded exactly like you.
DUFFY: It does sort of look like I've had 17 cups of coffee, which could happen.
TOBAC: And you're probably seeing that I added in like little phrases for her to say, just to bolster the pretext a little bit, that your connection's bad, you know, everything's going wrong. We need your help right now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need your help right now.
DUFFY: Well, and I can imagine that this is only going to get better, right?
TOBAC: Yes. I mean, this is where we're at right now in 2025. Give it a year.
DUFFY: So this is mainly happening in a work setting right. It's not necessarily like my husband is going to get a Zoom call request from deepfake me.
[01:54:49]
TOBAC: I mean it could right. If you are well known enough and your threat model is high enough, then I'm pretty sure that an attacker would pretend to be you to anybody that trusts you.
This is the type of thing that we see it right now in a business context in a limited way, but it is pretty much hitting people who have a lot of authority at the company, asking somebody who really is supposed to do that task for that person of authority.
DUFFY: What can people do to make sure that they don't fall victim to something like this?
TOBAC: You and the people around you have to be politely paranoid. So essentially verify that people are who they say they are before taking action on their sensitive request.
So before sending the wire transfer, giving a code, giving access to a password or a document, if you do that after the fact because it felt weird, it's already too late.
DUFFY: And I think that's really good advice for so many things as we enter this A.I. era whether you are scrolling on social media or answering a Zoom call from your boss.
We all need to slow down and make sure that we take that extra minute to verify that what we're looking at is real and not an A.I. deepfake.
Clare Duffy, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, the skies over New Mexico are full of brightly-colored balloons as the city of Albuquerque hosts its international balloon fiesta.
Hot air balloon pilots travel from all over the world to showcase their special balloons, competing in landing contests and much more.
The festival hosts multiple ascension shows each day, along with drone light shows and fireworks.
Well, finally, a debut and a grand finale. Chanel's new artistic director brought Paris Fashion Week to a close at the historic Grand Palais Monument, which recently underwent a $500 million restoration.
The set wasn't just a whole new world, it was an entire solar system with glowing planets. Matthieu Blazy is the fourth artistic designer to lead the Chanel Fashion House, and he received a standing ovation.
But despite all the eye-catching decor and the celebrities, he made it clear the clothes come first. And as founder Coco Chanel once said, fashion fades, style remains the same.
Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Great to have your company.
CNN NEWSROOM continues with my colleague and friend Rosemary Church in just a moment.
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