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Congress Remains At Impasse As Shutdown Reaches Day 39; Frustration, Uncertainty Rising Over Air Travel Disruption; Israel Receives Remains Of Deceased Hostage; Lula's Forest Fund Aims To Raise $10 Billion In First Year; Cornell University Reaches Deal With Trump Administration; Musk to Become World's First Trillionaire; Major Auction Houses Preview Fall Collections. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired November 08, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
A setback this morning for Americans hoping to see their SNAP benefits return. We'll have details.
Plus, the latest on the growing delays and cancellations at U.S. airports.
Meanwhile, another judge rules on the legality of the Trump administration's efforts to deploy troops in Portland, Oregon. We'll hear how one city leader is responding.
And Israel confirms the identity of another deceased hostage returned from Gaza. We'll look at where the ceasefire with Hamas stands in a live report.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: A new Supreme Court ruling has tens of millions of Americans wondering this morning how they're going to afford food for themselves and their families.
The top court is temporarily letting the Trump administration pause SNAP food security payments. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson didn't decide on the merits of the case but she did put a lower court's ruling on hold. Now that ruling required the administration to cover full food stamp payments.
Now all this comes as the country enters day 39 of the government shutdown, with Congress deadlocked on passing a government funding bill. It's also just three weeks before Thanksgiving here in the U.S., when
Americans look forward to bountiful meals. But it will be extra tough for many American families who rely on food banks and SNAP.
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ONITA NORRIS, WEST VIRGINIA MOTHER: Rather than myself having like a full plate of food along with my kids, I'm making sure that they have a full plate of food and their bellies are full. And I may have either less or I may not eat what they are eating, just for the sake that they are getting enough.
RENE MARSH, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So Mom's having to sometimes skip a meal or curb.
NORRIS: Yes. Whoo. Yes. It feels like I'm failing them.
MARSH: I just don't understand how we've come to a point where we're using food in politics and being essentially political pawns.
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BRUNHUBER: And as for the government shutdown impacting your travel, more than 1,000 flights were canceled Friday and at least 5,000 delayed. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the percentage of canceled flights could rise from 4 percent to 20 percent if the shutdown doesn't end soon. Here he is.
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SEAN DUFFY, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We're going to see more cancellations. We're still going to watch the staffing triggers. What that means is air traffic controllers are calling in sick. That happens in different parts of the country.
As that happens, you'll also see additional delays throughout the American airspace. But Sandra (ph), I mean, the problem we really have is air traffic controllers aren't being paid and they're being forced to take secondary jobs; again, whether it's waiting tables or driving Uber, instead of coming to towers and doing their day jobs.
Because they're paying for the necessities of their family, food, gas, rent or mortgages. And let's end the shutdown.
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BRUNHUBER: Major airlines are already announcing hundreds of cancellations for this weekend.
Today, Southwest is cutting about 100 flights, United 168 flights and American Airlines 220. Americans affected by flight cancellations are angry, frustrated and just plain annoyed. And that includes airline industry officials. Here's the chief operating officer of American Airlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID SEYMOUR, COO, AMERICAN AIRLINES: Let me be clear. We need to get the government reopened. We need to get this aviation system back.
And I implore our members of Congress to get together and get the government reopened so we can get back to normalcy. Aviation is super critical to this nation. It's super critical to our traveling public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The president of the national air traffic controllers associations told CNN that union members will continue to work to ensure the safety of the flying public, despite not being paid. And there's unwavering support for the air traffic controllers coming from the head of the pilots' union.
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CAPT. JASON AMBROSI, PRESIDENT, AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION: I'm not just a pilot; I'm also a passenger. I flew out of DCA this morning back here to Atlanta.
I can tell you that my pilots are telling me that they stand with our brothers and sisters at air traffic control and the transport -- or Transportation Safety Administration. So the fact that they are still not getting paid, that there isn't -- no end in sight to this.
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It's just frustrating. Beyond belief.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, the levels of frustration and uncertainty arising among people trying to fly throughout the U.S. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been here since 4:00 this morning. But the thing is, there's no flight to Syracuse. So we're going to Raleigh, North Carolina. Then we're going to Buffalo. Then someone has to pick us up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we can't get you hotel comp, you know, no transportation comps. They wouldn't get us on another airline. Not even a little money for lunch. Pretty much just send you back to where you came from and call it a day.
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BRUNHUBER: CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean has more.
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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Airlines are already posting their flight cancellations for Saturday. Southwest Airlines says it will shed about 100 flights from its schedule, United Airlines 170, American Airlines 220 flights from its schedule.
All to comply with this Trump administration emergency order to shed about 4 percent of flights from airline schedules through Monday, then 6 percent starting on Tuesday, 8 percent on Thursday and then 10 percent on Friday, all in the name of safety, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Because air traffic controllers continue to go unpaid during this government shutdown, he says the stress that they were feeling was showing up in the national airspace system and it was simply too unsafe to continue to operate airline schedules at full capacity.
Airlines say they are complying with this Trump administration order but it has upset them, because airlines are a huge economic driver and airlines will lose millions of dollars in the process.
They say that they're dealing with this like they would a major snowstorm, although these cancellations are occurring not in just one region but across the country -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to bring in Simon Calder, travel correspondent at "The Independent" and he joins me now from London.
Thanks so much for being here with us. So we heard there the scope of all these canceled flights.
So for someone who's watching this, who has a flight booked in the next few days or weeks, I mean, what should they be doing right now to protect themselves?
What can they do?
SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, "THE INDEPENDENT": Well, it's extremely difficult if it's an event that you absolutely have to get to. Then you could double down. You could buy an extra flight and take it on the basis that, well, if they're already canceling one flight in 10, then if mine is the unlucky one, I will have another one.
And it's very unlikely that will be canceled, too. But that's going to prove, of course, very, very expensive. And, unfortunately, as we heard in -- from those passengers just a moment ago, there are no air passenger rights rules.
I'm speaking to you from Europe, where, if an airline cancels a flight for any reason, it immediately has to find you a hotel, give you meals, find an alternative flight, even if that's on a rival airline. None of this applies in the U.S.
And so therefore, while it is very expensive for the airlines -- and they will be losing revenue -- there will be people not making trips because they don't want the uncertainty -- it's actually much worse for the passengers. And already here in Europe, I'm hearing concerns from people who are,
well, international flights most definitely are not affected at the moment. But connections onwards, of course, and -- are definitely going to be. And that is a big worry internationally.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. That's right. It's interesting to hear how far-ranging this is and the effects, the spillover effects are just being felt everywhere.
In terms of the different airports, is there a difference whether you're flying out of, let's say, small airports versus big airports?
CALDER: Really good question. Of course, the FAA has nominated 40 of the busiest airports; all the usual suspects, of course, New York's LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, Washington, the -- both Reagan and Dulles there; of course, LAX, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, both airports there. All the big airports are affected.
But the thing is, what I'm looking at the cancellations that are coming up today for Saturday U.S. time and they are very much impacting smaller communities.
And there's good reason for that. If you're an airline, you are -- if you've got to cancel a certain number of flights, you are looking very closely at the size of the aircraft, the number of passengers and the amount of money you will lose.
And so, therefore, I'm afraid it is going to be the smaller communities which suffer, even though it's the bigger airports that are being directly affected.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Yes, that is somewhat counterintuitive. Thanks for explaining that for us.
Now the airlines are all handling this differently. If you're out there, you're trying to figure out whether, you know, your specific flight might be at risk.
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Are there any telltale signs you should be looking for?
CALDER: Well, yes. If I were booked on a commuter airlines, a regional airline out of one of the big hubs, which might be Chicago O'Hare, might be Atlanta, I would be looking slightly worried about that because they are not going to be canceling big transcontinental flights, which are earning them lots of money.
It's going to be the shorter distances, flights of an hour or so on smaller aircraft, that are going to be particularly vulnerable. Now the FAA, when it specified these cancellations, said you cannot disproportionately affect particular locations. You can't disproportionately affect particular times.
So you're not going to cancel everything after 8 pm in the evening. But ultimately it is just a complete lottery about when and where flights are going to be canceled.
And as you mentioned at the top of the program, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that this could increase to 20 percent just as operations are ramping up for Thanksgiving weekend. So that is really serious. And, of course, it's having a wider impact on tourism as well.
Certainly people looking at this, concerned if they're going to one of the smaller destinations without international flights.
They're thinking, do I really want to take the risk of being stranded because my connection's been canceled?
BRUNHUBER: Yes. And as you say, I mean, it's so hard to know whether your flight will be one of the ones affected. So you know, for people who have travel, you know, in the coming weeks, I guess you talked about buying backup tickets if you can afford it.
What other advice do you have there in terms of, you know, building in backup plans for those who actually really need to get where they need to go?
CALDER: Well, if I were booking a flight for the next few weeks, the first thing I would do is book one as early as I can in the morning. Because not only are we seeing these stipulated cancellations coming in, ramping up on Friday to 10 percent, one in 10 flights, we are also seeing very significant ground delays Friday night at airports across the U.S.
There were long, long delays because air traffic controllers were simply not available. There was a report that, at Reagan Airport, they were down to one air traffic controller. I have not been able to substantiate that.
But generally delays build up as the day goes on. So I book an early flight and then just hope for the best. But be prepared for delays and disruption and just keep an eye on how can I get from, say, Washington, D.C., to Phoenix, Arizona; have a kind of backup plan for the various flights you might be able to catch.
But it is great uncertainty. And that is really distressing a lot of travelers.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. But really great advice there for folks out there. Really appreciate it. Simon Calder, thank you so much.
CALDER: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: A member of the Trump administration is admitting that the shutdown is having devastating impacts on the economy. Listen. Here he is.
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KEVIN HASSETT, TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: We're starting to see pockets of the economy that look like they might be in a recession, that were not in a recession because of this.
But there are pockets that are really hurting. And if we go another month or so, then who knows how bad the economy could be this quarter. And we know whose fault that will be.
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BRUNHUBER: Kevin Hassett's comments come as Congress remains deadlocked after Senate majority leader John Thune rejected a new proposal by Democrats, calling it a nonstarter. The Senate resumes sitting on Saturday but a vote to reopen the government remains unlikely.
As for president Trump, he's back in Florida. On Friday, he told lawmakers to stay in the nation's capital until an agreement to reopen the government's reached. He also tried to tamp down the impacts of the shutdown with some questionable information. Here he is.
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TRUMP: Prices are down under the Trump administration and they're down substantially. We did a great job on groceries and affordability. The only problem is the fake news. You people don't want to report it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Israel has received the remains of one of the last deceased hostages held in Gaza. The Israeli military has confirmed they belong to soldier Lior Rudaeff. The IDF says Rudaeff's body was taken after he died defending a kibbutz during the October 7th attack.
Now five bodies of deceased hostages remain in Gaza. Returning all of them is one of the key conditions of the first phase of the U.S.- brokered ceasefire deal. Joining me now from London is CNN correspondent Nada Bashir.
What more can you tell us on this story?
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been hearing from the hostages, representatives and family members, with regards to this confirmation by Israeli authorities of the latest deceased hostage, returned to Israel following captivity in the Gaza Strip.
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As you mentioned, he has been identified by Israeli authorities as 61- year-old Lior Rudaeff, who was killed on October 7th by Hamas. His body then taken to the Gaza Strip, where he was held captive.
His body held captive there. According to family members and representatives, Lior was responding to the noise of gun and gunfire at kibbutz Nir Yitzhak. When he responded to that, that was, of course, the moment where he was later killed.
And we've been hearing from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. They have released a statement following that confirmation. I'll just read you a little bit from that, Kim.
Saying, "Alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole, Lior's return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years."
And, of course, this is a feeling that is shared by many of the family members and loved ones of those hostages held captive in Gaza. And the deceased hostages, as you mentioned, at least five bodies still believed to be held in captivity, yet to be returned by Hamas to the Gaza Strip.
But this is a crucial part of that ceasefire agreement. We've been hearing from Israeli officials with regards to the possible repercussions if we do not see a full return of the total number of deceased hostages returned to Israel.
And, of course, there has been that level of understanding and acknowledgment that this is an extremely difficult process. It is being coordinated with the Red Cross but those efforts are still underway.
And, of course, as we've been hearing from Gaza's civil defense, alongside those efforts to retrieve the bodies of Israeli hostages, deceased hostages, there was obviously, of course, the ongoing effort to retrieve the bodies of Palestinian civilians, also buried beneath the rubble after some two years of deadly war, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Nada Bashir in London, thank you so much.
Federal authorities have moved to subpoena former officials who investigated Russian interference during Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Sources say the U.S. attorney's office in the Southern District of Florida was scheduled to send out subpoenas to several intelligence officers.
Those include former CIA director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, as well as former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. Prosecutors are now asking for records related to their work from July 2016 through February 27th, 2017.
Based on the subpoenas themselves, it's unclear what the scope of the investigation is or who the possible targets are.
Global leaders are gathering in Brazil ahead of this week's COP30 summit. Ahead, we'll tell you all about a new initiative to help preserve one of the most valuable resources in the world, our forests.
And people in the northern Philippines and Vietnam are bracing for a new typhoon. That's just days after Typhoon Kalmaegi carved a path of death and destruction. We're tracking the new storm just ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Police in Indonesia's capital have identified a suspect in two explosions that shook a mosque at a high school. Jakarta police say the suspected attacker is a 17-year-old male student.
They say he and one other student underwent surgery for serious injuries sustained in the attack. At least 55 were injured. Witnesses say they heard at least two loud blasts from inside and outside the mosque during Friday prayers.
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RAKA RAMADHAN FIRZATULLAH, STUDENT (through translator): The first thing I thought was my own survival. I was afraid the mosque would collapse. I was closer to the exit outside, so I was able to get a head start to run.
And when I checked the situation behind me, the mosque was covered in smoke and everyone was running.
We all thought the explosion came from the sound system. After that, 30 minutes or an hour after that, we knew it was a person who did it, not a technical issue.
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BRUNHUBER: Police say they're still investigating. They're downplaying speculation that the explosions were a terror attack.
Typhoon Fung-wong is barreling toward the Philippines and forecasters are warning it could become a supertyphoon before making landfall in the northern Philippines on Sunday. Officials are urging people in low-lying and coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground and to suspend all marine activities.
The storm comes less than a week after Typhoon Kalmaegi unleashed torrential floods and damaging winds on central Philippines. At least 188 people were killed there. In Vietnam, people are cleaning up after Typhoon Kalmaegi pummeled the coastal regions. At least five people were killed.
A key climate meeting in Brazil's rainforest is laying the groundwork for this week's upcoming COP30 summit. World leaders wrapped up two days of talks focused on protecting forests and cutting emissions.
Brazil's president Lula da Silva announced a new multibillion-dollar fund to pay nations that actively preserve their tropical forests. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports.
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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: You can really feel the urgency here in Berlin. We are in the Amazon rainforest, the largest one in the world.
And today, as leaders, heads of state from all over the world, came together and ended their two-day summit ahead of the COP30, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, who is hosting this very conference, said, we're just not doing enough.
He asked those leaders, urged them really, to reconsider their commitment to the Paris agreement and launched his own fund. This is the Tropical Forest Forever Fund. The goal is to raise $10 billion in the first year, for a total of $125 billion.
That would then be invested. And with the investment, that would be used to pay nations who have those rainforests and reward them if they continue to leave those forests standing.
The idea behind this is very much part of Lula's way of seeing the fight against climate change. He says it has to come from a place of also social justice to those people. For a long time, nations that are still developing have said that basically they were left out of the fossil fuel boom.
And this is a chance for countries to get paid to protect those very forests that are important, not just for them but across the world. The fund would benefit not only Brazil, Peru and Colombia, as well as Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Of course, not present here and not also putting any kind of commitment toward this fund is the United States of America. The absence of president Donald Trump and any kind of delegation from the White House really has been a big talking point here.
But the Brazilian government has actually assessed that it is potentially better for the United States to not be present in these conversations and to basically allow those who are truly committed to fighting climate change to work out their solutions for themselves.
Now coming out of this two-day summit, the gains and losses are still not completely clear. I mean, these are heads of state that have, for years, committed to goals that haven't been achieved.
Now critics of this fund say it is too dependent on private investment and that it could be hard to carry it out and to get to those $125 billion.
Now it's important to say not only the United States but the United Kingdom has also said it will not be putting any money toward this fund. They are now at $6 billion out of the $10 billion that they expect to raise until the end of this year -- Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Belen, Brazil.
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COLLEEN DUNN, SHARK RESCUER: Come on, big guy.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Well, you see it there, absolutely amazing footage of a woman rescuing a shark that was trapped in a shallow tide pool. The woman, Colleen Dunn, says she discovered the shark while out walking her dogs. The incident took place in Manzanita, Oregon, in early October.
Dunn says she was initially hesitant to touch the shark at all but says she couldn't bear to watch it suffer. After carrying the shark back to safety, it was able to regain its movement and swim away.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, we're going to take a quick break. For viewers in North America, we'll have more news in just a moment. For our international viewers, "CNN CREATORS" is coming up next.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States and Canada. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The U.S. Senate is expected to be in session on Saturday as the government shutdown enters day 39 but no vote is expected on reopening the government after Senate majority leader John Thune rejected Democrats' latest proposal.
Now this comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration pause SNAP benefits for the time being. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled in favor of the government, pausing a lower court's ruling. That ruling required the Trump administration to cover food stamp benefits for millions of Americans.
Meanwhile, air travel is being impacted as flight cancellations continue across the country. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As tens of thousands of Americans are traveling across the country this weekend, there's a great deal of concern about how the coming days are going to unfold if you are traveling.
So we are at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. We've been keeping tabs on the flight board here. And throughout this day that we've been here, the flight board has seen, you know, a lot of flights on time, on schedule; a lot of the cancellations happened before people got here to the airport.
But from what we understand, major airlines already announced cancellations of flights in the coming days. Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, United already canceling hundreds of flights, not only here on coming into Saturday but as well as Sunday and into Monday as well.
And there is a very good likelihood that those cancellations will only continue to increase. So really what people need to know is that they need to stay, obviously, on top of those flight arrangements with their airlines.
But also be aware of what we understand is that many of the flight cancellations will involve flights not necessarily between major airports like Dallas and Chicago or Dallas and Denver but smaller airports.
So if you're traveling from Dallas to a smaller airport, these regional airports might be some of the most severely impacted in the days ahead. And what we've experienced and heard from travelers today is, at least for now, taking a lot of this potential chaos in stride.
But a great deal of concern about what it will mean for the days ahead. A lot of people traveling out and wondering if they're going to be able to make it back to their destination here in the coming days, as the threat of more cancellations continues to hang over everyone making their way through airports across the country.
So a great deal of frustration with that. So hang in there, try to get through this as best you can. But clearly a great deal, a great number of people very concerned about what's going to happen in the coming days.
And obviously, we've heard a lot of people also talking about the concern for TSA agents, who are working these security gates at airports across the country without getting paid -- Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport.
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BRUNHUBER: A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. president, Donald Trump, illegally ordered the National Guard to Oregon. The administration claimed it needed to send troops to defend against protesters violently rebelling at an immigration facility in Portland.
But the U.S. district judge, who was appointed by Trump, ruled there were only isolated incidents of violence and said those didn't meet the legal requirements to deploy federal troops to the city.
Now this ruling maintains the status quo in Oregon, where National Guard troops can't be deployed. The Trump administration will likely appeal and the case could go to the Supreme Court. But city leaders in Portland celebrated the ruling. One council member said it shows the federal government should stay in its lane. Here she is.
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CANDACE AVALOS, MEMBER, PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL: We are really proud of the hard work that our city attorneys did and our attorney general to fight back, because Portlanders are not intimidated by the Trump administration.
I think we showed the country how we stand our ground and how we win. The federal government is insisting on overreaching in places where they have no business and clearly not doing their job, where they should be, like funding SNAP, making sure that people have health care.
So I think the federal government should focus on what is their duty so that us local leaders can continue to enforce our ability to support our communities and our local sovereignty as municipal governments.
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BRUNHUBER: Cornell University is getting $250 million of federal funding restored. The Ivy League school has made a deal with the Trump administration.
Cornell has agreed to pay the U.S. government $30 million over three years, invest $30 million in research programs that benefit U.S. farmers and give the government some undergraduate admissions data.
In return, the Trump administration will close all pending civil rights and other investigations into Cornell.
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Well, she's about to become New York City's first lady and, until now, she's been something of a mystery. At just 28 years old, Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani's wife, Rama Duwaji, has drawn praise and criticism. CNN's Gloria Pazmino has more on who she is.
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MAYOR-ELECT ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY), NYC: To my incredible wife, Rama.
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GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani isn't the only one making history in New York City.
MAMDANI: There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment and in every moment.
PAZMINO (voice-over): At just 28 years old, Rama Duwaji is also making history. The first Muslim member of Gen Z to become first lady of New York City. Duwaji hasn't played the traditional role of first lady in waiting.
She didn't campaign alongside her husband during the heated race for city hall. She skipped interviews and television talk shows.
While Mamdani was on the trail, the self-described illustrator and animators work appeared in "Vogue," the BBC and "New York Magazine."
Behind the scenes, a source tells CNN, Duwaji weighed in on the campaign's brand identity and advised Mamdani on how to better use social media.
MAMDANI: My wife is big into thrifting but knowing that I was going to do the polar bear plunge and that I would ruin the suit, I thought it best to be a thrift guy.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Despite her quiet persona, Duwaji speaks loudly through her art. Her work features illustrations of Middle Eastern women, the plight of Palestinians, the conflict in the Middle East and the hunger crisis in Gaza.
In an April interview with "Yung," a quarterly art magazine, Duwaji said her art was an effort to speak about what's happening in the U.S. and Palestine, in Syria, as much as I can.
In the same interview, Duwaji talked about using art to process the current political climate, saying, "Things are dark right now in NYC. I worry for my friends and family and things feel completely out of my hands."
During the campaign, a social media post mourning the death of Palestinian journalist Saleh al-Jafarawi sparked some criticism. The IDF alleged Jafarawi was affiliated with Hamas. The claim has never been verified.
Of Syrian descent and a Houston native, Duwaji moved to Dubai when she was 9, attending the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar. The couple met in 2021 on the dating app Hinge, shortly after Mamdani was elected to the New York state assembly.
By October 2024, they were engaged. They celebrated in Dubai, followed by a courthouse wedding at the city clerk's office in Lower Manhattan. Shortly after Mamdani launched his campaign for mayor, questions began to swirl about the couple.
A "New York Post" headline suggested their relationship was a secret. Days later, Mamdani released photos of their civil ceremony on Instagram, writing, "Rama isn't just my wife, she's an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms."
Already, Duwaji is sparking trends.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rachel, no girl. The Rama.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Social media is abuzz with posts about Duwaji's haircut.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Super short, chic artist. Cool girl haircut.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Her fashion choices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear independent designers, when they could wear anything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The sheath dress is dead. Rama Duwaji killed it.
PAZMINO (voice-over): And the symbolism behind her election night outfit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The frequency topped by Palestinian Jordanian designer Zeid Hijazi.
PAZMINO (voice-over): We asked Mamdani how he and Duwaji are adjusting to all the new attention.
MAMDANI: Life is very different. It is -- it is different in some ways that are beautiful, in some ways that are tough.
PAZMINO (voice-over): Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: A strong cold front is moving into parts of the U.S. and some areas could see their first snow of the season. We'll have the forecast just ahead.
Plus, well, no one's ever really had to think about it before now but it's now on Elon Musk's mind, what can he buy with $1 trillion. We'll take a look after the break. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Record cold temperatures are heading to parts of the U.S. and some areas will get their first snowflakes of the season.
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BRUNHUBER: The Nasdaq just suffered its worst week since April. Tech stocks took a bruising this week over a potential artificial intelligence bubble. The Nasdaq closed lower by 0.21 percent. The Dow Jones and S&P ended the week in positive territory.
Elon Musk could become the world's first trillionaire after Tesla shareholders approved a new pay package.
So with all that money, what could Musk buy?
CNN's Anna Cooban takes a look.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS REPORTER: What could $1 trillion really buy you?
It's not a question that many people have to ask themselves
but it's something that Elon Musk might have to ask himself because he may actually have that at the end of the next decade. Now this is because the shareholders of Tesla, the company that he runs have voted to give him this pay package.
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This would come in the form of stocks given over the next 10 years but crucially, only if Elon Musk can hit certain targets, both financial and
operational for the company. And there's a lot for him to do. Tesla has been suffering as sales and profits have plunged over the first half of the
year. It's facing rising competition from EV makers in China and it's trying to pivot more into the AI and robotics space.
So there's a lot on Elon Musk's to do list. But enough about that. What can a trillion really get you?
Well, look at all those zeroes. It's hard to really grasp the concept of it. But if we try to break it down, $275 million per day, that's what it
could get you. Not too shabby. It could also get you 10,000 of these guys. Brian Niccol, he is the CEO of Starbucks and he is given a paltry $100
million pay packet per year.
It could also get you Coca-Cola, that little known company that's worth around $300 billion. And it could allow you to buy a 12-pack of Coke, cans
of Coke for every single human being on the planet. And bearing in mind there are over 8 billion people on the planet, that is a pretty big deal.
Now we could also buy you Switzerland. I don't think it's for sale but its GDP is around $900 billion per year. So if it was wanting to be sold,
Elon Musk could potentially buy it. And so that just gives you a sense of how much money this really is.
But as I said before, Elon Musk isn't just going to be given this. He has to do things in order to get the stocks that could be worth this. This
amount of money. Firstly, the most eye-popping target is he needs to get Teslas market cap up from the current $1.45 trillion to $8.5 trillion over
the next few years.
And to put that in context, the most valuable public company right now is Nvidia. The artificial intelligence chip maker, that's worth around $4.75
trillion. And last week it actually hit the $5 trillion mark, the first company in the world ever to do so.
So that gives you an idea of the numbers that we're talking here. Musk himself said in a call to investors last week that if he was to get this
kind of money, he didn't even know if he could spend it -- Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
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BRUNHUBER: Fast food chain Wendy's is set to close hundreds of locations across the United States. The company's interim CEO says they'll target locations that are consistently underperforming and dragging down the chain's bottom line. The closures will begin this year and continue through 2026. Up to 350 restaurants could be affected.
All right. Coming up, in Old Havana, a dance floor revival. Now locals are teaching a younger generation to keep Cuba's trademark steps alive. That's coming up next. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Well, it's been a busy few days in Rome for actor Robert de Niro. On Friday, the Oscar winner visited the Vatican and had a private audience with Pope Leo XIV. De Niro described the experience as deeply personal and very special.
He's in Rome for the opening of a new Nobu Hotel, part of the global brand he co-founded with renowned Japanese sushi chef, Nobu Matsuhisa. De Niro was also awarded one of the city's highest honors.
Britain's Prince William making his first visit to Latin America ahead of the United Nations' climate summit. He spent five days in Brazil, meeting on Friday with indigenous leaders at an Amazon museum.
He also attended the award ceremony for the Earthshot prize, which is his initiative, which aims to find innovations to fight climate change. Five winners received $1.3 million each for their respective projects. Prince William is set to give a speech at COP30, which starts on Monday.
Salsa has long been the heartbeat of Cuba but some worry that the rhythm is fading in Old Havana. Some people are determined to keep the tradition alive, one dance step at a time. CNN's Isabel Rosales has the story.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On this terrace in Old Havana, a group of Cubans are breathing new life into an old tradition, teaching beginners how to dance Salsa Cubana.
This style of dancing has long been a calling card for the Caribbean island. In the past, people often learned the dance at home but that tradition is changing due to a variety of factors, like a grinding economic crisis that has helped fuel multiple widespread blackouts on the island, most recently in September.
The coordinator of Salsa for My People, the group organizing these lessons, says salsa's dominance in Cuba is also threatened by the popularity of other beats and rhythms, like reggaeton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): (INAUDIBLE) is internationally recognized.
As a salsa destination.
And. Multicultural country. Still.
The strength of other rhythms such as reggaeton is undeniable. What happens with this space is that we try to get people to learn so that they can take that knowledge to other places and other night clubs, especially young people who haven't learned from their parents.
ROSALES (voice-over): That includes young people like Alejandro Beltran. Until recently, he was among a rare breed, Cubans with two left feet.
ALEJANDRO BELTRAN, DANCING STUDENT (through translator): I must admit that the first classes were challenging. Progress was slow. I would go one way and my feet would go the other. I would ask her to go forward and she would go backward. I got tangled up.
ROSALES (voice-over): Other students say the program is less about learning to dance and more about feeling a deeper connection to the dance and to their community.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Salsa and all dances are a motivation in my life. They serve as a therapy, as a source of joy and physical activity. And here in this place, I found a space that, even though it is a school, I like to come to dance and enjoy salsa with other people who have the same interest as me.
ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: New York's major auction houses are previewing the high- value artworks they plan to sell this season. The blue-chip pieces span the 19th through the 21st century, from Klimt to Van Gogh represented.
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This comes as a recent report indicated, sales of global art and antiques dropped last year, with the steepest slowdown at the very top end. Sotheby's and Christie's auctioneers hope that top works and carefully curated collections will energize bidding.
So how much would you pay for a solid gold toilet?
Sotheby's plans to auction an 18-karat gold toilet titled "America" later this month. The artist is Maurizio Cattelan. He also created the $6 million Banana on a Wall piece. The gold toilet weighs around 100 kilograms or 22 pounds. Starting bid is linked to the price of gold and that's currently about $10 million.
The toilet's on display right now. You can check it out but no use, of course, or flushing allowed.
And finally, a big milestone for a small hippo in Berlin. The baby hippo was spotted swimming alongside his mother this week, not long after being first introduced to the lagoon at the Berlin Zoo.
According to the zoo, it's an important milestone for the calf. While this little one might seem fearless, Mom's keeping a much closer eye on her charge, gently pushing him back to shallower waters when he attempts to reach deeper parts of the lagoon.
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ANDREAS KNIERIEM, DIRECTOR, BERLIN ZOO (through translator): The last thing I see again and again, on a day like today, is how naturally these young animals grow up with their mothers. There are no books for expectant hippopotamus mothers on how to do it right, how to learn more or whether they need to practice.
And there is no nursery for the little ones where they can learn how to do it right with their mom. Instead, it all happens naturally. It's in their genes. What we see here is how the mother has her typical maternal instinct and protects her young, treating them very gently.
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BRUNHUBER: Now the calf was born back in late September and hasn't been given a name yet. Alongside mother and baby, the zoo is also home to the baby's father as well as a senior hippo.
Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
