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Trump Bans CNN, MSNOW & Politico From The White House; Houthis Say They Attacked "Sensitive" Sites In Saudi Capital; Trump Vows To Create A.I. Task Force, Appoint Czar; Airline Flight Cuts Leave Few Options For Budget Travelers. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired September 20, 2026 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[05:00:43]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to those headlines.

Three major news outlets, including "CNN," are barred from the White House. We'll have the latest on President Trump's attack on press freedom.

And concerns deepen about a growing conflict in the Middle East after the Houthis claim to have attacked Saudi Arabia's capital. We're going to go live to the Gulf with the latest for you.

Plus, Ed Sheeran apologizes to fans in his first show since Macklemore was removed from his tour. Hear what he had to say on stage in Philadelphia.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Three major news organizations have now signaled that they will take legal action to defend their journalistic right to report freely on the U.S. government. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would ban "CNN," "MSNOW," and "POLITICO" from the White House on Saturday morning. Reporters from those outlets were denied access to the White House grounds and had their press passes confiscated.

CNN's Julia Benbrook has the latest for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The White House Correspondents Association, which essentially serves as a go-between for roughly 900 members of the press and the Trump administration, is calling for the immediate reinstatement of access.

This statement came from the current WHCA president and a White House Correspondent for Fox News, Jacqui Heinrich. And she said, in part, "The implications extend beyond these organizations. A standard used to exclude one news outlet because of its coverage could be applied to any outlet in the future. The American people, through a free and independent press, must be able to scrutinize those elected to power, regardless of whether government officials view it favorably."

President Donald Trump on Friday said that he was banning "CNN," "POLITICO," and "MSNOW" from the White House. He did not cite a specific story, a specific area of reporting for this decision. Instead, he said that it was cumulative. We of course know that throughout this term, he's repeatedly called all of those organizations and many others in the press fake news.

He did suggest that he could extend this ban to other news organizations as well. He said that others may join them. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: There's a lot of news and there may be others to join them. "The New York Times" is fake news. "Washington Post" is fake news. They're crummy papers, both doing very poorly, by the way. But we'll see. We're probably not going to display the paper anymore in the White House.

BENBROOK: Trump announced this ban Friday afternoon and he said it would go into effect immediately. But our CNN team remained on the White House grounds until late into the evening, continuing to do their jobs. Saturday morning, a member of our team went in to report for the morning shows. And when they did scan that badge, attempt to scan that badge, they were informed that it had been disabled and a member of Secret Service did end up taking that press credential. There are still a lot of questions here. Of course, we report as CNN to our viewers, but CNN is also a part of the TV press pool.

It's a five-network rotation that travels with the president. Those are often the groups that you see on Air Force One in the Oval Office, making sure that those important visuals, those important moments get out to other outlets and the American people. CNN is currently scheduled to serve as pool on Monday. It is unclear how that will be handled.

In Washington, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, this is not the first time that the U.S. president has targeted journalists. CNN Senior Political Analyst Ron Brownstein explains why he thinks Donald Trump is reviving this old grudge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think you got the answer at the midterm gathering that Republicans did, you know, a few days before all of this in Dallas. At a moment when Americans are overwhelmingly dissatisfied with this management of the economy and the state of the economy, the president and the Republican Party are looking for ways to ignite culture wars, to try to reanimate and energize their coalition around these kind of cultural fights. You've seen his PAC put a lot of money into congressional races, talking about trans issues, et cetera. [05:05:10]

And this, I think, is another attempt to kind of shift the focus. Not likely to be very successful at a time when people are this concerned about their economic situation in terms of an electoral tactic. But whatever his motivation, I mean, this really is a five-alarm fire for American democracy.

You have to go back, I think, as far as the 1790s with the Sedition Act that John Adams and the Federalists passed to literally prosecute reporters literally prosecute reporters and even members of congress from the opposite party who said things about the president. They didn't like to find a comparable threat to the to the first amendment. So, whatever his motivation, I think this is a real testing moment for the media, for

the other institutions in the media.

How do they respond to this? Do they simply, you know, file an amicus brief supporting the other organizations that have been banned when they inevitably go to court? Or is there a more organized pushback and response?

Because this truly is a serious abridgment and infraction against what is appropriately the First Amendment in our constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Moscow's mayor says at least two people are dead. This is after what he called a massive drone attack on the capital. He says that more than 1,600 Ukrainian drones have been shot down across Russia since Saturday, including about 450 that were headed for Moscow.

But he says some of them did get through the air defenses overnight, hitting this apartment building near the city. Officials say six people were also wounded. Other targets included this oil refinery, which was damaged in the attack. And videos show huge flames seen from a distance, along with long plumes of smoke coming from the facility. The strike comes as Russians are headed to the polls for the third and final day of parliamentary elections. We're going to have more on that story later this hour for you.

Now to a significant escalation in this widening conflict in the Middle East. The Iranian-backed Houthis are claiming to have attacked Saudi Arabia's capital for the first time since fighting was renewed in July. The Yemeni militant group says it's attacked sensitive sites in Riyadh with missiles and drones. You're looking at video that shows a column of smoke billowing near the city's main airport. Now, the Houthis did not specify what they targeted. The group also claims it struck an Aramco facility near the Red Sea.

The Trump administration has shown very little interest in using the U.S. military to help stop the Houthis. And with Saudi Arabia struggling to beat them back, sources say Gulf and American officials are growing more and more frustrated. I want to go now to our Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for more on these

latest developments. I mean, again, we're seeing these escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia, but what recourse for action is there for Riyadh? I mean, after all, this is a group that they've been battling for years without ever being able to dislodge them from the capital in Yemen.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Salma, it's the -- the Saudi- led coalition that's really trying to fight against the Houthi rebels at this point and trying to prevent them from taking more territory within Yemen. We have seen a remarkable assault by the Houthis just over the past week, week and a half that they've taken much of the West Coast along the Red Sea, which is key for commercial shipping. They've taken Perim Island, which is an island that's very strategic in order to be able to control the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which would be a second critical waterway out of the Middle East that is threatened. And we're really seeing the Saudis, even though there are many airstrikes ongoing, struggling to contain this advancement by the Iran-backed and the Iran-funded militia group.

Now, what we have seen just on Saturday was that there were Houthi attacks on Saudi territory. First of all, let's listen to how the Houthis described what happened.

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YAHYA SAREE, THOUTHI MILITARY SPOKESMAN (through translator): The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out, with the help of Almighty God, two significant military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones. The first targeted sensitive targets in the Saudi enemy's capital, Riyadh. The second targeted the Aramco company in Yanbu. Both operations were crowned a success, resulting in massive fires at the targeted sites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:10:04]

HANCOCKS: Now, the Houthis haven't specified exactly what they targeted in Riyadh. We heard from the Saudi-led coalition that they did intercept a ballistic missile heading towards the capital. And then we have this "Reuters" video showing a site near the capital's airport, the main airport, showing a thick black plume of smoke.

Now, there has been no official word from the kingdom as to what exactly that smoke was -- was about, what was targeted, what was impacted. There is no sense of any damage as well, confirmation at least, or casualties.

But it does come at the same time as overnight local time. Here in the Gulf, we did hear a number of alerts from the U.S. State Department. This was through embassies in the majority of the Gulf nations, also in Israel, in Lebanon, in Jordan as well, warning Americans to be vigilant because of what is happening in the Middle East.

For the first time, it did mention specifically Houthi activity, also saying that the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation.

Salma?

ABDELAZIZ: CNN's Paula Hancocks there in Abu Dhabi, the Houthis for their part say that there was more than 300 strikes carried out by Saudi Arabia on Yemen. They provided no evidence for that claim, but clearly they're still threatening that Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Thank you so much for those updates.

Despite saying that fears around A.I. are a hoax, the U.S. president is announcing new measures to address the growing calls to regulate the technology's rapid development.

Posting on "Truth Social," Donald Trump said that the U.S. would not hinder A.I.'s growth, but he said, quote, "we will also be looking for bad and we can do that very easily with our already existing criminal and civil justice system. I am forming the A.I. force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous success in my first term. To that end, I will be announcing in the near future the A.I. czar. Exact details of this plan remain unclear.

In an alarming development, Google says its A.I. model, Gemini, accessed the internet and hacked into another company's during a cybersecurity test in May. It is the first known case of Google's A.I. systems doing something like this independently, though similar incidences, of course, have been reported by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Meta.

Now, Gemini used online information to guess logins and passwords for protected systems, but stopped the hacking after that.

A group of top Democrats is calling for an investigation into a series of mistakes in U.S. military targeting plans, which were caused by A.I. Multiple sources say an intelligence report prompted plans to intercept a Chinese ship in the Middle East believed to be transporting components of a nuclear weapons program. Armed members of the military were preparing planes in the air, and it wasn't until just before that planned operation that officials dug deeper and found that the report had been generated with the help of A.I. It incorrectly identified what the ship was carrying.

Ed Sheeran has spoken out on the controversy surrounding him. He says his heart has been broken by the Israel-Hamas war, and that he's had to make difficult decisions.

Now, his comments follow controversy over Macklemore's removal from Sheeran's U.S. tour dates after he made pro-Palestinian remarks on stage. The pop star's concert tour resumed on Saturday night in Philadelphia, and he spoke to the crowd just as it began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED SHEERAN, SINGER-SONGWRITER: But this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I've had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I'm so, so sorry. (CHEERING & APPLAUSE)

SHEERAN: I don't want to disappoint fans, and I've never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.

I want to address the question of where I stand on the situation in Israel and Palestine, and whether my doing this concert here tonight implies where I stand. I have tried in my career to not be a political commentator at any time, because I want my shows to be about unity, not division, and humanity, not politics.

(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)

SHEERAN: But this is a humanitarian issue, and I can't hide how I feel about it anymore.

What happened in Israel at Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.

[05:15:12]

Our hearts have been broken by the scale and devastation and loss of civilian's lives, of children's lives. And the systemic injustice we're seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.

I'm already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times, and listening and learning, because I do not know enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now, a small crowd of protesters did gather a few blocks from the concert venue. Around 50 people attended the demonstration, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs while chanting, Free Palestine. Demonstrators also called on Sheeran to leave the city.

Artists in Gaza City painted a mural in honor of Macklemore, wrapped in a Palestinian flag. The rapper has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights since Israel began its years-long bombing campaign in Gaza after the October 7th attacks.

There's so much more to come here on "CNN Newsroom," including new political battles in Germany, where the far-right hopes to keep the ball rolling after a recent electoral victory.

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[05:20:15]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. Germany's far right is hoping to turn a victory into a winning streak as more state elections get underway. Polls opened this morning in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the capital, Berlin. The far right AfD party won its first state elections in another eastern region. That was earlier this month.

The victory sent shockwaves through Germany's political system, demonstrating AfD's growing political muscle. German media have speculated that another win by AfD could cost Chancellor Friedrich Merz his job.

For more on all of this, CNN's Fred Pleitgen is standing by in Berlin.

Good morning to you, Fred. I'm so glad to have you on to break this down for us. Because as we just reported there, this vote could cost the German chancellor his job.

Talk me through that.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, first of all, Salma, you're absolutely right. It's a pivotal time for Friedrich Merz, who's certainly fighting for his political survival right now here in Germany.

There's two elections that are on today. One of them is here in the capital, Berlin, which has the status of a state in itself in Germany. And in that state that you were just talking about,

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern or Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. And that's really where the AfD has been extremely strong over the past couple of weeks.

They were ahead in pretty much all of the polls until a couple of days before the election. There's one poll that now sees the Social Democrats possibly taking that state. They are very strong up there. But if you look at that state in particular, in that state, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Friedrich Merz's CDU, the Christian Democratic Union, is extremely weak. There's big questions about whether or not they're actually even going to make the threshold to make it into that state parliament. And if they don't, then that would obviously be a huge blow to the party in that state, but also to the federal party, to the Christian Democratic Union and to Friedrich Merz.

There was a lot of speculation this week. I can't even tell you how much discussion there was back and forth about whether or not he would survive politically. At the end of the week, there were a couple of state governors from the Christian Democratic Union who then publicly wrote a letter backing Friedrich Merz.

But there are very few in Berlin who believe that if these elections go badly, that that is going to be enough. So, that discussion is something that could flare up again come Monday morning, again, depending on how the results go in these two elections in the next couple of hours, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Fred Pleitgen there reporting from Berlin on the domino effect that may knock out the chancellor if these elections don't go well for him, as you just reported there. Thank you so much.

Russians are also headed to the polls right now on the third and final day of those parliamentary elections. They're casting votes for 450 members of the lower house of parliament, the Duma. The voting includes illegally annexed Crimea, which most of the world still recognizes as part of Ukraine. Some voters there said they're ready for peace, but others said they prefer a more hardline approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDUARD STYS, SEVASTOPOL RESIDENT (through translator): I expect the country to adopt a tougher course. I want the parliament, which is already helping us, to support our struggle and our independence to an even greater degree.

YOVGENIA VOLKOVA, SEVASTOPOL RESIDENT: Of course, what I look forward to most of all is peace, which I hope will come very soon here in Sevastopol. That is what I look forward to most of all.

ABDELAZIZ: Now, Russia's political process, rather, is tightly controlled, and effective opposition is practically non-existent. So, any outcome other than a victory for President Vladimir Putin's party is considered an extremely long shot. Some experts believe he'll use the election to boost his mandate and try to legitimize Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Saudi Arabia struggles to stop the Houthis' growing attacks. Just ahead, we'll look at what options Riyadh has left.

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[05:27:45]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's take a look at today's top stories:

U.S. President Donald Trump is facing pushback from lawmakers, media outlets, and constitutional lawyers after he banned three major news organizations from the White House on Saturday morning. Journalists from "CNN," "MSNOW," and "POLITICO" were barred from entering the White House grounds and had their press passes confiscated. Those organizations have signaled they will take legal action to defend their reporters' rights.

The U.S. president is promising to create a new task force for A.I. Donald Trump also says that he will appoint an A.I. czar. However, the timeline and exact details are not yet clear. It follows growing calls for guardrails to be implemented on A.I. development.

And the Iranian-backed Houthis say they have attacked sensitive sites in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. It appears to be their first reported strike on the city since the escalated attacks in July.

This video shows a column of smoke billowing near the capital's main airport, though the Houthis did not specify what they attacked.

Joining us now live from Cairo is H.A. Hellyer. He is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. Good morning, first of all, to you.

H.A. HELLYER, MIDDLE EAST STUDIES SCHOLAR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Good morning. Thank you for having me.

ABDELAZIZ: Our reporters have been talking about how it is clear now that the Houthis have the upper hand in this conflict. In that case, given that Saudi Arabia's requests for U.S. support have been denied, what options do you believe that Riyadh has left?

HELLYER: So, Riyadh is in a very difficult situation in this regard. The Houthis haven't just gone into the street of Mandeb, which would have been -- Bab al-Mandab, which would have been bad enough. They've been striking different places in Saudi itself, within border Riyadh, Yanbu.

[05:30:03]

These places are much more politically and economically consequential in a way that other places like Jizan or Najran were.

So, the Houthis are really testing if they can hold Saudi strategic debt at risk. And of course, there's a wider war that's involved here. The Houthis aren't operating on their own or in isolation, they're operating inside the shadow of the wider conflict with Iran, and that's giving them a lot of leverage.

It's why when the Chinese reportedly asked Tehran to sort of rein in the Houthis, Tehran responded that progress needs to be made on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. should come to the table in order to do that.

So, all of these things are put together, and it's putting Saudi into a very difficult position because, of course, it doesn't want to escalate within Yemen. That's not its preferred option.

It's been building a paradigm since 2019 with regards to Yemen, where it's so de-escalation, trying to manage issues there as opposed to going back to full-frontal war. But this particular upheaval over the past couple of weeks, I think it really questions how much that paradigm can hold unless they get others to participate, to join in, and to help them solve this problem.

ABDELAZIZ: So, let me dig into that deeper, because you are, of course, here pointing to the wider conflict that has been ongoing for many years now between Saudi Arabia and its alliance and the Houthis on the ground. And in that conflict, Saudi Arabia was never able to dislodge the Houthis from the capital. Does it even have the capabilities now to stop this group on its own?

HELLYER: So, you're absolutely right. The strategy has not worked and has not worked for over the past decade. The issue here is that the forces on the ground that Saudi has been supporting with airstrikes, with other types of kinetic support, they didn't prove cohesive enough. They didn't prove capable enough to be able to push back on the Houthis to stand against their advances. At the same time, it's very difficult to imagine a situation where

Iran -- sorry, where the Saudis would say, it's fine, we're going to have an Iran-backed militia in Yemen actually be recognized as the government of any part of Yemen. I think that would be very difficult.

And also, considering that the Houthis themselves, they have a particular ideological setup with regards to Saudi, that makes it very difficult to imagine that there could be some sort of, you know, easy state-to-state existence in this regard.

And finally, keeping in mind --

ABDELAZIZ: And very quickly --

HELLYER: I don't think --

ABDELAZIZ: -- very quickly, if you don't mind me interrupting there, I do want to bring in that we are looking forward to the U.N. General Assembly next week. You can only imagine that Riyadh is trying to put more pressure on D.C. to act. We know that requests to carry out airstrikes by the U.S. have so far been denied. How can Riyadh put pressure, if at all, on the U.S. to get more involved?

HELLYER: I don't think there's any leverage point from the Saudi perspective to push the U.S. to do more than what it's done so far. I think that the U.S. will see over the coming weeks the greater activity of the Houthis is going to be in contradiction to their own interests, and also the interests of the wider GCC, and also, frankly, the interests of many millions of Yemenis that simply do not want to be ruled by the Houthi movement.

So, I think that it's not going to come as a result of Saudi using leverage against the U.S. I think it's going to be the U.S. and other allies considering, is this a good idea that Yemen, especially given the Bab al-Mandab Strait, come under the control of the Houthis for the medium to long term?

ABDELAZIZ: H.A. Hellyer there with the Riyadh United Services Institute on the limited, extremely limited options that Riyadh has in this fight. Thank you so much for your time.

HELLYER: My pleasure.

ABDELAZIZ: The U.S. military has carried out a deadly strike against an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean. This was on Saturday. Southern Command says four people were killed. It claimed the vessel was operating along established narco-trafficking routes since the U.S. launched its mission to stop the flow of drugs into the country. Its military has killed at least 234 people and destroyed at least 80 vessels.

[05:35:07]

Coming up next on "CNN Newsroom," the war with Iran is forcing airlines to cut back on cheaper flights and that is giving budget travelers fewer and fewer options, details on why are just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: It's been a while since U.S. consumers got any good news about gasoline prices. The pain at the pump keeps getting worse as the war in Iran drags on with no end in sight. Right now, AAA says the average price for a gallon of regular gas stands at $4.47. Diesel is even more expensive, standing at $6.50. But consumers who are hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel may be in for a disappointment.

Analysts told the "Washington Post" that gas prices are about to take yet another big jump and that the worst is yet to come. High fuel prices, particularly the cost of jet fuel, are also affecting air travel. Many airlines say they'll be eliminating cheaper flights from their schedule later this year. And that means fewer options for budget travelers. Our Matt Egan has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: This is something that virtually all airlines are expected to do as they scramble for ways to cope with the surging cost of jet fuel.

So, this week, executives from United, American, and Southwest, they told Wall Street investors that yes, they plan to scrap some of their cheaper, less profitable flights in the final months of the year.

Now the airlines did not say specifically which flights will get canceled, but experts say it's likely to be those cheaper, less profitable, less popular flights.

Think the ones that are preferred by bargain hunters. Early in the morning, late at night, maybe on a Saturday. These flights, some of them might have made economic sense for the airlines back when jet fuel was cheap, but they just don't anymore.

[05:40:12]

The big problem is the fact that jet fuel has just skyrocketed in price. Back in late February, just before the war with Iran started, jet fuel cost an average of less than $2.50 a gallon. Now, it's above $4.50 a gallon to the highest level since early May. And this is a big issue for airlines because fuel, it's their number two cost, second only to the cost of labor.

In fact, if you zoom in, you just look at the big four airlines, United, American, Delta, and Southwest. During the second quarter, they spent a combined $80 million more on jet fuel every single day. Yes, $80 million more per day on jet fuel.

The other problem, for those of us trying to get a cheap flight, is the fact that "Spirit" does not exist anymore. The discount carrier, it suspended operations back in May.

Now, "Spirit" was already on life support, but it had reached a critical deal with creditors to emerge from bankruptcy, and that deal, it collapsed after jet fuel skyrocketed in price. That matters because it means there's even fewer options available for budget travelers.

No wonder we've seen such a significant increase in the cost of airlines for travelers. The August inflation report showed that airfare has surged by 23 percent year over year. That's more than six times the overall rate of inflation.

So, bottom line, this is just one more example of how the war in the Middle East is making life here in the U.S. even more expensive.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: Joining us now for how we can manage this rising cost is the travel correspondent for "The Telegraph," Simon Calder.

Thank you so much, first of all, for joining us, because it's always good to have some advice here when we see these prices rising. And as you heard our reporter there just speaking, saying that some of these budget flights are going to be cut completely by these airliners.

How are airlines responding to rising fuel costs, and how can we as consumers manage that?

SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, THE TELEGRAPH: Well, it's very difficult. If you are simply a budget hunter, and certainly in the E.U., in Europe, people have got used to the idea of extremely low fares, then, well, I'm afraid this winter is not going to be as profitable.

As Matt Egan was saying, the airlines are simply looking at all the flights that they're operating, and certainly in the case of Ryanair, which is the biggest low-cost airline in Europe, they are saying, actually, we are going to cut thousands of flights simply because it is cheaper for us to keep the aircraft on the ground. We will lose less money, even though we're paying, of course, for the cost of those aircraft. We'll lose less money than we will if we fly them.

There are still bargains around. So, my advice is if, for instance, you are in the U.K. and you want to fly to Spain, I'm just looking at flights tomorrow from Birmingham in central England to Santander in northern Spain. That is currently on sale for about $45. There's some good deals around also in fall, travelling between London and New York, certainly $500 round-trip.

So, there are still deals, but once the airlines get used, as we were hearing in Matt's report, to the idea that, well, they have been hedged for a lot of their fuel requirements. In other words, they bought fuel ahead at a very attractive price. Once those hedges start to unwind, they are looking at the fuel prices almost doubling. Then they are certainly going to be checking their profitability on particular routes, and it's quite enough to turn a marginally profitable route into one which is losing money.

ABDELAZIZ: So, there's still a few good deals, but as you said, time is running out because of those fuel prices. So, my question is about Christmastime. Is it better to buy ahead right now when you're saying that there might be some deals still out there, or should we wait and hope for lower prices and for gas and fuel to be cheaper?

CALDER: Christmas and New Year are the one time in the winter when the airlines know they are going to be making a fortune. And as a lot of people who have brought their flight tickets for the holiday season will know it's -- they are very often paying prices 25 percent, 30 percent, maybe even 50 percent they paid last time. And that's because demand is very strong. There isn't going to be the supply of aircraft seats because, of course, the airlines want to keep those unprofitable flights down.

(05:45:19)

And as we've seen since, because, of course, the airlines want to keep those unprofitable flights down, and as we've seen so many times, when you cut back capacity and demand remains strong, which it definitely is over Christmas and New Year, then all that happens is that prices go up. If you haven't booked yet, I would probably urge you to do so in the next day or two, but I can guarantee you're not going to be happy with the fare that you asked to pay.

ABDELAZIZ: Simon Calder there with his advice, book now for Christmas. Thank you very much for giving us those recommendations. We needed them.

CALDER: Yeah.

ABDELAZIZ: It's been a wet weekend for many parts of the U.S., especially in the Midwest and Northeast, where potential flash flooding is expected. CNN Meteorologist Chris Warren breaks down the forecast and explains what you can expect ahead into the new week.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Sunday starting off much like Saturday morning began in Chicago, with more rain and the potential for so much rain, excessive rainfall, there could be some flash flooding. And this is very similar to what Saturday's radar looks like. This is the future radar.

The yellow, orange, and red is the heaviest rain that's expected. This is a reasonable idea of what the radar could look like through time. So, where the rain could be. 5:30 in the morning on Sunday, still wet through parts of Indiana, Ohio, and then more rain moving into the Northeast, falling on already very wet soil.

It won't take a ton of rain to lead to some areas where there's going to be some localized flooding and more showers and storms. This is Sunday afternoon. It's going to be wet for a lot of NFL football games in the Northeast and storms, possibly at times with some damaging winds going into Sunday evening.

And round after round of showers and storms will be happening for the rest of the weekend and into the first part of the week. Similar to what happened last week, this is all the rain from this past week. And really I'm showing this because you can kind of see the pattern here. These storms have been riding up and over that heat dome here. It was day after day, round after round of storms. This area of high pressure, the sinking air, keeping the clouds from forming, because clouds form when air rises, with high pressure, air sinks.

So, this is just absolutely baking much of the South. And with that, not just temperatures above average by about 10 degrees, but record- breaking temperatures. A possibility in each one of these dots is where that could happen by the end of the weekend. So, football games, being outdoors in the heat, take all the precautions you can. It wears on you. It's a tough one out there. So, another hot weekend. Still, fall does not seem like it's in sight.

ABDELAZIZ: Still to come this hour, baboons are roaming neighborhoods in Cape Town, South Africa, raising concerns about public safety. The controversial plan to address the city's primate problem right after this break.

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[05:52:10]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. Troops of baboons are roaming neighborhoods in Cape Town, South Africa. They're damaging property and causing residents to fear for their safety.

CNN's Larry Madowo explains a controversial plan to address this problem.

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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cape Town residents are taking notice of a growing controversy over baboons and what to do about them. Troops of baboons are roaming the streets, raiding homes and riling up residents.

These chacma baboons are Southern Africa's largest monkey species. And as the city expands conflict between baboons and residents has grown. And now the city has a plan to solve their primate problem: permanently cage around 60 of the animals as an alternative to culling.

GREGG OELOFSE, CAPE PENINSULA BABOON MANAGEMENT JOINT TASK TEAM: And then we're left with two very difficult decisions. We could either cull the troops, which is arguably the ecological solution, or we could find a space that we could set up an urban wildlife center and allow those animals in those troops to live out their lives in a high standard of care, with a quality of environment.

MADOWO (voice-over): But that plan has sparked an outcry and fierce debate.

Should baboons, that have adapted to city life, be confined or should people find a way to co-exist with them?

Sue-Anne Norton says she regularly feeds fruit to baboons that visit her home.

SUE-ANNE NORTON, CAPE TOWN RESIDENT: They're not dangerous. They are -- they treat you as you treat them. If you treat them with anger and force, they come back at you with force. If you treat them like a pet, like a cat or a dog, like I treat them, then we live together in the, you know, in harmony.

MADOWO (voice-over): City officials say the baboons will be better off if they're confined.

BONGANI MNISI, CAPE PENINSULA BABOON MANAGEMENT JOINT TASK TEAM: These are not wild baboons anymore. They live in an urban area. And what they are getting, whether we agree or disagree, they are going to live their lives better for 30 years.

MADOWO (voice-over): Animal welfare groups say the root of the problem isn't the baboons. It's urban encroachment. They argue residents need to do more to secure their homes, protect trash and eliminate easy access to food.

CHAD CUPIDO, EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BEAUTY WITHOUT CRUELTY OF SOUTH AFRICA: If you are living in an area where there is wildlife, then you need to live and co-exist with the wildlife.

MADOWO (voice-over): With the residents now taking to the streets in protest, the battle over Cape Town's baboons comes down to one question.

Can people and wildlife learn to share the city or will one have to make way for the other?

Larry Madowo, CNN.

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ABDELAZIZ: Here's something you don't normally see at a military event. Puppies, these pups are in training to become police dogs in Chile and made their debut at a parade in Santiago. Chile has 26 puppies in training, including German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and golden retrievers.

[05:55:09]

When they graduate, they'll try to sniff out drugs and help police maintain order. And people sure like posing for pictures with them.

Now, New York Fashion Week may be over, but some of the city's pups turned a midtown park into their own runway. The dogs and their owners filled Bryant Park for the annual Paws on Parade. Fashionable fur babies traded their leashes for pearl necklaces and sequined jackets to the delight of crowds of dog lovers, it is now in its fourth year, and the event brings together New Yorkers and their pets outside of the dog park. And organizers say it was a howling success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTOPHER BROMSON, CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AKC MUSEUM OF THE DOG: The energy here is just incredible, as it always is when you have so many people who love dogs in one place. This is the fourth time we've come together for Paws on Parade in partnership with Bryant Park, and we really just couldn't ask for a better day, a better vibe, and a better community of dog lovers than we have here in New York City.

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ABDELAZIZ: Oktoberfest is officially underway in Germany. Munich's mayor kicked off the 16-day event by performing the traditional hammer strike to open the first keg of many for the world's biggest beer festival.

Organizers estimated 6.5 million people attended last year's Oktoberfest, consuming more than 6.5 million liters of beer. The first Oktoberfest was held more than 200 years ago to celebrate the marriage of the Crown Prince of Bavaria.

Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. For our viewers in North America, "CNN This Morning" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "Answering Tomorrow."

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