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Dozens Quarantined After Death of Russian Plague Lab Worker's Death; Israel's Ben Gurion Airport Was Flydubai Suspect's Likely Target; 25 Passengers, Seven Crew Killed in Military Plane Crash in Nigeria; Students Protest as Cornell Faculty Weigh No-Confidence Vote; Anthropic Expected to Offer IPO Despite A.I. Slowdown Calls; Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel Win Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Their Work in Optogenetics; Messi to Make Final Appearance for Argentina Tuesday; New York Zoo Welcomes New Snow Leopard Cub. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 06, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:32]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, Yemeni government forces have recaptured territory from the rebel Houthis. We will tell you more about the operation.

Fiery clashes in Spain as protesters take to the streets for another day after Pedro Sanchez calls for snap elections to address the housing crisis.

A Russian researcher has died of the plague, and the U.S. government is encouraging greater transparency from the country and seeking to ease fears at home.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces claim to have retaken key positions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Iran-backed Houthis. Yemen's military spokesperson says government forces have succeeded in controlling the Strait, which has become a vital alternate route since the Iran war severely disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthi-controlled media denies reports that Yemeni and Saudi-led forces are advancing.

Yemen's military also claims it has regained control of a key road leading to the port town of Mocha. CNN has not independently verified any of these claims, but if successful, the offensive would loosen the Houthi's grip along the Red Sea coast.

Officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan convened on Monday for an emergency meeting, where they agreed to deploy military resources to Saudi Arabia as part of the Mecca Defense Pact.

Well, joining us live from London is Farea Al-Muslimi, associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. Good to have you with us.

FAREA AL-MUSLIMI, FELLOW AT THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: Of course. So, what more are you learning about Yemeni government forces claiming Monday to have retaken key positions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as they launch a renewed campaign to roll back recent territorial gains made by the Houthis?

AL-MUSLIMI: I think this was not a difficult military anyway come back, and it's still limited to places, as you said, near Bab el- Mandeb, not in Bab el-Mandeb, not in al-Makha, as it claims. These are geographically areas in which air force actually can make a difference because it's an open coverage.

But as a matter of fact, what happened a few weeks ago remains a big defeat and humiliation to the Yemeni government, and unless they make a significant difference in a different front line unto the Houthis, that's I think very hard defeat to sugarcoat, despite the pushback they made last night.

Either way, this was not a surprising attack by the Houthis. But what was extremely surprising is how quick these forces collapsed and how uncoordinated they seemed between them.

Regardless of what their pushback yesterday, I think we are now at the edge of a new full-scale war in Yemen, as you said in your introduction, in which further regional and international actors are getting involved in.

CHURCH: And you recently wrote about the significance of the Houthis capturing the city of Mocha on September 14th, saying it transformed the war in Yemen and the geopolitics of the Red Sea and changed the war in Yemen, so now that appears to have been reversed.

But how was it even possible for the Houthis in the first place to achieve that territorial win over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with so little resistance?

AL-MUSLIMI: Apparently, the Houthis were well coordinated, but also let's never forget they actually ultimately inherited the Yemeni military since 2015. Their opponents are a bunch of public resistance forces that have been trying to come together and become an army for the last 10 years. But 10 years is not that old in the life of an army, and does not necessarily make it a military that's functioning.

But at the same time, I think what they have done right now, as you said, we have seen it the last few minutes, is an attempt of activation of the Mecca agreement, and that's I think also the new factor in this war.

There has been a war in the past between those troops and the Houthis, between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, but right now we have further Arab and international actors such as Pakistan and Turkey getting involved in this war, and I think that will actually probably make a more military difference in the battle. But I think it will make it much more bloody and regionalized war than it has been at the moment.

[02:05:23]

CHURCH: And you have also called for a more coherent international approach to Yemen. What do you mean by that, and why isn't that already happening?

AL-MUSLIMI: So far, the international community have dealt with Yemen via drones, sanctions, and sometimes air strikes or humanitarian aid, and sometimes envoys. This basket of envoys, sanctions, drones, and airstrikes have not necessarily functioned for many reasons, because mostly it was not coordinated. Sometimes you had an international attention to Yemen, like in 2011, 2015, but it was not the GCC attention. Sometimes you had an attention of a humanitarian work in Yemen between 2015 to 2022, but it was not an attention about Yemen, and it was a humanitarian lens as well.

Then, post October 7th, you had more attention on Yemen, but it was about the Red Sea. It was about the shipments. It was about Gaza. It was never about Yemen itself and how to contain, how to manage the escalation of war that has been in Yemen.

The problem, especially from a political science point of view and from a public policy point of view, is not a bad policy because you can always change a bad policy. You can rethink it and at least you can stop it.

But rather, what's really bad is the lack of policy. And I think that's what I mean is the international community, the regional actors, the multilateral system, Yemen's never specifically the GCC did not have a coherent policy to start with, and that's something really extremely difficult to go through. In my opinion, it's worse than having a bad policy, is to not have a policy or not to have a coherent one.

CHURCH: Thank you, Farea Al-Muslimi for joining us and, of course, sharing your perspective and analysis on this issue. Appreciate it.

AL-MUSLIMI: Pleasure.

CHURCH: Well, with only four weeks left until the U.S. midterm elections, President Trump is in the middle of a multi-state blitz to rally supporters as the map of battleground states shows Democrats running strong, even in red states.

At a stop in Nebraska, the president tried to show voters that he's doing something to relieve the economic pain they're feeling from his war with Iran. He signed an executive order aimed at bringing down the near record prices on diesel fuel. President Trump also repeated promises that he's made multiple times but has yet to deliver on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're kicking Iran's ass. You do know that, right? It's going to end one way or the other. It's going to end very soon, and your prices are going to come tumbling. All of your prices have been tumbling down.

But it'll end very quickly, and prices are going to come down very sharply. You might say, please, please, sir, it's going down too fast. You watch, you watch what's going to happen in a very short period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now is Rana Foroohar, CNN global economic analyst and author of the new book Sea Change: America's New Great Game in the Arctic. Good to have you with us.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Great to be here.

CHURCH: So, we do want to talk about your new book in just a moment. But first, with the midterm elections less than a month away, polls are showing voters losing confidence in the U.S. president's ability to run the economy and keep the cost of living down, despite Trump's own team insisting over the weekend that the economy is booming, so is it actually booming, or is there real pain being felt in America due to the affordability issue?

FOROOHAR: Well, 100 percent there's an affordability crisis, and that's been in play for a couple of years now. You know, the U.S. had the strongest recovery in a developed world coming out of the COVID era, but frankly, the president's trade wars, the debt and deficit pictures, and now what's happening in Iran, and the result to oil prices through the Strait of Hormuz, that is -- that is a big deal. I mean, you can see the price of gas going up. That's the one price that most Americans see every single day in front of them, you can feel it when you're in the grocery store. You can certainly feel it in home prices.

So, you know, whatever the president may say in terms of the P.R., you know average Americans feel very much that the economy is in a rough place right now.

CHURCH: Yes, I mean as you point out, gas and grocery prices have skyrocketed since the start of the U.S. war with Iran, and that's not going to change, of course, until the war ends. How much worse do you think the U.S. economy and indeed the global economy will get whilst ever that war continues?

[02:10:09]

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, one thing that's very interesting, particularly in advance of the midterms, is that a foreign policy issue, in this case, Iran has become, I think, the preeminent voting issue. I've spent time in swing states, in red states, in the run-up to this election, and what I'm hearing is, even MAGA supporters are saying, you know, this war isn't what we signed up for. We were told that this was going to be an easy win; it was going to be done quickly. It's not. In fact, Iran has taken the high ground literally in Hormuz, and I think that what we're seeing is a permanent change to really midterm energy prices.

You know, you may see them go up and down a little bit, but they are not going down to where they were before Trump started his second term, and that is something that is just very very hard to talk away. And I think it is going to show up at the ballot box.

CHURCH: Right, of course, in 2024, Joe Biden tried to tell Americans that the economy was doing well, even as they were hurting, and we know how that turned out for him. So, while these are only the midterm elections, poll numbers are not looking good for Republicans. So, how possible is it for Trump to turn things around without an end to the Iran war?

FOROOHAR: I think, honestly, less than 10 percent chance. Because if you think about what really makes people feel inflation, it's food, it's fuel. I mean, a lot of other things you can cut out, but fuel prices in particular go into everything.

If you look at what's happening in agricultural states, for example, you know you're seeing headline inflation. You know maybe you know three percent or so, but you know you could see 6 percent in diesel prices. You could see a lot higher when you factor in the inputs to fertilizer, which is something that's needed for crops.

So, you know, a lot of the places that Trump needs, that the Republicans need, are exactly the places where inflation is really showing up and hitting hardest. And I think again that that's just going to be very difficult to talk away.

CHURCH: Indeed, so Rana, let's turn now to your new book, Sea Change: America's New Great Game in the Arctic. You actually traveled to the Arctic region to research and write this book. Tell us about that experience and what you set out to do.

FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I wanted to look at the Arctic because I think that with global warming and new transit routes opening up, it is just going to become a really big hot spot. We were talking a little bit about the choke point of the Strait of Hormuz. Well, one of the ways that the Chinese and Russians, for example, are getting around that is by sending icebreakers through transpolar routes for energy shipments and commerce shipments.

America has only one icebreaker. It's got three total in the Arctic, but really only one, the Healy that that operates nonstop, and actually it just had mechanical issues a couple of weeks ago. So that means that the U.S. is facing, you know, not being able to show presence in the Arctic at a time when there is more security issues there. There are -- there are -- there's a race for natural resources, and really it's the hot zone for a new great game between the U.S. and China, one that is going to rope in other countries, and I think be very reflective of a new, more 19th century paradigm where you see ongoing conflict in many parts of the world, other proxy nations being roped in: Finland, Denmark, Greenland, Canada. But you know you could take what's happening in the Arctic and

translate it to the U.S.-China conflict in Latin America or to what's happening in the South China Sea.

So, I think it's very emblematic of a world in which all boats are not rising. It's not business as usual, but we are in a new great game with spheres of influence, and it's happening in America's backyard.

CHURCH: A fascinating issue and a great read. Rana Fordohar, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

FOROOHAR: Thank you. Really appreciate it.

CHURCH: We turn now to Spain, where clashes broke out in Barcelona following a mass protest demanding housing reform. The unrest comes after Parliament rejected emergency housing decrees last week. Now Spain's prime minister has called a snap election, hoping to secure a broader majority in parliament. CNN's Pau Mosquera has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After two days of deliberation, the much-anticipated outcome.

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I have decided to convene an extraordinary cabinet meeting this very morning to dissolve the Spanish Parliament and call a general election to be held on Sunday, November 29.

MOSQUERA (voice-over): Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez cornered, forced into the decision after right-wing parties in Parliament struck down a last-ditch effort on Friday to tackle the country's housing emergency. The face of that crisis is Maria del Carmen Abascal, or just Maricarmen, as she's known across Spain. An investment fund both her flat, more than quadrupled her rent, and at 87, Maricarmen was kicked out from the place she called home for more than 70 years.

[02:15:18]

For many, after years of price hikes and rent rises, that was the final straw. Sanchez hoping to capitalize on the anger and frustration over a housing crisis, the measures he tried to pass, and the economy where his party has done well. That would shift the gaze away from the corruption scandals that have plagued some of his close allies, and migration, which exploded this summer when thousands streamed across the border in Spain's northern Africa exclave of Ceuta. But it's still a gamble. He trails the center-right Popular Party in opinion polls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Finally, finally, Spain will speak its mind.

MOSQUERA (voice-over): And one crisis after another has left the far- right box party as potential kingmakers.

SANTIAGO ABASCAL, LEADER OF VOX PARTY (through translator): We must reverse the migrant influx, which is having so many negative consequences for Spaniards' pockets.

MOSQUERA: But for those who have been camping here at the heart of Madrid, it's been a bit of a mixed feeling. Some do like Sanchez, others would prefer a new leadership. But what everyone really wants is a quick solution to housing emergency, and with this election, that feels a long way off.

Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The French government is calling for calm as students prepare for a nationwide day of protest on Tuesday. A local newspaper reports one teenager lost his hand and part of his arm Monday after picking up a police dispersal grenade that detonated. It's the third week students have been demonstrating against teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and rundown schools.

More than 4,000 teenagers have been arrested since the protests began. Students say the protests will continue until the government meets their demands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Today, we're here trying to demonstrate in support of all public high schools, the ones with fewer resources, the ones that are disadvantaged. We here are privileged. We have more resources. We still have our share of problems. We're trying to show that we're here too to support everyone in disadvantaged communities, the suburbs, and so on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Angry demonstrations are breaking out in Kosovo's capital after the country's parliament failed to advance legislation meant to curb the powers of a war crimes court in The Hague, protesters are demanding the immediate passage of the law, which would reduce sentences for crimes committed during the war for independence from Serbia in the 1990s.

On Monday, crowds clashed with police outside government buildings in Pristina.

Unrest has been building in the week since the Hague-based court convicted former President Hashim Thaci and three others of war crimes, including murder and torture. Thaci is a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army and is respected by many ethnic Albanians for his role in the war. Lawmakers and protesters denounce the verdict as unjust, while Serbia says it's too lenient.

Well, there's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. North Korean troops fighting for Russia face severe consequences if they're captured. CNN speaks to one North Korean defector about the deadly methods they're taking to avoid it.

And a new survey of software developers shows an unexpected resistance to A.I. What their growing concerns could mean for other industries, that's later this hour.

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[02:23:40]

CHURCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears to be following through on his plans to escalate attacks on Russian oil refineries. Earlier, an oil depot near Moscow was engulfed in flames after Ukraine reportedly launched about 650 drones towards the region overnight. And this comes as Russia continues to strike Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv, the regional governor says three bombs hit different parts of the city on Monday, killing at least five people and injuring more than 50 others. A garment workshop seen here was among the buildings struck.

And there's another disturbing development from the war. South Korean intelligence says North Korean troops fighting for Russia have been ordered to kill themselves to avoid the shame of being captured. CNN's Will Ripley has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): South Korean intelligence says North Korean troops have explicit orders to kill themselves to avoid capture, they say at least one soldier even shouted General Kim Jong Un before pulling a grenade.

THAE YONG HO, FORMER SENIOR NORTH KOREAN DIPLOMAT: All the people in North Korea are brainwashed.

RIPLEY (voice-over): One of Pyongyang's highest-profile defectors says when North Korean soldiers die fighting for Russia, their leader praises them as heroes. Doors open for the soldiers' grieving families. Brand new apartments on a special street in Pyongyang. Their children promised places in elite revolutionary schools, a path to privileged jobs.

[02:25:19]

HO: The social status of your family would be upgraded to a kind of, you know, elite or ruling class. Your house, your parents would be moved from countryside, very remote area to the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang.

RIPLEY (voice-over): But North Korea's former deputy U.K. ambassador Thae Yong Ho says if a soldier is captured alive, like these two carried out of Russia's Kursk region last year, the consequences can be reversed.

HO: There would be a very heavy punishment. Their social status would be downgraded.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Of the thousands of North Koreans sent to fight for Russia, only two are known to have been captured alive in Ukrainian captivity. With their identities concealed, they told CNN affiliate NBC, I don't know if my mom is alive. I worry she could be in trouble because of me. If I had a hand grenade, I could have killed myself and not become a POW.

Seoul's National Intelligence Service says they decided to go to South Korea, arriving by their own free will earlier this month.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: These guys are not easy to capture alive.

RIPLEY (voice-over): South Korea was shocked when Ukraine's president revealed the transfer at the U.N. Seoul wanted to keep it secret, in part to protect the soldiers and their families. But Ukraine says there was no confidentiality agreement.

HO: I am protected by South Korean broadcast 24 hours.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Thae defected with his wife and two sons. I met the brother and sister he left behind in Pyongyang in what they called a voluntary interview, they disowned him.

RIPLEY: In South Korea, Thae said that he did this to break the slavery chain.

RIPLEY (voice-over): 100 percent evil propaganda, his sister told me. Thae feared his family was being forced to speak against him.

His brother said, If I don't wash this sin away by myself, my sons and future generations will have to work harder to pay for this.

Now, Thae says Ukraine should target North Korean troops with leaflets and loudspeakers, telling them they don't have to die.

HO: They are very young, in early 20s. They have a very bright future.

RIPLEY (voice-over): But Ukraine says thousands more may soon be headed to battle in the name of their leader.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The World Health Organization says it is seeking answers from Russian health authorities about the death of a worker at a plague research lab, but they say public health risk appears to be low based on the information currently available. Local media have identified the researcher as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova. Russia's infectious disease agency says she died last week after being diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown origin. The specific cause of Shipilova's death has not been reported or confirmed, and Russian officials say they found no evidence linking her death to her work as a plague researcher.

The U.S. State Department says it is monitoring the situation and urging Russian officials to, "Share accurate information quickly and openly."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously. But like anything else, something like that gets out, it could quickly spread. So, we're watching and monitoring it closely. I don't think it's cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause to just keep an eye on it. And we're doing that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia is facing a possible plague scare, and all of this comes after a 28-year- old female lab worker working at a lab dedicated to combating the plague died of what Russian authorities call pneumonia with an unknown cause.

Now, the Russian agency for combating infectious diseases is cautioning and saying it's completely unclear whether or not this lab worker died of the plague. In fact, in a statement, they say, "No microorganisms associated with the employee's professional duties were detected in samples taken from the patient."

However, the governor of the neighboring province did say that possibly the patient died of the plague, and the head of Russia's Agency for Infectious Diseases also rushed down to that region.

The Russians have also started what they call anti-epidemic measures. That includes first and foremost quarantines, and that means isolating people who had contact with this patient. They also say that they've essentially shut down the hospital where the patient died, and that as of right now, inpatients in that hospital are not being allowed out, and of course, no new patients are being admitted to that hospital. Some other hospitals in that area, apparently also in a state of quarantine.

[02:30:00]

Now, the Kremlin also has commented on all of this. They said they didn't want to say too much, but they did caution against believing what they call rumors and speculation. And the World Health Organization says they believe, as of right now, the risk of all this spreading and becoming a bigger problem is low.

Nevertheless, folks that CNN spoke to in that region said they were somewhat uneasy.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

CHURCH: Still ahead on this hour of "CNN newsroom," we are learning more about the Flydubai co-pilot accused of attempting to hijack the plane. We'll have more on what was his likely target, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:35:27]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, sources tell CNN the co-pilot accused of trying to hijack a Flydubai flight last week was likely targeting Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. We're also learning from a regional diplomatic source that Flydubai did not reach out to his previous employer, Oman Air, before hiring him.

CNN's Tamara Qiblawi did a deep dive into the suspect's social media, which portrays a man with disturbing and extremist views. A warning, some of the images you're about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (voice-over): CNN has exclusive video that may give us insight into the mindset of the co-pilot who, sources say, allegedly tried to down a Flydubai plane en route to Israel. Hammam al-Hammami, whose views were so extreme, two sources said, that he was removed from a position with Oman Air before joining Flydubai.

Hammami appeared to have posted two videos to his now-deleted LinkedIn and Instagram pages on the day he allegedly attacked the captain with an axe.

The first post is a compilation of videos showing multiple planes belonging to El Al, Israel's national carrier, both on the tarmac and in the sky. We geolocated one to Dubai. It was filmed in 2023 from inside the cockpit of an Oman Air flight from Dubai to Muscat.

You can see here that date and flight number tracks with Hammami's time at Oman Air. The video ends with a tribute to al-Qaeda's former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's successor, as well as to a suicide bomber who killed nine people at a CIA outpost in Afghanistan in 2009.

The second video he posted is A.I.-generated, showing Islam's three holiest sites from the sky. The videos appeared on LinkedIn and Instagram nearly nine hours after the incident, well after Hammami was detained. We don't know if the posts were scheduled in advance or if they were published by someone else.

CNN has reached out to LinkedIn and Meta for comment.

We looked at earlier posts, more than 3,000 tweets from a deleted account bearing his name. They were published between 2021 and 2022. These portray a murkier mindset, one obsessed with women. Nearly half the posts reference women, including this one. The post brags about putting women through, quote/unquote, "slut tests."

In other posts, he refers to them as, quote/unquote, "banging machines."

QIBLAWI: Now, it's still too early to tell what the possible motives were, but the findings raise many questions. Namely, how did Hammam al-Hammami pass his security checks? And how did he end up flying a plane on one of the world's most sensitive routes?

QIBLAWI (voice-over): These are questions security officials in the region will be asking as they try to understand what happened.

Tamar Qiblawi, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Search and rescue teams have been deployed after a military plane crashed in Nigeria. The jet was flying from Benin City to Lagos when air traffic control lost contact Monday. Officials say all 25 passengers and seven crew members on board were killed. The accident is one of the deadliest air disasters in Nigeria in recent years.

Students and faculty at Cornell University are demanding change over the school's handling of an alleged gang rape by several fraternity members in 2024. Members of Cornell's Faculty Senate are introducing a resolution to take a vote of no confidence against the school's administration.

CNN has reached out to Cornell for comment on that. Meanwhile, protesters rallied on campus Monday chanting "shame" and "resign" in reference to university administrators. And a seven-hour sit-in is planned for Wednesday in solidarity with the alleged victim.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino has the latest on the renewed criminal investigation in this case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another bombshell in the investigation of an alleged sexual assault at a Cornell University fraternity house two years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want me to give my recollection of the entire night?

PAZMINO (voice-over): New audio obtained by ABC News reveals a phone call between Jane Doe and the fraternity member that she says invited her to the house the night of her alleged assault three weeks earlier.

[02:40:00]

ABC reports that Doe secretly recorded the call, in which she asked the other student for details of the night.

If I just know what happened, then I can feel a little bit better and move on and maybe be able to stay at this school. She tells him according to a recording of the call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you come in, say hi. We start dancing for like maybe three to five minutes. And then I pop the question. You say yes. Then I remember, like, we didn't know who else to bring. So I go up to [Redacted] who was on the dance floor too, and I pop the question. And he's like, yo. And then we go upstairs.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Jane Doe's lawyer has said that she was blacked out during portions of the alleged assault.

According to ABC, she asked on the call how she ended up in a threesome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did tell me you were sober, by the way. You did. You said you hadn't been anywhere.

PAZMINO (voice-over): ABC does not use Jane Doe's voice in the clips it has released, but says she responded, that is not true. I never would have said that.

Documents reviewed by CNN show Cornell University campus police drafted letters seeking records from Verizon and T-Mobile just one week after Jane Doe reported her assault. It's unclear if investigators sent the request and whether the Tompkins County District Attorney, Matthew Van Houten, was aware of them.

THOMAS GIUFFRA, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: If this was a normal investigation that was done in New York City, for example, they would have gotten search warrants. They would have grabbed every single one of these phones of these guys. There were videos. And you know where I think those photos and videos are now? I think they're in the bottom of Lake Cuyahoga, because once they knew there was a problem, they cleared everything out and they got rid of it.

And the fact is that the investigators let that happen.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Doe's attorney has said two of the men named in the lawsuit were expelled from the school. ABC is also reporting this Cornell University Police Department bodycam footage from November 2024, when police told one of the suspended students that he was no longer welcome on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look at that. Per the temporary suspension, he is barred from any of the grounds owned, operated or maintained by Cornell University.

LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: The governor has entrusted my office with this investigation.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Today, an attorney representing one of the students is calling on New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, to recuse herself as special prosecutor based on a social media post from days earlier, where James expressed support for the alleged victim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we have much more coming up on the show. An A.I. company gets ready to go public, even as its own filing warns about the risks of its technology. We'll take a look at that on the other side of the break, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:47:23] CHURCH: Wall Street is gearing up for Anthropic's massive expected initial public offering in what will be a major test of investor appetite for one of the A.I. industry's leading firms. The Wall Street Journal reports the highly anticipated IPO could debut as soon as November, adding the public sale could value the company at around $2 trillion.

The plans come as the company's CEO, Dario Amodei, has called in recent weeks for an industry-wide slowdown over growing safety concerns. And the company's own prospectus, obtained by Reuters, warns its A.I. model could potentially cause an existential risk to humanity. Meanwhile, the outlook for potential IPOs has grown complicated, with interest rates, bond yields and borrowing costs all on the rise.

Some companies, including Anthropic's main rival, OpenAI, have recently announced plans to delay their IPOs. The New York City Council held a landmark hearing on artificial intelligence safety on Monday as local governments start to consider imposing their own safeguards on the technology. Representatives from OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic testified under oath, along with a number of whistleblowers, including former A.I. researchers who recently left their companies.

Council members are considering a series of bills that would establish A.I. safeguards, but some say they didn't learn much from the testimony.

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MORGAN DWYER, OPENAI HEAD OF POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONS: I don't know. I also don't think it matters whether it's one percent or 10 percent or a 20 percent chance that something catastrophic will go wrong. None of these levels is remotely acceptable. We should not train models that we cannot make an extremely strong case that we can keep under human control.

JULIE MENIN, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER: I'm sorry, but to say you don't know and it doesn't matter is flippant at best.

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CHURCH: A new survey suggests some software developers are becoming wary of artificial intelligence and they're avoiding using A.I. tools in their work. CNN Tech Editor, Lisa Eadicicco looks at what's driving that resistance and what it could signal for other industries.

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: A.I. has been widely adopted among software developers, but not all of them are happy using it. Software developers that spoke with CNN, in addition to a new survey, indicate that some developers are trying to shy away from the technology.

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The new survey from question-and-answer site, Stack Overflow, indicates that six in 10 respondents try to avoid using A.I. in their work. And this is based on 30,000 respondents from the company's survey. And it also indicates that one in three respondents aren't happy with their current job.

Now, there are quite a few factors at play here from economic uncertainty to, you know, a lack of clarity about upward mobility in their roles, burnout, tech fatigue, a lot of factors that would probably exist regardless of A.I. But I spoke with the CEO of Stack Overflow, who also said that a lot of these anxieties are likely being amplified by A.I.

And on top of that, I've spoken with developers that say that the technology just isn't always as intelligent or useful as it needs to be to really help them with their work. And there's also this concern that if software developers aren't doing the actual coding themselves, they might lose some of that institutional knowledge that helps them really understand the ins and outs of these tech systems that they're working on and the knowledge that they need to do this broader part of their job that A.I. can't do.

And that raises a lot of questions about also entry-level workers that are likely being pressured to use more A.I. in their roles as they're searching for their first jobs. Now, I know this is just one survey, and software developers are a very specific field, but this is the first field, or one of the first fields to really have their day-to- day work radically reshaped by A.I.

So I think it's interesting and important to follow potentially as an indication of some of the challenges and frictions that those in other fields might encounter as they adopt A.I. more broadly. Back to you.

CHURCH: All right. Coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," a breakthrough that could change how scientists study the brain wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. We will hear all about the latest Nobel laureates and their incredible work. That's after the next break. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Stanford Professor, Karl Deisseroth was greeted with hugs, cheers, and champagne by members of his lab after winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shares the prize with German scientists, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, for their work in optogenetics, a technique that uses light to help scientists map and control specific nerves in the brain.

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Their work helps scientists understand how the brain functions and could advance research into neurological and psychiatric disorders. The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace will be announced later this week.

Well, scientists say they may have found a new type of planet. Most planets form alongside the stars they orbit, but researchers say this possible planet may have formed from material released after its host star died, making it a possible second-generation planet. Scientists say more work is needed to confirm whether it is a planet.

Well, bidding has started on a piece of modern history, a rare Apple-1 computer. It was Apple's first product and sold as an assembled circuit board. Buyers had to get their own monitor, keyboard, power supply and case. This computer is signed by Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, and comes with a letter signed by Steve Jobs. It's expected to sell for between $500,000 and $800,000.

Well, it is one last tango for the greatest of all time. In the day ahead, Lionel Messi will make his final appearance for Argentina at, where else, Buenos Aires Monumental Stadium. That final whistle will mark the end of an international career spanning more than two decades and the beginning of the post-Messi era in one of the world's most beloved sport.

Messi's tenure with Argentina's national team has not always been easy, but the little boy from Rosario won the heart of his country and his fans forever more when he brought home the World Cup trophy in 2022 after nearly a four-decade drought.

Here's what one fan is saying.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I have the joy of living in this incredible country and of being able to have Messi closer. I don't know how to tell you. I think I'm going to cry. I don't know. Singing the anthem, as soon as he comes out to warm up, it's going to be incredible. And well, knowing that I'm not going to see him again, maybe never again, unless he goes to the United States, and I'll see him playing in Miami.

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CHURCH: There's a new furry face at the Bronx Zoo in New York. Meet Sarka, a four-month-old snow leopard that's now on view with mama. Zoo officials say she's curious and loves to jump around her new habitat. But as an only cub, she stays close to her mom.

Sarka is part of a breeding program to help keep the zoo's snow leopard population genetically diverse. Only 5,000 to 7.000 snow leopards are left in the wild.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade is next, after a short break. Do stay with us.

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