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CNN International: Student-Led Movement Topples Serbia's Longtime Ruling Party; French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Launches Pres. Bid. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 26, 2026 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR: One Trump appointed judge remarked that federal laws banning non-citizens from voting don't automatically give the Justice Department authority to dictate how California conducts its elections. The court says it will rule on the Justice Department's request as quickly as possible.

After 14 years in power, Serbia's right-wing leader Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat following Sunday's snap parliamentary elections. Tension and concern gave way to cheers and fireworks in Belgrade when it became clear the student-led opposition movement would succeed in ousting the Serbian Progressive Party.

Vucic, who had been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, he blamed the media, alleged interference by unnamed European countries, and "American deep state" for his loss. The student-led opposition spent two years working for this moment.

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MILA, LAW STUDENT: We are surprised. We didn't know this will happen. It's literally a miracle, and thank God everything will be OK. And now the Serbia is free.

FILIP, VOTER: Unreal! This is like a dream. I don't know how else to describe it. Like I have a feeling I need to wake up and go to work, but it's not. It's reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: To France now, where far-right leader Marine Le Pen has officially launched her presidential campaign. Her announcement comes the day after protesters marched in cities across France, denouncing high living costs, inequality, and a lack of government investment in education. Le Pen is promising to restore security with zero tolerance policing, a crackdown on crime and immigration, and stricter border controls.

More than 400,000 people took part in Saturday's protests in France, which were largely peaceful. Still, some clashes broke out. CNN's Melissa Bell has the details.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More than a thousand people were taken into custody here in France after the latest protests on Saturday. That is half the amount of those we saw taken into custody last week, when those particularly violent clashes had seen so much looting and difficulty, chaos in so many parts of the country.

This time, French authorities deploying some 70,000 security forces and banning some of the protests. There has been a week of curfews in some cities. The banning of protests, some of the protests on Saturday, only those organized by the unions were allowed, and even they were rerouted to the sort of periphery of Paris.

This appears to have worked. There were clashes and tear gas at the end of the protests in several French cities, but nothing like what we'd seen on the 17th. Also, this weekend in Orleans, the French far- right, the National Rally Party, began, launched its campaign for the presidential election in six months' time. Marine Le Pen vowing renewal, but even that was interrupted when so many counter protests had taken place in the city over the course of the weekend to protest the national rally, some of those protesters managed to get inside, even while Jordan Bardella was making his speech.

He's the president of the party and was also being revoted as the president of the party, and that really signals the beginning of a six-month political campaign that is likely to be particularly chaotic. The movement here in France, the protest movement, feeding both the far-right on security issues and the far left in terms of their fundamental demands for change and more social justice.

That fight against the high cost of living, accusations from both the far left and the far-right that the French government simply hasn't done enough. For now, the Yellow Vests are calling for more protests, as are unions. There'll be a Yellow Vest protest this Friday outside Parliament where they'll bang saucepans. There will be another protest Saturday, and another protest the week after.

The question whether the authorities can continue to keep those protests under better control than they did last week. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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WATSON: Now, amid this political turmoil, thousands of American football fans turned out in Paris on Sunday, as the NFL hosted a regular season game that some worried might be ruined by those massive protests in the French capital. The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New Orleans Saints 16 to 10 at the Stade de France, and CNN's Paris Bureau Chief Saskya Vandoorne talked to some fans who say they had a great time.

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SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: After weeks of uncertainty over whether this game would even go ahead, the NFL has now made history in Paris today, and the atmosphere inside and outside the Stade de France was incredible.

The singing, the joy, the bejeweled outfits. Some French fans said that it was a welcome break from the chaos and the unrest that has been dominating France for over a month or so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's actually really cool is that to have the game during this weekend as a sort of a break for everything that's been going on, all the tensions, and yeah, it's been -- I mean, it's been a tough week for all of us so it's a nice way to sort of have a more lighter mood, I would say.

[04:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Atmosphere was amazing. I feel like everybody got along, talked a little junk, but it was amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen many of the Steelers games back in Pittsburgh and seen them in a lot of locations, but this was awesome. We loved it, and it was a great time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The crowd was insane. The vibes were really great, and you can tell the difference between like a European match and an American game. So that was really, really cool.

VANDOORNE: There were real fears in the run-up to this game. Was it safe to bring tens of thousands of football fans to the Stade de France? Some events around the game were canceled because of security concerns. But yesterday, the French authorities really did throw everything they had at the protest. They deployed 70,000 police officers across France to ensure that the demonstrations remained peaceful, to avoid a repeat of what we witnessed on the Saturday the 17th, when we saw that widespread looting, those buildings that were set on fire.

And so even though 400,000 people took to the streets yesterday, it was all relatively calm, and so today, the NFL was able to have its big moment. Saskya Vandoorne, CNN Paris.

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WATSON: All right, there is much more to come here on CNN Newsroom. A Ukrainian city pummeled by war and blocked from outside food and supplies is about to get a brief reprieve from fighting. More on the planned ceasefire in Oleshky and the hundreds of people trapped inside.

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WATSON: Welcome back. Russian officials say a Ukrainian drone strike on the city of Belgorod killed two people and injured 13. That attack took place overnight Sunday. The regional government -- governor says cars, houses, and commercial buildings were damaged.

[04:40:00]

Another person was reported killed in a village in the region. CNN Producer Sebastian Shukla joins me now from Berlin. Sebastian, it just it sounds like Ukraine and Russia have been caught in this daily rocket -- deadly rocket duel. What is the latest on strikes, both on the Russian and Ukrainian side?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah. Good morning, Ivan. You reported on those strikes in Belgorod. What we have seen from the Russian side is an attack appears to have taken place in the central southern Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa as well, which is far away from those front lines in the Donbas.

But as you say, marks this continuing cycle of destruction, fear, and sometimes death that marks both sides of this war, both in Russia and in Ukraine. The strike in Vinnitsa, fortunately, at least for right now, does not appear to have resulted in any deaths. But at least six people have been injured. But Ivan, underlying all of the most recent turmoil that's been going on politically, as well as on the battlefield and in the skies of Ukraine, has been this issue of Starlink, run by Elon Musk, which now appears to have been resolved to some extent, but there are now questions relating to, you know, who is telling the truth here.

For Ukraine, Starlink is utterly vital for its communication services on the battlefield, and what has been happening over the last week or so is the speeds of the Ukrainian armed forces to be able to fly their interceptor drones that they have, because it is only operational inside Ukraine, have been severely limited, and it appears to have been limited because Elon Musk demanded that it was so, because he believes, as he said yesterday, that Ukraine had violated a terms of Service Agreement, and so far had then resulted in in limiting drone speeds of up to 100 miles per hour.

That is no speed at all enabled to defend your country. Those appears have now been to be restored. They're back up to full working speed. That is going to help deter any of these drones. And of course, Ivan, looking to tomorrow, we have this ceasefire that has been brokered by Melania Trump, which is going to be focused on the small city of Oleskhy, on the -- in Kherson region, on the other side of the river.

It is a town that has been stuck almost permanently in this gray zone now for months. Its residential numbers have dwindled from the you know mid-20,000s down to just the remaining 1,700 or so. We'll see exactly how this plays out. It's been brokered, as I said, by Melania, but it has been agreed to by the Ukrainians and the Russians. It will now allow for the opening of humanitarian corridors to get the people who've been stuck in Oleshky out and getting them aid from their beleaguered life. Ivan.

WATSON: All right, Sebastian Shukla monitoring events in Ukraine from Berlin. Thank you very much. So, let's talk more about the planned local ceasefire in Oleshky. Oleksandra Matviichuk is the Head of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, and she joins me now from Kyiv.

SHUKLA: No problem.

WATSON: Thank you very much. Can I ask you first about Oleshky and -- and -- and the situation in that town amid that civilian population? What are you hearing from there, how dire are conditions on the ground?

OLEKSANDRA MATVIICHUK, HEAD OF THE CENTER FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES IN UKRAINE: It's a very horrible situation. People were starving for months. They have no food to eat, no medicine to provide medical assistance. There is a problem with drinking water. I will remind that Oleshky is under Russian occupation since large-scale war started, and Russia is responsible as occupying power to provide drinking water, food, and medicine to population because of Geneva Convention.

WATSON: Do you anticipate that, if humanitarian corridors are opened, that the 1700-some-odd civilians there will -- will all take that opportunity to leave?

MATVIICHUK: I don't know how many people will take this opportunity to leave because there is always a number of people who would like to stay and to die in their - in their home. It's very obvious that people, some people, have hundreds of reasons why they want to stay at their home and not to start their new life from the scratches. But at least the vast majority of people who want to evacuate and asking and begging for this opportunity for all these months would have such opportunity.

[04:45:00]

WATSON: I want to turn to the capital, Kyiv, where you are right now, which we hear about nightly, deadly Russian attacks killing civilians there. Can you share with our viewers the reality of life under this bombardment, particularly as the weather is getting much colder and winter is approaching?

MATVIICHUK: It's difficult to express the reality. You have to be here to experience. What does it mean when you live under constant Russian bombardments daily? Russia sent rockets and drones, and we had no rockets to protect our sky. And with this the artificial Starlink issue, some interceptors wouldn't -- weren't be able to intercept Russian drones, so it's a very tough situation.

When I go to bed, I have no idea whether or not I would get up next morning because the war is a lottery, and probably it will be your residential buildings who will be hit this night.

WATSON: A deadly lottery. Can I ask about faith right now in the Trump Administration after this confusion with Starlink and with the different rounds of negotiations that have gone on directly with the Kremlin at times, sometimes including Kyiv, sometimes excluding the Ukrainian government. How -- what are you hearing about faith in and trust in the Trump Administration coming from ordinary Ukrainians these days?

MATVIICHUK: Let me speak with the fact that Trump's years of negotiations became the deadliest years for Ukrainian civilians. The first year was resulted in deaths and injuries among Ukrainian civilians that increasing in 31 percent in comparison with the previous year, according to U.N. data, and just for the six months of this year, U.N. tells that the numbers of Ukrainian civilians being killed and injured increased in 37 percent in comparison with the record previous year.

So, we observe the alarming increase of deaths among Ukrainian civilians, and this is result of this Trump's peace negotiation. So, what is the mood in Ukraine? For sure, appropriate to such horrible numbers.

WATSON: Can you share some insight on the situation along the front lines, both from the perspective of some of the combatants, the defenders of Ukraine, and for the civilian populations living in these dangerous areas.

MATVIICHUK: The problem is that we have no alternative. The mood is different. To be in a large-scale war means that you always up and down, especially when the winter is approaching and Russia is destroying energy grid to leave millions of people without heating, water, electricity, the basic things that you need to survive during the winter.

So, the mood is different. But let's be honest, we have no alternative. We can't say that we are tired. We need pause, because if we stop resisting and Russia will occupy the whole Ukraine, we will cease to exist. We will vanish as nation.

WATSON: It is an existential battle. Oleksandra Matviichuk, in Kyiv with the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. Thank you very much for sharing your perspective there, and please do take care.

All right. Still to come. After 15 years of planning in Australia, the first day of passenger flights for Sydney's new billion-dollar airport.

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[04:50:00]

WATSON: Hello. In Australia, a new multi-billion-dollar airport is taking off in Sydney. It will offer the first alternative to the city's main airport in more than, get this, 50 years. So, here's a look at the first day flights with CNN's Lynda Kinkade.

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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ladies and gentlemen, Western Sydney International Airport is officially open. And with that, Sydney's second international airport is open for business. Passenger flights began taking off Sunday after cargo operations began earlier this year.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Western Sydney International is, of course, our first new major airport for more than five decades, and a wonderful new chapter in the life of our nation.

KINKADE: Crowds gathered in the terminal to watch the first official takeoff. Australia's ABC reporting that a Jetstar plane bound for Australia's Gold Coast rolled down the runway and climbed into the skies above Sydney. The culmination of a nearly $4 billion project that took seven years to build and 15 years to plan.

The new airport will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unlike Sydney's primary airport, which limits aircraft operations with some exceptions from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. First impressions from travelers inside the new hub seemed overwhelmingly positive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've watched it come out of the ground and to actually be on that flight, it's something I wanted to do. So, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks great. It looks -- I've been to a lot of airports around the world, and yeah, it's definitely living up to that international standard.

KINKADE: On Monday, Western Sydney Airport begins international flights with Air New Zealand first up, paving the way for future services from Fiji Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Qatar Airways.

[04:55:00]

The airport CEO says it's designed for growth and anticipates it could handle 10 million passengers a year by the early-to-mid-2030s, meaning the sky's the limit for Sydney's newest airport. Lynda Kincade, CNN.

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WATSON: OK, so now that Sydney has a new airport, travelers may need some time to figure out which airport they're flying into, and one passenger learned the hard way.

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JULIE LUNDMARK, TRAVELER: I just landed. We took a flight from Melbourne. We visited some friends over the weekend, and we landed here and looked out of the window and had no idea where we were. And we looked down the map and we thought to ourselves, we are a little bit lost. We have our car parked at the other airport, the Sydney airport, and we had no idea that they had several airports here in Sydney. So now we are stuck.

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WATSON: Yeah, time to go pick up the car. Mexico's Day of the Dead, but faux pas edition. Dozens of Chihuahuas in Mexico City paraded around a city park in costumes that included Catrina skeletons and Aztec kings. It was an early start to celebrate one of the country's biggest cultural celebrations that honors deceased relatives and loved ones. Day of the Dead is observed every year on the same dates, November 1st and November 2nd, with Chihuahuas.

A programming note before we go. We're now streaming in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., so you can watch CNN Newsroom, access exclusive original programming, read unlimited articles and more on the CNN app. You can even watch my weekly show meanwhile, in Asia. To learn more, check out cnn.com/allaccess. Thanks for watching. I'm Ivan Watson. CNN Headline Express comes up next.

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