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Connect the World

CNN Ranks 10 Senate Seats Most Likely to Flip in November; Macron: Non-Union Protests Prohibited Saturday; Marine Life Under Threat as Gulf is Polluted by Conflict; AI Helps Find Security Flaw Affecting 70 Percent of the Internet; Floundering Manchester United Thrashed 4-1 by Como. Aired 9- 9:45a ET

Aired October 22, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is a live look at the White House there, where it is 09:00 a.m. in Washington DC. I'm Lynda

Kinkade, and you are watching "Connect the World". We are 12 days out from what could be the most consequential U.S. midterms of our time, with the

potential to impact all the intersecting global issues we're following for you today.

President Trump's foreign policy decisions, from the war in Iran to import tariffs, have raised global prices and tanked his approval ratings. CNN's

latest polling says on foreign affairs, just 30 percent of voters approve of his performance on the economy. It's 27 percent on inflation, just 23

percent there.

Well, as Mr. Trump looks to the Russia-Ukraine war for a peace deal and an economic lifeline from Russia, talks between his top Envoy Steve Witkoff

and Russian President Vladimir Putin have yet to produce concrete results. The massive strikes hit in Kyiv overnight, just hours after Putin agreed to

those peace talks next month, in the war Donald Trump promised to end on day one of his presidency.

And another key fault line, AI. As public backlash over data centers grows, we're following a tech sell-off in the markets, as investors worry about

the sustainability of AI spending. Let's have a look at how that is playing out in the U.S. stock futures, just about 30 minutes away from the start of

trading.

You can see there it's all in the red. We've had declines in Meta and Tesla driving stock futures retreat, as is a jump in oil prices. As of course

tensions rise in the Middle East. We're going to unpack the latest and all these plus midterm election threads across the two hours.

I want to start though with the latest from CNN's Arlette Saenz. She joins us now live from Washington. Great to see you, Arlette. So less than two

weeks to go until the midterm elections the rhetoric is intensifying. And we have seen those recent polls from CNN, which raises the prospect of a

Democratic wave. Which Republican-held seats are most vulnerable right now, and where are the Democrats best positioned to make gains?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lynda, Democrats are feeling a lot of enthusiasm about the prospect of potentially flipping control of the

U.S. Senate next month, but it's far from a sure bet. Democrats will need to win at least four Republican-held seats in the Senate to win and defend

all of their own.

And if you take a look at our list of states most likely to flip that we just updated today, one through five are all Republican-held seats. The

Democrat in North Carolina, Roy Cooper is in a very strong position to switch party control of that state, and then many of the states that follow

are really pure toss-ups.

Maine is one that we will be watching very closely as Republican Senator Susan Collins is in one of her toughest re-election battles yet. The

Democrat is making gains there, but Collins has survived very tough re- election battles in the past. And then there is Texas, which has perhaps garnered some of the most attention in this contest as Democrat James

Talarico is keeping this very close race against the Republican nominee Ken Paxton.

The most recent CNN poll of polls average has found that there's no clear leader in that contest for Talarico. That is good news, given the fact that

Texas is a state that voted for Trump by double digits back in 2024. But certainly, Talarico would still need to win in a very Republican state to

flip that.

Now, Michigan is another interesting contest to focus on, which comes in on our list at number six right now. That is a seat that is currently held by

Democrats, making it a must-win state for their party. But this is another race where it's very much a toss-up contest, as there is no clear leader

between Democrat Abdul El Sayed and the Republican Former Congressman Mike Rogers.

They have really been in one of the most contentious battles this cycle, and so that is one Democrats need to keep in the win column if they have

any hope of regaining the control of the U.S. Senate next year. All of these states are, or many of these states are, very red states, which

really complicates Democrats' chances over the next 12 days.

KINKADE: And of course, one particular contentious race we are seeing in Ohio, the governor's race. A campaign ad released by the Republican there,

Vivek Ramaswamy's team, features the estranged mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. Now, she has reportedly been estranged since she was

12 years old, when her stepfather was charged with sexual assault.

[09:05:00]

The ad has drawn criticism, obviously, from both sides of the aisle. Just take us through that backlash.

SAENZ: Yeah, this has really turned into a very ugly and bitter battle in the governor's race over in Ohio. The Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy

released this ad that features Amy Acton's, the Democrat's mother, calling her a liar. Amy Acton and her brother actually have pushed back on this

advertisement, saying that it's drawing from a very complicated and sad history from their past.

As they're -- they've been estranged from their mother since Amy Acton was about 12 years old. As you mentioned, the man that her mother was married

to was indicted for sexually abusing Amy Acton, and so that is a very complicated part of this story. But Ramaswamy has drawn criticism from

Democrats and Republicans.

The Senator who is running in Ohio, Jon Husted, a Republican, said that he would not have aired this ad himself. But there are also defenders of

Ramaswamy's tactics. Vice President J.D. Vance, who hails from Ohio, he said that Republicans need to stop whining about this ad and focus on the

next 12 days of the election.

Certainly, this has emerged as a real distraction for Ramaswamy, but he has doubled down on this ad, planning to run it despite the criticism that he's

faced in a contest that was already very close to begin with in a state that President Trump had won over his last three runs for president.

KINKADE: Certainly, interesting race there. Arlette Saenz, great to have you with us. Thanks so much. I want to turn now to the war in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine are exchanging strikes just hours after President Vladimir Putin told to U.S. that Moscow would be ready to resume trilateral

peace talks with Ukraine and the U.S. this November.

The latest exchange of attacks underscores the challenges facing efforts to end the war. Ukrainian officials say Russia launched at least 21 ballistic

missiles in three separate waves, while Moscow claims it came under attack from 630 Ukrainian drones overnight. CNN's Clare Sebastian is following

this story and joins us now live.

So, Clare, hours after Russia signalled that it was ready to resume these U.S. broker peace talks, it launched this massive missile and drone assault

on Kyiv. Russia, of course, is also reporting that its intercepted drones coming from Ukraine. Is peace becoming more elusive than ever? Can talks

actually be taken seriously right now, given the attacks continue?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Lynda look, Moscow has made it clear over and over again that it is not going to agree to any kind of

temporary ceasefire that would allow talks to take place without the threat of these attacks escalating attacks, I should say.

And so, I think, in that sense, the attacks, while they are of course deeply shocking, 21 ballistic missiles were used, according to President

Zelenskyy, none of which were shot down. More than 200 drones. That was just overnight. The attacks continued into the daytime.

I think we're showing you there the aftermath of a lunchtime attack on a market in the Town of Lozova, that's in the Kharkiv region, not too far

from the front lines, lots of people were out, according to the mayor. Two people killed, more than 30 injured there. So, the violence is continuing

day and night.

It's escalating in many ways, and the targets are broadening. But it's not just that at this point that threatens to undercut these peace efforts.

What we see at the moment is that as these attacks escalate further, more and more praise gets heaped on Russia by the Trump Administration.

Putin was called a humanitarian in a now infamous comment by Steve Witkoff that has sparked backlash not just in the U.S. and Ukraine, but

internationally as well. Of course, that lunchtime attack on that town and those visuals there really do reveal that that is not based in fact.

And secondly, Ukraine is not only grappling with escalating Russian offensive actions; it's dealing with its own dwindling defenses. We saw, as

I said, no missiles intercepted last night. We know they are running critically short of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors. Starlink is still

operating at reduced speeds, according to Ukraine.

Now the U.S. administration denies they are doing any of this intentionally, but all of this comes, of course, amid very strained

relations between Trump and Zelenskyy. And it offers a window of opportunity for Moscow, which they are, it seems, taking full advantage of.

None of that, of course, fertile ground for peace at this point.

KINKADE: Certainly, it seems that case. Good to have you with us, Clare Sebastian from London. Thank you. Well, the U.S. is ordering non-emergency

embassy staff in Riyadh and their family members to leave. Now, this comes as Saudi Arabia faces intensifying fire from the Iranian-aligned Houthi

rebels, stoking wider fears of regional conflict.

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Now, on Wednesday, more deadly attacks struck Saudi Arabia, including an airport in Dammam where two people died, eight others injured, as well as a

strike and an oil fill that killed two people and injured two others. Saudi Arabia has been asking the U.S. for more offensive help.

And though the U.S. has stepped up its intelligence sharing, President Trump has so far remained non-committal on striking the Houthi rebels.

These latest attacks mark the latest escalation in Yemen's civil war, which flared last month. Now fears neighboring Saudi Arabia has tried to contain

the conflict.

You are watching "Connect the World". Still to come, containing the spread of Ebola in Africa. The World Health Organization just gave an update.

We'll have the details in a live report next.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. Police in France are banning protests in parts of Paris as the nation braces itself for new demonstrations today. These are

live images from Paris major protests expected as well on Saturday, a week after some of France's worst rioting in years. The French President says

there will be further bans on protests in the coming days to stop what he calls illegitimate rallies.

Now the French President made the announcement on protests after a meeting with his Security Council. Emmanuel Macron is also condemning comments by

Donald Trump, who's blaming immigration for the unrest in France.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: As far as I'm concerned, there is no visible foreign interference in the events that took place. However,

there's been foreign manipulation of information, which has led to unacceptable and stupid comments from many people, including foreign

leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Melissa Bell is in Paris with more on all of this. Good to see you, Melissa. So, after last weekend's violence, several nights of local

curfews, what is the situation right now in France? We've seen like massive amounts of people on the streets right now.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, those pictures that you're seeing now, Lynda, of a student protest that had initially been

amongst those banned on for security reasons, was allowed to go ahead in the end through for the judiciary.

They appealed to the judiciary. The judiciary allowed it like five minutes before it was due to start. So, you're going to see these kinds of protests

being banned on security grounds, but then allowed once it is appealed. The decision is appealed and it goes through the court. So, over the next

couple of days, clearly that student protest that's just gotten under way because it was allowed at the last minute.

Not as many people as the students had hoped would turn out, but certainly a lot of attention now focusing towards Saturday. Not just because it will

be a week after the events of last weekend, but also because there is a huge amount of people that are expected, not just here in Paris but

elsewhere in the country.

[09:15:00]

One of the protest rallies, marches that's been allowed by the government so far is the one that will be led by the unions. Another that was

requested, another sort of trajectory that was requested for by yellow vests and students has been banned for the time being.

For now, the government, as you mentioned, Lynda, is really doing everything it can to try and limit the amounts of protests are on the

street with these curfews in place to prevent too many people getting onto the streets at all at certain hours.

The issue that they have, though, is that this has already become such a politicized protest on Saturday, beyond the protest that I mentioned in

Paris, you're going to have the national rally holding its -- the official start to its campaign to 20 -- to the next year's presidential election,

2027, with a counter demonstration plan in the City of Orleans that's to the south of Paris. That could get quite messy as well.

There is already this anger on the political extremes of the French political spectrum, the far right, the far left. This afternoon, the prime

minister is trying to meet with all the political parties to try and get some sense of calm, urging them really to calm their rhetoric, to try and

get these temperatures back down on the streets.

What we've heard from the far left is that their plan is to ruin this meeting because they believe that the government is still not addressing

what they feel needs to be addressed, which are the fundamental demands of the protest movement.

The student demands that we've been talking about these last few weeks, but also the anger that was palpable in the streets of France when half a

million people turned up across the country to protest against the high cost of living, Lynda.

KINKADE: Of course, we heard Donald Trump blaming migration for the unrest, prompting Macron to reject what he called stupid comments from foreign

leaders. How are political figures trying to use this unrest to advance their own agenda? And just talk us through the reaction there.

BELL: I think that's right. There's the everything that's come from outside of France, the sort of instrumentalization of the violence and the very

dramatic pictures that we saw here in France, from Washington. We've also had Moscow respond.

But then inside the country, the particular point where we're at, six months to a presidential election, with the far left and the far right

really dominating and rising in the polls at a time when there is all this anger about what the government has done or failed to do. Its inaction in

the face of the student protests over the course of the last month.

There have been accusations that it had let the situation deteriorate to such an extent that it was very difficult now for it to row back.

Accusations also that it's focusing very much on the security side of things, when it should be looking at the much deeper causes underlying.

The point is that the government is going to have an awful lot of trouble putting a lid back on the rhetoric of these extreme parties, who are really

hoping to do well in next year's presidential race. Really believe they have started the -- when it is to both their advantages that the government

seems to be failing to manage its own streets.

The far right, which criticize it for not being strong enough on security, and the far left, which criticize it for going too far and not listening

closely enough, Lynda.

KINKADE: It really is incredible that this protest movement continues to build momentum. Melissa Bell, good to have you with us as always. Thank you

very much. Well, the World Health Organization has been talking to reporters about what it caused the fastest growing outbreak of Ebola in

history.

In Africa, the deadly disease has been recorded in central, western, and eastern regions. And the W.H.O. has been focusing on isolation and

quarantine measures to stop the spread. The organization's Dr. Patrick Amoth, Kenya's Health Director General, stresses the need to get medical

care early.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PATRICK AMOTH, DIRECTOR GENERAL, KENYAN HEALTH MINISTRY: We require the support in terms of how they can be able to protect themselves, but also

the importance of early seeking care to be able to save lives. So, in a summary, that is where we are.

We have eight cases under treatment, one deceased person, more than 120 persons in quarantine, institutional quarantine. But this coming again,

quite a number of persons who are perceived to be low risk, and of course, based on testing and also the risk stratification by our health workers,

then we'll be able to decide who will live quarantine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: CNN's Connecting Africa Correspondent Victoria Rubadiri joins us now from Nairobi, Kenya. Victoria, good to have you with us. So, the W.H.O.

is urging calm, saying this one important case does not necessarily mean a new outbreak in Nigeria, but with Ebola spreading to several African

nations, infections rising again in the DRC, how confident is the W.H.O. that this -- that the W.H.O. can have this outbreak contained?

[09:20:00]

VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN CONNECTING AFRICA CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, the most interesting bit out of this W.H.O. briefing is the fact that a lot of

people are dying from Ebola without reaching a treatment center in the DRC, for instance, where this outbreak began back in May. The W.H.O. says around

six in every 10 recent deaths have happened outside of a treatment facility.

And that really points to the challenge of identifying infections early enough and getting people the medical care that they need. Now, this is

already the fastest growing Ebola outbreak in history, as you said earlier, according to the W.H.O., and it spread further across Africa than every any

previous outbreak. More than 9,000 people have been infected in the DRC alone, with over 4,000 deaths.

And what's making this particularly difficult to contain is the strain involved, known as Bundibugyo. There's currently no approved vaccine

specifically targeting it. Now, one of the key things that the W.H.O. clarified today was the question about community transmission, whether the

virus is spreading beyond people already identified as contacts of infected patients.

Now, in the DRC, community transmission is already established, but here in Kenya, the W.H.O. says that's not the case. Nine people have been infected,

including the first patient who traveled from the DRC through Uganda before arriving here in Nairobi, where he later died.

Now, the other eight cases are all linked to that first patient. And according to the W.H.O., they were already in quarantine when they tested

positive. So, at this stage, there's no evidence of wider community transmission in Kenya. Kenya's Doctor General of Health says all eight

surviving patients are stable and responding well to treatment.

As for Nigeria, which is now the latest country to confirm a case, W.H.O. says the patient is in hospital and stable, but authorities are still

trying to establish where she contracted Ebola? And that's important because it will help determine whether this was simply an imported

infection or whether there's any evidence of transmission within Nigeria itself.

And that really brings us back to one of the biggest challenges facing health authorities across the region, right? That's detecting infections

before people cross borders. The W.H.O. says screening can miss cases, particularly when travelers haven't developed symptoms or don't disclose

their exposure history.

So, for now, the focus remains on getting people into treatment early enough, and strengthening contact tracing and preventing the virus from

spreading into the wider community.

KINKADE: All right, Victoria, good to have you staying across it for us, Rubadiri. Thanks so much. Well, I want to get you up to date on other

stories that are on our radar right now. French health authorities have reported the first human case of the deadly Shamonda virus, previously

thought to be not transmissible to humans.

The virus, which usually infects livestock like cattle, was detected in a patient who later died. Authorities say there is currently no risk to the

general public. UAE Diplomat Lana Nusseibeh has entered the race to succeed the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, adding a prominent Middle

Eastern candidate to the contest. The 48-year-old Former Ambassador to the UN would be the first woman to lead the global body.

As the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran drags on, the toll is mounting not only in human terms but also on the wildlife too, as Paula Hancocks

reports. Exotic and endangered species in the waters of the Persian Gulf are in the firing line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Persian Gulf is one of the most unique ecosystems on Earth. Offshore islands and mangrove forests

provide critical breeding zones for sea turtles, hundreds of species of fish, and dugongs cousin to the manatee.

Only the hardiest of marine life survives in these waters, with sharp temperature changes from hot summers to cool winters. But even that life is

increasingly at threat from the U.S. and Israel's war in Iran.

The first two weeks of war created more carbon pollution than Iceland does in a year, according to the Climate and Community Institute. One group of

satellite oceanographers has been studying the effects of this war from afar, specifically the targeting of vessels in and around the Strait of

Hormuz, the key waterway at the heart of this conflict.

BRIAN BARNES, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, COLLEGE OF MARINE SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA: Here's a ship that you can see smoke coming out of, and then

a plume of presumed oil here.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Brian Barnes says satellite imagery can only show them what is on the surface, but even that limited information from March

2026 is worrying.

BARNES: Very roughly, based on our observations, what we're seeing is at least twice the amount of surface oil that in the Persian Gulf area

relative to what we would expect in the absence of a major conflict.

[09:25:00]

HANCOCKS (voice-over): The Gulf is shallow. It is small, and there's only one entry and exit point connecting it to the wider ocean. So, what happens

in the Gulf stays in the Gulf.

BERNHARD RIEGL, PROFESSOR, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, FLORIDA: If we take a drop of oil and we put it into the water in on the Iranian side of

the inflow into the Gulf. A year later, it will be in Kuwait. Two years later, it will be on the Omani side of the of the Gulf, and float out

there.

HANCOCKS: Widespread contamination in the Persian Gulf would also have a devastating impact on millions of Gulf residents. Desalinated water

accounts for almost all of the drinking water in both Bahrain and in Qatar. In the other Gulf nations, it accounts for the vast majority. Now,

desalination plants did become a target during this war, threatening to trigger humanitarian and economic shocks.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Oil facilities were hit in and around Tehran early March, exposing millions of residents to thick black smoke with reports of

toxic acid rain. Reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War, as retreating Iraqi forces set fire to hundreds of oil wells in Kuwait, that impact was felt

throughout the Gulf.

RIEGL: The shorelines were devastatingly affected. There was massive mortality of intertidal biota, of mangroves. In fact, in many areas in

Saudi, if you go and you dig into the sand, there's still old oil in there.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Experts worry this war could also undermine our understanding of climate change. Warmer waters in the Persian Gulf are

considered a natural laboratory to see how marine life in oceans elsewhere might adapt as they warm. Another war with a toxic legacy, the environment

once again the conflict silent victim, Paula Hancocks CNN, Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Well, still to come on "Connect the World", the start of trading and business headlines, including how AI researchers found a security flaw

that could affect 70 percent of the internet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade, coming to you live from Atlanta, and you are watching "Connect the World". We are waiting to see the opening

bell. There it is on Wall Street at the New York Stock Exchange, where we are expecting the DOW to open lower.

[09:30:00]

The DOW future is certainly pointing to a much softer opening today, with of course the rising oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty, especially as

the war in Iran continues. There is that bell. We are about to see how the DOW is looking at the start of trading. There you can see it's just down a

little bit over half a percent at the opening of the markets.

One of Britain's biggest banks says it's cutting 5 percent of its workforce this year. That's around 5,000 jobs. Barclays says greater use of

artificial intelligence will mean higher productivity and lower costs. 1,000 staff have already been laid off in 2026, with another 4,000 to go by

the end of the year.

CNN's Hanna Ziady is following this all from London and joins us now. Hanna, so just talk us through these job cuts. 5 percent of Barclays by the

end of the year, which sort of jobs will be most impacted?

HANNA ZIADY, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Barclays says about half of these reductions, so 60 percent or so, will relate to support functions that

includes fewer developers really, as AI makes its employees more productive. And this does come down to cost cuts. These job cuts are not

happening at a time when the bank is struggling, or when global banks are struggling.

We see quite strong profitability, strong balance sheets from banks in the UK and Europe and North America. Barclays is saying, in fact, that it's on

track for a third consecutive year of 20 percent growth in earnings per share, it's returning sums to shareholders, but there is this laser focus

on reducing, structurally reducing costs in the longer term.

The CEO of Barclays, Venkatakrishnan, making the point that AI is only going to become more important. He described it as the icing on the cake,

not the cake itself. So, just sort of again making this point that this is about longer-term efficiency gains, the bank is going to spend 600 million

pounds this year to realize those cost reductions.

And of course, we know that many companies are spending hundreds of millions of pounds, if not billions, on deploying AI, all with this long-

term goal of becoming more efficient.

KINKADE: And just quickly, which sort of industries are we expected to see the biggest cuts as a result of AI?

ZIADY: Well, this you know the Barclays announcement today is really just the latest example of how AI is disrupting the banking industry. Earlier

this year, Standard Chartered, which is another major UK lender announced a cut of about 15 percent in back-office roles related to AI. That's about

nearly 8,000 redundancies.

It's not just banking, tech companies, retailers have been among those announcing AI-related layoffs. In fact, a recent McKinsey Report found that

in the U.S., at least an estimated 11 million workers, or about 6.5 percent of the current labor force, may need to find entirely new occupations over

the next decade because of AI-related disruption.

But perhaps to end on a more positive note, that same report, that same McKinsey Report, finds that although many workers will need to retrain,

will need new skills in this increasingly AI-driven economy. The technology may actually create more jobs than it kills over the next decade or so,

Lynda.

KINKADE: We can only hope. Good to have you with us, Hanna Ziady. Thanks so much. AI researchers say they've used artificial intelligence to help find

a security flaw which could affect 70 percent of websites worldwide. Now, this is coming from researchers at three different companies, OpenAI and

two cybersecurity companies, Wiz and Calif.

The set of bugs that they found could allow attackers to access sensitive information like passwords. Well, after AI exposed the vulnerabilities,

websites around the world went dark as operators scrambled to fix their systems. I want to bring in Business Tech Editor Lisa Eadicicco for more on

this.

So, Lisa, this is a major vulnerability that's been exposed in the PHB, the software that powers around 70 percent of the world's websites. So, AI

agents reportedly found this. How much faster did they resolve this than perhaps humans would have?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yeah, Lynda. So according to the researchers that helped discover this vulnerability, they said that because

of AI, they were essentially able to do work that would have taken a world- class team months of work in about a week, and that's a huge deal here.

And so, what they kind of laid out in this blog post, where they detailed how they found this bug, they basically said that these vulnerabilities had

existed for years, even for more than a decade. But without AI, it would have been difficult and maybe impractical to figure out how to actually

understand and exploit those vulnerabilities, and that's really the key part of this here.

[09:35:00]

And that's really the key part of this here, and that's where AI came into play. Not only it's not like AI was just kind of crawling the internet and

looking for bugs; it took something that existed and understood how to exploit it. So, I think that's part of why this is being viewed as a key

turning point here in the role that AI can play in cybersecurity as well.

KINKADE: Lisa, the vulnerability was reportedly identified back in August. So why is the response escalated only now? And how does -- what does this

tell us about how security flaws are disclosed?

EADICICCO: So, my understanding is that even though it was discovered back in August, there wasn't a fix for it until recently. So, the researchers

didn't announce this until there was a patch ready to go. And I do think that's critical because if these vulnerabilities and exploits are announced

before there's a fix for them, you can imagine what bad actors would do with that information.

I think cybersecurity researchers understand that they need to be very careful about the information that they're putting out there into the world

as they're investigating these issues, so that's my understanding of the situation that they waited this long to disclose it because they wanted to

make sure they had a patch ready to go so that website operators could update their systems accordingly.

KINKADE: And just talk to us about the impact worldwide because we've seen so many federal leaders discuss what this meant for both government

websites and private websites in their country. The fact that these websites had to go dark while this fix took place.

EADICICCO: Yeah, I think the fact that there's you know guidance out there advising companies and businesses and agencies to go dark until they have a

chance to update just kind of speaks to the severity of this issue here. And this is I think a key point just in the impact in general that AI is

having on cybersecurity is that it makes it very easy for people that aren't very experienced.

Novavax hackers and bad actors to be able to execute wide-scale attacks here, so I think that's part of the worry here when we look at the impact

of this. And in terms of some of the websites and agencies that have temporarily suspended their services, we've seen this all over the world,

from Ireland, where the news website, "The Journal", was temporarily suspended. There was also a few other instances in other areas like Japan

and Finland and Denmark, where in some cases government websites were temporarily suspended while they work on that fix.

So, I do think this really kind of illustrates how you know the web is really dependent on very specific architectures and infrastructure that's

been around for a long time, and how that can come under threat when there's a sweeping bug like this. A lot of researchers have been comparing

this to the Heartbleed Bug from 2014, which impacted an encryption technology widely used across the web.

KINKADE: All right, Lisa Eadicicco, good to have you on the story. Thanks so much.

EADICICCO: Of course.

KINKADE: Well, coming up next in sports, Manchester United's poor start to the season continues with some pretty harsh words. We're going to have more

on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

KINKADE: Welcome back. Players calling out the board, and now the captain calling out the manager. That's the current situation at Manchester United

after another humbling defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday. Amanda Davies joins us now. Like, take us through all the criticism that is

playing out here.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: How long have you got, Lynda? I mean, it was like round top day at Manchester United. I hate to tell it, as a United

fan, it's really, really painful to watch. And it is five months to the day today since Michael Carrick was officially given the nod to take over as

Manchester United Manager on a full-time basis.

But the start of this season, things have just gone from bad to worse. A week or so ago, we had one of the players, Lisandro Martinez, criticizing

the board and their lack of spending in the summer transfer window. And then, after this, what was a very humiliating defeat in the Champions

League to Italian side Como, a side very much on the opposite trajectory to United in recent years.

We had the United Captain Bruno Fernandes afterwards criticizing the manager, the style of play. In response to that, the manager criticized the

players, and here we are on Thursday morning, with the pressure mounting, people asking what next? Is there going to be another change of man at the

helm at United?

KINKADE: We know that is the big question, isn't it?

DAVIES: Seven games with --

KINKADE: -- like whether the managers --

DAVIES: With seven games -- yeah, and there's a whole lot of debate. There's a lot of people criticizing Bruno Fernandes, saying a captain

should not act like that. Whatever happens, the captain is the person who has to lead the team in the right way.

There is undoubtedly room for improvement from the team on the pitch, but United have tried this: bringing in new managers, getting rid of them,

bringing in somebody else, getting rid of them, they're not spending the money to bring in the players that the managers want. So therefore, is

anything going to change?

So, so much to talk about. One of the most famous storied clubs in the world, and that's of course where we're leading the way in just a couple of

minutes in World Sport.

KINAKDE: And I'm sorry, it's your team right now. Do things improve. Amanda Davies, we'll listen to you and tune in after the break for "World Sport",

and I'll be back with much more of "Connect the World" in about 15 minutes.

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[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORTS)

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