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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israeli Strike Targets Hamas Leaders In Qatar; Manhunt Underway For Suspect Who Allegedly Killed, Couple And Set Their Home On Fire; U.S. Supreme Court To Decide Legality Of Trump's Tariffs; U.S. Job Growth Through March Was Significantly Weaker Than Previously Thought; Poland Downs Drones, The First NATO Member To Open Fire During Ukraine War; Apple Unveils Its Latest iPhone Lineup Amid Trump's Trade War. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired September 10, 2025 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: But it was extremely shocked and many people here extremely frightened when they heard those explosions yesterday afternoon in an area where there are nurseries, schools, embassies, regular residencies in the heart of this city of Doha.

The consequences of what happened here yesterday are not yet clear. We will continue to work on this story and get it to our viewers around the world. Brian.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, unsettling to see the rhythm of that city interrupted. Becky Anderson in Doha. Becky, thank you.

A manhunt is underway in New York after an elderly couple were found beaten and killed in their burning home. And police say the attacker caught on surveillance video knocking on the back door of a home in Queens on Monday. He was led inside by a 77-year-old man who lived there with his wife. Once inside, authorities say the suspect beat the couple and killed them before setting fire to their house.

Police are now searching for Jamel McGriff, a 42 year old man from the Bronx, in connection with the attack. And the U.S. Supreme Court says it will hear arguments in early November over President Trump's unprecedented global tariffs.

His administration is appealing a lower court ruling which found many of those import tariffs were imposed unlawfully. Last month, a federal appeals court affirmed that the power to impose taxes and tariffs lies solely with Congress under the Constitution.

So for now, the tariffs are staying in place while this moves through the courts. The government has argued that overturning the president's actions could force the U.S. to return up to $1 trillion in tariffs already collected. Job growth in the United States was significantly weaker than

initially estimated for the year ending in March. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the U.S. economy added almost a million fewer jobs than previously thought. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich explains.

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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, jobs growth was much weaker than expected between April of 2024 and March of 2025. The number of jobs added to the U.S. economy in this period was 911,000 less than initially reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On a monthly basis, that's an average of about 76,000 fewer jobs. Now, this is annual benchmark revision that we get every single year. This report, though, showed jobs mostly under President Biden with just three months of the Trump presidency.

Now, the largest revisions were in trade, transportation and utilities was 226,000 fewer jobs in that sector. Leisure and hospitality, 176,000 fewer jobs added. And professional and business services, 158,000 fewer jobs added.

Now, there are key reasons for downward revisions. One is weaker than inferred job creation at new companies. Also, some sampling errors from declining survey responses from businesses to the BLS. The response rate in 2019 was 59 percent. Compare that to this year, 2025, when response rates are 43 percent.

Also, this is a preliminary revision that looks now at unemployment quarterly tax filings, which are more specific than the surveys, and the information that businesses are providing to the BLS. But in these tax filings, it would not show undocumented workers, so they are not counted.

Now, the final revision for the year will be in February of 2026, which will likely show a different number of jobs as the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects even more data. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Vanessa, thank you. A U.S. judge has blocked President Donald Trump's move to unseat Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The judge said Cook's claim of an unjust firing is valid, but that the issue brings up new legal questions that must be addressed.

President Trump is trying to fire Cook for cause over allegations of fraud on a mortgage application completed before Cook was in her current role. That's important because the judge said firing for cause is limited to actions taken in office.

Cook's attorney praised the ruling, saying, quote, allowing the president to unlawfully remove Governor Cook on unsubstantiated and vague allegations would endanger the stability of our financial system and undermine the rule of law.

International condemnation after Israel strikes Hamas in Doha. How the U.S., Qatar and other countries are responding.

[04:35:00]

Our coverage continues from Doha next.

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ANDERSON: Well, welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Doha. In Qatar, there is growing international backlash to Israel's attack on Hamas leadership here in Qatar.

[04:40:00]

U.S. President Donald Trump says he's quote, very unhappy about every aspect of how Israel carried out that strike. The White House says the strike quote, does not advance Israel or America's goals or many European, Arab, Asia Pacific leaders also condemning the strike in the strongest of language saying it jeopardized efforts to end the war in Gaza.

Hamas says the strike killed five members, failed to assassinate though the group's negotiating delegation who we understand were the targets of that strike. A Qatari security official though also killed. Israel's prime minister says the targets were directly responsible for the October 7th attack. Benjamin Netanyahu described the strike as a peacemaking action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: And this action can open the door to an end of the war. End of the war in Gaza. Israel has accepted the principles the proposal put forward by President Trump to end the war beginning with the immediate release of all our hostages which have been held in the dungeons of Gaza for 700 days.

If President Trump's proposal is accepted, the war can end immediately. We can begin once again to pursue the expansion of peace in our region for the benefit of all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the proposal that Benjamin Netanyahu is referring to there is a U.S. ceasefire and hostage initiative that was being mediated here in Qatar by Qatari negotiators with the senior Hamas delegation hosted here on the, you know, on the request of the United States.

Those negotiations were live and active Monday night into Tuesday morning pressure being put on Hamas to respond positively to that cease fire deal. And I am told that Qatari negotiators were expected to meet once again with those Hamas negotiators on Tuesday evening, early evening. This attack by Israel at 3:46 in the afternoon.

Doha at least describing this attack as a sabotage effort as far as peace and an end to the war in Gaza is concerned. Describing the Qatari prime minister here, describing the Israeli prime minister as narcissistic as he spoke to press in the hours after the attack. CNN's Paula Hancocks has been reporting on the Israeli assault and is with me here in Doha.

And I want to talk about the response that we have seen in this region and around the world. Language which I think we can suggest is pretty unprecedented even by the standards of the sort of condemnation we have seen from so many countries about this war in Gaza.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Becky. You look at the Gulf nations, they are all key US allies. They are all affiliated with the United States. They have put their security eggs, if you like, in the U.S. baskets. They are supporting the United States financially, politically and in return, they have U.S. security guarantees.

Now, what happened on Tuesday was a significant bang to that security guarantee that the Doha leadership will now be asking, where is that security guarantee? This is a key U.S. ally here, as you say, was a key mediator.

The U.S. President, Donald Trump was here just four months ago, which feels like a lifetime ago now, and he was talking about financial deals. He was talking potentially about expanding the Abraham Accords, you know, normalizing relations with Israel. We could not be further away from that point.

ANDERSON: Now we talk about the choice language used in some of the responses that we've seen, certainly around this region. Treacherous, a criminal act, shameful, cowardly. I mean, this is language pointed directly at Israel. And I am in conversation with so many people around this region, getting a real sense that it is Benjamin Netanyahu, that this language is directed at a prime minister that his counterpart hearing Qatar described yesterday as narcissistic.

HANCOCKS: And as a bully, saying the world now sees there is a bully in the region, pointing out that the problem in the region Israel, is the Israeli prime minister.

[04:45:00]

So the language is significant. It shows that there is a true sense of betrayal by Qatar, by some of the other Gulf nations as well, that they believe that they would be immune from this kind of attack, especially Doha, as it was in the midst of trying to push this U.S. proposal.

Remember, this was a ceasefire hostage deal that the U.S. President had vocally supported, had put his presence and his support behind. And so they believed that they were immune.

ANDERSON: Thank you, Paula. I mean, it's fascinating, Brian, to hear the words of the Israeli prime minister suggesting that this strike can open a door to peace, can open a door to a settlement and more peace and security and stability around this region.

When you talk to leadership and to stakeholders around this region and further abroad, their attitude is the sort of behavior that they see of the Israeli prime minister is, is absolutely counter to that narrative. It remains to be seen what will happen with these talks which were due to be picked up, of course, last night here in Qatar. We will continue to work our sources on that. They haven't been suspended officially.

But the Qatar prime minister here on Tuesday suggested when asked in a press conference what would happen with these talks, he said, it's really not valid to speak about these talks at this point. Qatar (ph), he says, reserves the right to spend some time deciding how they will respond, not least legally, when it comes to a country that is, as it suggests, in a cowardly and criminal act, completely breached international norms, laws and behavior. Brian.

ABEL: Certainly, the full extent of the fallout from these strikes still to be seen. Becky Anderson in Doha. We will check back with you soon. Becky, thank you.

Returning now to developments out of Poland. The military there is accusing Moscow of, quote, an act of aggression after Polish forces shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this marked the first time Russian drones had been shot down over the territory of a NATO member state. He added the incursion involved a huge number of drones.

Earlier, Polish and NATO jets were scrambled after reports from Ukraine's air force that Russian drones were headed toward the country's airspace. The Polish military thanked NATO member the Netherlands for contributing fighter jets to defensive operations overnight.

And we will be right back.

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[04:52:29]

ABEL: A rare and dangerous sight caught on camera on Tuesday. Dozens of containers falling off a massive cargo ship at the port of Long Beach in California. Look at that. Containers were seen plunging into the water while others fell on a barge docked alongside the ship.

No injuries have been reported. The cargo ship had just arrived from China and was being unloaded. Look. Wow.

Some of the containers spilled their cargo with clothes and shoes seen floating in the water. Operations at the term were briefly halted to clean up the mess. Investigators are now trying to determine what went wrong.

And Apple has unveiled its latest line of iPhones and updates to its wearable tech. The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air will be available for pre order on Friday and will ship to customers starting next week. But tariffs are already impacting both the company and the consumer. Karin Caifa now with those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KARIN CAIFA, CNN NEWSOURCE REPORTER (voice-over): Apple on Tuesday announcing the latest iPhone among other gadgets and trying to get consumers hyped in uncertain economic times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: IPhone Air is a total game changer.

CAIFA (voice-over): Apple's latest gadgets land as President Donald Trump's trade wars squeeze the company's bottom line. The tech giant expects to take a $1.1 billion tariff related hit just this quarter. And as consumers eye big ticket purchases more carefully.

ABRAR AL-HEETI, SENIOR TECHNOLOGY REPOTER, CNET: It has to be worth. It for someone to say, OK, let me trade in my device and get a phone that costs $1,000.

CAIFA (voice-over): CNET senior technology reporter Abrar Al-Heeti says Apple's recent offerings in sales have had ups and downs.

AL-HEETI: This does feel like a really critical time for Apple to stand out. Whether it's, you know, making its devices more powerful or rolling out something like a thinner iPhone. This is the time for it to say we are still an innovative company. We are still on top of our game.

CAIFA (voice-over): In the tariff environment, Courtney Lindwall of Consumer Reports says their price tracking analysts have noticed tech companies overall taking a more conservative approach to new products.

COURTNEY LINDWALL, CONSUMER REPORTS: Companies are not putting out as many new models and those models maybe aren't taking as many leaps forward with new features innovation. So it just seems like in general there's a bit more perhaps conservatism and like companies are waiting to see.

CAIFA (voice-over): As consumers, Lindwall says, reason with the value of an upgrade.

LINDWALL: Making folks feel like there's something worth it to go out and buy, something exciting to go out and buy. So I'm sure Apple is feeling that pressure.

CAIFA (voice-over): In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:55:00]

ABEL: And pricing for the new iPhones has been released. Look at this. The base model iPhone 17 will run you nearly $800. The iPhone Air is just under $1000 and the iPhone 17 Pro costs about 1,100 bucks.

The Girl Scouts are adding a new cookie to their lineup in a bid to boost sales. This new cookie is called Explore Mores and will be available when the group's annual sale begins in January. The Rocky Road inspired confection is a chocolate cookie with a creamy filling with notes of chocolate, marshmallow and toasted almond flavored cream, according to the Girl Scouts.

The 113-year-old organization is revamping its cookie lineup amid financial struggles. It's discontinuing though the s' mores and toast yay cookies.

Thank you so much for joining us here on Early Start. I'm Brian Abel in Washington. The news continues after a very quick break.

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