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Iran Vows Response To Israeli Strike But Says It Does Not Seek War; Diplomat: Gaza Ceasefire & Hostage Talks Resume In Doha; Asheville City Schools Reopen Today On Modified Schedule; North Carolina Governor: Storm Damage Estimate At 53B; Value Of Trump's Truth Social Stock Triples In 5-Week Period; Updated Guidelines On Reducing Stroke Risk. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired October 28, 2024 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: -- Israel's latest deadly strike on the country as stalled Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks resume. We'll have the latest from the region next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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KEILAR: New developments today in the Middle East. Iran is now vowing to respond to Israels retaliatory strikes over the weekend while insisting it does not seek a wider war.
Israel says its attack damaged Iran's defense capabilities, but apparently did not hit the country's vital energy infrastructure.
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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Meantime, in Doha, a new high-level talk is underway aimed at finally securing a ceasefire and hostage deal. Egypt is now proposing a new two-day truce that would see four hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Let's get the latest from Jerusalem now with CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
Jeremy, what more are you hearing about these strikes in Iran?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, make no mistake, this Israeli strike over the weekend in Iran was very significant, in part, because of what it took out and the message that it sent to Iran about Israels far reaching intelligence and military capabilities.
We saw, over these three waves of strikes early Saturday morning, Israel taking out air defense systems, including S-300 systems, in key strategic locations within Iran, as well as taking out ballistic missile production facilities, as well.
And what these strikes do, according to Israeli officials I've spoken to, is they believe this will give the Israeli Air Force more ability going forward to go after additional Iranian targets, should that become necessary. And the reason why that might, is depending on whether or not Iran
retaliates. At least that's the calculus from the Israeli side.
And today, we've heard from the Iranian president, who has made clear that Iran will give what he is describing as an appropriate response, even as he is making clear that Iran does not want an all-out war with Israel.
And it is true that over the last couple of days, we have really heard Iran largely downplay the significance of the damage caused by these Israeli strikes.
But the question is, if they are vowing a response when will that response come? And will it actually be of a kind of kinetic military nature? And so far that seems unclear.
But certainly, there is the possibility here of both sides choosing to kind of downplay this going forward to avoid further escalation.
KEILAR: And, Jeremy, tell us about the talks in Doha. How are they going? Is there any hope that this might mean some progress?
DIAMOND: Well, at least these talks have resumed. And when there are negotiations happening, when the two sides are willing to come back to the table, that is at least a positive indication.
But whether or not they're actually going anywhere and going anywhere fast is another question altogether. We know that there is this new Egyptian proposal now on the table that looks to kind of shake up the dynamic that we've seen over the course of the last 10 months, really.
And that is because, instead of looking at a kind of multi-phased deal that would see all the hostages released ultimately, see an end of the war in Gaza, what the Egyptians have put on the table is, hey, let's just do a two-day truce here to get four Israeli hostages out in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
And perhaps that could get further negotiations going as a kind of trust-building exercise in order to try and get to a more permanent ceasefire.
The Israelis certainly seem on board, from the conversations I've had, but what will Hamas do? And will that be enough? In the past, we know Hamas has said we need to see a permanent ceasefire. We need to see the withdrawal of all Israeli troops.
But of course, now they are in a very different position in the wake of the killing of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. So will that sufficiently change the dynamic here? It remains an open question.
Certainly, nobody in the region seems very optimistic about the prospects of this latest proposal, this latest round of negotiations. But it is a new starting point that perhaps could ultimately lead to something, especially after the U.S. elections.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we've seen so many proposals disintegrate at this point. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for the update from Jerusalem.
[13:38:31]
Still ahead, former President Donald Trump's social media company, now worth more than three times what it was just five weeks ago. We're going to tell you what's behind the dramatic surge, next.
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KEILAR: Today, students in Asheville, North Carolina, are back in the classroom for the first time in a month after Hurricane Helene devastated the region. The flooding wiping some communities almost entirely off the map.
SANCHEZ: CNN's Rafael Romo has more from North Carolina.
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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For some of the people that have been in touch with, this is a sign of hope, although they realize full recovery for Asheville and all the devastated areas in western North Carolina is going to take much longer.
In the city of Asheville, classes resume Monday, but on a modified schedule and no after-school programs.
Asheville city schools superintendent, Maggie Fehrman, told CNN on Sunday that none of their schools were damaged in the storm, and all have power, Internet and running water. Asheville is in Buncombe County but operates an independent city school system.
Buncombe County students went back to school Friday. Schools are on a two-hour delay and drinking water is being delivered, just as Asheville schools are doing, because what's coming out of the pipes is not yet safe for drinking.
Another challenge is that many students and staff were personally affected by the storm. As the superintendent told us earlier.
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MAGGIE FEHRMAN, ASHEVILLE CITY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT: We have several students that lost family members. We have staff members who lost family members.
I think the most tragic was one of our staff members lost 11 members of her family in the Craigtown area, and that is just completely devastating for her and for our whole community.
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ROMO: North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper reminded people over the weekend that Helene was the deadliest and most devastating storm ever to hit North Carolina, killing at least 98 people.
More than 100,000 people had their homes damaged, the governor said, and thousands of businesses that we're damaged have yet to reopen.
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GOV. ROY COOPER, (D-NC): They're going to need our help collectively. They're going to need local government, state government, the federal government, the private sector, the volunteers, the nonprofits, all pulling together so that western North Carolina can build back in a stronger way, more resilient way.
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ROMO: Governor Cooper also said the total damage caused by the storm is estimated at $53 billion.
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SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Rafael Romo for that report.
As the clock ticks down to Election Day, market experts can't help but notice what's happening with former President Trump's media stock.
KEILAR: It has tripled in value here in just five weeks. It's now worth $9 billion.
CNN's Matt Egan is with us now on this.
Matt, this rebound comes after record lows for the stock in late September. What's driving the comeback?
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, I feel like every time I look at this stock, it's trading higher and higher. It's just incredible.
It was only five weeks ago that Trump media was trading at those record lows of about 12 bucks. But look at this, up 19 percent today all the way to $46. So it has tripled in a very short amount of time.
And this is all being driven by bets that former President Trump will win the White House. Because Trump media has become basically a proxy for how traders think that this election will turn out. And that stock chart shows it's been moving around all over the place.
In fact, in the summer, after President Biden stepped aside, we saw this stock price fall to record low after record low. But it's completely turned around because some traders think that Trump will win and that a Trump victory will enhance the value of Truth Social.
Of course, we should note that markets are not omniscient. Sometimes traders get surprised by things. And polls still suggest that this race could go either way. Venture capitalist, Gene Munster, he told me that if Trump does win, he thinks that this company could be valued at something around $9 billion like it is today.
But if not, he said it could crash to $1 billion. He told me, I've never seen anything quite like this. This company's value is almost entirely based on the outcome of an election.
SANCHEZ: But, Matt, when it comes to the fundamentals of this stock, this company, Truth Social, is still a relatively small player in social media.
EGAN: Yes, Boris. Well, fundamentals have not applied with this stock really the whole time since it went public back in March.
But you're absolutely right. Truth Social is still very tiny. As of last month, this social media platform only had 700,000 monthly active U.S. users on IOS and Android.
Now that is very tiny, right? Facebook, 200 times more users. X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, had over 100 times as many. Even Threads and video-sharing company, Rumble, have a lot more users.
Now, not only is Truth Social tiny, the company generates very little revenue. $1.6 million in revenue so far this year. That is very tiny. And yet, as we mentioned, the company is valued at $9 billion.
So for some context, Trump Media right now is worth more than CBS owner, Paramount. It's worth twice as much as Macy's, and more than triple the value of Peloton, even though all of those companies they brought in billions of dollars so far this year.
But listen, fasten your seatbelts because we could see this stock move even more sharply in the days ahead, especially as we finally learn who is going to be sworn in as the next president.
KEILAR: Yes, we'll have to look for that.
Matt Egan, thank you so much.
[13:48:34]
For the first time in a decade, there are new recommendations on how to prevent a stroke. And we'll have the details on that next.
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[13:53:19]
SANCHEZ: For the first time in a decade, the American Stroke Association is offering new recommendations for preventing strokes. These updated guidelines include the stroke risks found in the transgender population and the benefits from weight loss and diabetes, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
KEILAR: We have CNN health reporter, Jacqueline Howard, with us now on this story.
Tell us, Jacqueline, what's at the core of these new recommendations?
JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Yes, Brianna and Boris, at the core of this, these guidelines give us some take-home messages for preventing a stroke for the first time. So this is for primary prevention.
And of course, they recommend what some people would expect, like eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise, not sitting too much during the day.
But for the first time, these guidelines specifically mention GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. They say that these popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs are found to be effective at reducing the risk of stroke in people with diabetes and people with high cardiovascular risk. So that's a major development.
The other new thing that we see here is, for the first time, these guidelines specifically mention risk factors for women. The guidelines say it's important to check your blood pressure, monitor blood pressure during pregnancy.
It also mentions endometriosis and early onset menopause as being associated with an increased risk for stroke.
And for the first time, the recommendations mention transgender women taking estrogen for gender-affirming care have been identified as having an increased risk of stroke.
So these are major developments that we're seeing here in the guidelines -- Boris and Brianna?
SANCHEZ: And, Jacqueline, how serious of a threat does stroke pose in the United States? How many people does it kill every year?
HOWARD: Well, we know, Boris, every three minutes and 11 seconds, someone in the United States dies from having a stroke. And we know that every 40 seconds, someone has a stroke.
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So this is a huge, huge public-health concern and that's why prevention is so important.
SANCHEZ: Jacqueline Howard, thank you so much for that update. Appreciate it.
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to speak in just minutes from battleground Michigan. She's set to focus on her economic vision. We're going to bring you her remarks straight ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
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