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Trump Heads to Asia; Trump Considering Military Strikes in Venezuela; Russian Envoy Expected to Hold Talks in U.S.; Toronto Clobbers L.A. in World Series Game One; Canadian PM Ready to Resume Trade Talks with Trump; U.S. Secretary of State "No Plan B" if U.S.- Brokered Deal for Gaza Falls Apart; New Fossils Show Dinosaurs Thrived before Asteroid Hit; South Korea President Enthusiastic about Global K-Impact. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired October 25, 2025 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, president Donald Trump begins his week-long tour of Asia.
Could a meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong-un be on the agenda?
A show of military might; the U.S. deploys its largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean amid growing tensions with Venezuela.
Plus, a strong start to the World Series. Toronto Blue Jays take game one.
But can they keep momentum going?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome.
U.S. President Donald Trump is now heading to Asia for a multi-stop visit that will include a highly anticipated summit with China's leader. He also didn't rule out meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: Will you meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes, I'd like to. (CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) this trip?
TRUMP: He knows (INAUDIBLE). I don't know. I -- we let him know. He knows that I'm going to -- I would like to. I get along with him.
QUESTION: And are you going to target (ph)?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: This will be president Trump's first trip to the continent in his second term. The White House says he will make his first stop in Malaysia. He's expected to meet with the country's prime minister on Sunday, ahead of a dinner with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
President Trump will then visit Japan before heading to the APEC summit in North Korea. That's where he's planning to hold a high- stakes meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.
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HUNTE (voice-over): South Koreans are gathering in downtown Seoul to protest president Trump's tariff policies. The country struck a trade deal with the president earlier this year, vowing to invest $350 billion in the U.S.
But detailed negotiations have dragged on, leaving South Korea's key automaking industries subject to 25 percent tariffs. South Korea's president pushed aside trade concerns while speaking with CNN earlier this week and is welcoming president Trump as a, quote, "peacemaker."
Tropical storm Melissa is moving slowly through the Caribbean and getting closer to hurricane strength. Early on Saturday. Melissa had sustained winds of 110 kilometers or 70 miles an hour. Forecasters say rapid intensification will begin soon.
Melissa is expected to become a hurricane in the coming hours and a major hurricane by Sunday, thanks to some of the hottest ocean water on the planet.
Already, at least four people have been killed. Officials say Melissa could bring damaging winds, catastrophic flooding and landslides to parts of Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. They're warning anyone in the storm's path to prepare for life-threatening conditions.
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HUNTE: A short time ago, Donald Trump told reporters that his administration will stop all drugs from coming into the United States. He was speaking on board Air Force One. Have a listen.
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TRUMP: I can tell you one thing. We stopped all drugs virtually from coming in by sea. And we'll stop all drugs from coming in by land very shortly. You'll see that starting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Meanwhile, there are signs that the United States could soon take military action inside Venezuela. The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford and its Strike Group, are now heading to the Caribbean.
And three U.S. officials tell CNN that president Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela. The U.S. has already carried out military strikes in waters off the Venezuelan coast, including this one in September.
The White House has alleged, without clear proof, that the boats it destroyed were being used to traffic drugs.
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro says the U.S. is, quote, "inventing a new eternal war." And he says he's mobilizing an international volunteer force to defend his country.
Well, the U.S. also issued new sanctions on Colombia's president, accusing him of playing a, quote, "role in the global illicit drug trade."
CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more from Caracas.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Friday saw a dramatic escalation in what the White House is calling a campaign against the drug traffickers in South America.
[03:05:04]
Washington has deployed military forces and the Pentagon said it's conducting 10 kinetic strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats, killing at least 43 people since the campaign began earlier last month.
However, in that time, they failed to provide any conclusive evidence to justify their actions. But on Friday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it was moving a Carrier Strike Group from Europe to the Caribbean to join the campaign, which is largely seen as an effort to put more pressure onto Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
While the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier will take several days to get into position, the move signals that this position from Washington to provide even more firepower to these efforts. Maduro has so far denied any allegations linking him to drug trafficking and has vowed to stay put.
But even more dramatically, also on Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the sitting president of neighboring Colombia, Gustavo Petro, together with members of his family, accusing them of colluding with drug traffickers.
For his part, Petro has long claimed to have been a bastion against cocaine. This is what he said on the matter on Friday.
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GUSTAVO PETRO, COLOMBIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): The first test I gave -- and I think we've been successful -- is to go after the bosses of drug trafficking and not the peons and the workers. Go after them wherever they are. And for that, to expand the collaboration with intelligence agencies all across the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: The White House accuses Petro of receiving funds from drug trafficking organizations through his son during the presidential campaign in 2022.
And despite Colombia being one of Washington's closest allies all across the Americas, the White House has yet decided to move in an unprecedented step, sanctioning the head of state of a major non-NATO ally as tensions all across the region continue to escalate -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.
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HUNTE: U.S. military movements in the Caribbean are raising questions about strategy and priorities. CNN military analyst James "Spider" Marks explains why a visible presence there is not routine.
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GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We don't routinely see a Carrier Strike Group in the Caribbean and then certainly in the -- on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, just as a matter of routine. That's not where they routinely go.
However, it belongs to different combatant commanders. And so there is certainly an opportunity and the freedom to maneuver in those areas, staying outside of territorial waters.
Primarily, we haven't seen this most recently because of priorities, conflicting priorities elsewhere, certainly in the Indian Ocean, as we can imagine in the Gulf region and certainly elsewhere in the Middle East and in Asia.
As we were saying, in the military, this ain't it. This is not the way to go about trying to arrest or at least decrease significantly the flow of drugs into the United States.
This is analogous to tank plinking, the term we used often in Desert Storm, where you go after individual combatant tanks. That's great at the tactical level but that doesn't change the decision calculus. You've got to wrap all that together.
And so what I see this administration trying to do -- and I don't speak for the administration -- but I think they're trying to -- it's like a hockey goalie. They want to get out of the net. They want to go forward. They want to put as much capability as close as they can to where they think the issue exists.
And this really, in my mind, without a stretch, is kind of the latest version of containment. What we lived with for almost 80 years or 70 years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, is to, you know, to combat the expansion of communism.
This is the same thing, I think, where you want -- you want to get forward, you want to resist where our vulnerabilities are and our weaknesses. And this clearly is a weakness for the United States.
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HUNTE: Ukraine says at least one person has been killed and 10 others wounded in new Russian strikes on Kyiv.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Images that we received a short time ago show buildings on fire and firefighters scrambling to put the flames out. Officials say that was part of an overnight attack that involved ballistic missiles and drones, which hit 11 locations across Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine had issued a rare ballistic threat warning covering the entire country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Russia's top economic envoy is expected to meet with U.S. officials in Miami on Saturday. That's from a White House official who spoke with CNN.
Kirill Dmitriev would meet with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff just days after the U.S. slapped sanctions on Russia's top oil firms. And that's after Europeans called for more countries to follow suit on Friday.
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The U.S. and Russian presidents met in Alaska in August but made no breakthroughs on Ukraine. And earlier this week, president Trump said he had canceled their anticipated next meeting. CNN's Matthew Chance looks at what Dmitriev is hoping to achieve with this visit.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: He was keeping it pretty vague by saying that, look, this is just an attempt to make sure the communication channels between the United States and Russia remain open. He said this was a meeting, a trip to the United States that was arranged a while back.
But because of the timing of it, it's taken on additional significance because, obviously, it's just a couple of days ago since president Trump imposed quite tough sanctions against Russia's two biggest oil companies, which could deliver ultimately, a big blow to the Russian economy and its ability to fuel its war in Ukraine. And, of course, president Trump also kind of erratically -- or
irritatedly -- canceled the discussions for a presidential summit with President Putin in Budapest as well.
But I think this visit shows that, you know, at least from the Russian point of view, they're still trying very hard to keep the channels of communication open. And, of course, the United States could have canceled Dmitriev's visa. They could have called off the meetings but they didn't do that.
And so it implies that they're -- the White House is also open to continuing to receive Kremlin officials and continuing to talk about the possible future economic relationship between the two countries.
The media is reporting that these new rounds of sanctions have been imposed by the European Union but also, of course, by the United States. It wasn't just about sanctions, it was about the idea that president Trump had in some way turned against Vladimir Putin or turned against the Kremlin.
That's always a possibility that people are speculating about here. But in terms of what impact sanctions are likely to have, I mean, I've been out in the streets of Moscow today, talking to people about whether they're concerned about the sanctions on the oil companies or about a new round of European Union sanctions.
And they're just not. And it's understandable because, you know, this is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world already.
There's been perhaps more than a decade of international sanctions that have been imposed against Russia because of its various actions in, you know, Ukraine, in Syria, in its meddling with democratic elections elsewhere as well.
And the fact is that the people of Russia have got used to that to some extent -- or at least come to expect it. And the economy has found ways of, you know, kind of keeping afloat and winding its way through the various complex legal measures that have been imposed upon it.
And I think the expectation is that this latest round of sanctions from the U.S. and from the Europeans is going to be more of the same. It's not going to force Russia to the negotiating table or collapse the Russian economy. It's just going to provide another ratcheting-up of discomfort for the people here and for the government.
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HUNTE: CNN spoke with the Russian envoy on Friday and we asked him what he's hoping to accomplish at his expected meeting in Miami.
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KIRILL DMITRIEV, RUSSIAN SPECIAL ENVOY: Dialogue is important. Only through dialogue can conflicts be solved. I think it's important to understand Russian position, Russian security concerns. Sanctions are really not such a big issue.
President Putin mentioned yesterday two points. He said Russia will never act under pressure. And, secondly, those sanctions will just lift oil prices in the world, will result in higher gasoline prices in the U.S. And Russia will be just selling maybe less oil at a higher price.
So I think the real issue is just how to continue dialogue, how to have a peaceful resolution to the crisis while really having realistic solutions rather than pushing forward unrealistic solutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: OK. Still ahead, prices are climbing at grocery stores across the U.S. We'll take a look at what's driving the price increase on everyday essentials.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Plus game one of the baseball World Series is in the books. Highlights from the slugfest between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers next.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another breaking pitch is flying into center field.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
Game one of the World Series turned out to be a 20-hit slugfest before an electrifying home crowd. The Toronto Blue Jays upset the defending champs, the Los Angeles Dodgers, by a score of 11-4. Here is CNN's Andy Scholes, who has the latest highlights for us.
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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: It was an absolute party.
Here at the.
Rogers Center.
For game one of the World Series. And one thing is for sure. Blue Jays fans are.
Never going to forget the 6th inning of this game. It was all tied up at 2 coming into the inning, the Blue Jays were able to knock out Dodgers ace Blake Snell from the game.
Then, with the score 5-2, Addison Barger coming through with a pinch hit grand slam that just sends the stadium into a frenzy. This was the first ever pinch hit grand slam in World Series history and the Jays did not stop there.
Alejandro Kirk then also hit a two-run home run later in the inning. Blue Jays have a nine-run 6th inning; Shohei Ohtani would hit his first World Series home run in the next inning. But the Dodgers just never recovered. Blue Jays run away with game one, 11-4, to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that's probably as good.
As it gets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large man.
He didn't budge.
He was ready to.
Go and hit a mistake pitch. So that was a little bit more than what we could have hoped for. But that inning, to watch those guys navigate, that was pretty cool.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just madness.
I mean, the fans are so energetic and you know, we really.
Feel it.
And, yes, I thought we put together a lot of.
Really good at-bats and we made things happen and it worked out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: And Blue Jays fans had been waiting 32 years for a night like this. And it was only one game.
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But taking game one of the World Series has been a very good sign recently; 23 of the last 27 teams that won game one went on to win the series. The Blue Jays fans certainly going to be pumped up for game two. You can expect another crazy atmosphere here at the Rogers Center Saturday night -- back to you.
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HUNTE: U.S. stocks surged to new highs on Friday after inflation came in cooler than expected.
The Dow surged 473 points to close above 47,000 for the first time ever. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended at fresh record highs. The new data has investors betting the Federal Reserve could start
cutting interest rates as soon as next week. That's a move that typically boosts spending and business activity. And strong corporate earnings are adding to the momentum, giving traders even more confidence heading into year end.
Just moments before departing Washington on Friday, president Trump said he does not plan to meet with Canadian prime minister during his trip to Asia. On Friday, Mark Carney said he's ready to resume trade negotiations with the U.S.
His comments come after Trump ended talks with his northern neighbor over an anti-tariff TV commercial, paid for by the Province of Ontario.
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MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions, because it will be for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and families in both of our countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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HUNTE (voice-over): The ad featured five sentences from a radio speech by former president Ronald Reagan in 1987, edited out of sequence.
Reagan is heard saying, "Tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster."
Trump has accused Canada of cheating and he called the ad "fraudulent."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Ontario's premier is defending the commercial but as CNN's Paula Newton reports from Ottawa, the provincial leader is offering a concession to get talks going again.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: This ad really struck a nerve. First in the White House but then it reverberated throughout the country as well as Americans heard from Ronald Reagan himself, that conservative icon, in his own words, say that tariffs were damaging to both the American worker and American consumers.
Now look, Doug Ford, understanding that president Trump was now halting all trade negotiations with Canada -- remember, Doug Ford is the premier of Ontario. Kind of like being the governor of the of the state of California, he does not really have that much influence over trade negotiations. Nonetheless, Doug Ford said, after speaking with prime minister
Carney, that he would indeed pull the ad but not before it was viewed by millions more people during the World Series this weekend.
Doug Ford did say he posted on social media that, in speaking with prime minister Carney, Ontario will pause the U.S. advertising campaign effective Monday so that trade talks can resume.
But that is the question.
Will trade talks resume?
President Trump, at this point in time, does not seem like he wants to get back to the negotiating table with Canada. In fact, Canada and the United States had been close on perhaps a couple of deals on steel and aluminum, which would have done a lot for Canada.
But also a lot for American manufacturers that do not have another market that they can go to in order to easily and cheaply buy both steel and aluminum. I want you to listen now to Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, before he left for a summit in Asia. Listen.
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CARNEY: We can't control the trade policy of the United States. We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the policy in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s. And it's a situation where the United States has tariffs against every one of their trading partners to different degrees.
And it's in that context that our officials, my colleagues, have been working with their American colleagues on detailed, constructive negotiations, discussions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now it's clear he is looking to diversify from the United States on trade. But no one is kidding themselves here. That would take years in order to put it into operation.
Right now, Canada still needs a very comprehensive deal with the United States and they wait to see if the president will allow his negotiators back at the table -- Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Rana Foroohar is a CNN global economic analyst. She's also a global business columnist and associate editor with the "Financial Times."
Thank you so much for being with me, Rana.
How are you doing?
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: I'm great. I'm great. Thanks so much, Ben. HUNTE: No worries. Let's get into this. Looking on social media, the
big question is whether this move was really about the Canadian ad.
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Was there a deeper strategic motivation behind all of this?
What do you think?
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, I think, yes. And you know, Trump and Carney are oil and water. I mean, they're both very strategic people. Carney has a big personality. He's very different than Trump but they want what they want.
And so I'm not surprised to see them tangling. But I actually think that this does go to something deeper, which is that the U.S. is making a pivot to the west and to the north. It's looking toward its own back yard.
Its looking toward the Arctic. It wants Canada to be with it in the new great game that's taking place in the Arctic, with the U.S., China, Russia, all sort of, you know, looking for territory, looking for minerals, looking for new shipping pathways.
And you know, when Carney is not doing or saying exactly what Trump wants, he gets angry. And so I think the two things are part and parcel of the fact that the president, president Trump, really has a hard time when people, that he sees as vassals, which he does -- he does see Canada in that way -- are not doing what he wants.
HUNTE: Yes.
Worst-case scenario, what could Canada and Washington lose here?
Could these tariffs end up backfiring on the U.S. economy in ways that president Trump isn't even acknowledging at the moment?
FOROOHAR: Yes. Well, I think, yes. Look, Canada has more to lose in the short term from a trade war, because it, you know, it simply sends a lot more goods per capita into the U.S.
But China is Canada's second largest trading partner. And China is very interested in doing more trade with Canada. It's interested in, you know, strengthening that strategic relationship.
As I mentioned, China is much more invested in the Arctic than it used to be in the past. And it's interesting that Carney is going off, actually, before the APEC summit in Southeast Asia, to talk with the Chinese and Indians about how they can do more deals together.
This speaks to a larger point, which is that Trump may have the upper hand in the short term. But the rest of the world is realigning, realigning. You know, there are other ways to do trade. There are other places. And this could be the start of some big changes.
HUNTE: I want to also turn to this new inflation data released on Friday in the U.S.
How concerned should Americans and even the world be right now?
FOROOHAR: You know, the data actually came in a little bit marginally softer than we thought. We were expecting 3.1 percent inflation. We got 3 percent inflation. In a way that's, you know, that's pretty good news. It probably takes the pressure off the Fed to keep rates firm or even to hike them. I think we could be looking at a rate cut.
But at the end of the day, we are in a very volatile moment. We are in a very difficult market. There's lots of dynamics. I would not want to be Jerome Powell right now. And I wouldn't say that inflation is necessarily solved.
You know, this is something that we could see surge again on trade conflict or on things like health care inflation, which is certainly coming down the pike in America in the new year.
HUNTE: It's all happening here. Rana Foroohar, thank you for now. Appreciate it.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
HUNTE: The National Retail Federation reports nearly 80 percent of Americans expect to pay more to celebrate Halloween this year. And if they are hoping for some chocolate treats, well, they're not wrong. For several reasons chocolate prices are going up. CNN's Anna Cooban reports.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: This Halloween, trick-or-treaters may be in for a fright. Chocolate is particularly expensive and this is due to many reasons.
Firstly, the price of cocoa, the essential component of chocolate, skyrocketed in 2023 and 2024. And some of the chocolate on shelves now will have been made with that pricey cocoa.
Add to that poor harvests in major cocoa-producing regions, like Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and tariffs in the United States. U.S. president Donald Trump has slapped 50 percent duties on aluminum imports. Many chocolate bars are, of course, wrapped in aluminum foil. You then have the perfect storm for a frighteningly pricey Halloween.
But then how have chocolate makers responded?
Well, some have reduced the cocoa content in their products, while others have opted to shrinkflate; in other words, reduce the amount of product for sale but keeping the same price.
On top of all of this are changing preferences among younger consumers, with many opting to buy gummies, sweets and sour candies over chocolate. So this Halloween may also have a different flavor than in years past -- Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: The U.S. is acknowledging the challenges in phase two of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
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But secretary of state Marco Rubio says this is the only plan that can succeed. That story is next.
Plus, Ukraine's allies say they have still got the leverage that they can use to make Russia negotiate. You'll see how they plan to push Moscow to talk peace. That's coming up.
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HUNTE (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
There are signs that the United States could soon take military action inside Venezuela. The USS Gerald Ford and its Strike Group are now heading to the Caribbean. And three U.S. officials tell CNN that president Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela.
Canada says it's ready to resume trade talks with the U.S. That's just one day after U.S. president Donald Trump terminated talks over an anti-tariff TV commercial. It used parts of a decades-old speech by former president Ronald Reagan.
Ontario's premier, whose province created the ad, says he'll suspend their broadcast after this weekend.
President Trump says he would like to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while visiting Asia in the days ahead but he's not sure if it will happen or not. The president is expected to stop in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, where he's planning a summit with Chinese president Xi.
HUNTE: U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio is warning that there is no plan B if the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Gaza falls apart.
[03:35:00]
But he appears optimistic that it will successfully end the war. He also talked about Hamas' future in the enclave while touring the new U.S. military coordination center in southern Israel.
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MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If Hamas refuses to demilitarize, it will be a violation of the agreement and that will have to be enforced. I'm not going to get into the mechanisms by which it is going to be enforced but it will have to be enforced. I mean, this is a deal and a deal requires conditions to be met.
Israel has met their commitments. They're standing at the yellow line and that is contingent upon the demilitarization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Hamas says it is committed to the ceasefire agreement and is working to hand over the remaining deceased hostages. But Israeli intelligence has said that Hamas may not be able to find them all among the rubble.
Ukraine's allies are urging more countries to take a cue from the U.S. and slap sanctions on Russian oil companies. The group, known as the Coalition of the Willing, met in London on Friday.
And that came days after Washington hit Russia's top two oil companies with sanctions. European leaders also made it clear they'll work hand- in-hand to ramp up pressure on Moscow. As Nic Robertson reports, they believe that's what it takes to make Russia negotiate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the very clear messaging from both the British prime minister and the Ukrainian president, that pressure on Vladimir Putin to get him to the negotiating table, is what's required.
And also, both leaders are very clear that it's important to work with the United States, that this is the way to achieve the goals, that this is the way, as prime minister Keir Starmer said, to remove Russia's oil and gas sales from the global markets, to cut off their war economy.
The British prime minister saying that it was Vladimir Putin, is the only one right now who doesn't want peace. And the thing to do is force him to the negotiating table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Putin is the.
Only person.
Who does not want to stop this war. His strikes on civilians this week made that crystal clear, once again targeting energy infrastructure ahead of winter, hitting young children in their nursery. This coalition is determined to go further than ever to ratchet up the pressure.
On Putin.
From the battlefield to his war economy, because that is the only way to change his mind and push him back to the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTSON: And president Zelenskyy also talked about the importance of long-range weapon systems like the Tomahawk, the Storm Shadow. The Storm Shadow, the British already providing to Ukraine, Zelenskyy saying that these longer-range weapons aid the diplomacy, aid the pressure on President Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: The long-range capability.
Directly strengthens diplomacy.
The more losses Putin suffers on his own territory, the fewer assaults he can carry out on the front line and the faster he will agree to meaningful diplomacy. That is why we are working to secure Tomahawk cruise missiles, additional Storm Shadow missiles, other capabilities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And on the issue of those longer-range missiles, both Starmer and Zelenskyy indicating that progress has been made in discussions to get those available. Not clear precisely when it will happen.
The British prime minister also doubling down supporting the European Union, finding a way to use those frozen Russian assets to provide loans for Ukraine to continue fighting the war. He said it's important that that's done in a timely manner.
And president Zelenskyy reaffirming again that the way forward is to work with the United States. And that's the way, he said, they can get those long-term security guarantees, the boots on the ground, to come in and support Ukraine when a ceasefire is in place -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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HUNTE: OK. Still ahead, a rare fossil site in New Mexico is rewriting the final days of the dinosaurs.
Were they in decline or stronger than we previously thought?
See you in a bit.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
A rare discovery in New Mexico may rewrite the final chapter of dinosaurs. New research in the San Juan Basin shows a thriving, diverse ecosystem just hundreds of thousands of years before dinosaurs vanished.
The team behind the research says dinosaurs were adapting and flourishing and it was a sudden impact, not a slow fade, that wiped them out.
Scientists dated fossils, including a giant long-necked alamosaurus to the very end of the Cretaceous Period, suggesting that dinosaurs were not in decline before a massive asteroid hit the Earth.
Let's keep talking about that. Here is Andrew Flynn. He's an assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at New Mexico State University.
Andrew, thanks so much for being with me.
How are you doing?
ANDREW FLYNN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES, NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY: Thank you so much for having me tonight.
HUNTE: You're so, so welcome. Let's get into talking about dinosaurs. Your new research suggests that dinosaurs in what's now New Mexico were thriving right before the asteroid hit.
What does that tell us about how strong these ecosystems really were and how sudden that extinction event must have been?
FLYNN: So, yes, there's been a long-held idea that dinosaurs were in the very end of the Cretaceous Period, right before the mass extinction in North America, especially, had this homogeneous, cosmopolitan distribution.
And most of this came from only one place. So we only really had one well-dated rock unit in North America from this very end of the Cretaceous. This is -- most people probably -- if you've ever watched "Jurassic Park," know a lot of dinosaurs from this unit is really famous, the Hell Creek region of Montana.
So things like tyrannosaurus and triceratops are from here. And so with only one data point, we didn't really understand the complexity across the continent. And so with our new research, with our new ages (ph) in New Mexico, we have a really different community down there.
Looks like, leading up to the boundary, there's no more less complex ecosystems than there were previously in the earlier -- or, sorry, later part of the Cretaceous, where we think dinosaurs are thriving.
HUNTE: Wow.
What sorts of regional differences did you find?
And what do those differences tell us about how dinosaurs adapted to those local environments?
FLYNN: Yes, so the big one is, as you mentioned before, this long- necked sauropod dinosaur, alamosaurus. So it is estimated to be around 30 meters long -- so about as long as
a 737 jet -- and weighed about 35 tons or around five or six adult male elephants.
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It's a truly gigantic animal. And so that is really characteristic of this southern half of United States we're finding down there.
And these things, these sauropod dinosaurs, throughout their evolutionary history, seem to have a preference for warm climates. They don't seem to be able to tolerate cold weather, which is kind of surprising for such a large animal.
And so they are -- we think this is a climate signature that southern North America, just like today, further south you go, the warmer it gets. Same thing seems to be happening at the end of the age of dinosaurs.
HUNTE: Wow. The study points to the idea of bioprovinces, which to me sounds like a dinosaur neighborhood.
Can you just explain what that actually means and how those divisions may have shaped evolution in the final days before the extinction?
FLYNN: Yes, I mean, you're pretty much dead on. That's exactly what they are. Bioprovinces, what we mean here is that just different, like essentially areas of North America or this ancient continent called Laramidia, had different dinosaurs.
And they're defined by the bio or the biology that's there. And so I think maybe a better way to look at this is that the dinosaurs are reflecting the climatic and environmental conditions in these different bioprovinces. And that's what seems to be driving the difference in different dinosaur populations.
HUNTE: Wow.
How rare is it to make these kinds of discoveries in North America?
And why has it been so hard to find and accurately date fossils from this period?
FLYNN: Yes. So North America is incredibly fortunate in its late Cretaceous or late end of dinosaur die hard -- late end of the dinosaur age fossil record. It's truly probably the best place in the world for getting accurate ages on these rocks.
It's quite difficult because usually we rely on volcanic ashes and we can date the actual crystals that form within them but those are quite rare in southern North America at the end of the Cretaceous Period.
So my colleagues and I had to use different methods. We used paleomagnetism. Earth's magnetic field is not stable. Sometimes it flips. And so your compass that today points north might one day point south. And so we're very fortunate that the age of dinosaurs ends right in
the middle of one of these reverse intervals. And so we can measure that in the rock record. We know when these occur.
And so this allows us to get really precise age dates, combined with crystals from sandstones that tell us -- give us a maximum age, that the rock has to be younger than that crystal. You can't incorporate a crystal into a rock unless it already exists.
And so we're able to do that and get a really precise age on these units to the last couple hundred thousand years.
HUNTE: Absolutely love this. Thank you so much. Andrew Flynn in New Mexico, really appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us.
FLYNN: Thank you for having me.
HUNTE: OK. Still ahead, the Netflix movie "K-Pop Demon Hunters" is just the latest hit out of South Korea. We'll take a look at how Korean culture has become a global phenomenon.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
Global pop culture is increasingly dominated by what's popular in South Korea, trends that influence everything from music to food to film and, most recently, Netflix's big hit movie, "K-Pop Demon Hunters." CNN's Will Ripley recently spoke with South Korean president Lee Jae-myung, who discussed his country's cultural impact.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When I sat down with South Korean president Lee Jae-myung, we talked a lot about things like South Korea's manufacturing and its hard power, its military power.
But we also wanted to talk with him about soft power. And it turns out the president is a fan of some Korean programs that you probably recognize.
We've got a whole spread here. This is like that scene from "K-Pop Demon Hunters," where they're in the plane and then they're -- yes, right?
That's what it looks like right now.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Yes, even South Korean President Lee Jae Myung is a fan of "K-Pop Demon Hunters," the most popular Netflix movie of all time.
And then there's the Netflix mega-hit "Squid Game," two global sensations with one thing in common, K-culture.
LEE JAE MYUNG, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I believe K-food is probably one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.
RIPLEY: We also brought these apples here, which I believe are from Andong, your hometown. We also have on the table tangerines.
MYUNG (through translator): So Korean tangerines are quite different from oranges but I must say they are very delicious. Once you try them, you'll see just how delicious they are.
RIPLEY: What do you like about the K-drama, "When Life Gives You Tangerines"?
I heard you binge-watched it and you even cried.
MYUNG (through translator): This drama is very Korean and it depict an area, a very specific part of Korea, Jeju Island and it is set in the past.
And so, when I watched this, I was curious whether the audience in the global community would empathize with this drama and I was very surprise to find that many, many people around the world empathize with it.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The world is obsessed with K-culture, from hit K-pop songs like Rose's "APT." --
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RIPLEY (voice-over): -- to Oscar-winning films like "Parasite." President Lee says he knows why.
MYUNG (through translator): K-pop and then K-drama and movies. Now K- beauty and K-food. But I believe on top of all of this are the values and orders.
I believe Korean democracy will be able to become the golden standard for democracy around the world, because as you might have seen last December 3rd, many Korean protesters were peacefully demonstrating with their light sticks.
RIPLEY (voice-over): He's talking about the shocking and short-lived martial law declaration by his now-impeached and imprisoned predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol. Democracy and the peaceful transfer of power prevailed.
MYUNG (through translator): And if the success of Korea can be a source of hope for many other countries around the world, that is also a good thing.
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RIPLEY (voice-over): Surprisingly, President Lee was not shy about eating on camera.
MYUNG (through translator): It's very good. And I hope you get a good filling today so you will be able to skip dinner. If you visit Gyeongju during APEC, I am very sure that you will be able to have this bread. I hope you try a lot of Korean cuisine, experience the culture here and have a nice time.
RIPLEY: I look forward to it. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for your time.
The president certainly hopes that world leaders will get to enjoy some Korean food and perhaps other aspects of Korean culture, like music and maybe even catch a K-drama while they're here in the country for APEC -- Will Ripley, CNN, Seoul.
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HUNTE: A zoo in France is getting ready to say goodbye to two of its star attractions. Pandas Huan Huan, a female, and Yuan Zi, a male, have called France's Beauval Zoo home since Beijing loaned the pair to France in 2012. But last month, the zoo announced they would return to China at the end of November.
Huan Huan has kidney problems and time is running out for them to make the journey to China. The pandas gave birth to twins while in France and the twins will remain in Beauval.
Well, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me on the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I will see you at the same time tomorrow. But don't go anywhere. CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment.
Kim, over to you.
