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SCOTUS Lets Trump Temporarily Pause SNAP Payments; Frustration, Uncertainty Rising Over Air Travel Disruption; Americans Concerned About Economy; Israel Receives Remains Of Deceased Hostage; Trump Exempts Hungary From Russian Energy Sanctions; Sudan's RSF Agree To "Humanitarian Truce"; Bad Bunny Makes History With Six Grammy Noms. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired November 08, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

SNAP benefits stuck in limbo. We'll break down the impact of the emergency Supreme Court ruling on Americans struggling to get by.

And more cancellations expected at major airports across the country. We'll look at how many people could face travel trouble today as the shutdown drags on.

Plus, the Grammy nominations are in and it's a big year for international artists. We'll look at who got the most nods and who's been snubbed.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: A late-night emergency order from the U.S. Supreme Court is leaving millions of Americans in limbo on how they're going to afford food.

The top court is temporarily letting the Trump administration pause SNAP food security payments. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson didn't decide on the merits of the case but she did put a lower court's ruling on hold. That ruling had required the administration to cover food stamp payments for millions of Americans who need the help.

But now the U.S. Department of Agriculture will no longer need to transfer $4 billion to cover those payments. Earlier, CNN spoke to law professor Jessica Levinson about the impacts of the ruling. Here she is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSICA LEVINSON, LOYOLA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: What we have is, as you said, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, she's the Supreme Court justice in charge of this circuit, saying we need to give the court of appeals a moment to make a decision on this appeal to that first circuit.

So what we had this morning is a district court judge saying to the Trump administration, basically, I think you're dragging your feet; fund the program fully now. Fund it today. Don't wait any more.

The Trump administration then went to the first circuit and appealed that decision. The first circuit refused to pause that decision and basically said, we need a minute. We're going to decide. We're going to decide quickly.

The Trump administration then went to the Supreme Court tonight and said, we need at least an administrative stay, the most temporary of pauses. And Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson agreed. And so now, a lot of people are in limbo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And as for the government shutdown impacting your travel, major airlines are already announcing hundreds of cancellations for this weekend. Today, Southwest is cutting about 100 flights, United 168 and American Airlines 220 flights.

The Trump administration ordered a 4 percent cut to flights to relieve stress on air traffic controllers, who are being paid nothing right now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the percentage of canceled flights could rise to 20 percent if the shutdown doesn't end soon. Here he is.

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SEAN DUFFY, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: We're going to see more cancellations. We're still going to watch the staffing triggers. What that means is air traffic controllers are calling in sick. That happens in different parts of the country.

As that happens, you'll also see additional delays throughout the American airspace. But Sandra (ph), I mean, the problem we really have is air traffic controllers aren't being paid and they're being forced to take secondary jobs; again, whether it's waiting tables or driving Uber, instead of coming to towers and doing their day jobs.

Because they're paying for the necessities of their family, food, gas, rent or mortgages. And let's end the shutdown.

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BRUNHUBER: Americans affected by the flight cancellations are angry, frustrated and just plain annoyed. CNN's Jason Carroll has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Newark International Airport, one of 40 airports across the country impacted by all of this. We've been speaking to passengers. Obviously, a number of them very upset over what's been going on, frustrated over their travel.

Some of those, who made it here to the airport, their flights were so severely delayed they just gave up. Others, their flights were outright canceled.

We've been speaking to people who decided to just give up on airline travel altogether this go-around and to drive to their destinations. One thing is abundantly clear: the longer that this all drags on, the more impatient people are going to become.

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KAREN SOIKA, AIR TRAVELER: I'm renting a car.

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I have to be back in Utah by Tuesday. And from what I hear with the counters, the airline counters, and TSA, they literally said to me, if I were you, I wouldn't travel over the next three days.

JAY CURLEY, AIR TRAVELER: They said, yes, you're still going to be flying out at 10 o'clock. Well, of course, 10 o'clock came -- and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is 10 o'clock --

J. CURLEY: -- 10 o'clock at night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

And then they said, cancel flight.

CINDY CURLEY, AIR TRAVELER: But it wasn't even on the board. And we just went to an agent and they looked it up and they said, nope, that's canceled too. And, of course, the whole board, there were so many cancellations. So we're going to just rent a car and drive.

J. CURLEY: So, well, I mean --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drive from where?

J. CURLEY: From here to Wilmington, North Carolina.

People are really hurting out here. And it's not just the traveling public but it's affecting the whole economy. And you people are to blame.

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CARROLL: Obviously, the "you people" directed at lawmakers. The feeling is that they are simply not doing enough to end this shutdown. And everyday people are being affected by it -- Jason Carroll, CNN, Newark International Airport.

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BRUNHUBER: Earlier I spoke with Simon Calder, travel correspondent at "The Independent," and I asked him what people can do to try and get around these mass cancellations. Here he is.

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SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT, "THE INDEPENDENT": If it's an event that you absolutely have to get to. Then you could double down. You could buy an extra flight and take it on the basis that, well, if they're already canceling one flight in 10, then if mine is the unlucky one, I will have another one.

And it's very unlikely that will be canceled, too. But that's going to prove, of course, very, very expensive. And, unfortunately, as we heard in -- from those passengers just a moment ago, there are no air passenger rights rules.

I'm speaking to you from Europe, where, if an airline cancels a flight for any reason, it immediately has to find you a hotel, give you meals, find an alternative flight, even if that's on a rival airline. None of this applies in the U.S.

And so therefore, while it is very expensive for the airlines -- and they will be losing revenue -- there will be people not making trips because they don't want the uncertainty -- it's actually much worse for the passengers.

And already here in Europe, I'm hearing concerns from people who are, well, international flights most definitely are not affected at the moment. But connections onwards, of course, and -- are definitely going to be. And that is a big worry internationally.

All the big airports are affected.

But the thing is, what I'm looking at the cancellations that are coming up today for Saturday U.S. time and they are very much impacting smaller communities.

And there's good reason for that. If you're an airline, you are -- if you've got to cancel a certain number of flights, you are looking very closely at the size of the aircraft, the number of passengers and the amount of money you will lose.

And so, therefore, I'm afraid it is going to be the smaller communities which suffer, even though it's the bigger airports that are being directly affected.

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BRUNHUBER: So as the government shutdown enters day 39 with no deal in sight, a Trump administration official is warning that things can only get worse for the economy. Listen to this.

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KEVIN HASSETT, TRUMP ECONOMIC ADVISER: We're starting to see pockets of the economy that look like they might be in a recession, that were not in a recession because of this.

But there are pockets that are really hurting. And if we go another month or so, then who knows how bad the economy could be this quarter. And we know whose fault that will be.

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BRUNHUBER: Kevin Hassett's comments come as Congress remains at an impasse after Senate majority leader John Thune rejected a new proposal by Democrats, calling it a, quote, "nonstarter." The Senate resumed sitting on Saturday but a vote to reopen the government remains unlikely.

As for president Trump, he's back in Florida. Trump earlier told lawmakers to stay in the nation's capital until an agreement to reopen the government is reached. He's repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to reopen the government by abolishing the filibuster.

While speaking to reporters on Friday, he also tried to tamp down the impacts of the shutdown with a false claim. Here he is.

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TRUMP: Prices are down under the Trump administration and they're down substantially. We did a great job on groceries and affordability. The only problem is the fake news. You people don't want to report it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And joining us now is associate professor of politics at the University of Surrey, Mark Shanahan.

Really appreciate you coming on for us here. So in terms of the effects of the shutdown, I want to go to our lead story in that court decision to allow the Trump administration to pause paying SNAP benefits.

I imagine, you know, millions of Americans had been happy to hear that the government would be forced to pay the November food benefits. And now this.

I mean, it doesn't seem like great politics, does it, fighting so hard to stop feeding hungry Americans?

MARK SHANAHAN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF SURREY: This is -- now it's become purely ideological. SNAP is not for just a

few people. There are 42 million people across the country, out of a country of 340 million.

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So well over 10 percent of people who rely on their SNAP benefits, for this amount to come into their accounts each month to enable them to get food. This is not about getting any kind of luxuries. This is just about having the basics to feed your family.

And this is really going to hurt and it's going to hurt the people who've got the least defense against poverty in this country. Now an awful lot of Americans will step up. There is a fantastic culture of supporting communities, be it through churches, just be it through community groups.

But that should not be the norm. This is a government safety net and, through some fairly harsh ideological politicking, one side of the political divide has decided that it's going to hold the country to ransom.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And worth saying, I mean, it's obviously both Republicans and Democrats who will be affected by not getting these SNAP benefits that you're talking about there.

Now on the shutdown itself, still no deal. The Senate is meant to convene again at noon today.

Do you expect any movement over the weekend?

SHANAHAN: Not really over the weekend. We're at an impasse. People have moved into very, very entrenched positions. Still, the ACA is the sticking block. It's either going to take an up-down vote, which puts the Republicans at risk. And I'm not sure they're prepared to take that risk at the moment.

Or it's going to mean Donald Trump getting off the fence, coming and sitting down, particularly with Democrat lawmakers, to find a way forward where everybody can feel that they haven't lost. There probably are no winners in this.

But if they can walk away in some way gracefully, although it is very difficult after a 39-day shutdown, I think this will go into next week. This could actually play out, probably close up to Thanksgiving. If it is getting close to the holiday season, then I think Trump will have to step in.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, just on the pure politics, I mean, you talk about no winners. Obviously this is the longest shutdown in history. Conventional wisdom was that, even though, you know, the public started off blaming Republicans, Democrats would catch more heat the longer this dragged on.

I mean, what do you make of the Democrats' calculations here?

Are they reading the political winds right here by holding out for those health care guarantees?

SHANAHAN: Well, they'll probably look at the election results from early on in the week and say that the political winds are with them, albeit they won a lot of elections in Democrat strongholds.

But there were more people who were pledging their votes to Democrats than last year and more independents and people in the middle ground who were doing so. I think they believe they have more of the public on their side at the moment, certainly from their own supporters, to walk away now.

And to cave over this shutdown would be seen as a huge defeat and going back into the worst days of Democrat chaos that we saw leading up to and in the wake of the presidential election next year. So I don't think they're going to cave yet. I think they believe they have a strong hand and that the mood is turning against Republicans.

BRUNHUBER: Those winds this week that you're talking about, from the Democrats, I mean, a lot of the credit, I guess they would say, went to their arguments that they were making about affordability. And we saw the shutdown now has left Americans feeling even worse about the economy.

We saw the proof in that University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, falling to, what, 50 percent this month, the lowest level since June 2022.

How much does economic anxiety like this affect the messaging now going into the midterms?

And we've seen now, you know, president Trump, even this week, coming out and talking about affordability, calling it the new word that Republicans need to focus on.

SHANAHAN: Yes. Really interesting. He'd never used that word before. It simply was not in his vocabulary.

It matters an awful lot. Economic sentiment is generally what drives elections. If you feel you've got cash in your wallets, if you feel you've got money in the bank, then you're probably feeling better than you would at the moment, where everything is much more up in the air, is much more uncertain.

Uncertainty breeds discontent. The Democrats will certainly play on that. If they've learned anything from this week, it will be a lot of local campaigning, focusing on local issues, focusing on the local economy.

And at the moment the Trump administration is not strong on the economy. I mean, that economic sentiment is almost as low as it has ever been. And this is the Republicans, the party that is supposed to deliver a great economy. Trump, the economic miracle worker, isn't winning at the moment.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Well, listen, we'll leave it there.

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But really appreciate getting your insights. Mark Shanahan, thanks so much.

SHANAHAN: Thank you. BRUNHUBER: A federal judge has ruled that president Trump illegally

ordered the National Guard to Oregon. The administration claimed it needed to send troops to defend against protesters violently rebelling at an immigration facility in Portland.

But the U.S. district judge, who was appointed by Trump, ruled that there were only isolated instances of violence and said those didn't meet the legal requirement to deploy federal troops to the city.

So this ruling maintains the status quo in Oregon, where National Guard troops can't be deployed. The Trump administration will likely appeal and the case could go to the Supreme Court.

All right. Coming up, the remains of another hostage have arrived in Israel, the fourth this week and one of the last from Gaza.

Plus, Russia asks for clarity about Donald Trump's call for new nuclear tests. We'll have those stories and more when we come back. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Israel has received the remains of one of the last deceased hostages held in Gaza.

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The Israeli military has confirmed they belong to soldier Lior Rudaeff. The IDF says Rudaeff's body was taken after he died defending a kibbutz during the October 7th attack.

Now five bodies of deceased hostages remain in Gaza. Returning all of them is one of the key conditions of the first phase of the U.S.- brokered ceasefire deal. Joining me now from London is CNN correspondent Nada Bashir.

Nada, what more can you tell us on this?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, this has come as a moment of significant closure, of course, for the family member of what has now been identified as Lior Rudaeff, the 61-year-old deceased hostage, who was killed on October 7th following the Hamas attack on Israel.

His body then taken captive by Hamas and held in Gaza until now, returned to Israel as part of that ceasefire agreement although being returned to Israel several weeks after that ceasefire came into effect.

We've been hearing from the hostages' representatives and they have said in a statement, alongside the grief and the understanding that their hearts will never be whole, Lior's return provides some measure of comfort to a family that has lived with agonizing uncertainty and doubt for over two years.

And this is a sentiment that is shared by many of the family members and loved ones of hostages held captive in Gaza, particularly the deceased hostages whose bodies and remains are now being returned to Israel.

As you mentioned, at least five deceased hostages are still believed to be held captive by Hamas. Their remains yet to have been returned to Israel and there is little clarity on the timeline there as to when we might expect the return of their remains, to be laid to rest in Israel.

We know, of course, that this is a very difficult undertaking. We know that the Red Cross is playing a crucial role in coordinating those efforts and the return of the remains of deceased hostages to Israel.

But there is an understanding and always has been that this will be a very difficult task and that it could take a long time, given the scale of the destruction in the Gaza Strip.

We've been getting updates frequently from Gaza civil defense with regards to their recovery efforts of the numerous hundreds of bodies believed to be buried beneath the rubble in Gaza, of Palestinian civilians as well. So that is set to take a long time, as expected and as outlined by the Red Cross.

But, of course, mounting pressure on Hamas officials to ensure the return of the remains of deceased hostages. As you mentioned, Kim, this is a crucial part of the ceasefire agreement.

We've heard from Israeli officials over the last few weeks with regards to the possible repercussions if all hostages are not returned, including the remaining five deceased hostages, potentially even halting aid shipments into Gaza as a possible repercussion.

And it's important to note that, while the return of aid shipments into the Gaza Strip has also been a crucial element of that ceasefire agreement, the amount of aid getting into Gaza, according to U.N. officials, still is not enough to meet the demand and the need inside Gaza.

And, of course, that humanitarian focus within the Gaza Strip is also now really being ramped up. We've heard from U.N. officials this morning, saying that they are planning to roll out and step up an immunization campaign for children who have not been immunized over the course of the war.

There are increasing calls for more aid to be allowed and also a real focus on the psychological and emotional trauma that many children, many Palestinian civilians, will now, of course, be dealing with inside the Gaza Strip. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. I appreciate that. Nada Bashir, thank you so much.

So as Nada just mentioned, the United Nations has announced plans to vaccinate thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza. The catch-up campaign is expected to reach 44,000 children who missed essential vaccines over the last two years. The U.N. will also perform malnutrition screenings.

While aid is now flowing into the enclave, as we mentioned earlier, the U.N. warns it's not enough. Hundreds of thousands of families are at risk of facing winter without essential supplies and shelter.

Authorities in Turkiye issued genocide arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and dozens of other officials on Friday. The Istanbul police chief public prosecutor's office said it issued warrants against 37 people, including defense minister Israel Katz and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

They're accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza and against a flotilla carrying aid to the enclave. That flotilla was intercepted by Israeli authorities last month. Israel denounced the warrants as a PR stunt.

Donald Trump is giving Hungary a one-year exemption from U.S. sanctions for buying Russian energy. The news came as Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban visited the White House on Friday. Both leaders say Hungary needs the exemption because it's a landlocked country.

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TRUMP: It's very difficult for him to get the oil and gas from other areas. Many European countries are buying oil and gas from Russia and they have been for years. And they say, what's that all about?

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VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: So that will be one of the issues for today, to explain clearly what would be the consequences for the Hungarian people and for the Hungarian economy, not to get oil and gas from Russia, because we are supplied by pipelines.

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BRUNHUBER: Trump called Orban a great leader of a great country. Orban says he wants to improve relations with the United States.

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ORBAN: What we need is a golden age, to open a golden age of the United States-Hungarian relationship. That's the biggest hub (ph) we can get --

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TRUMP: And maybe Europe, too.

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BRUNHUBER: Russia is asking Donald Trump for clarity about his policy on nuclear testing. This follows his order to the U.S. military last week to restart the process of testing. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more from Moscow.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The back- and-forth between Russia and the United States over possible renewed nuclear testing is continuing.

The spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova, coming out on Friday and saying that Russia is demanding more clarity from the United States over president Trump's recent remarks, that the U.S. would start renewed nuclear testing.

Now president Trump is, of course, accusing countries like Russia and China of secretly conducting nuclear tests.

The Russians are saying that they want clarity from the United States over whether or not the U.S., for instance, want to test new devices to deliver nuclear weapons; like, for instance, new missiles or whether or not the U.S. actually wants to explode a nuclear bomb.

That's, of course, something that neither Russia nor the United States have done in over 30 years. Now this has been lingering for a while. And on Wednesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin, he held a meeting of his National Security Council, where he had his top ministers and generals basically give him a layout of the situation.

And at the end of that meeting, Putin did say that he was instructing those generals and ministers to look into the possibility of, in the future, conducting new nuclear tests. All that was later clarified, with the Kremlin saying, so far, nothing has been decided yet.

The Russians have, of course, been spending a lot of time and money modernizing their nuclear forces. They've come up with things like, for instance, a torpedo that they claim could unleash a radioactive tsunami and recently actually launched a missile that they say is powered by a nuclear engine and has an indefinite flight range.

But at the same time, the Russians have not exploded a nuclear device. And they say that they still very much feel bound by the Nuclear-Test- Ban Treaty -- Fred Pleitgen CNN Moscow.

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BRUNHUBER: At least one person is dead and 10 others injured after a deadly Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Ukraine's state emergency service says a Russian drone hit a nine-story residential building, causing a fire and destruction.

On Friday, Russia struck a gas station in a Kharkiv suburb. Five people were hurt. The Russian military now claims to control nearly 20 percent of Ukraine; 116,000 kilometers or nearly 45,000 miles.

Still to come, the U.S. government shutdown enters day 39 as millions of Americans run out of the SNAP food aid benefits. We'll look at what the Supreme Court had to say next. And global leaders gathered in Brazil ahead of this week's COP30

summit. And we'll tell you about a new initiative to help preserve one of the world's most valuable resources, our forests. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's check some of today's top stories.

The U.S. Supreme Court is letting the Trump administration pause SNAP benefits for the time being. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ruled in favor of the government, pausing a lower court's ruling.

That lower court ruling required the Trump administration to cover food stamp benefits for millions of Americans if the order doesn't resolve the underlying legal questions that the case raises.

U.S. airlines are cutting hundreds of flights this weekend following orders from the Trump administration. The cancellations are expected to get worse as the shutdown stretches on. At least 32 air traffic control facilities across the country reported staffing shortages on Friday.

U.S. Senate majority leader John Thune has rejected an effort by Democrats to reopen the government. The new proposal would have extended Affordable Care Act subsidies for one year.

It also provided a stopgap bill and three full-year funding resolutions. Thune called the proposal a nonstarter. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more on congressional efforts to reopen the government.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Negotiations to end the government shutdown were deadlocked heading into the weekend, as Democrats and Republicans still have yet to find an agreement to reopen the government.

Now Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer presented a counterproposal to what Republicans have been talking about in recent days. He said that Democrats are united and ready to reopen the government if Republicans were to commit to a one-year extension of the expiring ObamaCare subsidies.

But any Republican who has talked about extending these subsidies has always said that there needs to be reforms to the program. So that proposal really was a nonstarter when it hit Republicans up here on Capitol Hill.

Senate majority leader John Thune said that this is something that his caucus would not be able to move forward with and that Democrats need to first reopen the government. And then the negotiations can begin on those ObamaCare subsidies.

But many Democrats are feeling emboldened in this moment after their wins in places across the country, where multiple Democratic candidates were able to win in Tuesday night's elections. They feel that those elections sent a message from voters that they want their Democratic leaders to continue to put up a fight up here on Capitol Hill.

Now there's a lot of big questions about how exactly this will all play out in the coming days. President Trump posted on social media that he thinks senators should stay in session over the weekend until they can reopen the government.

But it's unclear, if they do stay in session, what exactly they will be voting on and if there is any forward movement on efforts to reopen the government. Now on Friday night, the Senate did hold a first procedural vote on a bill from Republican senator Ron Johnson to pay federal workers during the shutdown.

That bill failed to advance. Some Democrats had expressed concerns that it might not cover all furloughed workers in that bill text. So that's just one element that's been playing out, as many across the country are really starting to feel the pressure points and the pain of this government shutdown as it has now dragged on.

[05:35:00]

And right now, it does not appear that Republicans and Democrats can get on the same page in the immediate future to end this shutdown, guaranteeing that it will extend into next week and potentially even longer -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: President Trump says no U.S. government officials will attend this month's G20 summit in South Africa. He's accusing the country of human rights abuses against its white Afrikaner population.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed Afrikaners are being, quote, "killed and slaughtered and their land illegally taken."

South African officials have strongly denied those claims but Trump says he's looking forward to hosting a different G20, the one next year in Miami. And Trump, who has denied global warming, is skipping COP30, the U.N. climate change conference. It's in Brazil's environmentally sensitive rainforest.

And ahead of the meeting, other world leaders wrapped up two days of talks focused on protecting forests and cutting emissions. Brazil's president Lula da Silva announced a new multibillion-dollar fund to pay nations that actively preserve their tropical forests. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: You can really feel the urgency here in Berlin. We are in the Amazon rainforest, the largest one in the world.

And today, as leaders, heads of state from all over the world, came together and ended their two-day summit ahead of the COP30, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, who is hosting this very conference, said, we're just not doing enough.

He asked those leaders, urged them really, to reconsider their commitment to the Paris agreement and launched his own fund. This is the Tropical Forest Forever Fund. The goal is to raise $10 billion in the first year, for a total of $125 billion.

That would then be invested. And with the investment, that would be used to pay nations who have those rainforests and reward them if they continue to leave those forests standing.

The idea behind this is very much part of Lula's way of seeing the fight against climate change. He says it has to come from a place of also social justice to those people. For a long time, nations that are still developing have said that basically they were left out of the fossil fuel boom.

And this is a chance for countries to get paid to protect those very forests that are important, not just for them but across the world. The fund would benefit not only Brazil, Peru and Colombia, as well as Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Of course, not present here and not also putting any kind of commitment toward this fund is the United States of America. The absence of president Donald Trump and any kind of delegation from the White House really has been a big talking point here.

But the Brazilian government has actually assessed that it is potentially better for the United States to not be present in these conversations and to basically allow those who are truly committed to fighting climate change to work out their solutions for themselves.

Now coming out of this two-day summit, the gains and losses are still not completely clear. I mean, these are heads of state that have, for years, committed to goals that haven't been achieved.

Now critics of this fund say it is too dependent on private investment and that it could be hard to carry it out and to get to those $125 billion.

Now it's important to say not only the United States but the United Kingdom has also said it will not be putting any money toward this fund. They are now at $6 billion out of the $10 billion that they expect to raise until the end of this year -- Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Belen, Brazil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right, still ahead, possible progress toward a ceasefire in Sudan. But the situation is fraught with complexity and competing interests. We'll have a live expert analysis coming up after the break. Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: In the face of mounting international pressure after reports of a massacre in Darfur, Sudan's Rapid Support Forces agreed this week to enter into a humanitarian truce.

It's being brokered by four countries known as the Quad, the U.S., the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. After the RSF seized control of the city of El Fasher, the U.N. general secretary (sic) said the situation was spiraling out of control. Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire. The words of a displaced Sudanese man underscored that need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUJAHID BAHR AL-DIN, DISPLACED SUDANESE CIVILIAN (through translator): We hope that things would go back to what they used to be and for people to go back to their lands.

War is not good. I swear to God, people were destroyed. Youth were lost and families were lost. We don't have anything to say.

We just want the country to be fixed. We wish the country would be fixed for people to return to their lands and to live in peace and security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: There's concern that the situation is ripe for exploitation, which could prevent a peace deal from being realized.

And for more on this, I'm joined from Boston by Alex de Waal. He's the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Good to see you again. So on this truce, I mean, only one side, as I understand it, has accepted the truce so far.

So where does that leave us?

Is this moment any different from all the other failed ceasefire attempts over the past 2.5 years?

ALEX DE WAAL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION, FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: To be candid, no, it's not different. And I think we can say the situation has already spiraled out of control. It is deteriorating. The other side, the Sudan armed forces, led by general Abdel Fattah

al-Burhan, have rejected the ceasefire offer. The Rapid Support Forces, as you said, just captured El Fasher and massacred probably several thousand people there and, as well as inflicting starvation on them, are intensifying their attacks.

They've had drone attacks on several other cities in Sudan in the last few days. So the situation continues to escalate and to deteriorate for the people.

BRUNHUBER: Is there a significance in the timing, then, that the ISF has waited until now, until they'd captured El Fasher, before accepting this offer of a truce?

DE WAAL: Well, I think that it recognized the enormous reputational damage that it was suffering because the atrocities are so undeniable, because they are being filmed by the perpetrators themselves. And just as shocking as watching murders in -- on real -- in real time is the relish with which the killers are actually conducting their massacre.

[05:45:07]

So the ISF needed to do something to try and salvage its reputation. Also, the international backers, the United Arab Emirates, which is behind the RSF, has been backing them, though it, I should say, it denies it. It is also recognizing that it needs to do something in this regard.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's a key component here. I mean, you've argued that the road to peace runs through Arab capitals.

I mean, how does the U.S. actually get those nations on board, I guess, to force an end to this?

DE WAAL: So the neighboring Arab states are arming and supporting different sides and the war could not be waged with this intensity and savagery, were it not for the arms and financial support of neighboring countries.

So the UAE is supporting the RSF; Egypt, Saudi Arabia, also Qatar and Turkiye are supporting the other side. So the formula that U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio has adopted, which is to get those neighboring countries together, to agree a formula, is the correct one.

The problem is that there are -- that there are deep rivalries among these countries. The UAE was dragging its feet earlier on. And now the backers of the Sudan armed forces have also been dragging their feet so the -- so that general Burhan has rejected the ceasefire.

And what I think needs to happen is for Secretary Rubio to redouble his efforts. And perhaps it will be necessary for president Trump to be in the room, to push the leaders of all those countries to accept that, yes, they have legitimate interests in Sudan but nobody gains through the massacre, the famine, the destruction of an entire country. BRUNHUBER: Yes, it's interesting. It -- certainly president Trump has

billed himself as a, you know, somebody who is interested in brokering these peace agreements. And, explain to me then, because the human toll of this is so huge. I mean, you've touched on a little bit.

But I mean, 12 million displaced, half the population facing starvation, 150,000 dead.

So why should president Trump get involved?

Why should the Trump administration make this a priority now, when there are so many other conflicts that are that are raging?

DE WAAL: So let me just also mention one piece of news that may have slipped below the radar, which is the U.N.'s Famine Review Committee confirmed just a few days ago that Sudan was in famine. And I suppose this was no surprise to -- it was no news.

But anywhere else in the world, this would have been a shocking revelation.

So what's in it for the United States?

Well, it doesn't have commercial interests in Sudan. Sudan has been under sanctions for so long that no U.S. companies are invested there. The interest is really that its friends and allies in across the greater Middle East -- Egypt, Israel, too, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, all these countries, their own stability, their own interests depend upon finding a solution.

And should there not be a solution, we will see millions of refugees destabilizing these countries, beginning with Egypt. So the formula is understood. There is a general agreement on the steps; a ceasefire, humanitarian access, political talks toward a civilian-led government.

It just needs the theatrics. It needs a stage on which these very proud Arab leaders can come together, who may not want to make the concessions to one another but they might be ready to make those concessions in the context of the Oval Office.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Listen, we'll have to leave it there. But always great to get your analysis. Alex de Waal, of the World Peace Foundation, thank you so much.

DE WAAL: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll be right back with more here on CNN NEWSROOM. Please do stay with us.

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(MUSIC PLAYING) BRUNHUBER: Typhoon Fung-wong is barreling toward the Philippines and

forecasters are warning it could become a supertyphoon before making landfall in the northern Philippines on Sunday. Officials are urging people in low-lying and coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground and to suspend all marine activities.

This comes after less than a week after Typhoon Kalmaegi unleashed torrential floods and damaging winds on central Philippines. At least 188 people were killed there. In Vietnam, people are cleaning up after Typhoon Kalmaegi pummeled the coastal regions. At least five people were killed.

Record cold temperatures are heading to the Eastern U.S. Forecasters say the start of next week will feel more like mid-January in cities like Houston, Texas, New Orleans and here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Now this weekend, some areas in the Great Lakes will get their first snowflakes of the season and more than half of the U.S. population will see temperatures at or below freezing over the next seven days. Forecasters say most areas are expected to get back to normal temperatures by next Thursday.

Nominations are in for the Grammys and Kendrick Lamar leads the pack. The rapper is up for an armful of trophies, while Bad Bunny is making history. Our entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Kendrick Lamar. Leads the Grammy. Nominations with. Nine nominations. Heading into the 2026 show. Not far. Behind is Lady Gaga. With seven. Nominations and then. Both Sabrina Carpenter. And Bad Bunny with. Six nominations apiece.

Now Bad Bunny is really the big story of the Grammy nominations because not only is he one of the most nominated artists this year but he also is making history as the first Spanish language artist to be nominated in the top three categories, those being Album of the Year, Record and Song, all in one year.

[05:55:13]

Now this year is a big reflection of the diversification of The Recording Academy voting body. We see a huge year for rap and hip-hop music and also for Latin music, notably with Bad Bunny.

Now possible reason why we are seeing this reflection in the nominations is because, just days ago, The Recording Academy added 3,800 new voting members. I want to tell you a bit about those voting members; 50 percent of the people are under 39 years old, 58 percent are people of color and 35 percent are women.

And for the first time ever, the Latin branch of The Recording Academy was invited to vote. Now the head of The Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr. had this to

say, quote, "This year's class reflects the vibrancy of today's diverse music landscape.

"The addition of many Latin Recording Academy voting members underscores that music has no borders and that our mission to serve music people, regardless of where they are from, is stronger than ever."

Now notably, the country music genre has been completely snubbed in the top four categories.

Now, if you are wondering, where is Taylor Swift after she had the biggest pop culture moment with her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl, do not worry, she wasn't snubbed. She's actually not eligible. That album came out after the eligibility window. So maybe next year for Taylor Swift -- back to you.

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BRUNHUBER: All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world. It's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."