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U.K. Stops Intelligence Sharing with the U.S. over Boat Strikes; Popular Chinese Gay Dating Apps Wiped Out of App Stores. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired November 12, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead.

Just ahead, the U.K. is no longer sharing intelligence with the U.S. about suspected drug trafficking in the Caribbean. We will tell you why.

And this comes as Venezuela announces a massive military move in response to the U.S. buildup in the region.

And the longest government shutdown in the U.S. may be coming to an end soon. But the headache for air travelers is only getting worse.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

And we begin this hour with a break between allies. Sources tell CNN that the United Kingdom is suspending some of its intelligence sharing with the U.S. over the Trump administration's deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.

They tell us British officials believe those strikes violate international law and the U.K. does not want to be complicit. The strikes have killed at least 76 people over the last couple of months.

On the sidelines of the U.N.'s COP30 summit on Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom described the situation as chilling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): It's chilling to me to see those scenes of the United States of America blowing up boats with no transparency, no advice and consent with the United States Congress, the representatives of my country, with briefings that are laughable, and members of Congress, both the House and the Senate, including Republicans have criticized. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Natasha Bertrand has the latest.

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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: U.K.'s decision obviously marks a very significant break from the U.S., which is its closest ally, and its closest intelligence sharing partner. And it really underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the U.S. military's campaign around Latin America.

Now, this is significant as well, because the U.K. prior to breaking off its intelligence sharing with the U.S. on this issue, it had been a willing and able partner in the Caribbean when it came to locating and tracking suspected drug trafficking boats in the area, so that the U.S. Coast Guard could then go and interdict these vessels and arrest everyone on board and seize the drugs. The U.K. was very happy to do that, according to our sources.

But when the U.S. military switched to starting to blow up these boats and kill everyone on board, instead of simply arresting them and attempting to prosecute them, that was when the U.K. decided to pull back because they do not believe that it is legal to simply extrajudicially kill civilians.

Now, the U.S. has a fundamental disagreement with the U.K. on that, because the U.S. has argued repeatedly that these individuals that they are killing are enemy combatants that the U.S. is in an armed conflict with. And the Trump administration has repeatedly argued that these individuals pose an imminent threat to the United States, and therefore President Trump has the authority to defend the national interest and national security.

But legal experts both internationally as well as domestically, including inside the Pentagon itself, are raising questions about that more and more. The idea being that these are individuals who should be treated as criminals rather than enemy combatants because the Trump administration, they argue, has not put forward sufficient evidence that these individuals pose a direct and imminent threat to the United States.

Now, this has become an issue more and more internally in the Pentagon. Just last month, we reported that the U.S. Southern Command commander, who is in charge of the entire operation around Latin America, offered to resign because he was raising questions about the legality of the U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean and increasingly in the Eastern Pacific as well. Military lawyers have also been raising questions about this.

So this is all coming to a head with the U.K. sending a message to the U.S. that is, well, largely symbolic because the U.K. provides intelligence to the U.S. that can be helpful, but the U.S. fundamentally has so many intelligence assets that it can draw upon in the Caribbean to use for its own targeting purposes.

[03:05:01]

But it is a fundamental issue around the world, including from some of the U.S.'s closest allies, is growing with regards to the legality of these U.S. military strikes and questions about whether the Trump administration can legally move forward with what many people believe to be extrajudicial killings.

Natasha Bertrand, CNN in Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.K.'s decision emerges as the U.S. Navy's most advanced carrier strike group enters the waters near Latin America. The USS Gerald Ford relocated from Europe amid tensions with Venezuela. CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon has the latest on Venezuela's reaction to the show of force.

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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Now, as of late on Tuesday evening, the streets of Caracas were calm, even though just a few hours before on Tuesday afternoon, the Venezuelan defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, had announced that over 200,000 soldiers and members of the militia had been mobilized to join military drills to prepare the country against what he says was an imperial threat from the United States.

VLADIMIR PADRINO LOPEZ, VENEZUELAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): We love peace, we deeply love peace. We don't want war here nor in any other place around the world. But if they dare to touch Venezuela, they're going to find us in every street.

POZZEBON: Now, this is happening while the U.S. Navy welcomed the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the Gerald Ford, which joined an operation in the Caribbean Sea, which allegedly target narcotraffickers. So far, the United States have conducted almost 20 kinetic strikes, killing at least 76 people, all of these without showing any conclusive evidence that those people were indeed involved in narcotrafficking.

However, here in Caracas, many people both inside the government and in the opposition believe that the real goal of that operation is to put pressure on the authoritarian president, on Nicolas Maduro, and pressure him to step down. And they see in that operation and in those drills that the Venezuelan military just announced as a way to respond to that pressure, as the tensions both on land and outside offshore in the Caribbean Sea continue to escalate.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

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CHURCH: Human Rights Watch and Cristosal, a Central American rights group, are leveling new allegations of torture at El Salvador's Second prison complex. Their report focuses on dozens of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration from the U.S. to El Salvador this year. In interviews, former detainees say they suffered beating, solitary

confinement and sexual abuse at the notorious mega prison. The detainees spent approximately four months at the jail before they were sent to Venezuela as part of a prisoner exchange. El Salvador's government has said in the past that it respects the human rights of all people in its custody.

A faction of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 12 people on Tuesday. Pakistan's Interior Minister says a man tried to enter a courthouse in Islamabad, but when he failed to do so, he detonated an explosive on the street in front of it.

CNN's Sophia Saifi is following developments live from Islamabad near where the attack happened. She joins us now. So Sophia, tell us what is the latest on this attack?

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary, I think the latest is that there's the city and a country on edge. There's a lot of concern about how the events of yesterday are going to unfold and affect the regional security of Pakistan.

Pakistan's Defense Minister has come out last night and said that the country is in a state of war and has blamed the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan's Prime Minister came out and said that this was carried out by the Afghan proxies of neighboring India.

India, of course, has vociferously denied this allegation. I'm only a couple of hundred feet away from where this attack took place. The judicial complex behind me is sealed.

Parts of it are sealed because of the fact that an investigation is still ongoing. This is a very grim incident. There's still body parts being found within the complex itself, as what we are being told by police officials on the ground over here.

Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. And while attacks happened in the periphery of this country, and there has been a huge spike in militant attacks since the fall of Kabul, there has been a very, attacks in Islamabad are very rare. The last time an attack which led to a higher death toll from what we saw yesterday was back in 2008.

So close to 20 years ago, it's almost like a fortress. So there is a city on edge.

[03:10:05]

The Pakistani government has said often that the Afghan Taliban are harboring the Pakistani Taliban and providing them safe havens, which they then use to carry out attacks within Pakistan. There was also a cadet college in the northwest of Pakistan that was attacked yesterday and the day before by the Taliban as well, by factions of the Pakistani Taliban.

So again, there is a sense of trepidation as to what's going to happen next. Will Pakistan be carrying out strikes in Afghanistan? It already did that back in October.

There were peace talks that have failed just a couple of days ago in Istanbul between Pakistan and the Afghans. So we're going to have to wait and see what's going to happen, how these events are going to unfold, and how they're going to affect the wider security of this volatile region. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Sophia Saifi bringing us that live report from the scene in Islamabad. I appreciate it.

Well one of the most consequential climate summits is underway, but without any high-level U.S. presence. Just ahead, we will hear from an expert on what it means for global climate action.

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CHURCH: The U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to take up a vote that could end the country's longest government shutdown. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the Senate-approved funding bill as soon as Wednesday afternoon. That's in a few hours from now.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries believes Democrats will strongly oppose it. Hours ago, the House Rules Committee started a tense meeting showcasing Democrats' anger over the bill. They proposed an amendment that would extend enhanced health care subsidies for three years, but the committee voted to reject it.

Meanwhile, President Trump scoffed at the idea that affordability is an issue for voters at all.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: More than anything else, it's a con job by the Democrats.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: And why are people saying they're anxious about the economy? Why are they saying that?

TRUMP: I don't know that they are saying. I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we've ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. airlines cut their flights by 6 percent on Tuesday in compliance with an FAA order due to staffing shortages. By Thursday, 8 percent of flights will be cut. And that number goes up to 10 percent on Friday, unless a shutdown deal is signed.

CNN's Gustavo Valdes has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GUSTAVO VALDES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The situation wasn't as bad on Tuesday as we saw on Monday, perhaps because Monday was a return day for many people who travel over the weekend. They got to the airport, they found out their connecting flight was canceled. And that caused a lot of chaos and confusion.

On Tuesday, we saw a lot calmer situation. Delta, which is the largest airline to fly out of Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, we saw very quiet people just doing normal business. We didn't hear any complaints from people who had their flight canceled.

We also noticed that the board wasn't as red as it was yesterday. These screens show about 200 flights at any given time. And on average, we saw no more than 10 cancellations per cycle, which means that about 4.5 percent of the flights were canceled.

This doesn't mean that the situation is getting better. The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, says that things are going to be getting worse until Monday, that they will continue to cancel flights if the shutdown continues.

And he's warning that even if the shutdown ends right now, it's going to take a while to get everybody back to work and get things to normal. Although he says that if the government gets back into business, travel during the holiday of Thanksgiving is not going to be as bad.

Also of notice is how there are no long lines at security. This is where people go through to get checked. These are government workers who are also not getting paid, but they're doing their job.

Perhaps there's a sense of hope that the government is going to go back into business and they will get a paycheck soon.

Gustavo Valdes, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The U.N. Climate Change Conference is underway in Brazil's Amazon region. Indigenous protesters clashed with security guards on Tuesday, demanding climate action and forest protection.

This year's summit has representatives from nearly 200 countries, but the U.S. is noticeably absent from the conference. The Trump administration chose not to send a high level delegation to the summit. Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Manish Bapna is the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental organization. Thank you so much for joining us.

MANISH BAPNA, PRESIDENT, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Delighted to be here.

CHURCH: So what all do you expect this U.N. Climate Change Conference, COP30, will achieve? And how bold might some of the voices be? And ultimately, what decisions will and should be made?

BAPNA: So this year's climate conference takes place at a really pivotal moment in time. It's 10 years after the historic Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, when the international community came together to say we can, you know, we can really tackle this climate crisis.

[03:20:06]

It's also coming at a time when the climate crisis is here, it's heating up, more and more people all around the world are experiencing extreme weather events. But the big elephant in the room, of course, is the Trump administration, right?

We've never had someone in the White House who's more determined to pull the United States backwards from the climate fight. And so the big test of this COP, this climate meeting, is how the international community is going to respond in the face of that opposition from Washington. And as daunting as that may be, I remain quite hopeful because a lot has changed in the last 10 years.

But most importantly, it's the economics of energy, of clean energy, that have shifted so dramatically. So a lot has been done in the past 10 years. And what we need to see at this COP is a reaffirmation of the goals. A lot more work still lies ahead.

CHURCH: And what do you think President Trump's motivation is for ignoring clean energy and instead only supporting fossil fuels at this time?

BAPNA: It really is a puzzling move, because he actually campaigned on a message of affordability. And when you think about affordability, when you think about what is the cheapest sources of energy, the ones that are quickest to deploy, the ones that tend to make a country, most countries, more energy secure, not even thinking about the climate co-benefits, it is around clean energy.

And so I think the motivation here really is that a lot of the coal, oil, and gas industry supported this president directly. And he is rewarding them by investing more in those technologies.

CHURCH: In the end, though, how long might it take to wean the world of fossil fuel energy? Because right now, in most people, their cars rely heavily on fossil fuel.

BAPNA: Absolutely true. So two things can be true at the same time, that there has been significant progress that has been made. And at the same time, there is so much more that still needs to be done.

What the science says is that to avoid some of the worst impacts of the climate crisis, we really need to get down to kind of zero emissions by 2050 globally. So we have still 25 years to do a lot of hard work.

So there is still a lot more that needs to be done. Absolutely, it is going to take time. But I think the thing that people sometimes forget, are that these markets move in a more exponential way. So you might see incremental change for a while. And then all of a

sudden, the market flips.

Just to give an example on this, if you look at electric vehicles, five years ago, there were only 3 million cars sold globally that were electric. This year, that's going to be 20 million. A quarter of all cars sold around the world are electric in this year.

You can see how that market might flip quicker than most people realize. And that's what's incredibly encouraging.

CHURCH: Manish Bapna, thank you so much for talking with us, I appreciate it.

BAPNA: Thank you very much.

CHURCH: Mexico has deployed federal troops to one of the country's most violent states. Details on how the country plans to regain control from the cartels without help from the U.S. Stay with us.

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

A faction of the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least 12 people on Tuesday. However, the Pakistani Taliban is distancing itself from the incident. Pakistan's interior minister says a man detonated an explosive on the street in front of a courthouse in Islamabad after failing to get inside.

The Trump administration's deadly strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean has prompted the U.K. to halt some of its intelligence sharing with the U.S. The strikes have killed at least 76 people since September. Sources tell CNN the British officials do not want to be complicit in a U.S. operation they believe violates international law.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Canada for a meeting of G7 foreign ministers. The conference comes amid tense relations between the U.S. and Canada over President Trump's tariffs. Rubio reportedly plans to discuss global supply chain issues with his G7 counterparts, along with President Trump's efforts to bring peace to Ukraine and Gaza.

[03:30:04]

Well Russia says its military forces are moving deeper into parts of eastern Ukraine. Moscow believes that taking one city in particular, what it calls the gateway to Donetsk, will give it the chance to push into two of the biggest cities in the region.

CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson has more. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What you're looking at here is a Russian soldier's view riding into the heavily contested strategic city of Pokrovsk in the east of Ukraine. The checkpoint is blasted apart and then they get to the fork in the road in the south corner of the city. And you can see most of the troops seem to be riding motorcycles, the vehicles battered, heavily laden.

It's taken them 10 months to get just three miles up the road at the beginning of the year and we're very close. The rail center at the center of the town is two miles from where they are right now and it could take many months before they get there.

That rail hub, hugely important for the Ukrainian government, strategically gives value. We were there a few years ago watching Ukrainians being evacuated, even some returning.

And a town, a city so important that President Zelenskyy visited last year. Not clear when the Russians will, if they're able to take control of all of it, but getting a foothold in it for sure now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Mexico is sending nearly 2000 federal soldiers to one of the country's most violent regions. The move comes less than two weeks after the assassination of a notable mayor.

CNN's Valeria Leon has more.

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VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Sheinbaum has unveiled what she calls Plan Michoacan for Peace and Justice, a mix of security and development measures designed to bring stability back to one of Mexico's most violent states. Under this plan, the federal government is sending nearly 2000 additional troops to Michoacan, part of a broader military operation to contain homicides, prevent extortion and block the movement of criminal groups in and out of the state.

But this isn't just about soldiers on the ground. The plan also includes major investment in infrastructure, new roads, public works and also job creation projects funded by both public and private money. And the idea is to give people real alternatives to crime and rebuild communities that have been living under cartel control for years.

Still, critics argue that the plan leaves important gaps like support for victims, displaced families and programs to help young people avoid being drawn into organized crime. Sheinbaum insists that Mexico's security crisis cannot be solved with force alone.

The President has also rejected direct U.S. involvement in operations on Mexican soil after President Donald Trump offered American help in pursuing the cartels. Sheinbaum says Mexico will only accept intelligence sharing, not U.S. boots on the ground. But pressure from Washington is likely to grow.

Trump has been vocal about demanding results in the fight against drug trafficking and Michoacan could soon become a test of Mexico's ability to confront its security crisis without foreign intervention.

The violence has reignited protests across Michoacan and renewed the debate over how to tackle insecurity in Mexico, a problem that has hunted presidents for decades.

Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

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CHURCH: Two popular gay dating apps vanished from app stores in China. Still to come, we will explore China's growing crackdown on the LGBTQ plus community.

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[03:35:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," this is your Business Breakout. And we are keeping an eye on financial markets across Asia and how they might react to the possible end of the U.S. government shutdown.

You can see there the Nikkei, Hang Seng and KOSPI all in positive territory. We'll keep a close eye on that.

And here are some of the day's other business headlines.

U.S. markets soared Tuesday over optimism the government shutdown might be coming to an end this week. The Dow gained more than 550 points, closing at a record high near 48,000. The border S&P was also up, while the tech heavy Nasdaq fell slightly.

Thousands of people are protesting in Serbia's capital against a real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The project is backed by Serbia's government. It will turn a military complex destroyed in a 1999 U.S.-led bombing campaign into a high-rise hotel and shopping center.

Baby formula company Byheart has recalled all of its infant formula products in the U.S. amid a multi-state outbreak of infant botulism. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says at least 15 children with suspected or confirmed botulism in formula, they were all hospitalized and given treatment. No deaths have been reported.

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Well, they have millions of users and serve a community coming under increasing pressure in China. Two gay dating apps have been pulled from app stores in the country. CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, explains how this is part of a wider crackdown on LGBTQ-plus people in China.

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STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Two of China's most popular gay dating apps have vanished from the country's app stores for both iPhone and Android users, sparking renewed fears of a fast-shrinking space of LGBTQ visibility and rights in China. Over the weekend, many Chinese internet users noticed they could no longer download the apps Finka and Blued, although it seems current users are still able to access and use the apps.

Cyber authorities in Beijing haven't confirmed the news, but a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the removal happened amid allegations of pornographic and vulgar content on these platforms. And Apple also cited regulatory compliance as the reason in a statement to "Wired" magazine.

Now, homosexuality isn't illegal in China, and traditionally, ancient Chinese society had been fairly tolerant. And for a while in the early 2000s, many saw progress on this front as personal freedoms grew along with the economy. But activists and experts say that changed under Xi Jinping, with the strongman leader tightening the grip of the ruling Communist Party over every aspect of Chinese society, cracking down on civil groups and freedom of expression, with many LGBTQ organizations shut down and related content censored online, including a very targeted campaign against so-called feminine portrayals of men in Chinese pop culture.

With the latest news, our source said he still expects the two apps to return, but he's not very optimistic about their long-term prospects, saying they may have to lay low or even transform to survive in the current environment. It's not lost on many here that just as the U.S. Supreme Court chose to effectively oppose same-sex marriage in the U.S., millions of LGBTQ Chinese are finding it a lot more challenging to find their future partners here.

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CHURCH: Carnival season has kicked off in Germany.

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A sea of color filled Heumarkt Square in the western German city of Cologne on Tuesday. Thousands of revelers counted down to precisely 11:11am local time on the 11th day of the 11th month, that's when so- called fifth season traditionally starts. Fittingly, the newly appointed Lord Mayor of Cologne led the countdown on what was his 11th day in office.

I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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