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All B-1 Bombers Returning to U.S. From U.K. Base; Saudi Arabia Prepares Offensive Against Houthis In Yemen; Co-Pilot Accused Of Trying To Hijack Flydubai Plane Probably Acted Alone; Germany's Merz Announces New Military Aid To Ukraine; Protests Target Cornell University Handling Of Alleged Gang Rape; U.K. Green Party Adopts "Zionism Is Racism" Policy; New Dividing Lines in British Politics; International Space Station Command Changes Hands. Aired 1-1:45a ET

Aired October 05, 2026 - 01:00   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: 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, the U.S. removes all Air Force bombers from a military base in the UK. What we know about the potential threat that prompted that change.

Saudi Arabia is throwing its support behind Yemen's government in the fight against the Iran backed Houthis.

And the UK's Green Party takes a controversial stand on Zionism as it hopes to unseat Labour in an off season election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome. We begin this hour with a major redeployment by the U.S. Air Force. It has removed all bombers from the RAF Fairford base in the UK. This comes as British authorities investigate an alleged plot that targeted that base. CNN's Julia BenBrook has the latest for us from the White House.

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JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are still gathering information on this but according to a source familiar the United States has moved its long range bombers stationed in the U.K. back to their American home stations following an unspecified new threat.

A U.S. official tells CNN in a statement, quote, we can acknowledge now that all U.S. bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have redeployed their home stations in the United States. That official did not go into detail on why these planes were moved. Now this is happening just days after the British government arrested

a number of individuals in connection to an alleged Iranian plot to target the U.K. Air base where those planes were located.

The arrests were made but those individuals were quickly released on bail. Iran has denied any connection to that incident.

Now that airbase had been used to deploy B1 bombers used in the war against Iran. We have reached out to the White House for more information on this new threat. A source familiar referred to it as a real world incident. Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.

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HUNTE: Earlier, CNN spoke with military analyst and retired U.S. air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Here is his assessment of the possible threats that Aria, Fairford and other UK bases could be facing.

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COL. CEDRIC LEIGTHON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Bases in the U.K. have often been under surveillance and Iranian sleeper cells are active in the United Kingdom. These sleeper cells are basically intelligence gathering efforts by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and other elements of the Iran.

And what they do is they can collect both intelligence as well as conduct potential sabotage operations. And the big fear in this particular case was that they would actually be conducting some kind of sabotage operation which would have been directed not just against the base itself, but against these aircraft because they can be seen directly from the perimeter of the base.

You can see these B1s when they're deployed there. And it's not a big distance from a perimeter road to actually strike these aircraft, aircraft with an RPG or anything like that. So, I think they took a prudent course of action in this particular case to bring these aircraft out of potential harm's way.

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HUNTE: A Saudi-led coalition is promising its full support for the Yemeni offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis. The rebel group has carried out a lightning offensive in recent weeks, taking a key port on the Red Sea coast and claiming several strikes on vital Saudi energy facilities. Yemen's military says a battle for liberation against the Houthis is now underway. And had this message for the rebel group.

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MAJID AL-NUZAILI, MILITARY SPOKESPERSON, YEMEN'S ARMED FORCES (voice- over): Lay down your arms immediately and return promptly and safely to your homes to spare your blood and distance yourselves from a losing furnace that serves only subversive agendas. We affirm that the homeland has room for all its sons who return to the right path. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Let's take a look at how oil markets are responding to these developments both down there. The rise in Middle East crude exports and the release of G7 reserves have mitigated the impact on oil prices for now at least.

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Reuters has obtained new video from inside the Tel Aviv bound Flydubai flight that almost ended in tragedy. In the video, passengers can be seen helping the wounded captain. A warning. The video that you're about to see is graphic.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My head is hunt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it is hurting. It is hurting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give me the pillow. Give me the pillow. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No sleep. No sleep.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My head is hurting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take this. Take this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Israeli sources tell CNN the co-pilot accused of attacking the pilot and trying to hijack the flight probably acted alone. The United Arab Emirates and Israel are both investigating the incident which has since raised serious concerns about the security failures before the flight. And of course, this all happened in the first place. CNN's Oren Liebermann has more for us from Jerusalem.

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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport is known worldwide for its vaunted security. In the past, aviation safety experts would come to see how it's done. So how did Israel's security safeguards fail so spectacularly with this Flydubai flight.

10 years ago, we got an inside look at Israel's aviation security system. Listen to this from a story we did as we went inside the Ministry of Transportation's Security Operations Center.

Each flight, each passenger, each pilot and each member of the flight crew is checked long before arriving in Israeli airspace. This room is staffed 24 7. There's never a moment without pressure. An off course aircraft, a flight without security clearance. All of this is flagged immediately.

DVIR RUBINSHTEIN, DIRECTOR OF AVIATION SECURITY, ISRAELI MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION: There is everyday situation that a flight can be. We have such concerns about it and we check that and verify that everything is secured clear prior to entering the Israeli airspace.

LIEBERMANN: That's Dvir Rubinshtein and he's the Director of Aviation Security at the Ministry of Transportation. He's describing exactly the sorts of checks that should have stopped this event from ever happening before it started. But that clearly didn't happen.

In fact, in a briefing on Saturday evening, the Transportation Ministry said it didn't know the names of the crew members on board the Flydubai flight. Instead, the Ministry said it's the country's security agencies that have access to those lists, which the Ministry doesn't have.

Those security agencies have yet to issue a public comment. The Ministry of Transportation relies on foreign airlines and foreign authorities to do the background checks for the pilots flying into Israel.

In 2023, Israel passed a law creating a passenger and crew member information database. It sits under the national center for Passenger Data Analysis in the Tax Ministry. Even so, that data about who's on each flight can be used for the detection, prevention, forestallment, investigation and prosecution of members of a terrorist organization of a terrorist activity or of a terrorist offense. But in this case, it clearly wasn't.

One year later, Israel's watchdog issued a report warning that the country needs to conduct a thorough review of all aspects of aviation security, including incoming foreign flights. The warning was there. We have reached out to the Ministry of Transportation for comment. Much of the focus now in Israel is on the failures in vetting and background checks that allowed this to happen. So far, no one has taken responsibility.

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HUNTE: Chancellor Friedrich Merz is doubling down on Germany's support for Ukraine as Russia escalates its aerial campaign ahead of winter. The Chancellor made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Sunday alongside several German defense company CEOs to further solidify the country's growing partnerships.

In addition to finalizing a drone and missile production deal, Berlin plans to issue over $1.1 billion in military aid to Kyiv, as well as nearly $400 million to repair Ukraine's energy systems.

Brazil's presidential race will enter a runoff later this month. Neither of the top two candidates secured 50 percent of the vote in Sunday's general election. Sitting President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and his right wing opponent, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, will begin campaigning again on their very different visions for Brazil.

Earlier I spoke with Bryan Pitts, the assistant director of UCLA's Latin American Institute. I asked him why the pre-vote polls were so far off. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN PITTS, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, UCLA LATIN AMERICAN INSTITUTE: This happened in the previous election in 2022 as well. There was significant underreported support for Flavio Bolsonaro's father, Jair Bolsonaro. I mean, we've seen this in the United States as well. A lot of times people don't admit to the pollsters they're going to vote for far right candidates and generally candidates in both the U.S. and Brazil have overperformed.

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This puts Lula at a distinct advantage in a runoff because out of the candidates who got the other 8 percent of the votes, they only most of those are right wing candidates as well, and it's likely their support will go to Flavio Bolsonavo in the second round in three weeks.

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HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN Newsroom. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back. Tennessee death row inmate Krista pike is still critically ill and unconscious in a hospital after surviving an execution attempt by lethal injection.

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Her attorneys say she is now on a ventilator after the state gave her two doses of typically fatal drug pentobarbital. And now her medical and legal future remain unclear. One of Pike's lawyers spoke to CNN about her condition and what obligation he thinks the state now has to her.

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STEPHEN FERRELL, CHRISTA PIKE'S ATTORNEY: At the very least, the governor should commute Ms. Pike's death sentence to a life sentence. At the very least. We had already asked that the governor commute her for many good. I think she's spent over 30 years in prison, most of that in solitary confinement, only to be taken out and not executed, but tried to execute her.

And that we don't know right now. And we may never know what sort of torture she endured during that process, where her consciousness was, what physical pain there was, what mental torture she went through.

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HUNTE: Pressure is building at Cornell University over the school's handling of an alleged gang rape by several fraternity members in 2024. Protesters held a rally off campus on Sunday in support of the accuser. And 20 student organizations have planned on campus protests in the day ahead, too. CNN's Mark Morales has more for us on the growing demands.

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MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: A large number of demonstrators gathered about a mile away from campus today in just the most recent show of frustration with how this case has been handled. Now they spoke at large about how unhappy they were with how the university and the local district attorney has handled this case. But also their message was one of support. They supported Jane Doe, anybody that's in a similar situation to her, not just at Cornell University, but at universities all over.

And they're not the only ones that have been expressing how unhappy they were about this investigation. We've heard from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has since put in the New York Attorney General Letitia James, in charge of the criminal investigation on this side. But we heard from Jane Doe's attorney. His issue from the very beginning was how the district attorney's office was looking at the evidence that they had already had.

And they based most of their decision not to pursue charges on a six page document that Jane Doe signed. But the attorney says that document was severely lacking in a lot of real key parts of evidence that it did not have. Take a listen.

MICHAEL KOTLIKOFF, CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: I communicated enough about what the university did after the assault was reported, which has led to distrust. There are real legal and privacy limits on what we can say, but we will make a greater effort to explain what we can to provide context about the actions Cornell has taken and to be more transparent.

This message is the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing, constructive and dynamic conversation with our community.

In the coming weeks, we will create additional opportunities for members of our community to ask questions and hear directly from university leadership that will include opportunities for Cornell leadership.

MORALES: Now, remember, there's going to be two separate investigations happening here. There's the criminal side. That's going to be done by the attorney general in her office. And she's going to have the power to go through and conduct interviews, search for evidence, whether that's search warrants.

She's going to have the full prosecutorial power that's going to be given to her to find out what happens. But on the other side, there's major questions for how the university handled this, how did local university police handle this? And that's going to be done by an independent investigator that's going to be hired by the university to do that forensic analysis and to basically figure out what went wrong. Mark Morales, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNTE: A day after tens of thousands of people protested all across Spain, demonstrators have returned to their base in downtown Madrid. They are calling for a general strike following the defeat of a housing bill which was meant to protect some tenants from eviction.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez might call a snap election for November in the wake of the huge public anger there. The outrage was sparked by the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

Thousands of young protesters took to the streets of New Delhi and Mumbai on Sunday in yet another day of demands calling for India's election chief to quit. Anger over changes to voter rolls is fueling those protests. Demonstrators say the changes benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party and that the names of millions of eligible voters were purged. The Electoral Commission says the changes are necessary to remove dead, inaccurate and duplicate entries. On Friday, it directed officials to re-register eligible voters who were mistakenly missing from those voter rolls.

There is much more to come here on CNN Newsroom, including a very controversial vote on Zionism by Britain's Green Party.

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We are talking British politics after this break. See in a moment.

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HUNTE: It has been a big day in U.K. politics with even more important events set to happen this week.

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On Sunday, Britain's Green Party voted to classify Zionism as a form of racism. The move is prompting anger from British Jewish groups and even senior party members. The Green Party's leader is also up for election this week to fill former Prime Minister Keir Starmer's seat in Holborn and St. Pancras. He did not take part in that vote on Zionism.

Also on Sunday, the government announced it would abandon a plan to stop trials by jury for some less serious criminal cases. Dominic Thomas joins me now. He's a CNN European affairs commentator. Let's get into this.

Dominic, it is looking like a pretty busy week in the UK what do you make of where British politics stands right now?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, just all the things you just mentioned in the -- in the run up, there are all sorts of things going on with the sort of big questions around the future of the Conservative Party, where the Green Party stands, what its various policies are, what this upcoming by election might tell you about how well Greens might do on the -- on the national landscape and the divisive nature of politics. And of course, a brand new prime minister at the helm who's enjoying

this very large Labour majority right now, which everybody knows would not be replicated in a general election, which would simply reveal the deep fractures that we see in U.K. politics at the moment. Ben.

HUNTE: The Green Party has just voted to adopt a policy treating Zionism as a form of racism. So what's exactly going on there and what does it tell us about where the Green Party is now headed?

THOMAS: Yes, well, it's interesting that, you know, both of that took place at the party today. The motion passed narrowly. I mean, this is something that has very much been in the public debate in the U.K. but also internationally as different leaders have responded to the ongoing situation in Israel and so on.

The irony, of course here is that the Greens perspective on this is that by linking Zionism to an ethno nationalist ideology of talking about its discriminatory, racist potential, but of course it has brought upon them charges of antisemitism and discrimination.

I think the fact that Polanski, sorry, the leader of the party, was not there for the vote, the vote that only narrowly passed, but went on to focus on his campaign in North London was indicative of that. The fact that many Greens believe that there are other issues they should be focusing on, particularly if they want to capture the attention of the general public by looking at national, domestic U.K. politics at the moment. Ben.

HUNTE: That of course, comes just days before the Greens leader, Zack Polanski takes on Labour in the by election for Keir Starmer's old seat. How is that by election looking right now and how significant is that contest for the future of the Green Party and of course its leader too?

THOMAS: Yes, well, it's all about the ways in which different candidates are sort of spinning the narrative. This is of course, a very strong, solid Labour seat in North London occupied by the former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, that has stepped away from the leadership of the party and also from his seat.

It's possible that the Greens could win this, but not probable in the sense that the Greens going into this are spinning it in the following way. On the one hand, were he to win it, it would be a very strong indication of how the Greens might be able to take on Labour in a general election.

But ultimately, I think what they're looking for here is a solid performance, one that indicates that the Greens can be a viable force going into an upcoming general election. And interestingly enough as well, Polanski has decoupled his leadership of the Greens from the outcome of this particular election, which is unusual because usually if a candidate has does not win, they step away from that position. So it's all about narrative and the outcome of this will be a story moving forward. Ben.

HUNTE: There are 15 candidates on the ballot in Holborn and St. Pancras and this was once one of Labour's safest seats. What do you think this byelection tells us about how dramatically and rapidly the political landscape has changed in the UK?

THOMAS: Well, it is really extraordinary, of course, as we know, five prime ministers from 2010 to 2024 in the Conservative Party, a landslide victory for the Labour Party when Keir Starmer was at the helm. And all polls show today that if a general election were to be held tomorrow, there would be a hung parliament, which is very rare in the U.K. system. Which shows you just how divided the system is. The main parties, Labour and Conservative, no longer enjoy the popularity they did even five, 10 years ago.

The Greens are on the scene, the Reform U.K. party on the scene. The reform U.K. party causes problems for the Conservatives because they don't know whether to align themselves with this league, with this sort of popularity of far right positions, anti-immigration stances and so on.

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And the Labour Party has been concerned about the ways in which the Greens are encroaching on some of those policies.

So it's a divided political landscape. And one right now that while he sits at the helm, Andy Burnham is enjoying because there's no rush for him or no hurry to lose that particular majority. And it's giving him an opportunity to test out policies, to throw out new things, such as talking about rejoining the E.U. again and so on. So divided landscape, one that's changed rapidly.

And finally, Ben, that looks very much like what's happening across the channel in Europe, where we've seen the same kind of erosion of mainstream parties in Italy, in Germany, and certainly in France as well.

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, indeed.

Another big bit of news. The government has now backed away from its quite controversial plans to reduce jury trials. Why did that happen?

THOMAS: Yes. Well, that's another really interesting one. Of course, they will argue they've inherited all these problems from the Conservatives. Burnham is picking up policy objectives that were there, put in by the Labour Party under the leadership of Keir Starmer.

Essentially, the problem is as follows. There is, as there are in many countries, a very substantial backlog of individuals awaiting cases, their cases to be reviewed and so on. And one of the arguments that was put forward is to move away from jury trials and to try and impose a quicker decision-making process through single judge cases for smaller cases, and also highly complex fraud, financial cases and so on and so forth.

At the end of the day, the argument that the efficiency of the system was less important than protecting victims' rights has prevailed. And so the government has walked away from that rise of opposition and

is now focusing on ways in which they can fast track the modernization of the legal system, which is, I think, at the core of the particular problem here.

So an important decision by Burnham's administration and a step away from a policy objective that Keir Starmer was pushing just a few weeks and months ago.

HUNTE: Amongst all of that, we are seeing Labour, the Conservatives, Reform and the Greens all fighting for very different parts of the U.K. population. What do you think are the new dividing lines in British politics?

THOMAS: Yes. Well, these dividing lines have been there before, but you're absolutely right that based on different regions, different contexts, cities and the age-old argument between urban versus rural are playing out on the -- on the national political landscape.

It's clear that after so many successive succession of different prime ministers, that the level of sort of disaffection with politics is there. Too many elections, general elections, Brexit elections and so on and so forth.

People are tired and fatigued, and they're looking for leaders who are going to map out a future.

Until that really happens, you see the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, trying to do that. You see the Conservatives trying to revitalize their damaged stock.

But certainly the arguments of Reform, even though their leader is embroiled in so many controversial campaign financing issues continues to appeal, a kind of politics of disaffection, of emotion, of stigmatization of migrants and ethnic minorities and so on.

But at the end of the day, those arguments were there for Brexit. They were there before. You see these divides.

But you do see the Burnham government administration trying to work towards sort of policies that think more carefully about decentralizing politics, paying attention to some of the issues and grievances --

HUNTE: Yes.

THOMAS: -- outside of major cities in the U.K., and taking care of those men.

HUNTE: OK. Dominic Thomas, always appreciate your analysis. Thanks so much, sir.

There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM in a moment.

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HUNTE: SpaceX's Crew 12 has handed over command to the International Space Station to newly-arrived Crew 13 in an emotional ceremony. The crews are switching roles as Crew 12 prepares for its splashdown back on earth, and Crew 13 begins its long duration mission.

If weather and splashdown conditions are perfect, the returning crew could begin their trip back to earth as soon as Wednesday, concluding their mission to help prepare for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are so excited for the continuation of expedition 75 to see all the incredible things that they will do. They're going to have a very, very busy mission. Lots of science, lots of spacewalks, lots of space station upgrades and maintenance.

So we're so excited to see what they will pull off.

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HUNTE: The world's largest beer festival, Munich's Oktoberfest, has wrapped up with its biggest turnout yet. Organizers say a record 7.4 million people attended. That is nearly a million more attendees than last year.

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HUNTE: Beer sales also went up by almost 3 percent. They collected 105,000 of the iconic beer mugs that visitors tried to smuggle home.

While many people came from Germany, Americans, Italians and Austrians made up the largest share of foreign visitors.

Hundreds of dachshunds strutted their tiny legs through Paris for the city's Annual Sausage Walk. Onlookers from across Europe were delighted as pups in a wide variety of costumes paraded down the street.

It is Fashion Week in Paris, so the models in town had Some canine competition. from dogs dressed in berets to tiny, pint-sized cowboys, the dachshunds turned plenty of heads in the iconic city of Paris. Love that.

That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.

"WORLD SPORT" is coming up next.

And then I'll see you back here at the weekend. Have a good week. See you then.

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