Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

WHO Pushes for Transparency on the Plague that Killed a Lab Worker in Russia; French Government Changes Course Following Violent Student Protests. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired October 08, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SALMA ABDELZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz, in London. Let's go straight to our headlines.

The World Health Organization wants more transparency on the Russian plague lab death, but Russia says there is no risk of an epidemic. We're going to have the latest on those growing concerns.

Student protests are sweeping France and now the government is changing course after clashes like these. We're going to explain.

Plus, the latest fallout from Cornell University's handling of an alleged gang rape case as students hold a seven-hour sit-in on Wednesday.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from London, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: The Trump administration is now pushing to get clear answers from Moscow about the death of a Russian lab worker at a plague research facility in Siberia. The State Department says the U.S. has requested more information from Moscow. President Trump on Wednesday acknowledged that Russia has not disclosed many details so far, but he says he does not believe the incident is linked to a bioweapon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Is the plague in Russia a bioweapon?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, we don't think so. We're going to find out soon enough, but we don't think so and if you listen to them, it's under control. People have said that before about other things, so we hope it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Russian authorities are looking to alleviate concerns. The country's health watchdog says, quote, "As of October 7, 2026, medical monitoring has been completed for over 90 percent of contacts, no health issues related to infectious disease were detected, and the results were nearly 5000 laboratory tests revealed no dangerous pathogenic microorganisms."

The Russian health watchdog says there is no risk of an epidemic from the incident. But global health experts, including the World Health Organization, are still urging caution and asking for more transparency from Moscow.

World health officials say they don't have enough information from Russia to give an accurate risk assessment. Still, Russian authorities are winding down some of the public health measures that were prompted by this incident initially.

We have more on this now from CNN's senior national security reporter, Jennifer Hansler, who is at the U.S. State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: The U.S. is escalating its calls on Russia to provide information around the death of a lab worker at an anti-plague lab in Siberia.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the U.S. sent a demarche, which is a formal diplomatic communique, for answers to the Russian government. The U.S. has been in touch with Moscow since at least last Friday about the situation, but the information that they have received has been limited.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio alluded to the frustration around the dearth of that information in a press conference on Tuesday. He said it was, quote, "incumbent" upon the Russian government to share more information with the United States and the world so that they could, quote, "react accordingly and appropriately." He said at that point it would be reckless for him to speculate on what exactly had transpired, but he said that the world was owed answers so that they could plan accordingly.

This spoke to the frustration that we are hearing from here in Washington about the lack of information they have received thus far, and as such has stymied their ability to plan for a potential public health emergency. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he did not believe that the lab worker's death was the result of a bioweapon, and he once again said he planned to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday morning that there was no call lined up. However, with it being President Putin's birthday on Wednesday, it is likely that the two were going to speak. The Kremlin has also pushed back on the idea that they've done anything wrong, and they said there is not a fear of there being an epidemic.

The World Health Organization, however, has also called on Moscow to provide more information about the situation in that lab. The State Department said that they are in touch with other countries as well to try to get information about what exactly has happened here.

Jennifer Hansler, CNN, the State Department.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:08]

ABDELAZIZ: Marshall Billingslea is a former U.S. envoy who previously was involved with arms control talks with Russia. He says President Trump's statement on the lab worker's death is notable, though he also says that Russia has a lot of explaining to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARSHALL BILLINGSLEA, FORMER U.S. ENVOY WHO HELD ARMS CONTROL TALKS WITH RUSSIA: I do think it was not an off-the-cuff comment that he made, that he doesn't think it's a bioweapon, and that is reassuring. But obviously, the nature of the outbreak, the location of the outbreak, the association of the lab worker with the Kursk facility that we know was previously involved in the biowarfare program of the Soviet Union and Russia, and we know that the Russians have not only expanded, but they're modernizing their biological weapons program. So Russia's got a lot of answering to do, and so far they have provided no details, and that's worrisome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Now to France, where more student marches are planned in the country today. The Prime Minister says lawmakers will review the students' demands for more teachers and resources and present proposals at the end of this month. The French government is changing its approach to those protests after its initial heavy-handed response was criticized.

CNN's Paris bureau chief Saskya Vandoorne has the details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PARIS BUREAU CHIEF: Student protests continue across France today. Several blockades have been happening outside high schools here in Paris, and after yesterday's significant turnout and violent scenes, it appears the French government is changing its approach.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for more empathy from ministers and police in the handling of the protests. While the interior minister has temporarily suspended the use of the type of stun grenade linked to a teenager losing his hand this week. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is also trying to calm things down, giving students time during the school day to air their grievances.

And that change in tone comes after some extraordinary scenes, including the moment when a mayor from France's hard-left party, LFE, physically stepped in front of students during clashes with police. BALLY BAGAYOKO, SAINT-DENIS, FRANCE, MAYOR (through translator): We

were clearly confronted by law enforcement officers, who were of course fully equipped with shields, helmets and of course tear gas. They took advantage of a fire that had broken out in some shipping containers nearby to charge at us. And so they charged, and I stepped in to prevent them from hurting the students, because I was mainly surrounded by high schoolers.

VANDOORNE (voice-over): So the government appears to be listening, but is it too little too late? Students say these measures don't go nearly far enough.

They're demanding more teachers, smaller classes and billions more in education spending, and some have vowed to keep blockading schools until those demands are met.

VANDOORNE: Despite the government's softer tone, there's a sign this movement is going away, and protests are already being planned for Thursday.

Saskya Vandoorne, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(VIDEO PLAYING)

ABDELAZIZ: You are watching protesters in Spain there, mourning the loss of an 87-year-old woman who became the symbol of the country's housing crisis. Madrid's tenants' union says about 950,000 people have joined mostly peaceful protests across the country in recent weeks. Crowds had gathered on Wednesday to honor Maricarmen.

As she was known, she was evicted from her home of more than 70 years after her rent was increased by more than 400 percent. Her landlord was forced into reversing that decision later, but Maricarmen was not able to return home and spent her last days in a local hospital.

New York prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Sources tell CNN those charges relate to alleged torture of Americans held in Venezuelan government custody in recent years.

Now, Maduro and his wife were captured by the U.S. military during a raid in January. They've pleaded not guilty to charges including narcoterrorism, conspiracy, and more than a dozen Americans were detained while Maduro was in power and some have spoken about the brutal conditions and alleged abuse they experienced. An announcement on those new charges could come as early as Thursday.

A court hearing will be held in the U.K. today. This is after King Charles' younger brother challenged the legality of police search warrants that were issued before his arrest earlier this year. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has asked for a judge to determine if actions taken against him by the police and central criminal court were lawful.

[03:10:03]

He was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office following revelations from the Epstein files in the U.S. A royal source says the palace has no role in determining Mountbatten- Windsor's strategy.

Still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," students at Cornell University stage a sit-in over the school's handling of the investigation into an alleged gang rape while Jane Doe's attorney says his client is now getting death threats.

Plus, an update on Christa Pike's legal case days after she survived Tennessee's attempt to execute her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:06]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back.

A judge has ruled that the state of Tennessee must preserve all evidence related to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection. That includes physical evidence, 911 calls, and communications between state officials. The judge did not rule on other requests from Pike's attorneys at Wednesday's hearing.

This includes unshackling her arms while she remains in the hospital. One of her attorneys says that Pike is, quote, "angry and confused and aware that the state tried to execute her."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY SPIVEY, ATTORNEY FOR CHRISTA PIKE: All of this was foreseeable and foreseen. What happened to Christa is exactly what the state was warned would happen.

And there are so many questions that need to be answered, not by Christa, but by the state of Tennessee. But one of those questions has to be how much suffering is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Pike was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, a fellow student at a job training facility.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

ABDELAZIZ: Those are students at Cornell University holding a seven- hour sit-in on Wednesday to protest the school's handling of the alleged gang rape of the woman now known as Jane Doe. She's filed a lawsuit claiming she was sexually assaulted by several fraternity members. This is back in 2024.

Her lawyer says she has been receiving death threats. And he shared audio of a harassing phone call with CNN's Gloria Pazmino. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNKNOWN: I can hear you. I can hear you breathing. Instead of speaking up, you're just sitting there quiet.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chilling phone call, just one of the many threats sent to Jane Doe. And a swatting incident where Doe's attorney says police drew guns on her family and a friend. Doe's attorney tells CNN he is concerned for her and her family's safety.

THOMAS GIUFFRA, ATTORNEY FOR JANE DOE: Just before I got on with you, somebody called her, made a threat to shoot up her house, shoot her, her mother, her father. She's calling the police as we speak now.

PAZMINO (voice-over): This asked Cosgrove for the Cornell University president to resign over the administration's response to sexual assault allegations by Doe in October 2024.

ARIANA KIM, FACULTY SENATE MEMBER, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: There are layers of concerns that need to be addressed. And I think the only way to begin that process is to see resignations and a turnover in our upper administration.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Faculty and Cornell administrators met during a Tuesday virtual staff meeting. In audio obtained by CNN, school officials acknowledge tensions are running high and emotions are raw.

MICHAEL KOTLIKOFF, PRESIDENT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: This is just an enormously difficult time for our community. We all recognize it. A lot of serious questions and important questions that we need to answer.

PAZMINO (voice-over): For more than an hour, administrators read from prepared remarks and vetted questions. President Michael Kotlikoff addressing concerns about Greek life and party culture on campus.

KOTLIKOFF: This is obviously an absolutely horrendous and inexcusable situation that occurred in a fraternity, as part of our fraternity party. But I have to make the point that this doesn't only occur in fraternities, I worry about pushing this into the shadows, into houses which we all know, which are private houses, which have parties in which things can occur beyond our purview.

PAZMINO (voice-over): Faculty members raised concerns about two accused students who remain on campus.

KAVITA BALA, PROVOST, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: We have our multiple vice provosts are working with the faculty who are running the classes that have two of the respondents in the classroom. And they're working on figuring out the dynamics.

PAZMINO (voice-over): As two separate investigations into the school get underway, video obtained by ABC News shows an interview between a Chi Phi member not involved in the alleged assault, but who was in the house that night being interviewed by Cornell Police.

UNKNOWN: There was a consensual act that took place (expletive), and that's, yes, that's really what the general rumor that was going around was that it was a, yes, it was a consensual thing.

UNKNOWN: In college, I wouldn't have been like, oh, there was a consensual act last night, right? Like, I guess, how do they know it was consensual?

UNKNOWN: I mean, I can't recall exactly what was said, but yes, I mean, they said that they had sex with her, I guess.

[03:20:02]

PAZMINO (voice-over): Protests have cropped up all over campus, with students airing frustrations over what they say is a lack of response by the administration, including a seven-hour sit-in this afternoon held in solidarity with Jane Doe.

PAZMINO: I've just gotten off the phone with an attorney for one of the seven accused Cornell University students. He tells me that his client describes the sexual activity between him and Jane Doe as consensual. He describes her role as an active participant.

That same attorney filing an Article 78 motion with the court to have New York State Attorney General Letitia James removed as special prosecutor from this case. They're citing James' statements on social media, where she expressed support for the victim prior to her appointment as special prosecutor.

Gloria Pazmino, CNN, Ithaca, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: I want to bring in now Annie Clark to discuss this further. She's co-founder and former executive director of the nonprofit group End Rape on Campus. First of all, thank you so much, Annie, for coming to us in the middle of your night.

ANNIE E. CLARK, CO-FOUNDER, AND FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, END RAPE ON CAMPUS: Thanks so much for having me.

ABDELAZIZ; Look, Annie, I know it's been more than 10 years since your documentary, "The Hunting Grounds on Sexual Assault," was released. It's been nearly 13 years since you and a fellow student, Andrea Pino, filed a Title IX complaint against the University of North Carolina in your own assault case.

We're supposed to be in this post-MeToo era, where consent and substance education starts from a very young age. In fact, it is part of the training that students at Cornell undergo. I think there is this wider sense of shock of how has this happened? And we have this horrifying case now.

How are you processing that? Does it make you question what progress has been made by activists such as yourself? CLARK: Well, to be honest, I think a lot of us who have done this work

for even longer than I have are not surprised. Yes, we're shocked, yes, we're disgusted, yes, we want accountability.

But this is nothing new. Cornell did not happen in a vacuum. And they're not the only university dealing with this issue and the United States is not the only country dealing with this issue.

I think a lot of us are processing it still. And in terms of post- MeToo, I don't think we are post-MeToo. I think we are living MeToo. Every single day we might be post the hashtag being as popular, but we are definitely not post the culture that allows this to occur, I think some progress has been made, but we definitely have a lot further to go.

ABDELAZIZ: So you say some progress has been made. And I think it's a little bit chilling to hear you say, we are disgusted, we are horrified, but we are not shocked. What does that tell us about the progress that still needs to be made? And in the course of your activism, what challenges do you continue to face? Because you have been fighting this fight, I think, for nearly 15 years now.

CLARK: If not longer. And people before me, I stand on their shoulders. And it does feel like a lot of times we are having the same conversation.

I think we need culture change, and I think we need legal change. A lot of legal change has happened. I know we do now have a lot more trainings, consent education, things like that.

But that's only part of the solution. We can't expect just to take one class and all sexual violence to be over, we can't treat it just solely as an information problem.

I do not believe that these students, or most students in fact, have a consent understanding problem at this point. I think the harrowing reality is they know, and they also know, that there is little to no chance that there will be real accountability, and therefore are allowed to act with impunity.

ABDELAZIZ: What you're echoing when you say one class isn't going to stop sexual assault, I don't think that they don't know. They do know, but they believe they're able to act with impunity.

And we hear so many people fed up with this, saying, look, we cannot continue to treat sexual assault as a knowledge deficit. If a group of men already know what consent is and still choose to cross those lines, how do you stop them? And that's my question to you. What is the solution then?

CLARK: Well, it's a multi-layered and a multi-faceted problem, therefore we need a multi-layered and multi-faceted solution. And it's not just an individual thing, it's an institutional thing, and an institutional problem as well. We know institutions shape the culture, they shape individual behaviors and encourage or discourage certain behaviors. [03:25:06]

And I think one huge missing point of this is accountability, and starting much younger. So, like I said earlier, this is not a vacuum. This is the result of years of social conditioning, of how we treat particularly women, acknowledging that men are much more likely to be victims of sexual violence than they are to be falsely accused.

That's another issue. But it starts so young.

We have organizations across the world and here in the States really working in the kindergarten through high school, middle school spaces, and that's where this conversation starts. We have girls in kindergarten and second grade who are told, oh, well, he chases you because he likes you, or he's hitting you because he likes you. Those messages then get reinforced on both the alleged perpetrator and the victim's side.

And so girls are taught and even told, well, don't play on the monkey bars, right, if you're getting touched there, wear shorts, things like that. And then we excuse boys who then become men behavior and say boys will be boys. And what a low expectation that is, that, oh, this behavior is inevitable.

I think another thing, in addition to accountability, is that we have to stop treating sexual violence as an inevitability. Even recently the U.S. military, the Department of Labor, ruled that an instance of sexual violence was an occupational, or excuse me, a workplace injury. Previously it was an occupational hazard, right, or workplace injury.

So we're categorizing sexual assault in the same category as tripping over an extension cord, for example. This shows you the lack of severity with which they take these issues. And so to bring that thread all the way through, from kindergarten, to the frat house, to our halls of Congress, to Parliament, and to the White House, right?

And so when there's no accountability and people are allowed to continue to get away with the same behaviors, there's nothing that's really going to change. And that's only part of it, too.

ABDELAZIZ: Annie Clark there, and making that very good point, that one more class on consent is not going to stop sexual assault. This is a much wider, a much greater problem. And you repeated that word again and again, accountability and I think that's exactly what the debate is today.

Thank you so much for being on with us.

Just ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," after being deployed for nearly 11 months, the USS Abraham Lincoln will soon be home with a cruising about their long-awaited return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. I'm Salma Abdelaziz, in London. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Russia's health watchdog says there is no risk of an epidemic following the death of a lab worker at a research facility in Siberia that studies plague. That assessment comes as global health officials are calling for greater transparency from Moscow. The World Health Organization says they do not have enough information from Russia to give an accurate assessment of the risks of this situation.

An 87-year-old woman was evicted from her home and inspired protests in Spain's housing crisis has now died. Protesters are remembering Maricarmen, who was forced out of her home of more than 70 years after her rent was increased by more than 400 percent. Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have joined demonstrations demanding better housing regulation.

Sources tell CNN former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife are expected to be charged with new crimes by New York prosecutors. Those charges relate to alleged torture of Americans once held by the Venezuelan government. Maduro and his wife are currently in U.S. custody after being captured during a raid in January.

After a record-setting deployment, the USS Abraham Lincoln is almost home. The carrier will dock in Coronado, California in the day ahead. This is after nearly 11 months at sea, including more than eight months without a port call, the deployment included operations against Iran.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the strike group received the Presidential Unit Citation. This is the U.S. military's highest unit award for collective heroism in action. But the long deployment raised concerns about morale and mental health among the crew.

Here's what Hegseth said about those issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES DEFENSE SECRETARY: There were a few folks in the media who tried to turn the USS Abraham Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale, or a symbol of a failed mission. And what I look out at right here, and when I talk to your leadership, and I have had a chance to talk to a number of you, I know it's the exact opposite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: There were also reports of issues with supplies and living conditions aboard the Lincoln. The ship had the second-longest Navy aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.

[03:35:05]

I want to turn now to the Middle East, where Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi airports, highlighting the widening fallout of this conflict in Yemen. Saudi officials say the strikes this week killed three people and wounded 36 others.

The Houthi-controlled armed forces claimed responsibility for those attacks, saying ballistic missiles hit airports in Riyadh and near the Yemen border. Now, the U.N. is condemning attacks and warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis inside Yemen. A U.N.-linked organization says that more than 184,000 people have been displaced since August.

The U.N. says resources are falling short, as cholera cases triple. Blocked roads are also restricting humanitarian access and resulting in shortages of very essential goods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, UNITED NATIONS SPOKESPERSON: We call again on all parties to exercise restraint, urge them to uphold their obligation under international humanitarian law, and to refrain direct attacks on civilian and civilian infrastructure, and also to take care in sparing those civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Still ahead on CNN, Microsoft previews new A.I. technology set to run on your personal computer, that story and more, plus the business headlines after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back. Here are your business headlines.

Dozens of business groups are urging U.S. President Donald Trump to reject a ban on diesel exports. They say it would lead to tighter supplies and rising costs for American families, farmers, and truckers. Republican lawmakers want Trump to enact an export ban. The average price for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. is currently more than $6.30.

The British labor market is showing signs of recovering from its slowdown. A survey of recruitment firms shows permanent staff placements rising at their fastest rate in four years. Demand is highest for I.T., computing, and engineering jobs, the retail and hospitality sectors showed the sharpest drops in demand.

Amid concerns over the power and capability of artificial intelligence, Microsoft is rolling out a powerful new coding model that can run on personal computers. The tech giant also previewed a new tool meant to stop A.I. agents from accessing data and doing unauthorized tasks. An executive says companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, and NVIDIA are already set to use that tool.

Thank you so much for watching, I'm Salma Abdelaziz. "World Sport" is next, then I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)