Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Russia Ramps Up Attacks On Ukraine, Striking Kyiv; Italian Government To Deploy 500 Troops To Milan After Unrest; French Government Works To Restore Order After Widespread Rioting; Kenyan Cult Leader Found Guilty Of Murdering 190 Children; Pakistan's Army Chief to Visit Tehran on Tuesday; Iran Threatens to Broaden Their Targets If Conflict Resumes; Yemen Government Urges U.N. To Designate Houthis as Terrorist Group; Saudi Arabia Cancels Key Conference After Houthi Attacks; Japan Launches Uncrewed Spacecraft to Martian Moon; Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Debuts $50 Million Diamond Bra; Remarkable Ancient Turkish City Holds Origins of Santa; Zombie Bikers Take Over Key West Streets. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 20, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:32]

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

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, President Trump says he's open to meeting with his Russian and Chinese counterparts to try to end Russia's war with Ukraine. So, where does Volodymyr Zelenskyy fit into that plan?

Several cities in France impose curfews after a violent weekend of protests and looting. We will ask a scholar what the protests say about French society.

And what does Santa Claus have in common with Turkey? We'll explore the ancient connection.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, U.S. President Donald Trump says he is open to having a trilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He says they would talk about denuclearization, but a U.S. official says President Trump believes such a meeting could advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine. The official says the talks were proposed by Putin earlier this month and would not include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Here's what Trump said about a possible meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would do it not so much for Ukraine because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven't been doing much, and the same thing with China. We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you meet with Presidents Xi and Putin to discuss the end of the war without Zelenskyy there?

TRUMP: Well, I would meet in order anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody's there or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Despite Donald Trump's comments and recent actions, a bipartisan group of lawmakers hosted a video call with Zelenskyy on Monday, and made clear that Congress is committed to standing with Ukraine. President Trump has sparked bipartisan backlash after reaching a deal with Russia to allow diesel exports and waiving Russia-related sanctions.

Meantime, in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack on Monday killed six people, including three children, in a park. We want to warn you, the images from the scene are disturbing and difficult to watch.

The Ukrainian president said a 1-year-old girl who was in a stroller was killed along with her mother. An 11-year-old was also among those killed in the attack in the Kharkiv region. Officials say the drone hit an area of the park that's a popular gathering spot for residents and families near a fountain and cafe.

CNN's Clare Sebastian has more now on Russia's recent attacks on Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Russian ballistic missiles and drones rained down in several waves on Ukraine Sunday into Monday. This was the aftermath in Kyiv of a strike on a metro station there. Even as the rift between the U.S. and Ukrainian Presidents threatened to get worse.

On Sunday evening, President Trump slammed President Zelenskyy in a Truth Social post, claiming that he didn't want the war to end. Frankly, it's a claim that we often hear from Russia, and that Zelenskyy, "Doesn't care about diesel prices in the United States." He also heaped praise on Russia in this post.

Now, meanwhile, tensions over the Ukrainian claims that the U.S. withheld intelligence have also ramped up. President Zelenskyy said in an interview with NBC on Sunday that intelligence was stopped for several days and then restored.

He then claimed on Monday morning that again Ukraine had had no early warning from partners about ballistic missile launches. We know U.S. satellite systems play a key role in this. And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hit back hard, saying he didn't know where Zelenskyy was getting these things, and, "There's been no pause."

And now there's another source of tension on top of all of that. A report first in "The Wall Street Journal" that Russia had floated a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Xi to end the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin Tuesday confirming a hypothetical meeting had been discussed.

Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, also said that there had been talks of such a meeting, but nothing finalized yet. And we got some pretty strong words from Ukraine's Foreign Minister, warning that such a move would, "Encourage Putin to continue this war as long as he continued this terror" said Andrii Sybiha. There should be no place for him at any table.

Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:02]

CHURCH: Joining me now from Kyiv is Oleksiy Sorokin, deputy chief editor at The Kyiv Independent, good to have you with us. Hello.

OLEKSIY SOROKIN, DEPUTY CHIEF EDITOR, THE KYIV INDEPENDENT: Hello.

CHURCH: So, as the rift between the United States and Ukraine deepens, President Trump now says it's time for someone other than President Zelenskyy to negotiate an end to the war with Russia. A U.S. official says President Trump is receptive to a trilateral meeting with Russia's President Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. That official says those talks were proposed by Putin earlier this month and don't include Zelenskyy. What's your reaction to this apparent effort to squeeze Zelenskyy out and end the war on Russia's terms?

SOROKIN: Well, obviously, President Trump is more comfortable dealing with people like Putin, and unfortunately, Ukrainians knew this for years now. President Zelenskyy tried to, like European leaders as well, cater to Trump. Tried to get on Trump's good side, but right now we know that Ukrainians basically gave up. They understand that Trump is tilting towards Russia. He is trying to help Russia win this war, and unfortunately, I don't see what Ukraine can do in this situation.

CHURCH: Republican Senator Tom Tillis says Putin is playing Trump like a fiddle. Is that what's happening?

SOROKIN: Well, according to our understanding, yes. Unfortunately, in the last week, Trump made several moves that are making Ukraine defenses weaker. And what's worse is that President Trump is not only constraining Ukrainian ability to attack Russia, but it's also hampering Ukraine's ability to defend itself. And the photos that you showed of a small child being killed that happened an hour before President Trump said that Putin and Russia are just doing fine and not hurting Ukrainians, and obviously this was a really big deal here in Ukraine when Trump said this.

CHURCH: Yes, I want to talk about that because President Trump also said Monday, and I'm quoting here, Russia has been fine on Ukraine; they haven't been doing much. And of course, he said that, as you say, just after Russia attacked several civilian targets, including six people, including that 1-year-old girl in a stroller in Kharkiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine got no warning from its U.S. partner about those incoming attacks that also hit energy targets.

Why do you think President Trump is refusing to acknowledge Russia's deadly attacks on Ukraine, and why was there no warning?

SOROKIN: Well, for Trump, as I said, I think it's easier to deal with Putin. They have the same mindset. They don't like anyone telling them what to do. They don't like opposition. They don't like free elections. We know that President Trump has been actively trying to sabotage elections in the U.S. in the past, so Putin is a good example how to do it.

And about the early warning systems, well, unfortunately, despite Ukraine's strong drone production and defenses and so on, Ukraine is still really dependent on the U.S. There's two main things that Ukraine is dependent on, and intelligence sharing, meaning that Ukraine receives early warning systems from the U.S. and that gives the civilian population at least five, 10, 20 minutes to seek shelter before Russia launches ballistic missiles, because that comes -- that information comes through satellite imagery.

And right now, we see that there is problems in receiving this. The Americans are not saying that they cut off intelligence, but sometimes the intelligence magically doesn't get to Ukrainians, it disappears, or sometimes there is some kind of problems, unexpected that arise, and so this also doesn't allow Ukrainians to prepare for incoming ballistic attacks, and that's why more civilians, unfortunately, are dying.

CHURCH: Why do you think that's being done then?

SOROKIN: Because, unfortunately, in our understanding, the U.S. is using intelligence sharing. It's using the PEARL program and the Starlink and Starshield satellites to basically force Ukraine into concessions. They're showing the Ukrainian side that the U.S. still holds power over Ukrainian defenses, and they're using this to force Ukraine to concede to Russia and help Russia win.

And The Kyiv Independent published the story yesterday that Hexad is holding on and not signing off on Patriot missiles that are already paid by the Europeans. Basically, this shows that the U.S. is trying to blackmail Ukraine, trying to force Ukraine into concessions because air defense missiles are the only thing that protects Ukrainians from incoming ballistic missiles in Russia, right? And that's something that Ukraine desperately needs. And unfortunately, we see that the U.S. is using this as a power play.

[02:10:15]

CHURCH: All right, Oleksiy Sorokin, appreciate you joining us. Thank you so very much.

SOROKIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, the Italian government says it's deploying 500 army troops to Milan after cost of living protests turned violent over the weekend. The deployment is part of a package of new security measures expected to be approved at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini announced on social media, that the government was deploying 500 soldiers to the city of Milan following clashes between rioters and police in the capital of Lombardy between Saturday and Sunday.

Now, it's not clear what task these soldiers will have, given that normally the public security, of course, is in the hands of the Interior Ministry and the police.

However, Italy has deployed soldiers to neuralgic and key hotspots across its territory to man the streets and provide security since at least 2008.

But what remains after some of the harshest scenes of street violence we have seen in Italy in the last few years over the weekend, is essentially two things, according to experts. The first one is that these protests are taking place outside the institution, they're not called by organizers such as the trade unions or the political opposition parties.

The second one is that the protesters in this case were extremely young, according to figures released by the Italian police, about 270 protesters were brought in for questioning on Sunday night, and out of these ones, 220 at least were minors.

And to understand where the violence is coming from, we spoke with an expert at the University of Milano-Bicocca, and this is what he told us.

MATTEO LANCINI, PSYCHOLOGIST AND PSYCHOTHERAPIST (through translator): We live in a society that has proposed patterns where attacking others, destroying and killing is normal, and then it's shocked when young people do it. But we cannot decontextualize this from the violence that they have absorbed from adults in this mass media society of social media. I repeat, this does not justify anything from the point of view of responsibility.

POZZEBON: Now, remains to be seen whether the deployment of the army to Milan will be enough to calm the streets, which in fact were calm on Monday afternoon.

However, the protesters have already called for successive rallies in the days to come. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: France is working to restore order after the country's worst rioting in years erupted over the weekend. Officials imposed curfews in several cities Monday night, including parts of Paris. Those curfews have since been lifted. France's interior minister acknowledged police were unprepared and lost control of the protests. He offered to resign, but President Emmanuel Macron refused to accept his resignation.

Well, at least two people were killed and thousands arrested over the weekend. The unrest began last month with students protesting poor school conditions and a shortage of teachers. Those demonstrations have since spiraled into violent anti-government riots, fueled by anger over the cost of living. Officials say they are using social media and surveillance video to identify people involved in the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-PIERRE FARANDOU, FRENCH LABOR MINISTER (through translator): You can't put a squadron of police officers in front of every shop in Paris. So, the problem is that we need to trace it back. We need to identify the perpetrators. We need to bring them to justice, and that has begun. There are people in custody. There are several. I believe there are more than 2,000 people in custody. There are people who are being brought before the courts. Some people have already been remanded in custody and pretrial detention when the offenses are very serious and clearly defined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now is Cecile Alduy. She is a professor of French literature and culture at Stanford University and an associate scholar at the Institute of Political Science of Paris. Thank you so much for joining us.

CECILE ALDUY, PROFESSOR OF FRENCH LITERATURE AND CULTURE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, of course, the students started out with all good intentions, and some of this has been hijacked by other violent protesters. But in the end, once you sort of pull that apart, what should the French government be doing to deal with the unrest across France? And why isn't it meeting with student leaders to try to find a peaceful end to this national crisis?

[02:15:08]

ALDUY: Well, it's difficult to understand why they have not met with students' leaders earlier because everything could have been avoided, because the looting and the violence came as almost a crime of opportunity because of the massive demonstrations. They kind of infiltrated the demonstrators, and if students and also other groups had felt heard before with negotiations and recourse to dialog, maybe the demonstrations themselves would have subsided before.

CHURCH: Yes, I mean, this is the problem, isn't it? So, the government has not sat down with students at all at this juncture?

ALDUY: Very -- in very minimal ways. First because they're not organized. The students, the same way, you know, workers would have unions and therefore leaders who could be the face of the protests, but also because, you know, the thing is students have not been taken seriously. There is -- there's a myth about this generation that they don't want to work, that they are, you know, all about social media and not really into political ideas. And I think that it took a long time for the government to realize that, you know, the proverbial toothpaste motto. Once the students are out, it's really hard to get them back in.

CHURCH: Right. So, what do you think the more violent demonstrations over the weekend reveal about what's going on across France right now and within the French population?

ALDUY: I think it's a symptom of a crisis of society that's both a political crisis of trust in institutions, trust in the democratic process. You know, we have presidential and legislative elections in just six months, but people are already impatient and not believing that this will make a difference, and so they're taking to the streets now.

There's also a crisis, an economic crisis, you know, like in the U.S. with the price of oil, and this has made the cost of life completely unbearable for a lot of people. So, what we're seeing is a resurgence of the Yellow Jackets' movements, and I think this is really a warning call for the government to take it extremely seriously in terms of political negotiation. The big issue is that the government right now is facing a mountain of debt and does not have a lot of room to maneuver.

For the Yellow Jackets, you know, the government Emmanuel Macron himself delivered something like 10 billion euros to help kind of quell the unrest. Now, the coffers are empty. So, what do we do now?

CHURCH: And that's the problem when it comes to fixing the problems that the students are complaining about, which is these rundown schools, infrastructure, rat infestations in some instances. So, what should President Macron's role be in the midst of all this? As you mentioned, just six months away from presidential elections.

ALDUY: So, there's what he should be doing as president, which is you know, be the person who guarantees that the republic is, you know standing and united, and he's been really far removed in recent weeks from what is going on in France, preferring to deal with international matters, which are extremely important as well. But he has delegated his authority to a prime minister who is extremely weak politically. He doesn't have a majority in Congress. He's having a really hard time passing, even just his, you know, financial plan for the year.

So, we are in a political situation where the government itself and Macron behind him are not on good political footing to be in a position of authority to deliver any compromise.

CHURCH: And if the government can't bring these violent demonstrations, particularly, to an end soon, where do you see this going?

ALDUY: So, unfortunately, in France, there is almost this tradition of fall unrest. You know, fall that starts in September, October, and then kind of rise all the way to December and the holiday seasons. This was the case with the Yellow Vests again, and if you remember, it got extremely violent week after week after week.

So, you know, it could disrupt also the electoral process because it's not a good atmosphere to lead a campaign to have rational democratic debates among candidates. If violence is the last word, what does it say about France as a democracy?

CHURCH: All right, Cecile Alduy, thank you so much for sharing your analysis and joining us. We do appreciate it.

ALDUY: Thank you.

CHURCH: Of course. Well, Canadian news networks project Alberta has voted to remain a part of the country. Voters cast their ballots. Monday on the secession referendum. Separatists argued that the Liberal-led federal government has constrained the conservative, oil- rich province through environmental policies.

[02:20:09]

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who grew up in Alberta, campaigned for the Remain side.

Well, still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, a Kenyan cult leader who told his followers to starve themselves and their children to reach heaven is convicted of murdering 190 children. The disturbing details just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:25:01]

CHURCH: Torrential rains have triggered dangerous flooding across eastern Spain, killing at least three people and forcing thousands more to evacuate. More than 600 millimeters of rain has fallen since Saturday, most of it in just 24 hours. The downpour has submerged roads and cut off several towns. Spain's weather service calls it the region's most significant rainfall event in nearly four decades.

Well, the leader of a Christian cult in Kenya has been found guilty of the murder of 190 children and one adult. Paul Mackenzie was convicted along with about 30 other suspects on Monday. Authorities started digging up bodies in a forest in eastern Kenya in April 2023. So far, they have recovered 429 bodies. So further charges could follow.

Mackenzie and his co-accused will be handed their sentence on November 6th. CNN's Larry Madowo has more now from Nairobi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This case is a horrific one. A former taxi driver who declared himself a preacher and launched a T.V. station that reached people across the country and on social media and YouTube as well, convincing hundreds of parents to starve their children to death. And the Kenyan court now deciding that it was, in fact, a cult and that he had a hierarchy of death, children first, and then teens, and then women, and then, finally, men.

And he is charged with the murder of 191 people, all but one children. But in the end, they found more than 400 bodies in this vast forest in Shakahola, that's near the Kenyan coast. This is the moment after eight hours where the verdict came down.

JUSTICE DIANA KAVEDZA-MOCHACHE, MOMBASA HIGH COURT: Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, convicted on all 191 counts of murder.

MADOWO: That is the leader of that starvation cult, but he -- his other 29 co-accused who are leaders of this cult were also found guilty under Kenyan law. They can be sentenced to life in prison. They could be sentenced to death, though Kenya has not carried out an execution since 1987, or they could serve long prison sentences.

The judge recounted gruesome details of how these children were made to starve, and some siblings were forced to celebrate the killings of their siblings. And the judge went into great detail about why this has the hallmarks of crimes against humanity, talking about the scale of the deaths, the duration, the targeting of the civilian population, the organization of this cult.

And some of these children who were not starved to death were suffocated. They were strangled. They were beaten with blunt objects. And some witnesses in this long trial said that the pastor told them, Paul Mackenzie, that they would be going to heaven with kicks and blows if necessary.

But they had to do that, and they were buried in shallow graves, which sped up this pace of decomposition so that they could not be found. And they had enforcers in the community within that cult who made sure that police, the media, that no one in the neighboring community knew what was happening.

And that is why, in the end, more than 400 bodies found. There are families still missing, loved ones. And one of the most heartbreaking, in one family, they lost six children, all under the age of 17.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, migrants removed from the U.S. sent to nations where they have no ties. Now we're hearing their stories. Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:33:05]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church.

Iranian media reports Pakistan's army chief is due to visit Tehran in the coming hours. Islamabad has played a key mediating role since the U.S. and Israel launched the war with Iran. The meeting comes as Iran's military commanders and officials have made it clear they're preparing for another round of war.

But they're also warning Washington and its allies to think twice before resuming the conflict. Tehran has threatened to widen its scope of targets if the conflict resumes. Possible options include cutting undersea internet cables, striking A.I. data centers, and attacking regional oil and gas facilities.

Iran's IRGC spokesperson said, quote, "The world will be amazed. We have new targets that have not yet been attacked."

Yemen's internationally recognized government is urging the United Nations to designate the Iran-allied Houthis as a terrorist organization. It comes as the Houthis claim to have carried out strikes targeting Saudi state oil company, Aramco, airports and military sites. The Houthis say these operations are in response to the latest wave of Saudi airstrikes which they say killed and wounded dozens of people, mostly women and children.

Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed these claims. Well, the escalating hostilities have been a major setback for the kingdom's economic ambitions. Saudi Arabia has cancelled a major conference known as 'Davos in the Desert' after the latest wave of Houthi attacks.

Meanwhile, Egypt's parliament is expected to vote next week on whether to authorize its armed forces to help defend Saudi Arabia against the Houthis if the kingdom asks for Cairo's support.

[02:35:00]

Sources tell CNN the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, travelled to Israel on an unannounced trip just days before the country's elections. Hegseth met with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister, Israel Katz on Monday evening. Representatives from the United Arab Emirates were also at one of the meetings. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the trip.

U.S. Vice President, J.D. Vance would not say if he endorses Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu for re-election. The move is an apparent break with President Trump, who finally threw his support behind Netanyahu this weekend.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem with the latest on Israel's upcoming elections.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Netanyahu certainly received a shot in the arm for his campaign just over a week before Election Day with this endorsement from President Trump posting on Truth Social that Netanyahu has been, quote, "strong, brave and brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition." And he says that Prime Minister Netanyahu will never let the Israeli public down.

The Israeli prime minister quickly responding, saying together we'll finish the job, a reference to the fact that both men seem to have their eyes on a potential next confrontation with Iran. That seemed to have played quite a role in President Trump's decision to endorse the Israeli prime minister. But how much of an impact will this actually have on those Israeli elections in just over a week from now remains to be seen.

We know that President Trump remains by and large a very popular figure in Israel, but far less popular than he was, say, a year ago after he helped secure that final ceasefire deal and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Polling from the Jewish Public Policy Institute indicates that the number of Israelis who expressed a, quote, "great deal of trust" fell from 34 percent this past March to just 10 percent in August. And that's why perhaps this will have less of an impact than Prime Minister Netanyahu would like it to be.

It's also worth noting that while this is the first time President Trump has officially endorsed in an Israeli election, back in 2019, he gave Prime Minister Netanyahu perhaps an even bigger gift than a public endorsement by recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, showing at the time that Prime Minister Netanyahu could deliver for the state of Israel. And that's certainly the case Netanyahu is making.

But the opposition candidates, they are making a very different case, positioning this election as a referendum on the Israeli prime minister, a referendum on the security failures that led up to October 7th, 2023, when that Hamas-led attack killed more than 1,200 Israelis.

The Israeli prime minister is also under fire for not agreeing to launch a state commission of inquiry. That's something that the opposition candidates say that they will do on day one in office. Right now, polling indicates that the government bloc and the change bloc, they are basically running neck and neck, and both of them falling short of the 61-seat majority in Israel's Knesset in order to form the next government.

But there are a number of other scenarios, such as the opposition candidates forming a minority government, which certainly seems to be potentially a viable option. But we will see. The polls are set to close in Israel in eight days from now. And after that, there will be weeks of wrangling to decide who gets to even try and form the next government, let alone who will become the next prime minister of Israel.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

CHURCH: A Palestinian activist is bringing his battle with the Trump administration to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mahmoud Khalil was arrested last year and threatened with deportation after leading student protests against Israel's actions in Gaza. But the former Columbia University graduate student is not asking the justices to rule on whether the government violated his right to free speech.

His request involves jurisdiction. Khalil wants federal courts to be allowed to review his case. Right now, they cannot decide the legality of immigration detention until proceedings have been exhausted. Khalil, who is married to a U.S. citizen, spent more than 100 days in a Louisiana jail and missed the birth of his child before a New Jersey judge ordered his release.

But an appeals court later ruled the district court cannot review his challenge until immigration proceedings are complete.

Tens of thousands of migrants have been deported from the U.S. to African countries where they have no ties. Some of those migrants subjected to the so-called third-country deportations report abuse, threats and harsh detention conditions.

[02:40:00]

CNN's Rafael Romo spoke with migrants who were sent to Malabo, an island that's part of Equatorial Guinea, where they remain under house arrest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone is in fear for their life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like this never-ending roller coaster of disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yesterday, I had a panic attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like the hotel from hell.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the voices of people who say they're living in agony.

ROMO: And what happens if they find out that you're talking to me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I will be put in prison.

ROMO (voice-over): They are migrants deported from the United States to Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking country on the west coast of Africa plagued by corruption, poverty and repression, according to Human Rights Watch.

More than 20 migrants are under house arrest at a hotel in the city of Malabo, the country's former capital and oldest city.

ROMO: What can you tell me about your detention conditions there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The officers have the keys to your door. And as a woman, my fear every night is that an officer is going to come in and do the worst, the worse that could be done to me.

ROMO (voice-over): The Trump administration launched third-country deportations last year as part of its crackdown on immigration.

According to Third Country Deportation Watch, a monitoring and advocacy project, the U.S. has signed third-country deportation agreements with at least 35 countries, sending more than 25,000 migrants to those nations at a cost of over $49 million to American taxpayers. MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Part of securing our border is dealing with the people that are in this country unlawfully, many of whom do not want to go back to the country that they originally came from, for a variety of reasons, meaning these are safe countries where individuals who refuse to go back to their country of origin can be sent to that country instead.

ROMO: Several of those countries, including South Sudan, Rwanda and Equatorial Guinea, are either at war or have checkered human rights records that worry migrant rights advocates.

ALEXANDRA SMOLYAR, ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE: Many of the people who are in Equatorial Guinea have refugee protections, which means that they can't be deported back to their country of origin.

ROMO (voice-over): Alexandra Smolyar is an immigration attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an Atlanta-based nonprofit legal and advocacy organization that has been in touch with the migrants in Equatorial Guinea and legally represents some of them. She says more than 20 migrants under house arrest in Malabo have been subjected to all kinds of abuse, including beatings and imprisonment.

SMOLYAR: They're constantly patrolled by armed guards, under threat. Oftentimes they have violence leveraged against them in the form of threats, beatings. It's a very dangerous and dire situation.

ROMO: It seems like police in Equatorial Guinea are trying to send a message.

SMOLYAR: It seems that way. It seems that they really are trying to stop anyone from speaking out about what's happening to them.

ROMO (voice-over): CNN managed to speak to two of the migrants who asked us to protect their identities for fear of retaliation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I literally witnessed one of the guards grab by the neck and lift him up against the wall and shoved him down on the ground.

ROMO (voice-over): One of the migrants says he witnessed how guards suddenly stormed into a room one night, handcuffed several of them and beat up one man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That really was almost like the welcome-to-Hotel- Bamy moment for me because I realized at that moment that anyone of us at any given moment can be harmed.

ROMO (voice-over): CNN reached the government of Equatorial Guinea about the allegations, but so far there has been no reply.

SMOLYAR: I think that I would underscore how truly inhumane these third-country deportation agreements are. This is all part of a broader detention and deportation agenda that's being pushed throughout the country right now that is subjecting people to a lot of fear and a very real risk of arrest and detention and possible deportation to a country that they may have no ties to. ROMO (voice-over): After a federal court in Boston temporarily halted third-country deportations, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to resume them in late September without giving migrants an opportunity to raise human rights concerns.

The court said it would hear arguments in the case in December.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We have much more coming up here on the show, including the offer of a share giveaway from Elon Musk. What we know about the SpaceX CEO's plan. That's after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:49:45]

CHURCH: Wow, and that was the moment Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft blasted off on its mission to the Red Planet. It's headed to the Martian moon Phobos to collect samples to bring back to earth for analysis. It's expected to reach Mars in August next year before returning to Earth in 2031. Scientists hope the samples will help us understand more about our solar system's early stages.

Elon Musk says he will give a SpaceX share to every child in America. But it's not clear how they would be distributed or whether all American children would even be eligible.

[02:50:00]

CNN's Anna Cooban has details.

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS & ECONOMICS REPORTER: So Elon Musk is promising every kid in America a stake in his $2 trillion rocket and A.I. company. He announced in a post on X on Monday that next year, he would give one share of SpaceX to every child in America. Each share was valued at around $146 at market close on Friday.

And so now, crunching the numbers, if we take the U.S. Census Bureau's latest estimates, there were roughly 73 million people aged under 18 in America in 2024, and we multiply that figure by the SpaceX share price, that would make the potential giveaway by Musk worth around $10.7 billion.

But the details around this are pretty scant. It's not clear exactly how those shares would be distributed to the tens of millions of potentially eligible American children or whether all of them would indeed be eligible. There is some precedent, however.

Earlier this month, the Treasury Department automatically signed up millions of under 18s to Trump Accounts, a new federal savings and investment vehicle. And in July, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband pledged to donate one SpaceX share to roughly two million children already signed up to one of these accounts.

Now, Musk's offer came in response to an announcement by A.I. giant, Anthropic, on Sunday that it would commit at least five percent of its shares, worth about $48 billion, to a fund that would make donations for the public benefit. A.I. companies are facing mounting public backlash over the safety of their products.

Anthropic itself has recently said that A.I. poses existential risks to humanity, as well as the technology's impact on people's jobs and the environmental and social impact of data centers. So perhaps Musk's offer, if it does come, would go some way to softening the public perception.

Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

CHURCH: Coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," towering rock tombs and an ancient Roman theatre. So what do these ruins in Turkey have to do with the legend of Santa Claus? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, it was a night of fashion and luxury in Los Angeles as the Victoria's Secret fashion show brought out all the glitz and glamour. But it was Kylie Jenner who arguably stole the show on the catwalk. She modeled this diamond bra with an astounding price tag of $50 million.

For three decades, the lingerie brand has designed roughly one bejeweled push up bra per year known as the fantasy bra.

[02:55:00]

This one created by Jacob and Company has 91 large white diamonds each between five and 18 carats, and there's one yellow diamond in the center which is over 75 carats.

Well, the legend of Santa Claus has roots far from the North Pole in what is now southern Turkey. That's where a fourth century bishop named Saint Nicholas lived in an ancient city on Turkey's Mediterranean Coast.

CNN's Leroy Ah Ben takes us inside the ruins of the ancient city he once called home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEROY AH BEN, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): So what does Santa have to do with this ancient city in Turkey? Well, long before he was the guy delivering Christmas presents, he was a bishop who lived right here. Crazy.

Welcome to Myra, an ancient city on Turkey's Mediterranean Coast that's packed with giant rock-cut tombs, a huge Roman theatre and a direct connection to the man who inspired Santa Claus. Myra was one of the most important and powerful cities in ancient Lycia, but I mean, just look at the place. See these here? They look like houses but they're actually tombs and people carved them directly into the rock more than 2,000 years ago. Myra is also known for this well-preserved Roman theatre. Could you imagine what it must have felt like being here 2,000 years ago watching a performance? And I've got the best seat in the house.

It's only when you step inside the church of Saint Nicholas that the story starts to feel real. So it's pretty wild to think that Saint Nicholas was a bishop in this very church and I'm standing here right now. Here we are with a statue of Saint Nicholas behind me and over the centuries, stories of Saint Nicholas' generosity spread across Europe and eventually evolved into the Christmas figure that millions of people around the world know about today.

So what does Santa have to do with this ancient city in Turkey? Well, it turns out a lot. You might come here to look at the remarkable ancient archaeological site, but you end up learning about one of the most famous figures in popular culture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And all the way back here in the United States and to Florida, the Walking Dead meets the Tour de France. Thousands of zombies on bikes took over the streets of Key West for the annual zombie bike ride over the weekend. Costumed riders traveled just over six kilometers or about four miles for the event.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade is next, after a quote break. Do stay with us.

[02:57:52]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00]