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Protests And Social Unrest Sweep Across Parts Of Europe; Donald Trump Takes Midterm Campaign Blitz To North Carolina; Michigan Senate Candidates Make Their Case To Black Voters; Israeli Settler Violence Ramps Up in West Bank Villages; Drone Strike Kills at Least 153 in Disputed Abyei Region of Sudan; Hundreds Rally for Stronger Action Tackling Disruptive Fires in Indonesia; 76ers With LeBron Beat Reigning Champs Knicks in Opener. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired October 21, 2026 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[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, widespread protests across Europe are sparking a new political reality. What does the sweeping unrest mean for the region's future?
Plus, CNN investigates the rise of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, including those fueling the uprising.
And could a selfie and A.I. predict your risk of dying from cancer? I'll speak to a doctor about his new study and the accuracy of these A.I. models.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. And we begin this hour with the anti-government protests sweeping across countries in Europe, from France to Albania, demonstrations over high living costs, fuel, and food prices mark a critical moment in Europe's political future.
In Portugal, thousands of protesters returned to major city squares on Tuesday, voicing their anger over the country's housing affordability crisis. Police had earlier cleared out their protest camps and arrested more than 50 people. The protesters are demanding that lawmakers drop legislation seeking to end rent caps on new leases and make evictions easier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORGE PAIXAO, PROTESTER (through translator): It is a crisis that will have major impacts on my generation. It will affect people's ability to enter the job market and start families, and it will have a significant impact on Portuguese society. We already have a very aging society, and this will make the situation even worse because people will not be able to start families or build lives for themselves. This is a societal crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: In Albania's capital, student-led protests turned violent for an eighth day on Tuesday. Demonstrators demanding the prime minister's resignation set fire to government buildings, smashed windows, and threw stones at police. Largely peaceful protests began earlier this summer against a luxury coastal development backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. But the movement has since shifted with students angry over what they consider high educational and living costs.
In Italy, 500 soldiers are now patrolling the streets of Milan as part of new security measures targeting rioters. The Italian government approved the decrees on Tuesday after cost of living protests devolved into chaos over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Shops looted, windows smashed, law enforcement officers attacked. These are unacceptable scenes that no one should think of downplaying or justifying. That is why today the cabinet approved a decree containing new measures to prevent and combat this violence.
We are applying a simple principle: those who break things pay, and if the person who breaks is a minor, their parents pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And in France, a second night of curfews has now ended in some cities, including parts of Paris and Marseille. The prime minister says the measures have been helping to restore peace overnight, following the nation's worst rioting in years. He acknowledged that the government failed to recognize just how severe the protest situation had become, but authorities are promising a massive police presence for more demonstrations planned for Saturday.
Joining us now from Berlin is Steven Erlanger, chief diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times. Good to have you with us.
STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Thanks, Rosemary. Nice to be with you.
CHURCH: Of course. So, as the world watches protests across France and, of course, elsewhere devolve into violence and destruction on the streets, overshadowing the original message, you look at the cause of all this and write about the anger being felt by many students and workers over the high cost of living and poor prospects that's fueling these protests and resulting in the crumbling of Europe's political center. So, where do you see this going?
ERLANGER: Well, I think we're in a period of drift. There's not a lot of strong political leadership in Europe or anywhere else, frankly. There's a lot of anxiety among a younger generation and among the salaried working class, because in Europe the economies have been slow. The growth that the European Union promised hasn't really delivered. Debt is very very high, partly stemming from COVID, but all kinds of other demands, including very high pension costs from an aging population that is retiring young and living long, and whose costs will be paid for by this year's workers and by future workers.
[02:05:42]
And so, young people in particular, they look at this and they think they're going to be in debt prison forever with inflation, housing costs. You see riots about that. People worry about being able to afford a home, about being able to afford a decent life. They worry about the environment, about the earth collapsing, and they're told that Russia is on the march, and that their countries have to spend more money on the military when the size of debt is so high, and inflation is high, and interest rates are high, which cuts into the budget.
So, all of this has been leading to severe erosion in faith in democracy, particularly in centrist politics.
CHURCH: Yes, you write about that. You talk about the declining satisfaction across Europe with how democracy is working, with more people now turning to parties on the far right and far left.
But given the dire economic circumstances of many European nations right now, due in large part to the global situation, how likely is it that the extremist parties can do any better in terms of offering immediate relief to the pain of rising inflation, high interest rates, and fewer job opportunities?
ERLANGER: Well, they claim they can. That's really the attraction. People who see that what they have isn't working sometimes want something else. This is part of what led to Brexit also, the sense that the elites, there was politically there was a kind of consensus about everything that had nothing to do with voter anger, that had nothing to do with listening to disaffected voters, and so they turned to others.
Now, the promise, for example, France, I think, is crucial given the presidential election next spring, which is a very powerful position in one of Europe's most important countries, nuclear powered. That would be an important test of whether the far right, if Marine Le Pen wins, can actually deliver.
Now, she has an economic plan. It's very vague, but I think part of the attraction of the far left and far right is anger with what people have. It's disaffection and disappointment with coalition governments that seem fairly helpless in the face of these challenges, and which have great political trouble doing the kinds of reforms that might be necessary in France, for example.
Just quickly, Macron wanted to raise the pension age to 64 from 62, and it created a political furor, particularly among workers, and yet this is a big cause of France's own economic problems and debt. CHURCH: And just very quickly, how might these violent protests across Europe shape the way the E.U. makes policy going forward, and how should it be responding do you think?
ERLANGER: Well, it's very difficult for them because the E.U., in a way, is a bunch of lawyers. I mean, it has leaders of individual countries, and there are four big elections coming: one in Spain, France, I mentioned Italy, Poland, and the -- and the right is doing very well, pushing very hard in each of them.
So, if these governments get elected, or if you have a more right-wing leaning coalition, it will have a big impact on Brussels. It may have a big impact on the value of the euro currency, on NATO, on support for -- even for Ukraine.
So, these are important moments. I think the riots, as they tend to do, will calm down because partly students are on holiday, but the disaffection that they show is not going away and will have a great deal of impact on politics going forward.
CHURCH: Steven Erlanger, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it always.
[02:10:02]
ERLANGER: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Of course. Well, we have new video just into CNN. A source has shared this, and it shows President Trump's foreign envoy Steve Witkoff arriving in St. Petersburg, Russia. He's expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin after holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Norway on Tuesday.
A U.S. official says the meeting between Witkoff and Zelenskyy produced meaningful progress, and that the two sides are now in strong alignment at the working level on next steps. The official says the goal now is to build on the progress made with Ukraine and Europe, and discuss the proposals with Russia. Zelenskyy had this to say about a possible path to peace:
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We have some clear ideas on how to get to peace, and we are united with our European partners in this effort. And we want the Americans to take these ideas to the Russians. And one of the important ideas is to move to a trilateral potential trilateral meeting of the leaders to address the issue that only the leaders can do. Steve is going to Russia tomorrow, and let's see what Putin has to say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: On Tuesday, Zelenskyy also held a call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and discussed a number of issues, including intelligence sharing, which he says is now working again. The Ukrainian president called it a good conversation and said he was hoping to speak to Rubio again within the next 48 hours.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said the U.S. policy on Ukraine hasn't changed. Does that include Starshield coverage? Has that been pulled back?
PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF WAR: We haven't pulled anything back. There are terms of service that ultimately need to be complied to, and that's where -- that's where Starlink has the option to make those decisions. But nothing's changed from our view. We haven't made any directives or anything like that, and we wish the Ukrainians obviously success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth there responding to reports the Pentagon disrupted the Ukrainian military's access to the Starlink satellite system. Hegseth appeared to shift responsibility to Starlink itself, owned by Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that it was Musk who ordered the slowdown. Alex Ward, one of the journalists who broke this story, spoke to CNN earlier about it.
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ALEXANDER WARD, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: There's a bit of a SpaceX said, White House said. So, what you basically have is once this was revealed by Ukraine, SpaceX calls the White House and goes, hey guys, our messaging is a bit off here. There was coordination right between the White House and SpaceX on this. We need to come out and say that, and that was a bit of a revelation for folks at the White House who were surprised by the slowdown of the speeds of Starlink and were looking for some kind of explanation of what it was. And it sounded like to a bunch of White House officials that Musk did it on his own.
But again, we can't exclude the possibility of a Musk-Trump conversation, and in fact, we do quote a person familiar with the situation saying that Musk and Trump had multiple calls, including before the slowdown order.
So, but we don't have details of that exact conversation. But we do know that Trump and Musk spoke shortly after the issue became revealed publicly, and they discussed the Starlink issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, turning now to the violence in the Middle East, Iranian media reports that the country's security chief says there would be no talks with Washington until Tehran's demands are met. Those comments came during a meeting with Pakistan's army chief, who held a series of high-level meetings in Tehran on Tuesday. Pakistan has been a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran during the course of this war.
The United Kingdom says it will deploy fighter jets to defend Saudi Arabia against attacks by the Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen. The British Defense Ministry announced it will fly defensive counter-air missions using Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to protect Saudi cities and key infrastructure.
Iran's foreign minister claims Yemen's Houthis are acting independent of Tehran, Abbas Araghchi says Iran is offering to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the rebel group to help end the conflict, but has received no response from either side. He says the offer was made on Tuesday as fighting intensified in Yemen after the launch of a Saudi- backed military campaign.
The United Nations is sounding the alarm on the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen's third-largest city. The agency is also urging the Houthis to allow aid access, warning that road closures and insecurity are. Putting millions of people at risk as it's preventing vital goods, including fuel, from reaching the region.
[02:15:15]
Super Typhoon Champi is now the strongest storm of the year, after it hit maximum sustained winds of 295 kilometers per hour. Champi is currently moving through the open Western Pacific between Guam and the Northern Philippines. The storm will likely remain a powerful typhoon until later this week when it begins to turn north. It could still pack the strength of a Category Three or Four hurricane as it approaches Taiwan and Japan.
Well, there's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including President Trump on the campaign trail. Hear his midterm message for Republican voters now less than two weeks before Election Day.
Plus, CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in the West Bank, where the cycle of Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is ramping up.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: We saw firsthand how settlers besieged another home in the area. The Israeli military deployed troops, but failed to clear out the settlers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHURCH: Well, we are less than two weeks from Election Day here in the United States, and President Donald Trump is going full throttle to help Republicans in the midterms. He will visit South Carolina in the day ahead, with upcoming stops in Iowa, Florida, Georgia, and Michigan. CNN has once again been barred from traveling on Air Force One and fulfilling its press pool duties on Wednesday.
Well, spending on this year's midterms is projected to top $11 billion by Election Day. Elon Musk has already announced spending at least 276 million for Republicans, and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is shelling out 80 million to help Democrats.
The Super PAC affiliated with President Trump, MAGA Inc. has spent more than $3 million in digital ads over the past week. The campaigner in chief was rallying Republicans in North Carolina on Tuesday night. CNN's Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes has details.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With just exactly two weeks until those midterm elections, President Trump continued his red-state blitz in North Carolina, a state he won back in 2024, but now seems unlikely to have a Republican go to the Senate. Michael Whatley, his handpicked candidate, somebody who ran the RNC for him, who was also part of the campaign in 2024, someone who is a loyalist to Donald Trump, has really been written off by Republicans. Most of these major super PACs stopped spending money here, and Michael Whatley's campaign itself actually went dark. Yet President Trump was here trying to court these very red MAGA voters. This is what he said about all of his travel:
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A good president tends not to win. I don't. There's no reason for it. You know, people have said deep down psychologically. So, we're going to try and change it. Now, I'm doing something different. I'm working like a dog, and I love being with you.
HOLMES: Now, President Trump was interrupted a number of times by protesters. He continued to brush it off, although he did attack them as losers, saying they were going back to their mom. Now, this is just one of a multitude of stops. He has stops every single day this week. We're talking about Iowa, Florida, again, all states he won by huge margins. They are just trying to drive out that base to try and make do anything they can and try and get Republicans to hold on to at least one of the chambers of Congress they are hoping for the Senate.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Greenville, North Carolina.
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CHURCH: Democratic heavyweights are turning out to galvanize black voters for Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He's been campaigning with former Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator Raphael Warnock, and this weekend, even former President Barack Obama will attend a rally with him. As CNN's Jeff Zeleny explains this seat is crucial if Democrats want to win control of the Senate.
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ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Friends, my name is Abdul El-Sayed. I hope I can earn your support. Let's go fight and win.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the home stretch of the Michigan Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed talks about building a new coalition. The question is whether he can keep the old Democratic coalition intact. Starting with black voters, a pivotal group, his Republican rival Mike Rogers has spent months working to win over.
CHARITY DEAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MICHIGAN BLACK BUSINESS ALLIANCE: Detroit is more conservative than folks would think.
ZELENY (voice-over): Charity Dean leads the Michigan Black Business Alliance and is supporting El-Sayed, but keeping a wary eye on Rogers.
ZELENY: How important are black voters to a winning coalition here?
DEAN: Black voters are -- underestimated, but super critical.
ZELENY: Mike Rogers is clearly trying to make some inroads.
DEAN: He is. ZELENY: Do you think his outreach to black voters is serious? I mean, should it be taken seriously by El-Sayed supporters.
DEAN: Everything should be taken seriously. This is not a campaign -- this is not a year where we need to take anything for granted. He seriously tried to campaign. He seriously wants to win their vote. He seriously doesn't want to make life better for Black people.
ZELENY (voice-over): That's not how Naura Evans sees it.
ZELENY: Do you think the Democrats have taken the black vote for granted over the years?
NAURA EVANS, MIKE ROGERS SUPPORTER: Absolutely. Yes.
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ZELENY (voice-over): Evans, a teacher and mother of two, is supporting Rogers and appears in this TV ad.
EVANS: I voted for Barack Obama, but this year, I'm voting for Mike Rogers.
ZELENY (voice-over): When we caught up with her, she said she's gradually become more conservative and is drawn to Rogers message to improve literacy in schools and safety overall.
EVANS: The outcome of the election will send a loud message that the Black vote is just not up for grabs like you have to earn it. We are no longer just voting according parties, but we are voting according to policy and plans.
ZELENY (voice-over): Last weekend, Rogers opened a storefront campaign office in Detroit.
MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Our votes are not guaranteed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.
ROGERS: This is the chance to say we're going to do something new to try to revitalize our community and we're going to do it together.
ZELENY (voice-over): When we stopped by two days later, "Democrats for Rogers" signs were on display, but it was otherwise empty.
El-Sayed was dismissive when we asked about it as he ended a bus tour in Flint.
EL-SAYED: I saw he opened a cute little office in Detroit. He brought all his friends from the suburbs to come clap him in. It was nice. Yeah.
ZELENY (voice-over): As fall settles in and the campaign's end draws near, more than $280 million has been spent on the Michigan Senate race this year. It's critical to the balance of power in Washington, but Reverend Charles Williams II wonders if the enthusiasm matches the moment.
REV. CHARLES WILLIAMS II, SENIOR PASTOR, HISTORIC KING SOLOMON BAPTIST CHURCH: It only takes this much of Detroit to defect. It only takes this much of Flint to defect. It only takes this much of Saginaw or Inkster to defect. And that could be enough to put us under.
ZELENY (voice-over): Williams, who leads the historic King Solomon Baptist Church, is supporting El-Sayed, but taking seriously Rogers' outreach.
WILLIAMS: Not only is he making these inroads, but there are people in these communities that are actually welcoming him in those communities.
ZELENY: As we near the end of the campaign, is it closer than you would like to see it?
WILLIAMS: It's too close. It's too close.
ZELENY: Former President Barack Obama is coming to Detroit this weekend to rally support for the Democratic ticket and try and draw some enthusiasm for El-Sayed in particular.
Now, no one is predicting that Mike Rogers could win a majority of the black vote, but it is that sliver of the vote that concerns so many Democratic leaders here.
Now, the reason Michigan is so important, of course, if Democrats want to win control of the Senate, they must net four seats. Without this one, they would have to pick up five seats. That, of course, makes it much more difficult because most of these races are playing out in Trump country.
As for Trump, he's coming here on Sunday to rally support for the Republican ticket, but Democrats think he drives out their supporters as well.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Detroit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Still ahead on this hour of CNN NEWSROOM: How Palestinians in the West Bank are living in fear as Israeli settlers burn their olive trees, destroy their homes, and threaten their lives with impunity.
Plus, protesters are calling on the government to do more to tackle forest fires that are disrupting life in Indonesia. We will have details after the break.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church.
Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank is ramping up. In recent days, settlers have attacked not just Palestinians, but a veteran Washington Post journalist and a group of European diplomats. CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports on how Palestinians are living in fear amid the attacks.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than two decades, these attacks have been an inescapable reality for Palestinians in the towns of Qusra and Jalud.
Israeli settlers, often descending from a hilltop outpost named Esh Kodesh, have broken windows, set homes on fire and beaten local residents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop it! Stop it!
BASHAR QARYOUTE, PALESTINIAN PARAMEDIC (through translator): You can't even describe the tragedies we've witnessed inside this ambulance. We've seen tragedies, disasters, bodies, injured.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Bashar al-Qaryoute has been a medic here for 25 years, witnessing that settler violence up close.
DIAMOND: As we're driving through the town, I mean, it's like every 20 seconds or so, Bashar is stopping to point out yet another place where a settler attack took place.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For as long as Bashar has driven his ambulance, Esh Kodesh has stood here illegally under both international and Israeli law. But that changed in December, when the Israeli government retroactively legalized it.
Israel's finance minister who directed the approval process, was among the first to show up at the newly minted settlement, which is still considered illegal under international law. But the violence didn't stop. It intensified.
Esh Kodesh is one of 104 new settlements approved by the Israeli government since 2023. In just this area alone, Esh Kodesh is one of six new settlements, five of which were previously illegal outposts. Settlers have established hundreds of these outposts over the last three years, affecting dozens of Palestinian communities across the West Bank. That's because where there are outposts, there is almost always violence.
[02:35:00]
Attacks against Palestinians have surged, doubling in the last three years. Mahmoud Tubasi is all too familiar with that reality.
MAHMOUD TUBASI, VICTIM OF SETTLER ATTACKS: [Foreign Language].
DIAMOND: He says he watches this security camera, his two homes there, 24 hours a day.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Three months ago, Israeli settlers forced him to flee the homes he built for his family.
DIAMOND: What would happen if you went back?
TUBASI: They will kill me.
DIAMOND (voice-over): That nearly happened last month, after the Israeli military acted on a Supreme Court order to return the Tubasis to their home. More than a hundred settlers attacked, hurling stones and setting fires.
Tubasi sees it as yet more evidence of the Israeli government's support for violent settlers.
TUBASI (through translator): Why does the army have the power to stop Palestinians, but when it comes to these settlers, suddenly it has no power? No, the army has exactly the same power. It simply does not want to stop them.
DIAMOND (voice-over): It is a cycle of impunity Tubasi first experienced 25 years ago, when he says he was shot by an Israeli settler near the Esh Kodesh outpost.
TUBASI (through translator): Instead of imprisoning him, instead of restraining him, they legalized the settlement as a reward. This confirms that the government encourages every settler to attack Palestinians.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Facts on the ground bear that out. A month after the government legalized Esh Kodesh, settlers established new illegal outposts, and violence surged. We saw firsthand how settlers besieged another home in the area.
The Israeli military deployed troops, but failed to clear out the settlers. The Israeli prime minister has condemned the violence, but he has also downplayed it.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The settler violence thing is a tremendous hoax, not because there isn't settlers. It's not settlers, actually. It's about 150 to 200 juvenile delinquents who are doing this.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Netanyahu's government, the most right-wing in Israel's history, has emboldened the settlers, funneling more than $6 billion to settlements, including $450 million to support newly legalized outposts.
His ministers of defense and national security have weakened law enforcement of Jewish violence against Palestinians, with only six percent of cases leading to an indictment.
Bashar's colleague was shot and killed while driving this ambulance. He says no one was ever arrested, and the attacks continue.
QARYOUTE (through translator): It's terrible. Whenever I go out in the ambulance, I expect that I might not come back. I expect I won't return home.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Bashar says much of it can be traced back to the government's outpost legalization.
QARYOUTE (through translator): After that, the settlers in Esh Kodesh bared their fangs. Their ambitions grew significantly. Anyone who commits a crime should be punished. But instead, they are rewarded for committing crimes and this is a very dangerous precedent taking place in the Esh Kodesh area and this entire area of southeast of Nablus.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The cycle is now repeating itself across the West Bank. The settler playbook now well-established.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jalud, the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The United Nations is condemning drone strikes in Sudan and the disputed Abyei region that have left at least 153 people dead. A local official says the strikes hit a fuel depot, sparking fires. Doctors Without Borders says it's treating more than 20 wounded people. A regional official blames Sudan's military, which has not commented.
A diplomatic source told Reuters that the fuel depot had previously supplied the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Hundreds of students and activists scuffled with police in Indonesia on Tuesday. The protesters are demanding stronger government action and tougher enforcement against those responsible for forest and land fires. The fires have blanketed parts of the country in haze, disrupting daily life.
The protests come as Indonesia's president marked two years in office amid growing scrutiny of his administration's handling of environmental and economic issues.
In Russia's Kaliningrad region, a cargo ship that ran aground off the coast has become a popular attraction for residents. The Bahamas- flagged vessel, called Sunny Faith, became stranded earlier this month after a severe storm in the Baltic Sea.
[02:40:00]
Residents have come down to the beach to walk alongside the ship and even taking selfies. The crew has remained on board while an operation to get the vessel back to sea is being planned.
We have much more coming up here on the show, including how A.I. could help predict whether a person will survive cancer treatment. It involves a simple selfie and the author of a new study will join us to explain.
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CHURCH: Colombian authorities have seized more than 7.6 metric tons of cocaine in what's being called the country's biggest haul in a decade. Packages of powdered sugar containing cocaine were discovered during an inspection in the Caribbean port of Cartagena.
Colombia's president says his government has seized more than 132 tons of cocaine during his first 75 days in office as he vows to crack down on drug trafficking.
Elon Musk says he supports a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla, but says the decision is ultimately up to shareholders. Musk, the CEO of both companies, made the comments during an earnings call on Tuesday.
SpaceX shares rose nearly five percent in late trading while Tesla shares gained just over one percent. The comments follow SpaceX's blockbuster IPO in July and a third quarter earnings report that blew past Wall Street's expectations. The company reported $4.4 billion in quarterly net income.
According to new research, a simple selfie can help provide clues about the health of cancer patients and whether they'll survive their treatment. The study, published in the journal "The Lancet Digital Health," used artificial intelligence to predict cancer patients' risk of dying. The A.I. models use a single photograph of a patient's face.
Researchers hope that facial analysis can help doctors make better treatment decisions.
Joining me now is Dr. Raymond Mak, Professor of Radiation Oncology at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute. He is one of the researchers who conducted this study. I appreciate you talking with us.
RAYMOND MAK, PROFESSOR OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY, MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM CANCER INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: So your study on an A.I. tool that uses a selfie to predict a cancer patient's chances of survival seems extraordinary. So, how is it possible that one picture of a patient's face can determine how long they might survive?
MAK: Yeah, so we used 40 million face photographs to train A.I. algorithms to understand the different features of the human face that are important, both to predict somebody's biological age, how old they appear, and then separately, their mortality risk, their risk of dying. So we're able to show that these A.I. algorithms can detect multiple different health states from just a single face photograph. And then we demonstrated the clinical application of these A.I. algorithms by analyzing the face photographs of over 38,000 cancer patients.
And we demonstrated that these two A.I. readouts can independently predict survival outcomes in this historic cohort of cancer patients and actually provide complementary value. So together, they provided more information about survival outcomes than separately.
CHURCH: So how accurate are the predictions of survival or death from this A.I. selfie tool, do you think?
MAK: Yeah, that's a great question. So we don't view these as crystal balls. So this is not technology that can replace expert clinician judgment. So what these algorithms provide is some additional insights, quantitative data.
So what patients often don't realize is that doctors have been trained from the very beginning of medical school to make subjective assessments of a patient's health. The moment they walk in a room, we're taught to document things like, this is a 75-year-old male that looks older than stated age, and appears frail.
And so these are ways doctors subjectively assess a patient to help them to make difficult decisions. So I'm an oncologist. So, for example, I might look at a patient and try to decide through the eyeball test, you know, looking at the patient, whether there's somebody who's strong enough to get a tough treatment like a chemotherapy or radiation.
And so we view these A.I. technologies as ways to provide doctors with some measurable, objective information about a patient's health and how strong they are and how they might be able to tolerate these tougher treatments.
CHURCH: And, Doctor, tell us about the A.I. selfies in your study that showed that patients had a limited life expectancy. And what were the main indicators of a short lifespan? Is there a particular part of the face that gives that away?
[02:50:00]
MAK: Yeah. There's always a concern that any A.I. technology could be a black box, right? We really don't know how the A.I. is making a decision, like how old somebody looks, or if somebody is at risk for dying soon.
And so what we're able to do though, is to use some techniques to essentially ask each algorithm, where on the face is it looking? What's the most important part of the face to make the call, to predict either somebody's age or the risk of somebody dying?
And it turns out that the two algorithms were looking at totally different parts of the faces. So starting with our age estimation algorithm, it was looking mainly at the areas from the nose down the corner of the mouth, what we call the nasolabial fold. It was looking at the temples and the areas above the eyes.
In contrast, our mortality prediction algorithm was looking at a totally different part of the face. So it's looking at the bridge of the nose and the area under the eyes. So not only were they looking at distinct areas, when we actually put them together to make a survival prediction, they actually provided complementary information as well.
So we really think that these are two distinct signals that we're getting from a health status standpoint from just one single photograph with two A.I. algorithms.
CHURCH: Yeah, it is fascinating. And Doctor, when will this A.I. technology be available to everyone? And what ethical questions still need to be addressed when it comes to determining a patient's treatment plan using this A.I. tool?
MAK: Yeah, that's a great question. So addressing when will it be available, it's not ready for the clinic. It's still very much a research tool. A lot of work needs to be done to really establish how doctors will use it. And as I mentioned earlier, I think that doctors might be using this as a way to refine their decisions, make more precise treatment decisions using hard data on a patient's age or mortality risk. But that requires a lot more clinical study.
In terms of the ethical hurdles, I think certainly, there's a lot of concerns, right, with potential misuse. You can imagine scenarios where people acting unethically could use this to screen individuals who are older appearing or more sick to not get certain healthcare interventions, right?
So we really view that our work hopefully raises awareness that A.I. can do this kind of -- has this kind of capability, can analyze a simple photograph and make estimates of a person's health so that ethical and regulatory bodies can help put safeguards around the proper use of this technology.
CHURCH: Dr. Raymond Mak, thank you so much for sharing your findings with us. Appreciate it.
MAK: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: And coming up here on "CNN Newsroom," the 76ers and LeBron James spoiled the New York Knicks NBA championship celebrations. Details from Madison Square Garden next.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the NBA tipped off its new season just hours ago with the defending champions, the New York Knicks taking on rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, and their new star player, LeBron James. CNN's Omar Jimenez has the highlights from Madison Square Garden. OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: LeBron James looked a little different tonight, making his debut for his 24th season in the NBA, but also his first as a Philadelphia 76er and they beat the reigning champions, the New York Knicks, on their ring ceremony night and on a night where they were officially raising their championship banner.
Now, of course, there are a lot of storylines going into this particular season. One, can the Knicks actually defend their title? You remember, all the scenes of celebration at New York City as they accomplished something they had not done in more than 50 years. It felt like the entire city was one big party as they got that done.
But, of course, you now fast-forward to this season, with that celebration comes the motivation to do it again and they came up short in this first game. And what's interesting is that if you look at recent trends in the NBA, there actually is a little bit working against the Knicks in defending their title.
The last eight champions in the NBA over the last eight years have been different teams and so for the Knicks to do it this year and become back-to-back champions, they would need to buck that trend and get past all the other competitors in the league like the new-looks Philadelphia 76ers to accomplish that, making it that much tougher. We also saw the debut of Jaylen Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers, a former player and star coming from the Celtics, as he played alongside Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and others in their quest to do what the Knicks did just a few months prior.
Omar Jimenez, CNN, Madison Square Garden, New York City.
CHURCH: And thanks for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" with Lynda Kinkade is next, after a short break. Do stay with us.
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