here in the uk, 2022 saw the highest number of excess deaths outside the covid pandemic in half a century. and france tries again to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. it s an unpopular reform that didn t go well last time it tried. we ll be live in paris. we start in ukraine. president volodymyr zelensky has said ukraine s army is facing an extremely difficult situation as fighting continues in the eastern donbas region. the focus is the salt mining town of soledar. the uk defence ministry says it s likely that russian forces including wagner group mercenaries now control most of the town. we ll be taking a look at why it s become central to this conflict. but first, here s president zelensky. translation: and what did russia want to win there? i everything is completely destroyed. there was almost no life left. thousands of their people are gone, the whole land in soledar is covered with the corpses of the invaders and scarred from the strikes. this is what madness loo
headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching here, in the united states, canada and around the world. i m kim brunhuber about pep ahead, south korea is mourning, more than 150 people in seoul killed in a crowd surge celebrating halloween. we re live with details. and nine days to the u.s. midterms and 19 million people have already voted. we ll take you to one battleground state just ahead. the white house accuses russia of weaponizing food, the grain deal to feed much of africa and the middle east now in jeopardy. we re live with the fallout. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with kim brunhuber. we begin with shock and grief in south korea where at least 150 people have died in a crowd surge. officials say thousands of partygoers gathered for a halloween celebration, but many crashed when the large crowd moved through a narrow alley. one witness says authority shoes have been better prepared. listen to this. translator: seeing this incident, i t
false claims after moscow said uk forces helped with a drone attack on russian fleets near the crimean port of sevastopol. there s major disruption to rail services across scotland due to a 24 hour walkout by scotrail workers. more than 2,000 rmt members are on strike. coming up at 5.40pm, we ll bring you the latest technology news in click. i m maryam moshiri. the household energy supplier 0ctopus energy has reached a deal to buy bulb, which was one of the largest energy companies to collapse last year because of soaring wholesale gas and electricity prices. the government has spent billions of pounds keeping the company afloat since it went into administraton. the agreement means 0ctopus will take onboard bulb s one and a half million customers. our business reporter ramzan kamali has the details. bulb is the biggest - green energy company. it was the biggest energy company to go bust. last november, bulb found itself in administration. it was only kept going by the govern
we begin with developing news from south korea. it s reported that at least 59 people have been killed in a stampede and crush in the capital, seoul. it happened as huge crowds gathered for halloween festivities in a busy bar district. up to 100,000 people are said to have been celebrating in a popular night spot. many of those out during the evening were young party goers. more than 150 people are injured and it s feared the number of dead could rise. videos show medical teams giving cpr treatment to rows of people lying in the middle of crowded streets. earlier on the programme, my colleague david eades spoke to an eyewitness freelance journalist raphael rashid. let s hear what he said. it isa it is a night out for a lot of people, including myself. iwas in the area. when i arrived to ward 7pm it was very clear that there were so many people here, probably the most i have ever seen in this district, and the crowds were just gathering more and more and towards ten p m or 1
russia says it is suspending its participation in an internationally brokered deal to allow grain exports from ukraine. the announcement was in response to what the russian army called a massive ukrainian drone attack on russian ships in occupied crimea. ukraine has called that a false pretext for blocking the grain corridor. earlier, the un secretary general urged all parties to renew the deal on ukrainian grain exports, which was due to expire next month. before the deal was in place, blockages led to food supply issues globally. joining us from dnipro in central ukraine is our correspondent james waterhouse. james, what have the russians been saying? james, what have the russians been sa inc? ~ , james, what have the russians been sa in: ? ~ , ., ., james, what have the russians been sa in? ~ ,., ., ., saying? well, there is a lot going on here, saying? well, there is a lot going on here. but saying? well, there is a lot going on here, but they saying? well, there is