watching us here in the united states, canada and all around the world, i'm kim brunhuber. ahead this hour, across florida people are preparing for ian to arrive, the massive storm system could make landfall as major hurricane. in the philippines evacuations are under way as a super typhoon heads for the country's main island, we will go to the cnn weather center for the latest on both storms. italians are turning out for what could be a historic vote. we're live in rome with details.

and later we will take a closer look at the movement to ban certain books in schools and libraries across the u.s. what can be done to fight the bans, that's coming up. ♪ >> announcer: live from cnn center, this is cnn "newsroom," with kim brunhuber. we begin in the atlantic basin where tropical storm ian continues to strengthen. fueled by warm energizing waters off the caribbean the latest forecast shows it growing to a category 4 hurricane over the gulf of mexico before slamming into florida. now, it would be the first major hurricane to hit the state in four years. president joe biden has declared a federal emergency in the state. florida governor ron desantis declaring a state of emergency as well and residents from the florida panhandle to the florida keys are being urged to prepare for storm surge, hurricane force

winds and heavy rain. >> this is the calm before the storm, i've seen lines at the gas stations and the natural gas, propane. they're taking it serious and i encourage those that are not to do -- to always take a storm serious because you can never estimate where that storm might turn and we need to be prepared. >> let's bring in cnn meteorologist derek van dam. i understand we are still waiting on the 5:00 a.m. update from the national hurricane center. >> that 5:00 a.m. eastern standard time from the national hurricane center will reveal so much to us. what we know now, there is a fluent situation going on, discrepancies between various computer models. all the meteorologists that i follow, the national weather service they are crunching the numbers, doing every single

thing they can because right now the details matter in terms of miles, strength, and where this thing will make landfall. florida is a high potential, but where means the difference between a large population density and a sparse population density. here is the differences between the american global model and the auto you are poo mean global model. pay close attention to the top portion of this tv screen. the european model has an easterly track for currently tropical storm ian and a western peninsula landfall and time fall about wednesday evening. the american model shows a significantly weaker storm upon approach of the florida panhandle and much slower by friday morning, significant differences there, but the devil is in the detail. the latest satly imagery 50 mile per hour sustained winds over the western caribbean sea, we've dropped the tropical storm warnings for jamaica, included hurricane warnings for the cayman islands and watches

continuing for western cuba. a strengthening storm, major hurricane status before it reaches the shoreline of western cuba, strengthens to a category 4 into the open gulf of mexico and then look at that weakening trend, that's the official forecast track from the hurricane center. they wanted to pay attention to that european model because that is where the details are, the differences between the global and the european model and what it's finding is this trough is going to play the big role and whether or not it gets swept out easterly quicker or does it stay and kind of fizzle out across the gulf of mexico. one thing is for sure, the flood threat is real across much of the southeast, mainly into florida but fending on where it goes it could impact portions of georgia as well. there is a lot of heat content, very high sea surface temperatures and that is like jet fuel for developing tropical storms. one thing is for sure and it's explicitly mentioned been the national hurricane center' discussion is rapid

intensification will take place within the next two to four days. that means we could be dealing with a major category 4 hurricane as it enters the gulf of mexico. more to come. back to you. >> we will be waiting for that 5:00 a.m. update and we will bring you back in a little bit to talk about that typhoon. derek van dam, thanks so much. one week after hurricane fiona made landfall in puerto rico residents are getting help from dozens of out of state troopers. more than 100 law enforcement officers from new york and new jersey flew to the island to help with recovery efforts and more will be deployed in the coming weeks. more than 800,000 customers, 53% of island residents still don't have power, over a million residents, 80% have running water at least. in canada fiona's hurricane force winds ripped through the eastern seaboard destroying homes and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. here is a look tat some of the

damage. just devastating there. authorities in nova scotia declared a state of emergency for this town amid multiple electrical fires, residential flooding and washouts. prime minister justin trudeau says troops will be deployed to the region to assist in damage assessment and cleanup. more people in russia are openly saying no to president vladimir putin's partial mobilization, refusing to go to war in ukraine and in some cases fighting back. have a look at this. video out of siberia purports to show crowds clark with officials trying to put draftees on buses. all this have as putin signs new laws hoping to boost the ranks of his military. the laws made it easier for foreigners in the military to apply for russian citizenship and impose tougher penalties for refuse to go fight and disobeying orders. police are stepping up a

crackdown on protests against the mobilization. an independent monitoring group says close to 1,500 people have been detained in recent days. russia's military is trying to put its own spin on things showing conscripts being given weapons by ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is making a direct appeal to russian conscripts urging them to dodge the draft because the alternative in ukraine is far worse. for more ben wedeman joins us from kharkiv, ukraine. ben, another message from zelenskyy aimed for russian audience, this time to its soldiers. how is it likely to be received? >> reporter: well, that's part to say, kim, but certainly the message is interesting, he's telling the soldiers to either desert and surrender to the ukrainians in which case the ukrainian authorities will not only not divulge the circumstances of their surrender, but if they are -- in the event of a prisoner exchange if those russian prisoners do not want to be returned to

russia, ukraine will accommodate. he called on those serving in the ranks to sabotage or interfere or pass information to the ukrainians. and, you know, there is this sort of psychological warfare has been going on for a while. in fact, i received the other day a message on my ukrainian phone saying soldier in the russian federation, you are fulfilling a criminal order. you will die. surrender to captivity. so there is a pretty constant drum beat by the ukrainians trying to undermine the morale of the russian soldiers serving here in ukraine. kim? >> that's fascinating, ben. so, then, on the war front we're hearing about drone strikes in owe des sachl-- odesa. what more can you tell us about this? >> reporter: what's interesting about the drone strikes is

ukrainian officials believe most are iranian supplied drones and some are kamikaze drones. odesa is pretty far from the front lines so they clearly have a fairly decent range. there are two kinds of iranian drones being used, there is the shahed-136 which the russians have renamed the dranian 2 and then the mohajad-6. they fly at fairly low altitude so it's hard for ukrainian defenses to pick them up. they've hit odesa a variety of times including the navy headquarters there and recently they struck an administrative building in the heart of odesa three times and there have been fatalities as a result. now, the ukrainians angry that iran has sold these drones to russia, has revoked the

accreditation of the iranian ambassador in kyiv and ordered a reduction of the iranian diplomatic staff there. kim? >> interesting. now, amidst all of this ukrainians are now returning to their homes and villages. you've been visiting with some of them. what are they finding when they go back? >> reporter: well, many of them are finding that their homes are in an utter shambles and they're trying to sort of put them back together, but it's going to be a very difficult task. now, yesterday we were in a city which theoretically has been liberated by the ukrainians but there's still a lot of active fighting going on, the soldiers in that town told us that there is still russian soldiers behind ukrainian lines, some too afraid to surrender, others still actively involved in combat.

we were sort of in the city center yesterday when a car showed up with a trailer full of bread for local inhabitants and as they were picking up the bread there were explosions nearby, in fact, we believe a russian cluster munition exploded just a couple blocks away from us. so some of these towns, even though technically the ukrainians are in control, they are so close to the russian front lines they're very, very unsafe. kim? >> all right. ben wedeman, always appreciate the reporting out there. thank you so much. russia's foreign minister is trying to deflect criticism of the war by painting western adversaries as the real aggressors. speaking at the u.n. general assembly sergey lavrov claimed that the west was trying to destroy russia and remove it from the world map. he fired back at nations like the u.s. for imposing sanctions on his country. still he said russia is open to negotiating with them about

ukraine but only if they take the first steps. and two former prisoners of war are back home in the u.s. after more than three months in the hands of pro-russian kpar tests in ukraine. alexander druki and andy ty wen arrived. it also included several other international volunteers who fought for ukraine. the families of the american are overjoyed to have them back. >> the last couple of days clearly it's been a blur so we are excited to get them home, catch our breath and start to process everything we've been through. >> excitement, shock. i think we're so -- most of us are in a little bit of shock because it came to suddenly and so unexpectedly, but thrilled. i mean, what do you say when your child is happy? that's all you want in life and they're coming home. i'm going to get my boy back and

i'm going to see my girl smiling. she doesn't done enough smiling for the past three months. >> the families also say the two volunteers have no reflects about fighting for ukraine despite their captivity. south korea calls pyongyang's latest ballistic missile launch a significant provocative action harming peace in the peninsula and has called on south korea to stop. the regime filed a ballistic missile over the waters of the east coast off the korean peninsula on sunday. north korea has con duktded 19 missile launches this year. this latest one comes ahead of planned military exercises between the u.s. and south korea and a visit to the region by u.s. vice president kamala harris. a critical parliamentary election in italy is now under way, it's one that could see history made but at the cost of another european party labeled as far right coming to power. we will have a live report from

rome next. travel to asia will soon get easier, where covid restrictions are being lifted when we come back. stay with us. and vitamin c for brightness. i like to ususe them all! olay. face anything. i'm lindsey vonn, and ever since i retired from skiing, i've had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. you know, insomnia. before i found quviviq, an fda-approved insomnia medicaon for adults. you would not belie the things i used to think about when i couldn't sleep. hey, linds. i need you to sign this business contract. all 114 pages. lindsey, lindsey!! hey, lindsey! it's workout time. hey, big man, we're in the middle of something here. yeah, it's called physical fitness. just a couple dozen more questions, lindsey. don't forget to pack your phone charger for tomorrow morning's flight. it's plugged in right over there. insomnia can impact both my days and my nights. that's why i take quviviq nightly.

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voting is under way across italy, a contest that could see the country turn hard to the right. the snap election was called after the collapse of former prime minister draghi's coalition earlier this year and comes as the country face has deepening political and economic crisis. if the right wing coalition wins she would become italy's first female prime minister. joining me from rome is wbarbie nado. how engaged are voters in what looks to be a critical election? >> reporter: this is a critical election. we've been talking to a lot of people and we've seen women say they'd like to see a female prime minister, we've seen women say anything but georgia maloney. there is concern about how this affects greater europe, especially with regard to the war in ukraine and because the far right parties of georgia

mal maloney and the anchors of the coalition that was pulling ahead are divided on how they see sanctions against russia going on and europe in general. it's a euro-skeptic potential here. what happens in italy at the end of today, voting ends at 11:00 tonight, will not just affect rome and not just affect italy, it will affect brussels and the wider europe as well, kim. >> and when we talk about sort of a far right party, i mean, you talked about europe, but for italy itself what kind of policies would they bring in assuming they win? >> reporter: well, you know, they are going to have a very strong anti-immigration policy, that's something they campaigned on. they will try to follow the problems of the economic crisis that's been looming in this country since even before the pandemic but certainly after the pandemic. their platform was very cohesive. a lot of the reason they are polling strongly is because the

opposition didn't put together a program that convinced the people enough. a lot of the people we talked to were not voting for the opposition, they were voting against. if they were not voting for maloney they were voting against her today. >> barbie, thank you so much. here in the u.s. republicans who stand up donald trump and his supporters often find themselves with little future in the party and that's true with liz cheney who lost her primary race to a trump-backed opponent. cheney, a harsh critic of the former president says her focus is to ensure trump never comes near the oval office again. here she is. >> i'm going to make sure donald trump -- i'm going to do everything i can to make sure he is not the nominee and if he is the nominee i will not be a republican. >> okay thank you. >> now, there is no shortage of republicans who would like to run for president in 2024, but they are all facing the same major obstacle.

no one knows what donald trump will do and as republican senator ted cruz noted on saturday, everything hinges on that issue. here he is. >> there are some republicans who are beating their chest and running around saying, i'm running no matter what, it doesn't matter what trump does. that's utter garbage. they are all lying. it does matter. you are not tethered to reality if you think it doesn't make a difference whether he chooses to run or not. i will tell you this, if he doesn't run everybody runs. 2016 we had 17 republican candidates, i think this time around on the over/under i would take the over, i think we will have 20 or more. >> that was senator ted cruz speaking yesterday at an event in texas. for the second time in six weeks the ceo of pfizer has tested positive for covid-19. albert bourla says he's feeling well and doesn't have any symptoms. he's received four doses of the

voen and has been waiting to take an updated booster shot. he cautioned that the virus is still with us despite the progress we have made so far. while much of europe appears to be emerging from the pandemic a few areas could be on the verge of another wave, in england and wales the seven day average of new cases has risen by 13% after falling for nearly two months. now, the exact cause of this latest outbreak sun clear but experts say the virus may have spread in schools, during last week's royal funeral services or as a result of new transmissible variants. they also believe the u.s. will follow the uk's trajectory just as it has in the past. it's a different story in japan and either parts of asia. they are removing covid restrictions and reopening to tourists as they try to revive their economies. michael holmes has the story. >> reporter: soon these streets of tokyo could be filled with more visitors to the city as japan and many other places in asia lift many of their

remaining covid-19 restrictions. in some cases in place for more than two and a half years. as of october 11 japan will fully open to all tourists, not just those on guided tours on people who book through registered travel agencies, who started trickling in over the summer. it's a sigh of relief for businesses who rely on the income generated by the visitors. >> translator: until now i felt the atmosphere in the streets was a bit sad and lonely but the fact that tourists can come will make it more cheerful and fun. i can't wait for everyone to arrive. >> reporter: across asia coronavirus pressures are being relaxed if not dropped to keep up with other countries who have already reopened with the hope of reviving economies battered by the pandemic. the kingdom of bhutan welcomed back a handful of tourists on friday, the first in more than two years, but that's now an even more expensive trip for visitors who will be charged a fee of $200 per night per person

instead of the $65 people in place for three decades. taiwan also following the trend by ending its mandatory covid-19 quarantine for international travelers in mid-october. and as of monday people arriving in hong kong will no longer have to undergo mandatory hotel quarantines, although they will have to self-monitor for three days. >> i was pretty happy because now my family can visit me and like, you know, i haven't seen them in so long so it would be great for them to come and visit finally. >> reporter: it's been a slow staggered reopening for some asian countries but with the increased vaccination rates and lower numbers of deaths and hospitalizations from covid, price of isolation just became too steep. there is one major exception, mainland client which has district quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, including one week of hotel quarantine and three days of

home observation. but a draft policy documents released by china's ministry of culture and tourism suggests tourists might be allowed to visit border sites as part of group tours. no dates were given and it is unclear if those visitors will be subjected to the same quarantine requirements. michael holmes, cnn. people all across the philippines are bracing as super typhoon noru takes aim. plus iran says more than 1,000 people have been arrested in the worst civil unrest in years and the government is doing all it can to make sure the world doesn't see the brutal crackdown under way. a live report just ahead. stay with us. feel the powower. beat the symptoms fast.

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welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber, this is "cnn newsroom." we've been tracking dangerous and deadly tropical systems in the atlantic. right now a super typhoon is gaining strength and bearing down on the philippines. local weather officials warm stong surge and high waves may cause life-threatening flooding. with me is cnn's meteorologist derek van dam. take us through where it's forecast to hit and how bad it's likely to be. >> what we've got only a couple moments, literally minutes before the most powerful part of this storm makes landfall in central lausanne. here is my concerns, residents of the philippines on saturday evening, remember, right now it's currently in the afternoon

late afternoon/early evening hours across the philippines. they went to bed saturday night thinking they had a manage i believe tropical storm on their hands, they woke up sunday morning and saw they were staring down the eye of monster. this storm literally rapidly intensified using the wording from the joint typhoon warning center, extreme rapid intensification. in 12 hours, get this, 150 kilometer per hour intensification. incredible amount of strength and organization in a short period of time and i believe that's going to be a disadvantage for the residents of central lausanne because they are caught off guard, no governmentel agency can act that quick to advance and warn its residents of an impending disaster and that will play a critical role in how this plays out. 240 kilometers sustained winds, equivalent to a category 4

atlantic hurricane. there's manila, we will talk about that in just one second, that is a pinhole eye and it's only 6 nautical miles wide. that is where we find the strongest of winds. you can see it moving due west and it's making landfall basically as we speak over the extreme eastern sections of central lausanne. we have only moments to go before the most powerful winds impact manila. pagasa the meteorologist agency in the philippines has raised -- this is new information within the past few minutes -- raised and increased the storm signal for many of the locations across central zu zan and the islands offshore as well. that is a level 5, most extreme signal warning, manila has been included within the storm signal 4. let me tell you why this is important, the warning signal, signal 5 means significant damage to all structures is

likely as the strongest part of the wind make landfall. what are threats going forward? localized flash flooding, mudslides, not to mention the strong and damaging powerful winds that will make landfall within the coming wins. as the storm moves across the manila metropolitan region this will impact travel from the ground to the air then it reemerges into the south china sea, potentially reintensifying before making a secondary landfall across the coastline of vietnam later this week. this is a multifaceted storm that will have many station impacts going forward. a powerful storm system and this is the worst time for this storm to make landfall. >> very worrisome indeed. we will keep monitoring that. cnn meteorologist derek van dam, thanks so much. turning now to iran where social media sites have gone dark amid a ruthless crackdown on anti-government protesters.

have a look. more than 1,000 people have reportedly been arrested in recent days including journalists. it's all part of the government's attempt to choke off video and information at a time of unprecedented political unrest. that anger and discontent is resonating much beyond iran's boarders. this was the scene in saturday in london where thousands voiced their support for iranians struggling to be heard in their own country. all of this was precipitated by the tragic death of a young iranian woman in the custody of iran's morality police. we may never know why ma mahsa amini was arrested for violating the dress code or how she died. the iranian government claims she died of natural causes and her death is being investigated. that explanation has done little

to quiet the outrage we're seeing around the world. salm salma abdelaziz joins us from london. it might be surprising considering how repressive the regime is. what's the latest? >> reporter: what's important to note is you begin to understand how threatened the iranian government is by the scope and scale of these demonstrations by looking at its reaction. take that internet blackout, millions of iranians have had no access to the internet for days. the united states accusing iran of being afraid of its own people. you can understand why this is so worrying. first of all, the international community struggles to track what's actually happening on the ground, we know dozens of people have been killed but it's extremely difficult to get a sense of the death toll, to get a sense of the extent and the brutality of this track doun. we also know that hundreds of people have been arrested, but, again, it's very difficult to ascertain information and it means for those protesters on

the ground there's a sense of isolation, a sense of fear, it is difficult to coordinate, it is difficult to communicate, it is difficult to seep videos out of the country although we continue to see those social media videos come out. this internet blackout is really a can you say for concern and there is a historical -- a few years ago, if you will, in 2019 when there was an internet blackout in iran hundreds of people were believed to be killed. so it's very ominous sign that this is happening and one that the united states, for example, is taking very seriously. the u.s. imposed new sanctions on the morality police last week but what the u.s. treasury department did as well is they issued a general license. what this will allow some internet firms, software firms including someone like elon musk who has access to satellite internet is to try to expand those internet services on the ground for iranians still trying to demonstrate, still trying to

protest, still trying to share information. now, it's unclear though effective this will be, how much it gives access to iranians on the ground, but it's that fear of what's happening behind the blackout without the eyes of the international community on the ground, kim. >> plenty of international support for those protesters. salma, as you say, a very volatile situation. the question is what happens next? >> reporter: i think if you look historically at what the iranian government does when it faces dissent, when it faces protests and demonstrations it's very, very clear, it brutally cracks down, it uses deadly force, it deploys security forces on the ground and that's what we're seeing right now and it continues to do that, that's what we saw in the green movement in 2009, in fuel protests in 2019, the iranian government continues to do that, continues to use that brute force until it suppresses, until it squashes dissent. that has yet to work so far. so that's what's so worrying is

that these tactics will only increase the violence will only be ramped up until the iran government itself has said it gets control of the streets again, kim. >> we will keep following this important story. thanks so much for bringing this to us, salma abdelaziz in london. cubans go to the polls to vote on a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage but the family code is facing strong opposition as patrick oppmann reports. >> reporter: these two are getting married, it's a symbolic ceremony as same-sex unions are not legal in cuba. at least not yet. on sunday cuba is due to hold a long awaited referendum to overhaul the more than four decades old family code that if passed for the first time would allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed and adopt children. i believe we are all equal in terms of rights, options, possibilities, she says, and in terms of being a citizen and

expressing that citizenship. i don't think we are less than the rest of society. it's been a long struggle for lgbtq rights in cuba. at the beginning of fidel c castro's revolution gay people were sent alongside others deemed by the new government to be undesire abls to toil in the work camps. slowly there's been growing official acceptance for gays, lesbians and transgender people in cuba. castro's daughter has been a vocal supporter of lgbtq rights and sponsors a parade against homophobia. the tolerance, though, has had limits. in 2018 cuban lawmakers removed language authorizing same-sex unions from a proposed new constitution amid fears that voters would reject it. many in cuba's evangelical community say they will vote no on the new family code, but growing influence of the evangelical church in cuba is one of the reasons it has taken

so long to legalize gay marriage here. people like the ones in this church have opposed the government's measures in a way that is rarely seen in cuba. cubans from other parts of society could join them in voting no. it's not just christians, this pastor says, there are communists who are not in agreement, materialistic people not in agreement. a lot of people who believe in different things that don't agree with the changes they want to make with the new family code. but other people of faith embrace the idea of legalized same-sex marriage. this church in cuba is one of only a handful conducting same-sex marriages, encouraging parishioners to vote for the new family code. i have faith that love will win, she says. if it's a yes or a no, it's the same. we tell our community no one can take away your value, who you

are. these two say if the family code passes they will also hold a civil wedding. but no matter what takes place with the vote they say the long journey to achieving true equality is only just beginning. patrick oppmann, cnn. a new report finds a big increase in the number of books being banned in schools across the u.s. we will look at the types of books being targeted and why. that's coming up. stay with us. for fast pain reli. and now get relief without a pill with tylenol d dissolve packs. relief without the water. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... ...the burning, the itching. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine.

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libraries, educators and book lovers in general across america are marking the end of banned book week. for four years the occasion has celebrated the freedom to read but also highlights works labeled as dangerous, obscene or otherwise needed to be restricted. even classics like the great gatsby or the catcher in the rhode island can run afoul of

self-appointed sensors. this year it's taken on significance amid the culture wars that have become the hall marvg of a divided political landscape. many school board meetings nationwide parents are demanding that books be taken out of classes and libraries, books dealing with lgbtq issues and race are the most frequent targets. while this is often associated with conservative groups most u.s. states have seen efforts to ban books to come degree. the managing director of pen america washington and free expression programs joins me from washington. thanks so much for being here with us. so take us through what you have seen this year in terms of the shear number of books banned and what types of books are being targeted. >> yes. thank you so much, kim, i really appreciate you having us on. what we have seen this year is a truly remarkable increase in banned books across u.s. school

districts. pet america did a report that followed book banning from july 2021 through june 2022 and what we found was over 2,500 different instances of book bans which were in 138 school districts across 32 states. it's not isolated indent, this is happening in several different areas all across the u.s. you mentioned the trends. what we are seeing is actually a pretty clear-cut trend towards different types of books that are being targeted. of the books that are being challenged and targeted for removal, the vast majority have protagonists of color or address issues of race and racism or they address issues of lgbtq identity or have protagonists who identify as lgbtq. another 4% or so actually address or reflect religious traditions that are a minority in the u.s. including judaism and islam and other faith traditions. >> it's not just schools that are being targeted but libraries as well.

looking at who is behind the bans, your report suggests most aren't from concerned parents, per se, but advocacy organizations. take us through what you found. >> that's exactly right. this is not simply an instance of many parents who are interested in what's happening with their kids, looking into the kid's backpack, maybe hearing something at dinner, wanting to talk about what you read or learned today. it really is a coordinated movement all across the u.s. our reporting uncovered that there are at least 50 different national groups which lay claim to affiliations across the u.s., a number in the hundreds. it is truly what we are seeing an organized coordinated movement and effort. and what's really critical about this is what this does, this effort to implement and to enforce these practices, it is putting in the hands of a few parents and citizens the ability to deny access to content for

students not only in their areas but in other areas as well. >> the goal according to some writers they called it the new illiteracy, you know, specifically about the lives, history, experience of marginalized people. talk to me about what effect you think this will have long term in the communities where the momentum behind the bans is strong. >> i think it's actually not only in those communities but really beyond that because the effect in the immediate communities will be as we expect, a lack of access to literature, a lack of access to understanding viewpoints that may differ from those people in the communities and also a real dearth of exposure for different people about differing viewpoints, differing identities, but the affect is actually quite strong elsewhere as well because what this does is it sends a chilling message

to educators, to librarians and to students that certain perspectives, certain ideas are off limits and that truly is a demonstrably negative effect on democracy. >> looking at what's behind this, i mean, historically book banning seems to peak during times of societal change, especially when the status quo is being challenged. is that what you're seeing now? >> this is certainly not isolated. one of the other trends that pen america has been tracking is this trend of what we call educational gag orders. legislative attempts to regulate school curricula, to say certain topics are off limits. i think we are certainly seeing here a movement to try to control something and it could be based in a lack of understanding, it could be based in fear, it could be based in a concern about other viewpoints being raised, but the bottom line is that it actually is harmful and it is really against

what our democracy stands for. >> let's end here with solutions. we've seen a few innovative efforts to try to fight the bans or get around them. so what works and what more do you think needs to be done? >> so in the communities people are interested in this, i would say it comes down to three things. learn, speak and report. learn about book bans. obviously pen america has a number of fantastic resources for people to access, there are other incredible groups doing this work as well and i encourage people to learn what is happening and keep abreast of new efforts at censorship and new threats to free expression. the second is to speak out, speak out in your communities, let people know your opinions and bring others together to speak out with you as well. and the third is to report. if you recognize that a book ban is happening or understand that there is to be -- there is some threat that is brewing, report it. >> there you go. it's a vital issue and i really appreciate you coming on to

speak about this. i thank you so much. >> thank you so much. just ahead, it's been the stuff of hollywood block busters, but this time it's really happening. nasa will try to change the path of an asteroid in space. more on that next. stay with us.

nasa's double asteroid redirection test known as dart sounds like the stuff of hollywood block busters but the test scheduled to happen on monday is very real. the goal is to try to knock an asteroid from its current path. now, there's no danger from this asteroid but the mission is a test run for a future one that might be dangerous. earlier i spoke with a science writer about nasa's goal with dart. here is part of our conversation. >> i understand that that little asteroid that they are planning to hit is about the size of two football fields, a relatively tiny target. how hard is it going to be to actually hit it? >> so, i mean, when you consider the size of the asteroid and then, you know, the spacecraft

comparatively, the spacecraft is just a little ant traveling to a giant mountain maybe -- >> like the size of a bus, is that right? >> yeah, it's about -- it's about like -- so the solar panels are about 8 meters long, it is five by six by eight. it is not huge. when you consider the size of this asteroid it's very, very small. nasa actually -- i'm not sure if you saw -- they released footage of what they expect the impact to look like it and it really looks like a little brick leaving a plume of dust in space. i don't expect the size to be much of an issue. >> any chance that we will actually cause the problem that we're trying to avoid, that we might redirect it into earth or we might break it up into pieces that might shower the earth with damaging debris? >> yeah, i don't think so. i mean, i think also -- like in addition to the fact that this is not going to be headed toward earth preimpact, post impact the

calculations do not suspect that it's going to. you know, also the trajectory of the smaller orbit that it's going to be changing, it's just like a hairline, it's so slight that it's almost inn discernible and there's going to be a lot of algorithms that will go into decoding whether or not it actually worked. >> you can see my full conversation with monesha during the next hour. i'm kim brunhuber, i will be back in just a moment with more "cnn newsroom" in just a moment. please stay with us.

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hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." i don't think i've ever been in a storm [ inaudible ] that just goes on and on like this. >> homes washed away and thousands still without power. the destruction hurricane fiona left across canada, this has floridians brace for tropical storm ian. plus, it