private was of little value to the north. we understand he's heading to the center in texas. take us through what happens next. >> expect a lot of procedure and protocol once private king steps off of that facility in texas. since the events unraveled, the prime focus will be on his physical and emotional health. he will go through a physical exam at the military facility in texas. there will be a focus on his state of mind. the department of defense has a program that's operated at the military base, helping people that may have been held prisoner to assimilate, reintegrate and get used to everyday living once again. it has a pronounced track record. where brittney griner was taken

to once she was released from russia. once all of that takes place, then, the focus will be on the legal issues. his military status. as we reached the release take place, we're getting almost contrasting explanations of what happened. the north korean government is calling this an expulsion that took place after the investigation. when we listen to the united states and some of the remarks coming from the state department, this is being described as intense diplomacy, that involved help from the sweet swedish government and assistance from the chinese government, to facilitate that release of private king from north korea, over a bridge into china. there's many lingering questions. investigators want to talk to private king. one more point to make, did the united states give in to way or persuade north korea to release

him? the answer from the state department has been a firm no. i want to read one particular vote from a season official who said, the answer was simple. there were none, full stop. this is something we will be man kn monitoring from asia and the united states. >> mark stewart in beijing. appreciate it. chaos as republican hopefuls square off without a front runner. and target blames shoplifting for closure of nine stores in some of the largest cities. stay with us.

donald trump wasn't there to

defend himself. this didn't stop his republican rivals from going after the party's leading candidate. seven hopefuls gathered for a debate. they blamed donald trump from the economy to the autoworkers strike. what i will do on day one is sign an executive order to send the international guard to partner with customs and border patrol to make sure that we stop the flow of fentanyl over the border. and to make sure we send a different message. we want you here in this country, to fill the 6 million vacant jobs you have. only if you come here to follow the law. only if you come here legally. >> we have to put 20,000 more border patrol and i.c.e. agents to do their job. i am telling you, border patrol agents aren't allowed to do their job.

let's go to catch and deport. >> militaryize the southern border. stop sanctuary cities. >> we need to fix a broken immigration system. i'll do that, as well. first and foremost, a nation without borders is not a nation. we have to security the southern border of the united states of america. joining me from los angeles, is caroline heldman. thanks so much for being with us here again. i want to start with immigration. it's interesting the juxtaposition at the reagan library, they played a clip, talking about reagan talking about amnesty. but this party is a long way from the party of reagan on

immigration and everything else, as well. >> it sure is. in simi valley, the reagan library, the setting. it reminds us that the party of today, is not that of ronald reagan. he was considered conservative at the time, he offered amnesty to some undocumented. the republican party has moved to the right. it is the party of donald trump today. >> the party of donald trump. they are trying to replace him. who had a strong debate? did ron desantis strengthen his hold? >> he had a hard time getting a word in edgewise. once hi got in, it was a one-two punch against biden and trump. i think desantis did a great job of jumping in with succinct

answers. i thought that nikki haley did a great job. lots of zingers. zen candidates on a stage that are desperate to break through. if you look at polling. donald trump is up 40 points. desantis is next. then, nikki haley and everybody else is in the one and two, and three range. i thought those candidates did a great job. the governor of north dakota, doug came out and was confident and clear. this will boost him in terms of name recognition. no breakout candidate with donald trump up 40 points. >> you brought up ramaswamy.

>> the other candidates were better prepared for him this time. they were able to show how extreme some of his positions are. i don't say this as a democrat or a strategist. really looking at where most of the candidates were. i mean, ramaswamy chose to override the constitution. he has very conservative positions. other candidates were better able to contain him. he invoked reagan's 11th commandment, you shouldn't go after other republicans. they ridiculed him for that. he did fine. but he didn't stand out. that's nikki haley and ron desantis. >> you shouldn't go after other republicans. you have to depose the king here. and there were a few shots at the front-runner, donald trump,

mostly not showing up. zero mentions of the indictments, other than one passing one by chris christie. if you're going to beat someone, how do you do it without attacking them on their biggest vulnerability? >> great point, kim. the candidates are worried of fending the donald trump supporters. donald trump is competing in the general election. he is competing with biden. he is in detroit. he is talk about the abortion bans that desantis passed in florida. he is softening his position on abortion, which has everything to do with the general election. he's up 40 points. we've never seen a candidate this high, this early. it's dependent on whether one of them can break through and get the mojo running right. >> that's the question. as journalists, we have debates

amongst ourselves. do debates matter? in this case, it seems like they matter less than normal because the front-runner is ahead by so much. >> ahead because it would validate the candidacy of the other folks on that stage. that would open him up and weaken him in a way. you bring up a great point. debates rarely matter. they matter even less when the front-runner doesn't show up. >> i'm curious to get your thoughts on this as a democratic strategist. we saw trump skipping the debate talking to autoworker. and the president was on the pickett lines. what do you make over the battle of blue collar workers. in ages gone by, they would be the democratic faithful. all that has changed under

trump. there's different strategies going after the same autoworkers. biden, pro-labor, pro-union. and trump, anti-labor. >> and trump is making a distinction of pro-worker but anti-union boss. he won in michigan in 2016. but biden edged him out in 2020. you're right. this is about the swing states. about ohio, wisconsin, michigan. and making sure they are reaching the working class voters. it's more about image. donald trump appointed to the labor relations board that were anti-union. it made it more difficult to become a union member. he lost a lot of popularity from 2016 to 2020. he needs to reach out to the voters because they are a vital

part of his base. >> see how that shakes out. great to get your perspective. thanks so much. police in baltimore have arrested a convicted felon accused of killing a tech executive. jason lee billings lee faces further-degree murder charges. billingsley is a suspect in separate case of attempted murder, rape and arson. he was the ceo of ecomap technologies. she was reported missing on monday and her body was found hours later with apparent blunt force trauma to her head. target has 2,000 stores operating in the country. the company says it is closing nine of them, for what it says is due to large-scale theft.

another smash-and-grab. this time in philadelphia. three scores hit last night. at least 50 people arrested. they were not part of an earlier police protest officials say. retail crime is front and center as major brands close stores. >> they are locking up the toothpaste. >> reporter: target closing nine stores citing theft and retail crime. and hurting business. at this san francisco target, soon to close, even general merchandise is behind plexiglas. they've seen the crime first happened. >> you live across the street. tell me what you see happening at this target. >> at least once, twice a day, i would see the homeless come in here. they steal stuff and take off running. a majority of them get caught. but quite a few get away. >> reporter: this target joins two others in oakland, closing on october 21st, along with

three in portland, oregon, two in seattle, and another in new york city. >> we put the officers in the garage or out here. >> reporter: tnypd says target was paying for increased patrols and thefts continued. starbucks closed 16 stores last year, citing safety concerns. we spotted grocery stores in san francisco lacking up coffee. another cable-locked frozen foods. minister unfit for office.>> th in the 30 minutes we spent at thursday, is one that can have the most far-reaching personal this san francisco wall greens in july, we saw three people, implications for prime minister netanyahu because it could affect his ability to serve as including this man, steal. leader of the israeli b did that guy pay? >> no. >> reporter: new data from the national retail federation says 28% of retailers reported government. the court is hearing petitions that makes it much more difficult to remove a sitting closing stores due to crime. prime minister from office. many say this law was passed $100 billion in laosses is an $8 specifically to benefit prime minister netanyahu as he faces a billion jump from the year before. from nordstrom in los angeles, corruption trial. to lululemon near atlanta. under the new law, the only way

and now, an apple store in a prime minister can be removed from office, is for physical or philadelphia. dozens of high-profile mental reasons. they declare themselves unfit smash-and-jabs have business for office, or a supermajority owners calling for tougher laws. in the cabinet or in the israeli this week, oakland mall businesses went on strike, parliament vote to remove the closing their doors for hours. prime minister from office. standing in front of a shuttered high are higher levels and makes restaurant, they demanded public officials do more. it harder to remove a prime >> this restaurant survived minister from office. occupy oakland and the riots. the attorney general had wide latitude to declare a prime this restaurant survived the minister as unfit to serve. pandemic. but this restaurant can't survive crime. >> reporter: the morning after target made the announcement, de there was a line of cars. people were being turned away depetitioners said it was done to benefit netanyahu as he faces from getting into a san francisco target that's closing. this store and one in new york, the corruption trial, charges he denies. supporters of the loss feels if they abruptly changed their store hours. the israeli supreme court annuls communities are feeling an this law, that would be a danger impact. stores across the country are not officially supposed to close to the israeli democracy. it would be throwing out the millions of votes that people until october 21st. cast for benjamin netanyahu to be prime minister. a decision could come within a

leader prigozhin may be matter of weeks. it's only -- this case is one of gone. but some of the fighters are appearing on the front lines of several blockbuster cases being ukraine. a live report after a quick heard in front of the israeli break. stay with us. supreme court. most of them connected to netanyahu's government's plan to overhaul the judiciary. the supreme court heard challenges to another law that was passed that limited the supreme court's ability to fault government actions if deem unreasonable. this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news just in to cnn. the american soldier who went absent without leave by running into north korea is back in the u.s. moments ago, we got confirmation that the flight carrying travis king has arrived in san antonio, texas. getting off the plane, more than two months after his escapade. back in july, he claimed to be boarding a flight home and snuck out of the seoul airport. he darted over the border.

north korea made the decision to expel king after the investigation was finished. stay with cnn. we'll be right back after this.

we're getting new details of what ukraine calls a massive overnight drone strike. it comes as russia launched several groups of drones over southern and central ukraine. 30 drones have been shot down and officials are assessing damage. some former wagner mercenaries are showing up on the front lines in eastern ukraine. they claim it shows russia is desperate for troops. for more, clare sebastian joins us from london. we'll start with the drone attacks. what's the latest? >> this was pretty widespread. not concentrated in one area, according to ukrainian spokesperson. for the military.

according to the governor of odesa that was attacked for a third time, there was limited damage. a large number of drones were able to shoot down. some 34. along the southern front and southern regions and into the central region, as well. no casualties reported yet. they are trying to figure out the damages here. we're watching this really closely, as we get towards winter. there's concerns that russia might step up attempts like it did last winter to target ukraine's energy grid. that's one thing on the eastern front, as you mentioned there. there's a lot of scrutiny on the question of wagner, if it's resurfaced in some form. what we're seeing according to a military, is not wagner 2.0. just as president putin said before and in the wake of the mutiny, that wagner fighters would be offered the chance to more, now, on our breaking news.

join the military defense forces. the american soldier who went absent without leave by running several hundreds are operating on the eastern front. into north korea is back in the u.s. we received confirmation that the flight carrying travis king has arrived in san antonio, ukrainians are taking this that texas, more than two months after his dash over the military they have a personnel problem. and it's something that ukraine demarcation line in the korean will be watching closely. the wagner fighters some of the demilitarized zone. most effective on the russian let's get to marc stewart live in beijing. take us through where he will be heading next and what happens. side, especially when it came to take bakhmut. >> reporter: right, kim. >> clare sebastian, appreciate in the hours and the days ahead, it. israel will be joining the travis king is almost going to u.s. visa waiver program. go through a checklist of israelis will soon be allowed to enter the u.s. without a visa. different chores instituted by the united states military. the big focus will be on his they can stay for up to 90 days. health, physical health and and the same applies to emotional health. he will get a physical exam from americans that travel to israel. a group argued against the move, a physician, from a group of individuals described by the based on how palestinians are state department as being treated when they travel to talented and experienced in israel. and a new law is making it these matters. he may be taken to a program harder to declare a prime that's operated by the

department of defense to help people like private king, who have been held in captivity, who have been in a very difficult set of circumstances. they need to assimilate and get used to life again. it's a program the department of defense is well known for it. brittney griner was taken there when she was released from russia. and i think it's safe to say that the united states military and other officials will want to question him about his own personal experience in north korea. what questions were asked. what did you ask of them? what were the conditions like? what did you share? this is part of a procedure that the department of defense has gone through with other individuals through the years and likely will put in place now that private king is back on u.s. soil, kim. >> interesting. the decision by north korea to return him so quickly. it's unusual given some of the other precedents. do we know what's behind this?

does it indicate how they valued him? >> we've been hearing from analysts over the last 12 hours or so, that had different takes. some suggesting because he was a low-ranking military official, he may not have been seen as great of value to the north koreans as someone with a higher rank. it's interesting to hear the different explanations how this release took place. north korea being very adamant this was an expulsion that took place after an investigation. if we listen to the united states department, the state department is saying this was an intense diplomatic effort. it involved the united states and giving a lot of credit to the swedish government and the chinese government for facilitating this release from north korea, over a bridge into china. then, being greeted by the united states ambassador. one thing is clear is that the

united states is being adamant that no concessions were taken place. a lasting impact, that still needs to be determined, kim. >> we have 30 seconds left. will hthis have an impact on relations with north korea and with china? >> well, let's talk about china, where i am right now. the united states and china have had a luke-warm relationship in different times. we saw this act of assistance to make this transition take possible. perhaps the state department is moving that in a positive sense. as far as the united states and north korea, right now, they had no formal diplomatic relations. there's no indication at this point we'll see some kind of change, kim. >> interesting. travis king back on u.s. soil. marc stewart in beijing, thank you so much for that. really appreciate that. all of you out there watching, thank you for watching us. i'm kim brunbrunhuber.

cnn newsroom continues.

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