warning civilians to clear out, while hamas forces them back. allowing in food and water, which hamas steals.

the white house says that israel has formalized a plan to briefly pause fighting in parts of gaza each day. meantime, israeli forces say they've captured a hamas stronghold in gaza. in just moments we'll take you live to israel. and the republican presidential candidates minus the front-runner donald trump hold a fiery debate filled with lots of low blows. and it seems they're still struggling to come up with a winning message on abortion. plus, the labor movement puts more points on the board. what we're learning about a tentative end to strikes in hollywood and on the vegas strip. we are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "cnn news central." we begin this afternoon with the israel-hamas war.

after weeks of voicing opposition to a ceasefire in gaza, today the white house announcing that israel is formalizing a plan to allow for four-hour-long pauses each day, windows designed to allow palestinian civilians to evacuate northern gaza. and those breaks will also allow critical humanitarian assistance in to the enclave. let's take you now live to tel aviv with cnn's jeremy diamond. so jeremy, when will these pauses effectively start? >> reporter: well, boris, in some ways they have already begun. over the last five days israel has been implementing what it has termed an evacuation corridor to allow for palestinian civilians in the northern part of the gaza strip to flee south as the humanitarian situation has deteriorated and as the fighting has of course grown more intense on the ground with israeli forces pushing deeper into gaza city. but today the white house's national security council spokesman john kirby effectively saying that israel has agreed to

humanitarian pauses in areas of the northern gaza strip. and what he is saying is that these pauses will allow for more humanitarian aid to make it into the northern part of the gaza strip and also for civilians to be able to flee south. so this appears to be formalizing what israel has already begun to implement over the last several days. whether or not this is a widening of what we have seen over the last several days i think still remains to be seen. what we do know is that tens of thousands of civilians have already made use of these corridors in order to flee south over the last several days. just yesterday 50,000 civilians fled south according to both the idf as well as u.n. monitors. so regardless of the language here that's being used by the white house or by the israelis, it seems clear that at least this will provide some kind of respite for those palestinian civilians who have been suffering even greater in the last several days and weeks as we have watched hospitals in

northern gaza run out of medical supplies. we have seen electricity run out. as fuel has become scarce in those hospitals. and this could also, of course, we know allow for some additional mediation on the hostage front as well. >> yeah, and jeremy, on that point we understand that negotiation, discussions between the intelligence chiefs for israel, the u.s. and qatari officials have continued. what more do we know about those discussions and where they stand right now? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, boris. and watching the collision of these two things happening at the same time, you can read between the lines. we know that one of the main things that negotiators have pushed for as they have tried to make progress here is for some kind of tactical pause, some kind of humanitarian pause on the ground to allow more space for these negotiations. and at the same time we are learning that the head of the cia, the head of the mossad, israel's intelligence service, as well as the qatari prime minister sat down today to discuss a potential deal to release 10 to 20 hostages being

held by hamas and in exchange to allow for a three-day ceasefire as well as humanitarian aid to be brought into the gaza strip. also for hamas to compile and provide a list of hostages being held. we have watched of course, boris, over the last several weeks as these very complex, very fragile talks have appeared to come closer to a potential deal and then we have also watched those talks fall apart. so it is very important to keep that in mind even as we are watching these negotiations move further along today, it seems. but it remains to be seen whether israel is prepared to agree to a ceasefire in exchange for that number of civilians. is that a sufficient enough number of civilians for the israeli prime minister, who has said no ceasefire until all hostages are released? will he be able to agree to that and will hamas be able to agree to these terms and to this kind of mechanism as well? the devil of course will be in the details. boris? >> yeah. and even as those talks move along we just heard the israeli president effectively say that any deal that hamas has put forward this far has been

unserious. so we'll see how that goes. jeremy diamond, thank you so much. we want to take you right now to the pentagon where secretary of state -- rather secretary of defense lloyd austin confirmed last night that u.s. forces launched a self-defense strike inside syria. cnn national security reporter natasha bertrand is there. natasha, tell us more about this strike. >> reporter: boris, two f-15 fighter jets launched this airstrike on a weapons storage facility that u.s. officials say was being used by iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps as well as its proxy groups to launch attacks on u.s. forces in the region over recent weeks. there have been about 40 such attacks by these iran-backed groups against u.s. and coalition bases in iraq and syria since october 17th. and this was a way for the u.s. to retaliate against these attacks as well as to try to degrade that iranian infrastructure that they say is allowing these groups to continue carrying out these attacks. now, according to austin, in his

statement last night he emphasized that this was a limited self-defense strike and that he does not want to see and the u.s. writ large does not want to see this conflict escalate any further. he urged against any further escalation by these groups, and defense officials revealed last night that they have actually been in touch with iran directly to communicate to them that they expect iran to stay out of this conflict and to rein in those proxy groups. so this was a limited, according to the pentagon, self-defense act. and they were questioned very -- repeatedly by the pentagon press corps about how sustainable this is because the iran-backed groups, they have continued launching these attacks in recent weeks even after the u.s. has launched these airstrikes on these ammunition and weapons depots. so it remains to be seen whether this really has any deterrent effect, boris. >> and notably, natasha, this also comes on the heels of another iranian-backed group of houthi forces in yemen shooting

down an unmanned u.s. military drone. bring us up to speed on that. >> reporter: yeah, so this happened over the red sea yesterday. an unmanned mq-9 reaper drone conducting surveillance activity in the region, it was shot down by houthi rebels. and they are backed, as you said, by iran. they operate in yemen. and the u.s. is investigating -- centcom is investigating the incident. but this comes just a few weeks after a u.s. navy warship intercepted several missiles and drones by these same houthi-backed forces that were launched and according to the pentagon they were headed toward israel. and the u.s. as you can see is taking a more active effort here to try to intercept all of these attacks by these iran-backed groups in the region toward israel and toward u.s. forces. and that is contributing to the major concern here that this conflict could escalate and spiral out of control. something that the u.s. is communicating to the iranians as well as other people in the region, that they do not want to see. and that is of course why they

have placed all of that military hardware in the region including those carrier strike groups. boris? >> natasha bertrand from the pentagon, thanks so much. brianna? israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu stressed that there will be no ceasefire without the release of hostages. the cia director bill burns and his israeli counterpart the head of mossad met with officials in qatar today as they're trying to work out a hostage release. so let's talk now with leon panetta, of course the former cia director, also former defense secretary during the obama administration. sir, thanks for being with us. this meeting that i'm sure you are watching closely in qatar, obviously a lot of it private, but how fruitful do you think it could prove to be and they discussed a proposed plan for the release of 10 to 20 hostages for a three-day ceasefire in gaza? that really doesn't sound like many hostages for a pretty significant ceasefire. >> well, you've got the right people in those negotiations. the cia director is involved

along with the other key officials. and so i'm glad that they're in the process of negotiating. obviously, the question is going to be what is the price for the release of these hostages? if it is a ceasefire, then obviously israel will have something to say about that, as to whether or not that price is something they're willing to pay. so it's a sensitive negotiation. i guess all of us hope that we can have a successful release of some of these hostages. but you know, considering the players that are involved, i don't think we can guarantee that that's going to happen. >> what would hamas do with a three-day ceasefire? >> well, that's the concern. obviously, a three-day ceasefire, any kind of ceasefire would give them the opportunity to be able to reinforce themselves and reposition

themselves and be able to ultimately continue the attack. so that's obviously what israel's going to be thinking about. i do believe that some kind of pause in order to exchange the hostages makes some sense. but how long a ceasefire goes on i think will be the most controversial issue in these negotiations. >> another u.s. strike on an iranian weapons storage facility in syria after dozens of these attacks by iranian proxies on u.s. assets in the region. is this the limit of u.s. response? is this really enough to deter these attacks by iranian proxies that are injuring u.s. troops in the region? >> well, i'm concerned about the number of attacks that we're seeing. we've had about -- almost 41 attacks taking place by these proxy groups that are supported by iran. we've actually injured 46 u.s.

forces as a result of those attacks. i think 25 are suffering traumatic brain injury. so we are seeing a much more aggressive effort here by these proxy forces. and although i'm glad we responded with the attacks on weapons facilities, i think we may have to consider reacting a lot more quickly when these attacks occur in order to make clear that we're not going to tolerate those kinds of attacks and be able to defend our forces. you know, i know everybody's concerned about escalation. but i think the first priority is to defend u.s. lives. >> these tbis, as you well know, can be life-altering certainly. john kirby at the white house announced israel is going to begin daily four-hour humanitarian pauses. of course that's already been happening for days. it appears this is just a

formalization of what the idf has already been doing in that time. so what is this announcement? is this for a domestic audience here in the u.s., democrats who think that biden isn't doing enough with the gaza situation? >> well, i think we have to take it, you know, for what it says, which is that israel is agreeing to these humanitarian pauses in order to be able to allow humanitarian aid to those civilians who've been injured. and i'm glad that's happening. i think we do have to continue to provide humanitarian aid. at the same time i don't think in any way israel is pulling back from the main goal here, which is to destroy hamas. i think they're going to continue to go after hamas. the only hope we have is that they can do it in a way that

allows for these humanitarian pauses to take place at the same time. i think if they do that i think there will be much more support for the effort that they're conducting to ultimately destroy hamas. >> how likely is it right now, do you think, that the u.s. gets sucked into a broader conflict in the middle east? and why do you think that reacting more quickly to these attacks on u.s. assets that are affecting u.s. troops, how do you think that that would not drag the u.s. into a broader conflict? >> well, there's a fundamental issue here right now, which is the credibility of the united states. the president made clear to all of these proxy forces, don't get involved. he said don't do it. don't do it. and yet they're continuing these attacks. as i said, we've had 41 attacks. i think the reason we deployed

our forces to that region, both our carrier forces as well as our troops on the ground, the marines that are there as well, it's for the purpose of deterrence, of stopping them from conducting these attacks. and so we have our power in the region. we have the capability to be able to make clear that we are not going to tolerate these attacks. i think we've sent a clear message to iran that we're not going to allow these attacks to take place. i think it's very important for the united states to be able to make clear that we are not going to just simply stand back and allow them to continue these attacks on u.s. forces. >> secretary, we appreciate your time. secretary leon panetta, thank you. >> good to be with you, brianna. >> very good to be with you, sir. still to come this hour, president biden is in illinois. he is at an auto plant that is reopening as part of a deal between the uaw and stellantis.

we will bring you those remarks live. plus, nikki haley calling vivek ramaswamy scum after he dragged her daughter's name into last night's gop presidential debate. her adult daughter, by the way. we'll have more on that next. and later, the department of justice busts a network of high-end brothels with an elite clientele. you're watching "cnn news cecentral." we'll be r right back.k.

the 2024 race for the white house is in full swing. voters heard the pitches from five republican presidential hopefuls last night. at times, though, this debate in miami felt more like a roast. chalk it up maybe to donald trump's influence on the party. except once again he wasn't there. the former president and current gop front-runner made his case at a rally nearby. in a few minutes it's president biden's turn. he is again hoping to persuade

americans that his economic policies are working, a message that has yet to resonate according to polls. he'll deliver the message to a crowd of auto workers in illinois, and with some wind in his sails after democrats notched major wins across the country on tuesday. cnn's priscilla alvarez is there for us. priscilla, what are we going to be hearing from the president? >> reporter: well, the president is going to be trying to sell his economic agenda and talk about the labor movement. as you mentioned there, polls have showed that voters are still dissatisfied with the economy. so the challenge for the president and his campaign is to shore up support and make points to note that the economy is moving in the right direction. and here in illinois, brianna, he is speaking to a friendly crowd, and that is union workers. this is a bloc that buoyed his bid in 2020 and one that he will be leaning on going into 2024. and notably he's going to meet with uaw president shawn fain.

remember during the uaw strike there was back and forth between the white house and the union. and the two of them will be meeting at a plant. and while fain has not yet endorsed a candidate for 2024 sources i have talked to say that there are positive moves here. the president is moving in the right direction to get that endorsement by visiting the picket line in september but also by standing with him stayed. and with asked about this earlier the president said, "they're going to be fine." that in response to a question about uaw endorsement and when that may come. but taking this big picture, brianna, illinois overwhelmingly voted for biden in 2024 but it is also a state where there are multiple political headwinds that are converging be it the economy or also border security. this is a state where texas governor greg abbott has sent migrants and that has caused strain in chicago and sparked some tensions between allies of the president like illinois governor pritzker and the chicago mayor with the white

house. and so a lot to unfold here in the hours to come. >> how worried are they actually about illinois? or is it just that there's a little bit of a hangover when it comes to these states? you know, obviously some pretty unpredictable things have happened in recent years when it comes to michigan and the like. >> reporter: above all else this is a state where they can sell their economic agenda. again, visiting a plant that was reopened because of union negotiations and also administration action. so it gives them an opportunity to highlight those accomplishments because frankly illinois overwhelmingly voted for president biden in 2020 and there are allies, top allies in this state. the governor, for example, was in miami just yesterday, serving as a surrogate for the biden campaign. and so they remain confident. they also remain confident nationwide given the results on tuesday. but they know it's going to be a close election in 2024.

and so the president is going to continue to fan out across the country. this stop is just another example of that. >> all right. priscilla live for us from illinois, thank you so much for that. we'll be awaiting those comments. boris? one day after voters in multiple states rebuked republican attempts to restrict abortion access, five republican presidential candidates were confronted with the issue on the debate stage. and they didn't see eye to eye on how to snap the party's post-roe losing streak. watch this. >> when we're looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side. i welcome that. there are some states that are going more on the pro-choice side. i wish that wasn't the case but the people decided. >> we need a 15-week federal limit. 3 out of 4 americans agree with a 15-week limit. >> you've got to do a better job on these referenda. i think of all the stuff that's happened to the pro-life cause they have been caught flat-footed on these referenda and they have been losing. >> cnn's jessica dean joins us

now. jessica, it took a while to even get to the abortion questions last night. more than an hour. and it didn't seem like the election results on tuesday had any bearing on how these candidates responded to the abortion questions. >> it was kind of remarkable to watch it unfold. obviously, there's so much going on with foreign policy right now, and it was very heavy on that front. however, we know democrats are going to push this abortion issue. they see it as a winner going into 2024. and we also know that it's most likely this election, this presidential election is going to come down to a handful of states with a lot of swing voters where this issue is very important. and we just listened to the clips of each of those candidates kind of laying out where they stand on it. we see somebody like tim scott try to coalesce around this 15-week abortion ban. that's exactly what we heard from governor glenn youngkin in virginia. he really was trying to find a place that he considered to be consensus on this issue. it's not six weeks like governor ron desantis signed in florida or kim reynolds signed in iowa.

and yet on tuesday virginia gave democrats the house and the senate to block part of his agenda, which would have included that. so it remains to be seen if voters actually see that as a consensus issue. and then for somebody like ron desantis, governor ron desantis who did sign that bill, right after he had launched his presidential campaign, and he had then gotten pushed and pushed on a national abortion ban at 15 weeks. and now he's kind of starting to come back off of that and we heard him really laying this at the feet of anti-abortion activists saying they haven't done a good enough job. it was kind of interesting to see where they all landed. >> yeah. an unexpected swipe at pro-life or anti-abortion groups by florida's governor there. we also saw some fiery exchanges between nikki haley, vivek ramaswamy. how much vitriol was directed at former president trump, though? he obviously was not on the stage last night. >> not on the stage, doing his own thing as he has with the past debates and of course this one, and the next one we now know as well. this is more of the same that we've seen from a lot of these

candidates. that they don't outright go after him all the time. when prodded or when asked they will go after him, but it's not typical that they will just launch into that. and so they did kind of take various swipes at him but only intermittently. i'll let you listen. >> i'll say this about donald trump. anybody who's going to be spending the next year and a half of their life focusing on keeping themselves out of jail and courtrooms cannot lead this party or this country. >> i can talk about president trump. i can tell you that i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he's the right president now. >> he owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance. >> and i feel like a broken record saying this yet again. but they all want to be the last person standing if and when trump implodes. that's kind of the plan. right? and yet they're all trying to thread this needle where if you

voted for donald trump in 2016 and in 2020 that they don't offend you so much that you won't vote for them. it's just a hard needle to thread, and as we keep seeing trump remains pretty strong with this republican base. >> yeah. and notably to add to that the only one on the stage that said they would oppose trump as the presidential nominee even if he was convicted was chris christie. didn't seem like made many waves last night. >> right. and he remains probably the most outspoken critic. right? so we have expected that from him. but it's a very key thing. >> jessica dean, thanks so much. we want to go to the hill now with cnn's lauren fox because republicans there are also butting heads but over the looming shutdown that's just eight days away. lauren, bring us up to speed. is there any deal in sight? >> reporter: well, we are all waiting to see what the newly minted house speaker johnson decides to do when it comes to making sure that the government is funded past that november 17th deadline. right now his deputies and leadership are telling us that they're still looking at all of

the options on the table. over the last several days johnson has been meeting with members across the ideological spectrum trying to figure out what could get the unification of the republican party that he is now leading. but the reality is the same divisions that bedeviled kevin mccarthy when he was the speaker are going to be a problem for mike johnson. and we saw that playing out on the floor today as the house was trying to pass yet another one-year spending bill. these are bills that are dead on arrival in the senate. but they've had to pull now two of those bills in the last week. and that just shows you that there are major divisions between how moderates view spending and how some of these hard-line conservatives are viewing it. so we are waiting to see what johnson does. meanwhile, in the united states senate we expect that chuck schumer will take action today, take a procedural step and set up a vote for early next week, an initial vote on some kind of stopgap measure to make sure the government is funded, really

setting up this potential collision between the house and the senate depending on how the respective leaders in both of those chambers decide to proceed. boris? >> some significant early challenges for the newly minted republican speaker. lauren fox from capitol hill, thanks so much. it is the historic drama we've been watching play out for months. and now the actors' strike appears to finally be over. how soon is hollywood back up and running? we'll break it down in just moments.

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the longest actors' strike in history is finally over. overnight union leaders approved a tentative deal which they are calling a major victory. cnn's camila bernal is in los angeles with the details on this. what more do we know about this agreement, camila? >> reporter: hey, brianna. so the full details will be disclosed tomorrow to board members. and then they will be made public to the union members, who will have to vote to ratify it. but in the meantime union leaders are saying that this is a historic deal. they're calling it extraordinary. and it's for a number of reasons. there's the economics. because yes, they are getting higher wages, especially when it comes to minimum wages, when it comes to bonuses for streaming and for their benefits. but there's also the ai protections of it. and that was extremely important for so many members of this union who want to have a place at the table despite what's coming when it comes to artificial intelligence. so this was something that was a sticking point until the very end.

negotiators were still talking about it right before essentially closing this deal. but of course they are ecstatic. they are happy about what they have accomplished. and i want you to listen to the union president, fran drescher, and how she described how she sees the future but also the gains that they have made. >> i'm already thinking about the things i want to get in the next contract that we didn't get in this contract, but we broke so much ground. there is so much language in this contract that covers so much new ground that has never been in any other contract before. and that was the point of this negotiation. >> reporter: and a lot of the members that i've talked to have said it's worth it, what we've gone through over the last couple of months, if we're getting what we needed and what we asked for. it took them a long time to get them to where they are now. but look, everyone is just ready to go back to work. everyone i talked to has told me that they're looking forward to

going back to telling stories. it's going to take some time. a lot of people in the industry seem to think that things won't really go back to normal until january. but nonetheless, everybody just looking forward to those productions starting up again. there's optimism about summer movies and what's coming up next year for shows and streaming. and so this is sort of the beginning of that work restarting after so many months of everything being shut down. we're talking billions of dollars in losses here. but again, the members that i talked to have told me it's worth it if we are going to get what we need. so after very difficult months this is sort of the light at the end of the tunnel, brianna. >> okay. so things get back to normal for them, the union members, maybe in january. what about for us, the movies and shows what we want to see? when will that get back to normal? >> reporter: yeah, that's a great question. and i think that will depend on the vote to ratify this agreement. right? we likely will see it happen soon but after that it's really when you're going to see timelines for a lot of the shows

and a lot of the movies. but as i mentioned there's optimism about summer movies. you know, just a couple of weeks ago a lot of people were saying if this deal doesn't come through you're not going to have summer movies, you're not going to have tv shows next year. so now finally people are like well, you know what? maybe we will have those summer movies and we will have new shows starting in january or the beginning of the year. a lot of them were in preproduction or prepping before the strike. so hopefully those shows will get started a lot sooner. but it will take some time before we see everything go back to fully being normal here in hollywood. >> all right. i'll be doing those rewatches that i've been preparing anyways. camila, thank you so much for that. we do appreciate it. bo boris? now to some of the other headlines we're watching at this hour. shell is suing the environmental group greenpeace for more than $2 million in damages. the oil company tells reuters that a group of activists boarded a moving oil vessel earlier this year, calling it, quote, unlawful and extremely

dangerous. the greenpeace activists reportedly chased the ship on inflatable boats and used ropes to climb aboard the vessel. in a press release greenpeace called it a, quote, intimidation lawsuit meant to silence peaceful protests. and happening now in new jersey officials are searching for this man. gregory yetman. he's wanted in connection with the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. police say that yetman escaped into a wooded area last night. as officials tried to serve a search warrant at his home. anyone with information is asked to call the fbi. and the federal trial is under way for the man accused of attacking paul pelosi, the husband of former house speaker nancy pelosi. david depapp is charged with attempted kidnapping and assault in last year's assault -- attack at pelosi's home in san francisco. if he's found guilty, he faces decades in prison. a trial date for a separate state charge will be decided later this month. still to come on "cnn news central," the department of justice says it busted a

high-end brothel network that had elected officials and military officers as clients. the details in just a few minutes.

the justice department moves in on what it calls a high-end brothel network used by elected officials, military officers and government contractors with security clearances. three people have been arrested and charged here, and search warrants are still being executed in multiple states to find potential clients. cnn's jessica schneider is following this story for us. we should note, and this is like one of those news stories where you kind of see the tsunami coming at you, no client names

have been released. what are we expecting to see here? >> we could get a lot more details because this is a very sprawling scheme that's still being investigated. the fbi is saying that they've identified hundreds of clients, men who have frequented these brothels and there could be hundreds more. so this investigation actually dates back to the summer of 2020. three-plus years ago. it's still ongoing. the fbi has the personal information of a lot of these men because they had to give the personal information to get into this network. they paid a monthly fee. they got text messages. so the fbi interestingly enough has also been working with some of these men who have been cooperating with this investigation, giving them information. so these brothels apparently were located right outside of boston, also in eastern virginia in the suburbs of washington, d.c. and this is how it's described in the affidavit. it says, "both the boston and the virginia brothels are high-end because of the high cost associated with the rental units, the location of the rental units, as well as some of

the professional disciplines of the sex buyers." the price for commercial sex for a fee which ranges from approximately 350 to upwards of $600 per hour depending on the different services suggests that customers are paying a premium price compared to standard rates. agents have identified several customers through surveillance, phone records, customer interviews, and when prosecutors spoke out about this yesterday, brianna, they said that the men who frequented these brothels, the professions for them were extensive. they include politicians, elected officials, military officers, government contractors with security clearances, executives at pharmaceutical companies and tech companies. and the way the prosecutor put it, he said pick a profession and they're probably represented. so prosecutors say that there were websites, that clients paid a monthly fee to, they got these text messages, they went to these brothels, these apartments that were being rented for $5,000 a month or more. so this was a sprawling scheme. this investigation still

ongoing. it's interesting -- will be interesting to see if any of these men who frequented these brothels are ever charged. and how much more information comes out about all of these because it was a big scheme. >> look, the government sees people with security clearances or elected officials going to these things, they worry about blackmail. >> absolutely. >> these are now vulnerable individuals -- >> and centered right around washington, d.c. where several of the brothels -- >> exactly. so much sensitive stuff goes on here, obviously. what kind of charges are we talking about? >> well, they are charged with interstate trafficking because a lot of these women, mostly asian women, they say were coerced into traveling across state lines, relocating to these brothels to provide these sex services. also financial crimes because of the way they tried to hide the money that was incoming. so three people charged so far, but there could be more because the investigation still ongoing. >> wow. i think i'll see you another day on this story. jess, thank you so much. and still to come, it's been prescribed off label for months for weight loss, but the fda

just approved mounjaro to treat obesity. but it's under a new name. and we'll explain why next.

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now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. the fda just approved a new drug in the battle against obesity. you may have heard of the diabetes drug mounjaro, now it's under the new name of zepbound and the drug can be used for chronic weight management in

people with weight-related medical problems. let's bring in cnn's jacqueline howard. in clinical trials, this drug showed to be very effective. what more can you tell us? >> that's right, boris. in clinical trials, people taking this drug experienced on average about 20% weight loss. and keep in mind, the drug is in the same class as other weight loss drugs we've heard about like wegovy and ozempic. it's the same formulation, as you mentioned, as mounjaro. the only difference is who is the drug is indicated for. mounjaro is a diabetes drug, whereas under this new name of zepbound, it's approved for people with obesity or who are overweight, who have weight-related conditions. now, what we know about zepbound, it is administered as an injection, given once weekly. side effects are similar to what we see with other weight loss drugs. that nausea or vomiting or stomach pain. and the price tag, it costs

about $1,000 per month before insurance. so the idea here, boris, is that this is another option out there for people who are looking for help with chronic weight management. the only hurdles would be if they're able to access it, and again, that cost before insurance, boris. >> so, jacqueline, on the question of access, how many people are going to be eligible to use the new drug? >> well, again, it's for people with obesity or who are overweight, and according to the fda, about 70% of american adults have obesity or are clinically overweight. so they would be potentially eligible for this medication, if their doctors decide to prescribe it. so this is another option that potentially could help many, many people out there, boris. >> jacqueline howard, thank you so much. we do want to take a look at a live picture now. this is from illinois.

president biden is expected to speak there at the podium. he's meeting with leaders of the united auto workers union, just secured a major deal with three big automakers in the united states. of course, we'll bring you his remarks as they happen. stay with cnn.

straight to the president now in illinois, where he is speaking to union workers at a reopened out plant. >> tammy duckworth can't be here because of her washington

voting. and i've got to stay back. by the way, they fight tirelessly for the people in illinois. and durbin busted his neck in this job, too, as well. look, folks, they've worked nonstop to bring good jobs back to belvedere. two people. two people on my team are here who did so much to support the uaw negotiations. our acting secretary of labor, julie sue, where are you, and gene spurlingon. i think sean would tell you they did a hell of a job and thank you to all the state and local leaders here today. but most of all to the members of the uaw, you're a tough, tough, tough as they come. first outfit to ever endorse me was a 29-year-old kid when i was running for the united states senate, my whole career. the fact is, it starts at the top, though, with shawn fain. you've done one hell of a