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Connect the World
California Commuter Train Hits Truck, Injures 30; FIFA Recommends Moving 2022 World Cup to Winter; Libya Asking for International Assistance In Fight Against ISIS; Turkey Accuses UK Of Not Communicating
Aired February 24, 2015 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Turkish authorities accuse the United Kingdom of poor communication over three teenage girls thought to be headed to
Syria via Istanbul.
Well, this hour we'll examine what's known and what isn't about the girls' intentions and their whereabouts.
Also ahead, the winter games: a FIFA task force recommending that Qatar host the World Cup in the last two months of 2022 and European
football bosses are not happy.
Plus, Libya left behind. I'll be speaking with a leading diplomat about putting the outside world back in the picture.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
ANDERSON: A very good evening. It is 8:00 here. And some breaking news for you, a very, very busy news hour here, coming to us from southern
California. At least 30 people are injured after a passenger train hit a vehicle on the tracks. It happened just before 6:00 a.m. local time near
the city of Oxnard (ph).
Now medical workers are treating people by the side of the road as officials assess the damage.
The driver of a vehicle has been arrested after fleeing the scene. Five train cars derailed in this accident. And these are the very latest
pictures from the scene. More on that as we get it.
And also this just in to CNN, at least eight people are dead in a shooting in the Czech Republic. The interior ministry says that gunmen
burst into a restaurant in what is the southeastern town of Yuhurskybrod (ph).
Officials say the gunman is also dead.
They say the attack is not believed to be terror related.
We're following this and we'll have more details as they become available to you.
Well, there are new reports of another mass abduction by ISIS. This time, the militants have abducted about 90 Assyrian Christian in Syria,
that is according to human rights groups and local residents.
They were abducted from two villages in the north of the country.
Now Assyrians are among numerous minority groups targeted by the terror group. Osama Edward is the founder of the Assyrian Human Rights
Network. And a short time ago, he told my colleague Robyn Curnow that ISIS wanted to target the group's main village. Have a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA EDWARD, FOUNDER, ASSYRIAN HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK: So, ISIS attacked the families, attacked the civilians, attack the properties, their
houses and take -- and took some hostages from that from that town of Tal Shamiran (ph). The chain of the Assyrian villages is -- contains like 10
Assyrian Christian villages. All of them were occupied and under control of ISIS now starting form Hormuz (ph) ending in Tal Shamiran (ph), which
was the worst one, because Tal Sharmiran (ph) was close to the neighboring city -- or town of Tal Tamar (ph), which is the main Assyrian Christian
city in the area.
And that was attacked and ISIS took control of that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, British and Turkish authorities are still searching for three teenage girls who left their families behind in London possibly
headed to Syria to join ISIS.
Well, frustrations over the case are being vented in Turkey where the girls arrived seven days ago, it's believe.
More on that in a moment. Right now, though, the subject of ISIS in general is front and center for the British Prime Minister David Cameron.
He is facing questions from a parliamentary committee on the ISIS threat.
Well, that's ongoing. CNN's Nima Elbagir is in London and she joins us now live.
I know -- I want an update on the missing girls. Anything that's come out of parliament today that we should know about?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. He is due, as you said, to discuss ISIS in general, but specifically these girls where
the investigation is, where the expectations are, because this has been a really emotive topic here in the UK that this could have been allowed to
happen. And it's not helped by the Turkish authorities coming out today and saying that they weren't told soon enough, that it was three days after
the girls had been reported as missing by their families that they say they were informed by the British police.
And then you also have the lawyer for the families of one of the girls who has been in Syria -- not these specific girls, but a British girl who
went to Syria in 2013 and seems to be crucial as part of the recruitment process of young girls being -- heading from the UK into Syria. The family
lawyer has said that she was in contact with these three girls on social media, that the British police were aware of this. Not only did they not
tell the family, but they also didn't take this up with the girls themselves who had, in the past, been questioned about any relationships
with her.
So really a sense that the British police have across the board failed to take -- to handle this with the seriousness that it deserves.
ANDERSON: Meantime, as we've suggested, Turkish authorities accusing the UK of poor communications. What do we know from the Turks? Has there
been any evidence that these girls, for example, have arrived in Istanbul and then left for Syria? Do we think they still may be in Turkey at this
point?
ELBAGIR: Well, the Turks say that they are searching. They haven't given any details beyond that. But Scotland Yard, the London Metropolitan
Police force here say that they are still believed to be in Turkey. When we asked them how they knew, they said their mobile phones were on and they
had been using them.
Beyond that, they wouldn't give us any other information. But for now, Turkey seems to be the focal point of this search Scotland Yard say
for good reason, but the Turks just don't give you the sense that they have enough information as yet to be able to really verify what Scotland Yard
believes.
ANDERSON: Nima Elbagir on the story. We're talking ISIS. Of course a fight against that group going on in northern Syria and in Iraq.
Ben Wedeman is in Irbil with the very latest from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sparks fly in Bakhtiar Aziz's subterranean workshop in Irbil's old city. He's busy repairing a
battle battled AK-47 assault rifle.
All day and well into the night, this 36-year-old gun repairman fixes the aging weapons the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military force in northern
Iraq, use to fight ISIS.
This Soviet era machine gun is older than he is, he explains, and is jamming after four or five bullets.
He's been at the job since he was a child. This picture taken when he worked in his father's workshop back in 1990.
In the more than 25 years Bakhtiar has been in this business, he's never met a weapon he couldn't fix.
47-year-old Peshmerga fighter Natif (ph) has come the front lines near Kirkuk.
"Easy things we can fix ourselves," he says. "Bigger problems we bring here."
Bakhtiar makes house, or rather trench calls regularly traveling to the front line to repair free of charge damaged or malfunctioning guns.
Business picked up dramatically last summer when ISIS seized nearby Mosul and threatened Irbil and hasn't let up since.
Before I was working every day from 9 to 4, he says. I finished early every single day.
No more. Now the workshop echoes with the clatter of gun repair, that is when he's not peering down the barrel of machine guns and pistols to
check their sights.
His hardest task today is repairing a shrapnel-pocked U.S. made M-16, which tells a story in itself. He says it belonged to the Iraqi army, then
fell into the hands of ISIS fighters when the army fled Mosul. It was damaged and its last owner killed in a coalition air strike. Soon it will
be working again, this time aimed at ISIS.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Irbil, in northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, it is a busy day. And later in the show we're going to take a look at the group ISIS's reach into Libya and how lawlessness
there has allowed the terror group to proliferate.
And we'll speak to the most senior Libyan diplomat in Washington on the future of what is that chaotic country.
Moving on to a subject that has been on the front burner ever since Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Many question whether the
tournament could be played in what is -- would be the scorching summer heat of that tiny state. Well, a FIFA task force has finally weighed in and has
now proposed the months of November and December as the most viable period for the competition.
Now a final decision will be made next month, but as (inaudible) the date change could cause a lot of confusion. CNN's World Sport anchor
Amanda Davies is in London for more on that.
Not least for what European football clubs who have an enormously hectic schedule around that period.
What are the thoughts going forward on this?
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, there's no doubt there are so many different stakeholders and so many different views
on this, which is a very emotive subject, because since the World Cup began, it has always been held at the same point in the calendar, and that
is June/July.
The FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has admitted that since this task force was set up some six months ago when it was made very, very clear
that this tournament would not be able to be played in the traditional spot, the summer months because of that heat because of the medical
concerns and the impact it would have on the players, he's -- there's been four or five different time periods on the calendar in 2022 that have been
looked at.
Jerome Valke said all had pros and cons, but when it came down to it, this is the best solution.
We've heard rumbling for the last couple of months that the November/December date was the one that they were going to choose, not
least, I think, because the FIFA president Sepp Blatter had decided this was the one that he wanted.
But if you have a look at the calendar, it became quite clear that this was the date they were going to choose, because in January/February of
2022, we already know that we have the world's -- the Winter Olympics. And the IOC was saying they didn't want one of their flagship events to be
clashing with the World Cup.
You then have on April 2, 2022 the start of Ramadan. And then the yellow bloc on that graphic there, that is the month's of May to September,
the months where the climate will just be too hot.
The green bloc, that heads into 2023 that had initially been talked about as a possible date the tournament could be moved into there, but
legal ramifications mean that actually, no, it has come back to November/December.
So whilst Qatar are happy. They've said they were always ready to host this tournament whenever they were going to be asked, there are still
a lot of disgruntled parties, the television companies. There's been suggestions that maybe some compensation deals will be underway, because
they're already done their deals and there will be the clashes with the events.
And of course the European leagues are -- the big question now is where do they go from here? And they have also been asking for the
compensation.
ANDERSON: Yeah, and controversy on worker's rights, of course, in the country as well. Amanda, thank you.
Still to come tonight, FIFA's own task force, then, is telling it to move the dates of Qatar's upcoming World Cup. David Davies will joins us
with the impact of this recommendation. He is the former head of England's football association.
And for complete transparency, you may recognize the name, he is the father of CNN's Amanda Davies.
Right, I want to get you back to one of the breaking news stories this hour. Coming to us from southern California, at least 30 people are
injured after a passenger train hit a vehicle on the tracks. This happened just before 6:00 a.m. local time near the city of Oxnard (ph).
For more on that, let's get to CNN's Paul Vercammen. What do we know about the details of what happened, Paul.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Well, Becky, we understand now that this commuter train that goes toward the Los Angeles area from Oxnard
(ph), about 50, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, struck a tractor trailer type truck on the tracks. That caused at least five of the trains to
derail. If you look at the pictures, three of them are on their side.
But there's a silver lining to all this, because these cars did not crumple or cave in upon themselves. And we've had that happened in other
horrific crashes along this line.
So, as you pointed out, the injuries are actually closer now to 26, two critical, 12 moderate and 12 minor. And they say that there's no
fatalities in this accident.
Now from what we understand, this is what they would call a pusher. In other words, the engine is in the back, so it is pushing these cars
toward Los Angeles.
There are some frequent stops in and around the city of Oxnard, so that means that the train did not gain a lot of momentum.
And one fire department source I was speaking with said the train goes about 50, 60 miles per hour through here, that's not horribly fast and it
may be why this hasn't been massive, massive casualties and loss of life. In fact, this train was about a mile or two miles from the station when it
crashed.
Now, the driver of this tractor trailer at some point just ran off and fled the scene. He has been detained, not arrested yet. They're obviously
conducting an investigation and trying to find out why he was on the tracks.
In describing this tractor trailer -- and it is burned -- the fire department said that it was some sort of a service, construction truck. It
had the sort of drawers that you might see from someone who, let's say, could be a welder or something like that.
But that tractor trailer obliterated in this collision as it caught fire after.
But, again, if there is a happy bit of news here, it is they're reporting no fatalities and only two people critical and they have some
crashes along these lines that have been far worse, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, just so bringing you up to date. Paul, thank you.
Not withstanding the injuries, it looks as if people have actually escaped relatively well from what was a pretty horrific crash. And as Paul
reporting there, the numbers of injured now 26 with two critical.
Still to come, four years after an uprising ushered in a new Libya, ISIS, it seems, is exploiting the chaos. Is international action, then, on
the cards in Libya. We ask Tripoli's representative in Washington what her government wants next. That is after this short break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: An act of mass murder on a Mediterranean beach refocused the world's attention on Libya.
Several hundred kilometers away from Europe, 21 doomed Egyptian Christians were paraded by ISIS. And with them, the group's growing
presence in the North African state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: (inaudible) heralded ISIS's arrival in Libya. Crowds in Derna chanting allegiance to Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi in October. Confirming
the worst fears of those who warned that chaos inside Libya was a threat to the whole region and beyond.
Well, after the overthrow and killing of the long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi four years ago, Libya disintegrated into a poisonous cocktail of
armed groups all fighting for territory, influence and oil.
Well, Libya is now fast becoming a failed state with conflicts on three fronts with a multitude of militia play in to the mix.
Politically, he country is paralyzed by the claims of two governments, one in Tripoli backed by Islamist militia, including the powerful Libya
Dawn, and an internationally recognized cabinet hiding out in the eastern town of Tubruk backed by General Khalifa Haftar.
But the chaos here also sheds light on wider regional rivalries. On the one hand, Qatar and Turkey accused of backing the Islamists, on the
other are Egypt and Arab states worried about such groups like the Muslim Brotherhood making gains.
Now, Cairo is leading calls for international action, including UN- backed military strikes and an end to an arms embargo.
And there's the prospect of a third front really opening up, a specter of militias and other jihadi groups taking on ISIS themselves.
Analysts say some militia will fight seriously to prevent ISIS taking over oil and gas facilities in Libya like they did in Iraq.
The militant group is intent on making its mark in Libya. And the country waits to see who inside or outside of Libya will step up to fight
them.
(END VIDEOTPAE)
ANDERSON: Live from Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World. We're going to take a very short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN DEFTERIOS, EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: This week One Square Meter is in Hong Kong where we're exploring one of the city's latest
architectural gems. It's affiliated with the Jockey Club, but it has nothing to do with racing and all to do with design.
In the thick of Hong Kong's concrete jungle, surrounded by dense residential spaces, in a web of highway snaking around it, lies this: the
Jockey Club Innovation Tower at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a stark contrast to the rest of the old fashioned red brick campus. The
building, which opened just over a year ago, is the new home for the University's design students.
15 stories tall with the space measuring up to 15,000 square meters, the 81 million dollar tower consists of labs, workshop spaces, classrooms
and exhibition areas that are open to the public.
Fluid corridors, curvaceous walls and a radical structure, this is also the first Zaha Hadid building in Hong Kong.
This building is easily identifiable with Zaha Hadid's firm. It's futuristic design is meant to inspire the next generation of innovators on
a campus that is over a half century old and before really lacked an identity.
The new building brings the design faculty out to the fore, both literally and metaphorically.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The school has a long history, but it used to be blended into the campus. It was quite sort of hidden and tucked away. Now
with a new home, it exposes that, it brings it all out into this all one hub.
DEFTERIOS: For the students, the building is a fresh source of stimulation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think as a design student, the environment it's much important and the thing you see like the walls and the light and
the shape of the building actually affects like your thinking of design.
DEFTERIOS: But beyond and environment that inspires innovation, the school also has diverse global ambitions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It attracts people constantly. We have folks from the business sector. We have folks from industries coming here to interact
with our students and professors.
DEFTERIOS: Bold, ambitious and slanting to the future, this school hopes to shake up Hong Kong's design industry and the city overall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The building houses the design institute for social innovation. It's the first of its kind as being created in Hong
Kong probably in all of Asia. The idea is to bring experts from different fields of disciplines to come together to work on design problems that
benefit the society.
DEFTERIOS: A big responsibility for a building that so far has exceeded the university's own expectations.
John Defterios, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: At half past 8:00 in the UAE, this is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. The top stories for you this hour on CNN.
At least eight people are dead in a shooting the Czech Republic. The interior ministry says a gunman burst into a restaurant in the southeastern
to of Yuheskybrod (ph). Officials say the gunman is also dead. They say the attack is not believed to be terror related.
At least 26 people are injured, two of them critically, after this commuter train derailment north of Los Angeles. Police said it hit a
tractor trailer that had stopped on the tracks. The driver of that truck fled, but was found and is now being questioned.
French President Francois Hollande is calling for the release of a French woman kidnapped by gunmen in Yemen's capital Sanaa. French foreign
ministry says the women worked for the World Bank. The city has been in turmoil since Shiite Houthi rebels overtook the capital last month.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin is stressing his support for the ceasefire that appears to be crumbling in eastern Ukraine. As part of that
deal, both sides are supposed to pull back their heavy weapons, but the Ukrainian government says it can't do that as long as pro-Russian rebels
continue to shell the area. Well, in an interview with a Russian TV station, Mr. Putin was asked whether Russia and Ukraine are headed for war.
Here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I believe such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely and hope that it will never get to
that point. Regarding the return of territories, these things are of revengeful nature and it is not about the return of territories somewhere,
it's about the fact that today, in my opinion, government of such a big European country as Ukraine should first of all bring the country to a
normal life, normalize the economy, social sphere, establish relations with the southeastern part of the country in a civil way and ensure legitimate
rights and interests of the people who live there.
I am confident it will be done if the Minsk agreements are upheld.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen has been following developments from Moscow and he joins us now.
Listen, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met in Paris earlier to try to get this failing Ukrainian peace deal back
on track. You heard what the Russian president had to say. What's the up sum of that meeting earlier?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly focused around the Minsk agreement, and especially that ceasefire
and the difficulty with it. And the thing that they focused on most today, Becky, was the role of the OSCE. The OSCE is of course the organization
that's being tasked with monitoring the ceasefire. But the OSCE says their big problem in trying to do that is that first of all they don't even know
which sort of heavy weapons are in -- on the front line where they're supposed to be seeing whether or not those heavy weapons are being drawn
back.
And also they're still having a lot of trouble getting to many places on the front line to monitor whether that ceasefire is able to move into
the next step, which is of course creating a buffer zone after the heavy weapons have left the immediate combat area.
Now, it's interesting, because both sides say very different things. The separatists for their part have come out and said that they've started
pulling back the heavy weapons. There's people I know who have seen convoys move away from the front line. What that actually means is unclear.
The Ukrainians, for their part, are saying that they have no evidence that the separatists are pulling away those heavy weapons, and therefore
the Ukrainians say they have not put their plan in place to move heavy weapons away from that area.
Now, as you said, Vladimir Putin there saying he doesn't believe that there's going to be some sort of wider war between Russia and Ukraine, but
one of the other interesting things that he also said in that interview, Becky, was that this point in time Russia does not view the Donbass areas,
the areas held by the separatists there in eastern Ukraine, as breakaway Republics, but he still sees them as part of Ukraine. And this could be a
sign that perhaps Vladimir Putin is backing down and maybe taking a step towards the west.
However, we know that there has been a lot of anti-western rhetoric recently. And it's something that actually plays very highly here in
Russia. Our colleague Erin McLaughlin was actually on the outskirts of Moscow a few days ago and asked people there what sort of western sentiment
they have. Let's listen in to what people told her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "The Americans should shut up," she says. "They shouldn't interfere in our life. We keep helping and
helping. Putin is a good one. He's probably tired, poor thing."
"My attitude to America is bad," she says. "The way I watch the news I realize that Americans want to get a hold of half of Russia."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So, there you have it. A lot of distrust there still towards the west. However, once again that interview by Vladimir Putin did
seem to signal possibly a sort of backing down and opening up towards the west a little bit.
One of the other things that he said in that interview also, Becky, was that he believes that relations between the country and that Normandy
group, which is of course the group that brokered the ceasefire in the first place, he believes those are getting better, Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow for you tonight.
Right now to a story that we've been covering and we'll keep covering very, very closely, that chaos that is Libya in 2015 as Libyans once again
see their country's fate being discussed in foreign capitals.
I want to bring in a woman who is already in charge of defending her country's interests abroad.
Wafa Bughaighis is the most senior Libyan diplomat in Washington, she is also a former deputy foreign minister. And we do very much appreciate
your time with us here on CNN tonight.
Where to start is the question? It's very difficult to do any substantive reporting inside Libya. So, describe just what is going on in
the ground, if you will.
WAFA BUGAIGHIS, UJAGI, LIBYAN DIPLOMAT: Thank you, Becky.
Let me start by expressing my condolences to all the families of victims that have fallen because of the terrorist attacks in Libya.
Yesterday, an activist with her aunt were murdered in Tripoli. Friday, 45 people were killed brutality by exploding cars and more hundreds
of people were injured in (inaudible), a safe small town to the east of Benghazi.
In Benghazi, we've been losing lives on a daily basis for the past two years.
This has not been easy on the Libyans. We've been battling those terrorist groups for the past two years, at least, and I must say it was
ignited by the murder -- by the accident that led to the death of Christopher Stevens, Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi in 2012.
The battle started against terrorists back then.
You know, to embattle those groups, we need a lot of international help and international coordination. And it's already on the way.
You know, Egypt is a country that's working closely with the Libyan government and coordinating with the Libyan army to embattle those threats
because the threat of terrorists is not inside Libya alone, but it's been a threat to many neighboring countries and to the region, and eventually will
spread to Europe and global wise.
So, you know...
ANDERSON: Well, you make a very good point.
Let me stop you there for one moment. Yeah, let me stop you there for one moment, because taking advantage of the chaos on the ground that you
have been describing, of course, is ISIS, which has carried out a string of attacks.
Now last week Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to the United Nations to outline his case for international intervention in Libya.
Here is what he said. And I want you to react to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMEH SHOUKRY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Taking concrete measures to prevent the acquisition of arms by all non-state
militias and entities through the imposition of a naval blockade on arms heading to areas of Libya outside the control of legitimate authorities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The problem is that the authorities that Egypt and its western allies see as legitimate, the authorities that you belong to,
aren't recognized domestically, are they? How do you tackle that?
BUGAIGHIS: I represent the government that is internationally recognized and I represent the house of representatives that represent the
democratic well. So in that sense, I do represent the internationally recognized government. And it's the only government that is battling those
terrorist groups right now in Libya.
ANDERSON: I'm told by sources that the militant group ISIS has plans for Libya of a much grander scale than have been previously thought, which
is incredibly worrying. Reports that personnel and tens of millions of dollars in cash and weapons, for example, have been smuggled in to the
country.
An ISIS front in Libya surely suggests the potential involvement of western and regional powers going forward. You have suggested that that is
what your government wants. Can you just -- just give us a little bit more information on what it is exactly that you are asking for, because as we
are well aware, the U.S. and other international bodies have been very reticent to get involved in Libya to date.
BUGAIGHIS: First of all, as the house of representatives has stated and the internationally recognized government of the house of
representatives, we do support the efforts of (inaudible) the special representative of the secretary general of the UN and all the international
community in brokering peace talks between Libyans and brokering national dialogue that will eventually, hopefully lead to the formation of a
national government of unity.
However, there are few things that the international community can further do. The international community can help us monitor all of those
shipments, as you mentioned, of arms, of money that is being delivered across the borders of the movement of these terrorist entities from one
place to the other.
Also, by providing some helpful intelligence information.
Another thing that the international community can help with at this point is clarifying some valid concerns of the house of representatives as
being the democratically elected body, we would like that this democratically elected body continues its mandate -- constitutional mandate
in monitoring and forming the new national government of unity.
We would like the support of it to be more inclusive and to continue in this role, because it really represents the aspirations of the Libyan
people for the democratic nation they fought so far for and they're still paying a high price for.
ANDERSON: And with that, we're going to have to leave it there, but I'm going to unfortunately as we are want to point out, the supreme court
in Libya has actually decided that that internationally recognized government, you'll remember, of course is illegitimate.
We're going to have to leave it there. We will talk again. This is a story that we will continue to report on. For the time being, thank you
very much indeed for joining us.
Well, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing new scrutiny over remarks that he made three years ago to the United Nations
regarding Iran's nuclear program. News agencies al Jazeera and The Guardian newspaper are reporting that they have obtained leaked documents
that appear to suggest Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli intelligence officials may have disagreed on Iran's nuclear capability.
Well, CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the documents and Israel has denied there is any discrepancy. So what impact, if at all, will these
leaks have on Mr. Netanyahu's party just weeks before elections in Israel?
Well, to answer that, or at least to attempt to do that, I'm going to bring in Danial Levy. He's the director of the Mideast and North Africa
program for the European Council on Foreign relations.
And before we chat, let's just remind ourselves of exactly what it was that Benjamin Netanyahu talked about when he considered and commented on
these red lines.
This was back at the UN. Let's just remind our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: If these are the facts, and they are, where should a red line be drawn? A red line should be drawn
right here before, before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So, Daniel, what do we make of these leaked documents that suggest there is some argument as to just how close Iran might be with its
nuclear program at this point?
DANIEL LEVY, EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, Becky, interestingly enough this hasn't made really the headlines in Israel -- I
think perhaps partly it's about the Mossad. And although it's been covered, maybe those leaks are less appreciated in Israel. The briefing
perhaps was not as smoky -- a smoky gun as the leakers would like to think.
But I think there's also another element to this, and I think that clip helps demonstrate it, because I think inside Israel there's a degree
to which Netanyahu's exaggerations have already been discounted, and you saw the kind of Bug's Bunny cartoonish presentation at the UN. It plays
really well on television, but I think people understood that there was extent of exaggeration there.
And in Israel they know also, and it's not news to Israelis, that the security establishment heads in Israel have not agreed with the prime
minister. They've considered his claims and his positions dangerous. One former Shin Beth (ph) chief called hi Messianic, and not in a good way.
So I think on three issues they have differed with their own prime minister: on the extent of the threat, which is what this document reveals;
on the level of the threat to Israel itself -- is this an existential threat -- and on what Israel should do. When Netanyahu has talked about a
military strike, his security chiefs have been very, very cautious and seeing that as problematic.
ANDERSON: I'm wondering about, then, his upcoming U.S. audience. If these leaks are getting little traction at home, because as you are
pointing out there are many who have discounted much of his narrative, what about his U.S. audience as he makes his speech to congress in the week or
so to come?
LEVY: Sure. That is a much bigger news item, Becky. And that continues to play out every day, the fight around the speech in congress
behind the back of the president, which is being perceived as being overly making Israel a partisan issue.
And, by the way, it's not that Israelis are not with Netanyahu. On Iran, he probably can carry a domestic audience.
I think in that respect, in terms of his speech in congress, really the question is will his domestic opponents and will the president of the
United States, experts and professionals who follow the nuclear issue as well as the allies in the P5+1 talks, will they present a powerful enough -
- and I imagine they will -- counterpoint to the Israeli prime minister if there is a deal, both on the merits of the deal -- the limits on
enrichment, the limits on stockpiles, the inspection regime, the timetable over which this will take place, and also comparing this deal to the
alternatives, whether that's a military strike, which is probably a bad idea and would not set back the program that long, or simply having no
deal at all where Iran is no long under this inspection regime.
So I think in that respect the real battle is yet to come. And I think one of the questions, Becky, is whether Israel's domestic opposition
to Netanyahu will start to challenge him not just on the optics and on playing with the U.S.-Israel relationship, but also on the substance of the
Iran issue itself.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Daniel, always a pleasure. Thank you.
Up next, the idea of a winter World Cup just got a lot closer to reality. I'm going to ask a football insider about the impact of moving
what will be the 2022 tournament to November and December. That after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me Becky Anderson. Welcome back.
It is, what, 49 minutes past 8:00 in the UAE on a fairly chilling evening, it has to be said.
For new information on a story that we are following in the Czech Republic before we move on, I told you earlier how at least eight people
are dead in a shooting in the southeast of the country. Well, a crime line operator at a local TV station says it appears the shooter actually called
the network just minutes before hand. The staffer says a man told him the TV station should send a crew to the town of Luyeskybrod (ph), because
something was about to happen. When asked about the details, the man said he is being bullied by many people and no authorities are helping him.
Well, a TV station employee says he alerted the police and tried to keep the man on the line, but the man hung up on him.
Within minutes, the shooting is said to have started at a restaurant in the town. Officials say the gunman is also dead.
Well, let's refocus now on Tuesday's big announcement from that FIFA task force.
Now formally recommending that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, not far from here, about an hour's flight from here, be moved to November and
December because of the extreme heat that the players would face, and fans indeed, in the summer months.
Well, the recommendation is not sitting well with certain football higher ups, particularly in Europe. They worry about the impact this would
have on their own leagues as their players get pulled out to join their country teams.
Let's get the perspective of someone who was once in Charge of England's football association. Former executive director David Davies is
with us from CNN in London. For complete transparency, David -- and I just want our viewers to know that you are the father of World Sport's Amanda
Davies. And I'm sure very proud of that.
So thank you.
Let's do the football and then we'll do the wider story of the tournament and its controversies. The head of the English Premier League,
for example, has described this decision by football's echelons as I think depressing, disturbing, they feel let down, for example.
Is he going over the top with all of this? How do you see things playing out at this point?
DAVID DAVIES, FRM. ENGLISH FA CHAIRMAN: Let's be clear, Becky, this decision comes not from Qatar itself, this comes from world football's
governing body, including UEFA, European Football's governing body. It's a recommendation, yes, but it's likely to be endorsed next month in Zurich.
And you know something? For me -- I understand of course the disruption for the big clubs in Europe. You know, I've been lucky enough
to be brought up in England and our Premier League, which draws on players from all over the world, has benefited enormously by this world
involvement. But the fact of the matter is that, you know, a decision had to be taken as to what was the best time of year for the biggest tournament
in the world to take place and that decision, a decision shared by the rest of the world, the recommendation is November/December.
ANDERSON: Right. OK. Let's talk about the scale of any potential financial fallout, then, because for those who didn't want this tournament
changed, indeed those who didn't want it in Qatar from the very beginning they say this is a very costly process going forward. Could you explain
why? And what you think those financial challenges will be?
DAVID DAVIES: Well, the financial challenge is clearly that there will be disruption to particularly the European season. And there will be
a significant break.
But you know something? I see this as a huge opportunity for world football. I spent some 13 years of my life trying to, as we say in
England, fitting a quart into a pint pot, e.g. we were trying to still run the traditional European season from the end of the August to the middle of
May, then people had their holidays, then they had a bit of a World Cup or a European Championship, or whatever it was. Then they trained again.
And the truth of the matter is that football is now not owned by Europe, it is owned by the whole world. And that's what is today decision
reflects. This is an opportunity, because frankly people complain, the clubs included, that international football at the moment is played in
September and October and November and March and April. And here is a change in 2022 to have a bloc of international football in
November/December and then a bloc of football -- of international football in June and July, and that would be -- the rest of the year would be left
for club football.
So what I'm saying is there is a chance here of a long-term change to the football calendar to serve the whole of the world.
ANDERSON: David, I wish we could talk longer. It's been a very, very busy news hour with lost of breaking news. I do again for transparency
have to point out that I'm aware that you're a personal adviser to a couple of senior football figures in Qatar.
You and I, though, will talk more about this, because as I suggested there are other controversies surrounding this Qatar World Cup, not least
the issue of migrant workers. For the time being, though, we do thank you very much indeed for joining us this evening.
Well, I'm going take a very short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Your parting shots then this evening. A couple in India leaving their entire estate to an unlikely family member: their pet monkey.
The couple had a falling out with their extended family. And they don't have any kids. They adopted the monkey when he was a baby. It was about
10 years ago after his mother died.
Now Chinmun (ph) is set to inherit the estate worth tens of thousands of dollars, their home and an additional plot of land.
I don't know if he's married. Find out if anybody is interested.
I'm Becky Anderson. That was Connect the World. Thank you for watching.
END
