Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

U.S. Judge Temporarily Blocks Trumps Asylum Restrictions; Trump to Receive Final CIA Report on Khashoggi's Killing; Camp Fire Kills 79, Nearly 700 People Unaccounted For; U.K. Calls for Cease-Fire in Draft U.N. Resolution on Yemen; U.S. Markets, Tech Stocks Continue to Fall; Nissan Funded Homes Around the World for Ghosn; U.S. Airstrikes in Somalia Killed Dozens of Terrorists; Airbnb Pulls Israeli West Bank Settlements Listings. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired November 20, 2018 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[10:00:00] BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, we live in a busy old world and we're connecting it all together for you tonight. Welcome to our show.

I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Connecting tonight our world defined so much by Washington these days.

We begin with a new blow to Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. A U.S. federal judge is blocking the President's order that

automatically denies asylum to anyone who crosses the southern border illegally. Earlier this month Mr. Trump said it was essential to national

security to require asylum seekers to visit legal points of entry, portraying a caravan of migrants from Central America as a dangerous

threat. Critics said the order created roadblocks for people who may be truly fleeing for their lives.

For the judge it was simple. He said existing law allows any foreigner to apply for asylum in the U.S. regardless of how they enter the country.

Therefore, he wrote and I quote, whatever the scope of the President's authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition

that Congress has expressly forbidden. Well, the ban is in effect for at least a month when a new hearing is scheduled.

All of this comes as President Trump is tightening security at the border. He is expected to grant new authority to U.S. troops to protect customs

staff if they are attacked by migrants. Let's get more from CNN senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns. And "Washington Post" Supreme Court

reporter, Robert Barnes. At this point, Joe, let's start with you. What response from the White House, if any?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No response so far. We do know that the homeland security secretary is on the border on the

American side apparently awaiting the arrival of this caravan that the President made so much fuss about during the midterm elections. We do

expect to hear from her as to what the administration plans to do or attempts to do.

What we do know of course is that immigration is one of the President's top issues. We don't expect him to drop it as a result of a federal district

judge's ruling. However, it's highly likely the administration will continue on one front or another to try to change the direction of the

courts, be it coming all the way here to Washington D.C. We also know that the administration understands a is you said, this is a temporary order.

Nonetheless, a judge is not allowed to enter a nationwide injunction unless he believes the people who are suing will prevail on the merits and the

people who brought this case are a group of immigration organizations -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Reminding our viewers what this judge said and for him it was simple, Robert. He said existing law allows any foreigner to apply for

asylum in the U.S. regardless is of how they enter the country. Is it likely that that is what will be the law going forward?

ROBERT BARNES, SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT, THE WASHINGTON POST: Well, certainly this will be appealed, I would imagine. You know, this is one of

a number of suits that have been filed around the country. As you mentioned, immigration is a huge issue for this President. He has pushed

the boundaries, and local -- I mean district courts around the country have responded on things like sanctuary cities, the program that protects those

who were brought here as children illegally by their parents. The Trump administration has lost a lot of these cases in lower courts. The

administration thinks though that the Supreme Court which is more conservative than many of these courts is sort of its ace in the hole here

and it has tried very aggressively to try to get these issues before the Supreme Court.

ANDERSON: Before we talk more to you, Robert, I want to take a sort of wider look with what's going on with regard to the White House and its

administration. Another story, Joe, that we should discuss, personal e- mails used to conduct official government business back in the news. But this time they're not Hillary Clinton's. A watch dog group says Ivanka

Trump, the President's daughter and close adviser, frequently used a private e-mail account to discuss White House affairs last year. The

explanation? She was reportedly unaware of the rules.

[10:05:00] Well, our viewers will be asking themselves how is this possible, Joe, when her father made Hillary Clinton's e-mails an essential

rallying cries of his campaign?

JOHNS: That's right, Becky, the White House has done quite a job of trying to distinguish what happened with Ivanka Trump from what happened with

Hillary Clinton. It's different in some ways but similar in other ways. It certainly screams credulity when you think of how much of a big deal the

President made about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. As an example, let's just listen to some of the things that the President had to say about Hillary

Clinton's e-mails.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 33,000 missing e-mails. Think of it. 33,000.

She should never have been allowed to run for the presidency based on what she did with e-mails.

She doesn't even remember whether or not she was instructed on how to use e-mails. Were you instructed on how to use it? I can't remember.

Hillary Clinton can't keep her e-mails safe, and you know what, folks, she sure as hell can't keep our country safe.

She deleted the e-mails. She has to go to jail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So, there you have it. That's what the President said. Now, the White House is trying to distinguish the Ivanka situation from the Hillary

Clinton situation saying, now she didn't delete any e-mails. All of her e- mails were looked over by her attorney, Abbe Lowell, and promptly delivered into the White House e-mail account. So, they say this situation is very

different from that. Still, the argument from Ivanka Trump is that she did not know what the rules were and that's just a little difficult to believe

-- Becky.

Joe Johns is in Washington. Our cameras caught me looking as if I was trying to mimic what you were saying there. Apologies. I didn't realize I

was on camera. Fantastic, Joe, thank you for that.

Closing out, finally, our discussion about Donald Trump, asylum and the southern border which we started with at this hour, of course this isn't

the first legal setback for Mr. Trump on immigration. He's been locked in a battle with the court since he took office on everything from trying to

ban Muslims from entering the country to cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities, to attempting to end protections for young immigrants who

are brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Where does this stop?

BARNES: Well, it will stop, I suppose, when the Supreme Court makes definitive rulings on things. You know, the travel ban that you mentioned,

it went through three iterations, changing each time as courts objected. When it finally got to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court said that the

President did have the power to impose this sort of ban, these higher standards on people coming into the country. It was a 5-4 decision. The

administration thinks that the Supreme Court -- more conservative than some of the lower courts -- is the place where it should go directly. And it

has tried to bypass a number of the lower courts to try to get these questions before the Supreme Court on citizenship for the census for

instance and a lot of other issues. And so, it'll be interesting to see how quickly the Supreme Court wants to take on these issues or whether it

wants to use the usual standard of making the administration go through all the steps in the lower court.

ANDERSON: To both of you, your analysis is important. Thank you.

BARNES: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

ANDERSON: I want to update you on what is happening as we speak on Wall Street. We are seeing stocks sell off once again. Here's what's happening

on the Dow right now, down more than 500 points. That is a drop of over 2 percent. I mean, the number looks bigger than the percentage but the point

being this market dropping and dropping quite fast as we speak. This is the first hour of trade. All three major indices are now negative for the

year and are continuing to fall. The Dow there underneath, 24,500, that is important. Keep an eye on these markets. You can see it's flicking around

a little bit, but we are down more than 2 percent and change at present.

[10:10:00] We've been discussing a number of domestic priorities for Donald Trump to grapple with. He won't like those numbers by the way in

the markets. And it doesn't get any less busy on the foreign policy front. Sometime today he is expected to receive a full report on the murder of

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Donald Trump may still cast doubt on who is behind the killing, but the CIA's initial assessment points the finger

at Saudi crowns prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meanwhile the Saudi government says it will not allow its king or crown prince to be penalized for the murder, calling it a red line. Our chief

international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, joins us now from London. She was, of course, reporting alongside me on this story in Turkey as it

unfolded some weeks ago. We have to be very clear here, what is it that the CIA's intelligence assessment was based on? And we do know from other

departments of government at least that there is no smoking gun to associate the crown prince with any significant involvement in this

killing, don't we?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Becky. I mean, what CNN has learned from sources within intelligence services is

that essentially what the CIA has done is to compile a list of all the evidence, to look at the circumstances surrounding that and put that in the

context with regards to what they know about Saudi Arabia, how they understand the power structure there to function. They also of course have

been privy to these audio record -- this audio recording of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a telephone call reportedly taking place during that

killing. That may have contributed to their ultimate assessments that Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince, was indeed responsible for or

ordered this operation to take place.

But as you mentioned, that is not at all what we're hearing from Saudi Arabia and I think what we're seeing is the Saudis seizing on this idea

that this isn't the result of a smoking gun piece of evidence, but this is the result of sort of putting together a picture based on the evidence that

they have been presented with. And they're using that wiggle room to say, look, even the CIA isn't saying absolutely without a shadow of a doubt that

Mohammed bin Salman was responsible for this. They're saying that's their assumption based on what we know.

And we heard the foreign minister today going one step further and saying, listen, we will not allow for the reputation of the king or the crown

prince to be harmed. We will not allow them to be harmed. There's definitely a sense, Becky, that Saudi Arabia after initially kind of trial

floating several different narratives now feels that they have found the story, they're sticking to it. They want to get in front of it and they

want to be the ones to shape it and push it forward -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Our viewers may be wondering, then why the disconnect between the CIA -- the seeming disconnect between the CIA and the Trump

administration at this point.

WARD: Well, I think the Trump administration is obviously looking at a number of different facets when they approach this problem. And Donald

Trump himself has been very outspoken about the value of the relationship with regard to weapons deals, more than $100 billion worth of weapons deals

between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were agreed on during the President's first overseas trip to Saudi Arabia last year. So, that's clearly a

priority for him.

And then also, there's the sense that this doesn't look good for the larger Trump family. You may remember that it was Trump's son-in-law, Jared

Kushner, who really fostered and nurtured this relationship with the crown prince, who has really put him forward as being a pivotal player in trying

to create or orchestrate some kind of a Middle East peace agreement. And so, to see those efforts undermined by what is seen by many as incredibly

reckless and dangerous behavior from the crown prince, it's not surprising that President Trump is reluctant to kind of follow the conventional

wisdom. Follow the advice that he's hearing from his own intelligence services, and approach this in a different way and change his opinion on

what he sees the role of the crown prince being going forward. He thinks these a lucrative relationship, an important relationship for him in terms

of his reputation, and he's never one, as we know, to back down -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Clarissa Ward is in London for you viewers. Thank you.

To the wildfires raging across parts of northern California now, much needed rain is forecasted later this week.

[10:15:00]And that should help ease the smothering heat and smog from the devastating flames but it will come at a cost. Experts warn the wet

weather may also bring flooding and mudslides. CNN's Paul Vercammen is live in Paradise, California. Just how bad are things there -- Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Becky, when you look at Paradise itself, this little city has been obliterated. 80 to 90 percent of the

structures here destroyed and this grim task of course, of recovering bodies. 79 people now dead in all of this as they found two more

overnight. And then you have this notion of the missing and unaccounted for. That number has shrunk dramatically. It was over 1,000. It's down

to 699. And we have to go ahead and clarify again and again the sheriff telling us to put it in context. This unaccounted-for list does not mean

missing and presumed dead. He's well aware on this list that he calls raw data, there are duplicate names, there are misspelled names and there are

people on this list, he concedes, who don't even know they're on it. So that's some better news. The fire fight is winding down. This is now 70

percent contained. It has burned 151,000 acres -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Paul, remarkable stuff. All right, and as people rush out, some leaving other members of their families behind, their pets specifically.

VERCAMMEN: They have lost a lot, many of these people. They've lost their homes, as you said. They've lost some of their pets. But don't forget

this is also a commercial livestock area. Not unheard of for somebody to have both their pets as well as horses, cows, sheep, and the rest, there's

a massive animal rescue effort under way here as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Nathan Wilkinson, animal rescue volunteer: Any given time there's up to 2,000 animals in the shelters. We've had more animals in shelter care then

people. And so, it takes an army to care for these animals.

People can't get their animals in a home if they don't have a home so the least, we can do is care for their animals until they can take them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And Nathan Wilkinson well equipped to spearhead this animal effort or be one of the leaders. He was a sergeant in the army -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Oh, my goodness, all right, thank you for that, Paul.

Still to come, a glimmer of hope in Yemen's civil war. How momentum is building for peace talks, just ahead. That story, stay with us.

[10:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Images there of the brutal fighting faced by far too many Yemenis. For more than three years now the grueling war has caused one of

the worst humanitarian crises in the world. But we just may, just may be approaching the biggest development yet in ending the conflict. On Monday

the United Kingdom introduced a draft resolution on Yemen at the U.N. Security Council calling for a cease-fire. Meanwhile, momentum building

for peace talks set to be held in Sweden. Well, our Sam Kiley joining me now. So, if we are looking at anything new here, we're looking at the

possibility of a bit of a non-resolute resolution. How close are we to an actual truce ahead of talks which we are told by sources are scheduled

within two weeks?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is already a form of a truce, although in the last 18, 24 hours there's been allegations from

the Houthi's that it's been broken in large part by the Saudi-led coalition with air strikes on Sanaa City and the port city of Hodeida. But the

Houthis are sticking to their position that they're not going to fire their long-range missiles and drones against UAE targets and targets in Saudi

Arabia and indeed inside the country. So, they are trying to maintain that position.

At the same time, there is a recognition coming from the Saudi-led coalition that they need to avert this humanitarian disaster. That is the

pressure point for them from the international community's perspective. They just announced $.5 billion worth of extra money. They say that brings

their total spend on this humanitarian disaster potentially is $1.2 billion which is a really staggering amount of money. I don't think I can recall

any humanitarian disaster able to raise that kind of money if it's delivered. And the issue really now for the aid agencies is the question

of delivery of aid.

There's a lot of pressure going on the Houthis to allow aid through that port of Hodeidah. On your show the other day the World Food Programme

chief fingering the Houthis for their failure to do that and for interfering with aid. At the same time there's been this pressure building

on the Saudis in particular, partly related to the death of Jamal Khashoggi but also to domestic pressure anticipated coming out of the Capitol Hill

there. There is waning support even, say in Tehran, where the British Foreign Secretary was recently for perpetuating a war that is a stalemate

and is killing civilians.

ANDERSON: Yes, hundreds of thousands of civilians. I mean, the official numbers are something like 10,000 killed by missiles and others. But, I

mean, this is a war that's destroying this country, hundreds of thousands dead and so many on the brink of famine.

I want to show our viewers how things do stand on the ground. Have a look at this. Everything you see here in red, viewers, is held by the Houthi

rebels including the capital Sanaa and the critical port of Hodeidah. Saudi-backed government forces control far more territory, everything you

see in blue. As you can see the forces have besieged the Hodeida port. They say they are ready to talk. The leader of the Houthi rebels has

called the U.N. resolution disappointing but has expressed support for peace talks. So, are things on the move towards success?

KILEY: I think they are. I think one of the indicators of success is that notwithstanding the Houthi disappointment over a resolution -- a draft

resolution -- that they had hoped would identify the Saudis as being equal partners as problem causers in this issue. That has been watered down we

understand, from the position probably in the early drafts. So, it does still demand of all the belligerence to allow aid through an immediate

cessation of hostilities particularly around Hodeidah. And it has not been rejected, nor has it been binding. That might also have helped that

process. It is a question of trying to bring these warring factions and they're very complex at least to the point of peace talks. The Saudis have

allowed the evacuation of 50 Houthi wounded. Who, as you know, that was the issue that the Houthis used to explain why they didn't go to the last

round of peace talks.

[10:25:01] ANDERSON: And this would, of course, be the fourth round of peace talks. We've had Geneva 1 and 2 and Kuwait. I think the talks

lasted as long as three months at that state. I guess what I'm saying here, we should minimize our expectations as we move towards these talks

scheduled as we are told within two weeks.

Now finally -- and again, you know, I've said this before. I don't want our viewers to feel like you and I are getting caught in the weeds, nor do

I want them to be bored by what we're doing. But resolutions are important. So, let's just get through this and I'll help you out for those

of you who aren't up with these things as we are.

Resolutions on Yemen have been adopted before at the Security Council, resolution 2216 in particular. Calling for, quote, all parties in the

embattled country, in particular the Houthis, immediately and unconditionally end violence.

Now we have been told off the record, Sam, that there is significant opposition to any new resolution. Those who oppose it don't see the

necessity of any new resolution at all. They think, for example, a formal statement from the Security Council would be sufficient, maybe a resolution

after these talks. How do these things work? At the end of the day surely for those on the ground it's just getting the parties around the table and

getting them to end this thing.

KILEY: Well, I think although it seems sort of ultra-boring when you start talking about 2216 and throwing numbers around and explaining how important

the U.N. resolution is to the Palestinians, they're still thumping the table over resolutions passed in 1948. But what it does do in

international terms is provide a framework around people -- around which people can disagree. Without that framework, there is no point of

departure. And this, if there is a second resolution -- not a second resolution, another resolution when it comes to Yemen, even though it may

sound enormously repetitive much like the 2216. What it does is it sort of refreshes the debate. In this context, really the effort is to get the

fighting to stop. Freeze the front lines if that's what happens. Nobody is imagining there's going to be any kind of political solution soon.

But what they do need to do is get that food and medical supplies in. Because as you rightly point out, the multiplier effect of war is not just

the 10,000 people estimated to have been killed by bombs and bullets but people dying from lack of vaccinations, from other infections that come in

as a consequence of hunger. It's really about trying to get enough quiet to get those food trucks through the roads.

ANDERSON: And as David Beasley said and you rightly pointed out, it's not about actually physically getting this stuff in -- and he admits that they

are able get. Is distributing that stuff. And then, what is that stuff? They need the money. What is that stuff on the ground that they are trying

to get to people. All right, good stuff. Thank you, Sam.

The situation in Yemen absolutely dire for so many people. If you would like to help famine victims there -- and this is a country on the brink of

a catastrophe -- you can find a link on our website. Just look for Yemen under CNN impact your world.

Breaking story this hour as well, dozens of people are dead after an explosion in Afghanistan's capital city. 40 people were killed at a blast

at a wedding in Kabul. Now, religious scholars were gathered to mark prophet Mohammed's birthday. 60 others were wounded. Officials say the

explosion was probably a suicide attack.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson live from Abu Dhabi where it is 7:28 in the evening.

Coming up, from game changer to game over. He reshaped and redefined the car industry for almost 20 years. But it took just one day for the

chairman of an auto giant to fall from grace. That and all your other news up next.

[10:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, I want to bring in the New York Stock Exchange and Julia Chatterley at this point because there is a big business story out there,

the fall of Carlos Ghosn, head of the Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi alliance. Perhaps one of the stories behind what you are seeing on your screens at

present. Around a 450-odd drop on the Dow Jones industrial average. All three of these indices actually are lower. This market in the first hour

was lower than this. So, we are actually seeing a bit of a claw back by traders who are investing for this market to go higher. But these three

major indices in New York now negative for the year. And we may see them continue to fall. Let's get you to Julia. What's going on?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: Becky, I agree with everything that you just said there, one that we have bounced off the lows

of the session, which is important. The story about Carlos Ghosn as to the general sense of nervousness. As you said too and this is a really

important point I think, all the gains for the U.S. markets which has been such a leader globally have now been wiped out. And I think for a lot of

investors they're just looking at the situation here and going is now the right time to buy or do we just stay back and wait to see what happens

here.

And at the heart of this is the tech stocks. Because these are the stocks the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix that have led these markets

higher throughout the year, and the headlines in the last 24 hours are now this broader market is in a bear market too. So, I'm saying they're off 20

percent from the highs. These were the ones that were giving support to these markets and if they're now under pressure for each of their own

reasons, where does the leadership come from in order to support these markets?

And if we take a further step back, the ongoing trade concerns, the ongoing concerns that the federal reserve here will overtighten and raise rates too

much is just further worries for investors here. And I'll finally throw in the fact that overnight Morgan Stanley came out and said we are in a bear

market now. All the bulls need to go and hide. And we also had Goldman Sachs saying that U.S. growth next year is going to slow to a crawl.

If you add all of those things together, it's not surprising that I think markets are very nervous today. On the other hand, I would point out that

there is a lot of bad news now in the price here.

[10:35:00] You only need one good thing to happen for investors to go, OK, maybe I should get back involved here because they've lost those gains and

will be desperate to make money. So, you know, always too hard for these markets but right now a lot of nervousness, clearly.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. And you're absolutely right to bring up some of these big voices suggesting there's a bear market already, what happens

next is sort of anybody's guess at this point. I've got John with me. Julia, thank you for that.

I've got John with me and of course it's been a decade since the recession of 2008. That was a biting recession. But anybody who's been in the

markets for long enough to have seen a number of cycles and you and I have been covering this market for more than a couple of cycles, will tell you

that ten years is an awfully long time to be in an upward moving market. We are due, sadly, experts will tell us, a recession.

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNNMONEY EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, in fact, you always have this idea that the economic cycle could get very tired. Donald

Trump's been cutting taxes, deregulating in the U.S. economy, spending with a budget deficit of a trillion dollars to extend that economic cycle. We

also came out of this historic period where interest rates were historically low and we had the government buying bonds to lubricate the

economy. That's drawn to an end.

So, we have to watch very carefully what the U.S. federal reserve plans to do. Is it continuing to raise interest rates? How aggressively going into

2019. We still have the ongoing spat between the U.S. and China. There's going to be more tariffs at the start of next year which puts more pressure

on the markets. And in particular the largest emerging economy in the world and that being China. And we're seeing a broader selloff even into

the oil market and other commodities today. Because there are concerns not only about oversupply that you and I have talked about here on CONNECT THE

WORLD. But worries about demand in 2019 for gold, copper, oil, soft commodities in terms of grains as well.

We've been living off of this environment of almost 4 percent global growth. It looks tired, and we have a President in the United States who's

putting pressure on the emerging markets when it comes to tariffs. It's a nasty combination, and the market -- as Julia was pointing out here -- was

overvalued for a long, long period of time. Most people thought it was a one-way ticket up. But we have higher interest rates from the Federal

Reserve and slower growth and protection measures, it could get worse.

ANDERSON: Yes, I know is fascinating. Isn't it? Pre-2008 the Federal Reserve and the banks around the world, of course, had an opportunity to

help these markets out by actually reducing interest rates from a 5, 5.5 percent down to --

DEFTERIOS: The toolbox has been used.

ANDERSON: The toolbox has been used and then we've seen this sort of easing -- the sort of money being injected into the market as well. So, it

will be really interesting to see how these central banks will cope with what may come next.

Let me put this to you, John, because this is another big business story this hour. And I know it's one that we've really should discuss. The

falling of Carlos Ghosn. Who, of course, is head of Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi alliance. And that is important. The Renault, Nissan,

Mitsubishi alliance an enormous auto conglomerate. Nissan preparing to oust him as their chairman. This as new details emerge about some of the

allegations against him. Japan's national broadcaster, NHK, says he was given company money to four properties around the world and say he is

accused of not paying rent or declaring the homes or financial reports. What do you make of this -- John?

DEFTERIOS: What's extraordinary about this is that they changed the whistle blowing laws in Japan a few years ago and this took down one of the

biggest players in the auto making business. Let's put no gloss over it. He is the author of the so-called global alliance. He thought that auto

makers on their own couldn't survive, particularly the weaker ones like Renault. So, he first forged an alliance with Nissan and then extended

that to Mitsubishi. He was a man who rescued Nissan. It was losing $3 billion when he took control of it 12 years ago.

I actually did a half-hour documentary and spent a week with him in Tokyo. It went from a loss of $3 billion into a $2 billion profit in two years.

He was revered for what he did. He had a strategy of having plants all around the world in emerging markets that would feed countries in Asia,

countries in Europe, countries in North America.

Now, he's being charged with misappropriation of funds. Quite extraordinary for the amount of money he was paid before. And hiding some

$44 million of his earnings to lower his taxes. This is someone who had almost too much control as chairman and chief executive and it finally

caught up with him. So, a culture of silence in Japan changed dramatically, Becky, with the whistle blowing law and it caught up with

Carlos Ghosn.

ANDERSON: I can't tell you how many people have said he had that much money, why did he need more? Carlos Ghosn wasn't of course just an

industry icon, John, in Japan, he was a pop culture icon. Take a look at this. This tells a Manga comic that tells the story of Ghosn's remarkable

career. Ghosn also had bento box named after him.

[10:40:00] And as I talk about this, I was hoping that we'd get some graphics up. So, as I talked about Maga comic, you where envision -- there

we go. That's better isn't it? If you've ever been to Japan of course you'll know what a big deal both Manga and food are. How do you think the

Japanese business community is going to respond to this? I mean, you would make a lovely Manga comic character.

DEFTERIOS: I appreciate that. This comic was actually a best seller when I went to do the documentary around 2006 and 2007. Not only that, there

was a poll that came out when I was on the ground there, he was the most preferred man to marry by Japanese women. That's how popular he was. He

went into the manufacturing plant they had caricatures of him on the walls because he rescued Nissan. They had the Japanese kites on the ceilings.

These are all things that the employees made because he made such a radical change.

We have to think all the way until 2017, Becky, he was challenging Volkswagen as the number one car maker and surpassed them last year with

better than 10 million vehicles. It's going to rattle the cage of corporate Japan now because there's the ability to do some whistle blowing,

as I was suggesting. But he was the outsider that was challenging Japanese culture. He did so very successfully until he sat into power and had both

chairman and CEO not one auto maker but at Renault. And at one point during the documentary coverage, I said to him, look, you're running

Renault, you're running Nissan and adding a joint venture in China with Dongfang, isn't it too much for one person? He said, look, running at 60

percent capacity. I can handle a lot more than this. And I think this is where it comes to somebody being in the seat for too long, thinking they're

infallible.

ANDERSON: 1999, I remember back in the day and we've all done interviews with Carlos Ghosn, he did seem almost invincible. Well, clearly not.

John, thank you.

We're going to be right back with more breaking news this hour. So, do not go away. .

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: I want to get you back up to date on what is going on, on Wall Street. We have seen quite a significant decline. First hour of trading

the market down a lot more than it is now. They are clawing at the stock prices, back those investors out there buying today, but these numbers are

significant, viewers. Because we are seeing a selloff of U.S. stocks in the context of what's been going on across this year again. Here is what's

happening on the Dow right now, down more than 1.5 percent. That's over 400 points. That's with the market just flicking above 24,500 at present.

We've got three major indices now down or around negative for the first time in the year and continuing to fall at this point. This is

significant. Keep an eye on those markets.

[10:45:00] Well this is our third breaking news story this hour. The U.S. military says it's dealt a blow to Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia. Ryan

Browne joins us from the Pentagon. What do you have?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, Becky, the U.S. military is saying it killed some 37 Al-Shabaab militants in a series of air strikes on

Monday. Now, this is a significant number of militants. The U.S. has been conducting targeted air strikes against this Al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia

since the start of the Trump administration. But usually these strikes are small scale, a few militants here or there. This is two sizable targets of

militants, one strike killing some 27 fighters. A second strike killing some 10 fighters.

Now, this all comes as the U.S. military is actually planning to reduce its military footprint in Africa as the U.S. seeks to counter Russia and China,

focus on more near competitor challenges. The U.S. is drawing down in much of Africa, we're being told over the next several of years. However,

Somalia is one place the U.S. will not be drawing down. The U.S. has some 500 troops there and they conduct these air strikes periodically in support

of the government that is based in Mogadishu. But again, this is just an ongoing campaign against Al-Shabaab that remains potent, remains able to

strike throughout Somalia. So, the U.S. continuing its pressure for now.

ANDERSON: Ryan is on the ground, thank you.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson live from Abu Dhabi. More on that story, of course, as we get it.

Coming up this hour, one major tech firm has sparked fresh uproar over a decision it just made about how it does business in the West Bank. We're

live in Jerusalem with the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The city of Aviel is growing. One of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank. A new neighborhood

slated for this hilltop. The city's university has 15,000 students and a sense of permanence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Oren Liebermann there touring some of the controversial Israeli settlements in the West Bank just last year. Now one tech firm has sparked

a new uproar. Airbnb announcing it will pull listings of rentals in Israeli settlements there. Let's get the details from Oren Liebermann in

Jerusalem -- Oren.

LIEBERMANN: Becky, this is a major announcement from a major tech company. According to their statement which they made yesterday they have 191 -- or

listings of 191 different countries 81,000 different cities they say, but they will pull listings now from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

It's not a big number of listings we're talking about here. It's only 200 the company said in their release, but it's about the symbolism of this.

Palestinians hailed this decision, they say they reached out to Airbnb nearly three years ago to point out what they say was Airbnb's assistance

of the colonization of the Palestinian lands in their words. And now they hailed this as a step in the right direction, calling on our companies to

do the same. Israelis and Israeli authorities responded with outrage, calling it a disgrace. Some going as far as to say it was an anti-Semitic

decision by the company and calling on the company to either reverse their decision or calling for a boycott of the company.

In fact, the tourism minister not only said he would work against Airbnb and try to take measures against them operating in Israel, but he would

also work to promote rentals in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Even if the number isn't big here, Becky, in terms of just 200, it's the

symbolism behind it that has gotten such a powerful response on both sides.

ANDERSON: I'm just wondering where the market for that kind of accommodation is. I mean, is it clear?

LIEBERMANN: That's a good question. I'd imagine -- and this is speculation as I don't have a definitive answer for you either from those

who list their rentals or from the company itself. But there is certainly a market there for rentals, whether it's tourists who come to stay in

settlements or Israelis who go to settlements or otherwise. Again, the number here isn't that large in terms of 200 listings but it's the idea

behind it and the sense that this is Airbnb taking a measure not only against the settlements but Israeli authorities seeing it as a major step

against Israel itself.

ANDERSON: Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem for you.

Turning from divisive conflict to a symbol of togetherness for tonight's parting shots. Two interlocking hearts carves into lakes in the Dubai

desert. The word love spelled out below by planted trees. This is drone footage from a photographer, Altamash Javed, offering some of the first

glimpses of the new lakes. And while it might look like a case of skilled Photoshop work, see for yourself, the lakes can be found on Google Maps by

searching "Love Lake Dubai".

Well, I want to get you another update on the markets because we've seen a lot of activity of late. This is the Dow Jones Industrial market. This

market has been down more than 500 points in what was the first hour of trading today. We saw oil stocks down some 6 percent. The market clawing

back as you can see here, down around 140 -- sorry, 1.4 percent and change, just above 24,500 at 24,670 or there or thereabout. But the really

important point here is that all three major indices are now at negative for the year and they are continuing to fall. As I say, oil down

significantly, down some 6 percent. You see these are the three major markets, the Nasdaq down -- again, look, it's down less than 1 percent at

the moment but the point is, it is down. Down negative now for the year, as is the S&P 500 there. The S&P 500 down more than 1 percent. And the

bigger market, those larger stocks down on the Dow Jones index nearly 1.5 percent. So, this is mid-morning. Of course, trading in New York, we saw

activity like this in Asia. We look to see how these European markets will be closing out and then how these Asian markets respond. But if you're in

these markets, do keep an eye on them.

[10:55:00] And you can always find out more on all the stories that the CONNECT THE WORLD team is working on throughout the day. Head over to our

Facebook page, including my interview, for example, with British pop star, Dua Lipa. If you miss that one, take a look. Facebook.com/CNNConnect.

I'm Becky Anderson. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching and the team working with me here in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. This is our

Middle East broadcasting hub, of course. And from the teams working with us around the world. It is a very good evening. "QUEST EXPRESS" though

follows this. Don't go away. Those markets will be the focus of that show coming up.

END