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British Prime Minister Meets Top EU Leaders; Juncker Says EU Won't Renegotiate, but Room for Clarification; French Students Blockade Schools After Macron Speech; Trump, Brexit and Riots in Paris, How They Link Up; Climate Refugees Flee Drought and Starvation; U.S. Efforts to Promote Fossil Fuels Mocked at COP24; Turkish Newspaper Employees Face Lengthy Prison Sentences; Time Highlights "The Guardians and the War on Truth". Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 11, 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: Hello and welcome, you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me Becky Anderson, tonight live from Dubai. From

the House of Commons to the Hague to Berlin and Brussels. There is one issue dominating Europe's halls of power and one woman marching down them

all. British Prime Minister Theresa May was hoping a series of meetings with E.U. leaders can help save her Brexit deal. Although, as ever with

Brexit, there's always the odd bump in the road. Look at this. Mrs. May struggling to even get out of her own car to meet German Chancellor Angela

Merkel earlier today, who is waiting patiently it seems. Partly an auspicious way to arrive.

Well, the British Prime Minister also spent the morning with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. She is due in Brussels in the next hour.

Back home British lawmakers were supposed to have voted on her deal today, but to avoid defeat the Prime Minister has delayed the ballot on Brexit

until some point she says before January 21. And that means more back-and- forth over what is known as the Irish backstop, which is arguably Brexit's biggest sticking point.

We are covering all sides of this story for you. Atika Shubert is in Berlin, Erin McLaughlin is in Brussels. Matthew Chance is in Westminster

for you tonight, while Samuel Burke has been getting reaction from people at a Christmas market in South London. Matthew, let me start with you.

The Prime Minister well and truly locked in Brexit hell. The country in what can only be described as a political and constitutional crisis. What

is her exit strategy at this point?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well that's a great question. And if only any of us knew the answers. The fact is that

Theresa May has kicked the ball down the road in terms of going to Parliament with whatever she can bring back from Brussels. She's back with

the German (INAUDIBLE). She'll be meeting E.U. big wigs to see if she can extract some concessions and additional reassurances. She says she's going

to try to get to the heart of the issue of the backstop, of the border for Ireland and Northern Ireland.

But the fact is you speak to people here -- and look at all these protesters that have gathered outside the Houses of Parliament. These

particular groups are fundamentally opposed to any kind of exit from the European Union. That little statue there saying, "Brexit is a

monstrosity." There are equally passionate protesters just away from here. They occasionally march through. Who are opposed to Britain being members

anymore of the European Union and wanted to leave if necessary, with no deal whatsoever. Both sides are really entrenched in their positions, and

it's difficult to see whatever Theresa May comes back with this time and puts to Parliament. It's going to be enough to satisfy Parliament, which

is divided, of course, and more importantly, satisfy this country which has become immensely divided, Becky, over this issue.

ANDERSON: Calls by her opponents -- and some of those are within her own party -- for her to put the country first and do the honorable thing they

say and resign. Any sign she is willing or ready to do that?

CHANCE: Becky, look, I mean, the problem is there's no one really out there that's emerged to somebody that wants to take on this role.

Traditionally, when Britain has a problem of national importance like this that it needs to answer it goes to a general election. But the country is

divided in such a way that it's fundamentally shifted the way people think about themselves. They don't think of themselves as left-wing or right-

wing or Labour or Conservative -- the two main political parties in this country. They define themselves on their Brexit status, what they want to

do about that issue.

And the political parties in this country are not set up to cater to those divisions. The political parties themselves are divided over what to do

about Brexit. And so, a general election and the new leader isn't necessarily going to answer that question for the nation.

ANDERSON: Matthew Chance is outside the palace of Westminster as it is known. Matthew, thank you. Well, Atika, hopefully to rally support in

Berlin after a trip to the Hague, Mrs. May arrived earlier and rather awkwardly got locked in the back of her own car.

[10:05:00] She emerged, of course, eventually. Did she, though, take anything away from her meeting with Mrs. Merkel, which may help her out at

this point?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if anybody can come to Prime Minister Theresa May's aid, it's chancellor Angela

Merkel. She is the strongest and most stable leader in Europe and perhaps the most sympathetic to May's plight. But it's not clear what exactly

Merkel can do. I believe the meeting may have just wrapped up. But when we called the Chancellor's office earlier, they said that whatever comes

out today, the responsibility is really on the British government to deliver some sort of alternative here. And they made very clear that the

withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated.

So, perhaps the best option is as being spoken about now we're hearing from many people, some sort of side statement, side agreement, which deals with

this issue of the backstop. But it would probably not be legally binding. So, this may be what Prime Minister May has come here for, to get

Chancellor Merkel's support for some sort of a side statement. But even though Merkel is very powerful within the E.U. she is only one of 27

leaders. So, whatever comes out of this, it's still going to require the agreement of 26 other E.U. members.

ANDERSON: Well, the President of the European Commission -- thank you, Atika. Very clear, it seems, on what Europe's position is at this point.

Explain.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Becky. That position, he reiterated what Donald Tusk, the President of the Europe Council tweeted

out last night that as far as the E.U. is concerned in terms of the deal that was reached between Theresa May's government and the E.U., there will

be no renegotiation. Take a listen to what the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had to say earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN-CLAUDE JUNCKER, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: The deal we have achieved is the best deal possible. It's the only deal possible. No room

whatsoever for renegotiation. That of course, that there's room if used intelligently there's room enough for further clarification and further

interpretations without opening withdrawal agreement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: And that further clarification, that further interpretation will, no doubt, be the subject of these intense meetings that she's

expected to have when she arrives here in Brussels. She'll first meet with the President Tusk before making her way to the commission just behind me

for a meeting with President Juncker, as well as the E.U.'s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.

It's interesting though, we did hear from Guy Verhofstadt as well. He's the chief E.U. Coordinator for the European Parliament. Keep in mind that

the European Parliament is also required to ratify this deal. And he said that Brexit is a mess, and he also said that he has two messages to send to

the United Kingdom. The first being that the E.U. will never let Ireland down. The implication being that the backstop will not be materially

changed in this diplomatic push by Theresa May. And the other message being that the E.U. has no problem building a closer future relationship

in order to avoid the backstop that is so problematic, but, of course, that would come with strings attached -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Well, I think that the term "mess" is certainly one that can be applied to what is going on with Brexit. Although many people will say

that Europe has its own existential crisis at the moment. Look, thank you.

Samuel, to you now, and to the casual observer, Brexit could seem like just a game to politicians but people's lives are at stake here. How does the

British public feel about all of this?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNNMONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we're in one of the few parts of London which actually voted in favor of

Brexit, leaving the European Union. So, you think they will be frustrated with the Prime Minister, but nearly everybody we talk to here is anything

but frustrated. They're sympathetic to Theresa May, and, in fact, they want her to keep on pushing hard, and her discussions with her European

counterpart. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she's very resilient. I think she's great in the fact that she's actually still driving this forward. But I think she

has to be careful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have to give her the benefit of the doubt to Theresa May and hope that she can come up with something, you know, a

better deal for our country.

[10:10:06] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think who's going to replace her? There's not really anybody else who's up to the job at the moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the same thing she's saying in her position and trying to make a last-minute dash to salvage the deal. I won't feel very

secure if my job if I was her though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not her fault. I mean, she's just -- she was just -- no one else wanted the job. I don't know why she took it. She must

have been mad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURKE: So, Becky, the people at this Christmas market, they heard what Jean-Claude Juncker said. I played it for them. And they said they don't

care what Europe says. They want their Prime Minister to keep on going hard. A lot of these people voted for Brexit, like the majority of the

United Kingdom, and they want her to keep on pushing for an even better deal and, frankly, she's got a lot of support from the crowds here.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. All right. Samuel Burke is at the Christmas market in south London -- or south of London. I don't know if we should

really call it south London. I know officially it is, but I think Sutton is just south of -- consider the main part of London. Atika's in Berlin,

and Erin, of course, is in Brussels for you. Terrific stuff. Thank you very much, indeed, to all of you.

Let's continue the theme of turmoil and unrest then in Europe as we move across the channel from the U.K. as it were, to France. It doesn't appear

French President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to calm nationwide protest have succeeded. Thousands of French students blocking entrances to schools

across the nation to show their anger over education reforms. The students are calling this "Mardi Noir" or "Black Tuesday", and have disrupted at

least 170 high schools today. Our Ben Wedeman monitoring all of the protests. He is in Paris. Chaos in the U.K. seeming capitulation by the

President in France, and, yet not enough at this point, Ben, to calm the situation.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From what we've seen today it's a variety of opinion polls that send kind of mixed messages

about the popular reaction to President Macron's speech last night. Where he talked about raising the public, the minimum wage by 100 euro, and

cancelling attacks on old age pensioners.

I mean, for instance, there's one opinion poll that says 54 percent of those polled said that the Yellow Vest protest should stop. Another poll

said the exact same number, 54 percent want them to continue. But it does seem that ever so slightly his speech did take a bit of wind out of the

sail of these protests.

Keep in mind we're just weeks away from Christmas. This is not the time of year when businesses need to be disrupted, when people cannot get on with

their lives. But, on the other hand, what we did here immediately after the speech, many people saying it is simply too little too late. That the

real grievances have to do with the personality of President Macron himself. Many people feel he is too distant. He doesn't understand the

problems of ordinary people. And I read this morning on-line that some people are saying that what he offered in his speech is the equivalent of

100 quid and a Mars bar -- Becky.

ANDERSON: If I were to put it to you what options does, he have? Clearly not a character change at this point, I mean, he is who he is. He deals

with being the President and the way that he does. So, what does happen next? You are suggesting that maybe things will begin to calm down, but

whatsoever scars has this left?

WEDEMAN: Well, the scars are already -- the economy has been seriously dented at a critical time of year. For instance, we also found out today

that 54 people were put on trial, 17 already sentenced for last Saturday's disturbances here in Paris. So, there are stars on both sides, and the

expectation is that there will be more scars. That there will be an act five, a fifth Saturday of protests here in Paris, and other parts of the

country that this is not over. That, for instance, many people wanted him to resend or rather to bring back a wealth tax on France's super wealthy.

[10:15:00] That will be one of the first things he canceled when he came into power 18 months ago, and he said that he would not do that in his

speech last night. So, there is sort of piecemeal measures that he has taken to calm the situation down. But his opponents on the left, on the

right, and in the middle, feel that although he has taken a step in the right direction, he needs to take several dozen more -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. Ben Wedeman is in Paris for you. What a day, what a week, what a month or so in Europe. We're going to keep doing what this

show says on the tin and connect your world right up. Next, those riots in Paris, that political meltdown in London. We've just taken you across

Europe, but what or rather who links them? We'll give you that analysis up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: From the day I took the oath of office, I have been fighting to drain the swamp and sometimes it may not

look like it, but believe me, we are draining the swamp. And there are a lot of unhappy people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch, to quote Kipling. The most powerful man in the world there, the American President from the

White House shouting out against the very establishment he is ruling over. Painting himself a man of the people, the forgotten downtrodden and left

behind who are frankly fed up with being forgotten, downtrodden, and left behind. And so, we've seen Donald Trump as the first great political

canary in the coal mine and even a spark plug, as it were, for a global realignment against the status quo.

With people, many in Europe, where we started the show feeling sick and tired of being pushed around by so-called elite. Just look at the

pandemonium in Paris. Something the American President all too happy to say I helped this, they love me. As people and students even join the

chorus on, hey forget globalization and all that business. What about us?

Well, how about Brexit? A monumental shambles by any definition. While it's Europe's problem, it's something Donald Trump happily sees as part of

his prerogative.

[10:20:00] Nationalist self-determination against an apparent storm of establishment tyranny. Remember, he wants pointed to himself as Mr.

Brexit.

So now let's bring in the head honcho for breaking down with going on in the United States. At the world renowned "Financial Times" newspaper, Mr.

Edward Luce. Who has described the times we are living in as a Groundhog Day in a loop of Trump in false dawns. Edward, thank you for joining us.

France, Trump, Brexit. How do you see their connections?

EDWARD LUCE, CHIEF U.S. COMMENTATOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: Trump and Brexit. Well, Brexit will be kind of a dress rehearsal for Trump's election and the

ties and affinity across the Atlantic between the people working on the Trump campaign. People like Steve Bannon and sponsors of the Trump

campaign, like the Mercer family who are in Cambridge Analytica. You know it's multiple manifold. And in much the same way I think that you see

Britain as a sort of test case sometimes for music hits in the fashion industry. It seems to be a trendsetter. So, the impact of the Brexit

referendum in 2016 was a shot fired around the world for populace. And most particularly for the Trump campaign. It showed it could be done.

ANDERSON: Some describing the British referendum -- the Brexit referendum as a petri dish in 2016 for that U.S. election. You buy that, do you?

LUCE: I do, indeed, and I think, you know, as time goes on, the links between the Trump campaign and the E.U. leave campaign, most particularly

through Nigel Farage, but also through others like Aaron Banks, the British insurance millionaire. And also, through connections with people like

Julian Assange. Who, of course, is a person of interest along with Nigel Farage in the Robert Mueller investigation and into the Russian collusion.

There are too many coincidences. There are too many links. There's too much affinity there for us to see it simply as related parallel events.

They are connected events.

ANDERSON: All right. So that was 2016, and we live with these sort of, you know -- the fall-out of what I think we agree was a very significant

series of events in the lead-up to both Brexit referendum and indeed the U.S. election. Let's move forward then. A good friend of this show and

really brilliant analyst, like yourself, CNN Stephen Collinson observing that quote, "Fears are growing of a global economic slowdown and an end to

a year's long bull run." As a so-called wave of populism turns into a riptide of uncertainty, he says.

Edward, CONNECT THE WORLD, as we may, are we -- do you think seeing a fundamental shift here. And not just say a random few bursts of

disconnected global outcries.

LUCE: I do see a fundamental shift. I mean, of course, each country is a little bit like a Tolstoy and family. They're uniquely unhappy in their

own way, so the character of the Yellow Vests protests against Macron. France, is very different to the boiling water that Theresa May finds

herself in. Different still to the disarray that the Trump administration faces in the build-up to the conclusion of the Mueller report.

But there are common affinities between what's driving populism to what's driving anti-politics as usual across the West. And I think that they tend

to feed off each other. You know, the role of Steven Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, in befriending the likes of Viktor Orban in

Hungary, Matteo Salvini in Italy, the hard core Brexiteers in Britain. He is very much a glue, but one of several glues that create the term populist

International . Which is come into currency. I think not unfittingly in recent months.

ANDERSON: And this was a man and is a man who is so anti-globalization you couldn't make it up. We've heard it's the economy, stupid, a million

times, but it isn't that simple. Take a look at this graph showing how the top 10 percent of earners globally are eating more and more of the economic

pie for themselves year after year even if the economy does well. Not everybody does. Case in point, the richest 1 percent of Americans now own

more of the U.S. economy than at any time in the history -- the country's history, about 40 percent.

So, I wonder, you know, it's not just the Steve Bannons of this world who have an issue with globalization. I mean, how can anybody justify that

chart, those facts?

[10:25:00] LUCE: It's very hard to justify it, and so even worse, you know, the bottom 90 percent own just one-fifth. They own less than a half

of what the top 1 percent earn. These are extraordinary unprecedented levels of inequality. We used to make the comparison with the "Great

Gatsby" era of the 1920s. This is now way beyond that, way worse than that. And it creates all kinds of legitimate resentments of people feeling

economically excluded, whilst the rest are sort of dining, looking through the window at this sort of conquer presence of consumption amongst the

global elites.

Which provides perfect fodder for political entrepreneurs to exploit for people to seek scapegoats. And that's exactly what the populists are doing

brilliantly. I would, however, go further and say they are Pluto populists, because the kinds of measures you are seeing the tax cuts from

the Trump administration, the agenda of the sort of hardcore Brexiteers would make that inequality worse, and, indeed, it is making that inequality

worse. Hence the term "Pluto populism".

ANDERSON: Fascinating. All right, last point to you. This is Brit to Brit, as it were. I want to get your sense of this. Britain's former

Foreign Secretary speaking to the sense of Brexit paralysis that we are seeing.

This is David Miliband. That the British government, whichever party may be in power actually, faces such an enormous black hole in Brexit, that it

can't focus on anything else but Brexit. As he then pedals -- it's got to be said the idea of a second vote, a second referendum that is to say on

the deal.

Was Brexit always going to be a poison chalice? And to some degree, is that actually saving Theresa May, who many say is being incredibly selfish

in the way that she is dealing with this? Others will say that quite frankly, nobody wants her job.

LUCE: Nobody wants her job. Nobody yet wants that poison chalice. The problem with the Brexit campaign is they didn't say, look, this will cost

us economically, but it's worth it. You know, for that sense of sovereignty and independence. So, they're now having to wriggle off an

impossible hook, and it's going to cost anything between a mild recession and a deep recession. Depending on whether we get Theresa May's exit or a

hard off the cliff no deal Brexit. And that's very much at odds with the sort of economic age of plenty that was promised by the Brexit referendum.

So, nobody wants to take ownership of this. They want to blame the last guy or gal, in this case Theresa May. And so, the would-be Brutus's who

want to stab her in the back are waiting. They're biding their time.

ANDERSON: We live in interesting times.

LUCE: We do indeed.

ANDERSON: The chief U.S. commentator at the "Financial Times" observing much of what is going on in Europe these days from the other side of the

pond. Heavily focused I'm sure on what is going on there. Thank you.

Coming up, we've been joining the dots, and we will continue to do so here on CONNECT THE WORLD from Dubai this evening.

Coming up, a caravan of migrants marching towards the U.S. border, but how is climate change linked to these images? Stay with us. Find out more.

[10:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Good evening, all. You are watching CNN. This is CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. For those of you just joining us, you are

more than welcome.

If the migration crisis is fueling some of the concerns that we are seeing and reporting on in Europe and the U.S. right now, climate change is only

going to make things worse. As temperatures continue to rise, experts fear a growing exodus of climate refugees forced to flee from drought and

starvation. That is already happening in parts of Central America. CNN's John Sutter reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It did rain more before, but not so much anymore, because there wasn't much harvested in the cornfields this

year. We didn't harvest anything.

JOHN SUTTER, CNN OPINION JOURNALIST (voice-over): Delmy has been struggling to feed herself and four kids these days. The crops just aren't

growing like they were. Conditions eventually got so bad that her husband, Herman, fled Honduras for the United States. Part of the migrant caravan

that attracted the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.

TRUMP: In that caravan you have some very bad people.

SUTTER: Herman didn't join the caravan because of violence if his homeland. He left because of drought and climate change. Central America

has been hit with an intense and unusual drought in recent years. Crops are failing. Starvation is lurking. The U.N. says two million people in

the region are at risk for hunger.

EDWIN CASTELLANOS, DEAN OF RESEARCH, UNIVERSIDAD DEL VALLE DE GUATEMALA: We have seen evidence of children actually dying out of hunger, so it is

that extreme. These people are moving away. It's not just out of their own will. It's basically because they have no option.

SUTTER: The reasons people migrate are complex. But the World Bank says in coming decades, more than 17 million people in Latin America could be

forcibly displaced because of climate change. This is already starting to happen in Honduras. In almost nowhere is the trend more pronounced than in

Copan. Data from the U.S. border patrol, which seen and analyzed in collaboration with the University of Texas shows an increase in migration

to the U.S. during the recent drought.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator): 20 to 30 percent of the population has emigrated.

SUTTER: Climate models show it's only getting worse. Droughts are becoming more intense. The relatively small dry quarter of Central America

is expanding, and it may cover the entire region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When it rains the cop grows. And as you can see because of the drought it doesn't

SUTTER: Emilio says he fled to the U.S. three times with the help of a smuggler. Each time he was deported back to Honduras.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We didn't have much to harvest this year because of the drought. We have very little corn to harvest. We

have even fewer beans. Very little. Because of the drought.

[10:35:04 SUTTER: His wife, Norah, says their family would have starved in a relative hadn't sent them help from the States. She wants Emilio to try

the dangerous journey again, but they don't have the money.

Climate migrants who join the caravan have little chance of safe and lawful passage to the U.S. International law does not recognize the rights of so-

called climate refugees. And President Trump has claimed that all refugee candidates have to wait in Mexico while their claims are reviewed.

Slashing carbon pollution could decrease the number of climate migrants by millions, the World Bank says. And irrigation projects could help ease the

pain of future droughts. But this exodus already is taking a toll. Delmy's husband died on the road while trying to join the caravan across

the border in Guatemala.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He said he was going to look for a better life so that his children wouldn't suffer, so that we wouldn't

suffer anymore. However, it wasn't possible, no. What he wanted didn't come true.

SUTTER: The circumstances of his death aren't clear. The family buried him in the land he used to till.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): He left us alone. He left us alone forever.

SUTTER: John Sutter, CNN, Copan, Honduras.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, a global conference on climate change might be the last place you would expect coal to be promoted. But some say the U.S.

delegation at COP24 climate change conference in Poland, is trying to derail the talks by promoting, quote, clean and efficient fossil fuels.

And it's prompted, well, quite a reaction. Have a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON WELLS GRIFFITH, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: The administration's economic strategy is rejuvenating our economy, revitalizing our

manufacturing base, benefitting American workers, creating jobs, and encouraging innovation while safeguarding our environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, I don't have to tell you there was audible laughter from protesters mocking at the U.S. Department of Energy official, and that

wasn't all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD CHANTING: Keep it in the ground. Keep it in the ground. Keep it in the ground. Keep it in the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Keep it in the ground, they are chanting. Nick Paton Walsh has been at the COP24 talks in Poland this week and he joins me there. Their

protest at the U.S. event is getting a lot of play, Nick. But some very serious discussions going on. What's come out of those talks so far?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this stage I think there's a lot of work behind the scenes on establishing the rule book

essentially. Which is how you take the Paris agreements in which nation states agree that they would voluntarily set their own limits for

greenhouse gas emissions. But it hasn't really worked out how they would keep tabs on that. How they would measure people's compliance with their

own goals.

Behind closed doors here, those are the intense discussions happening now. A lot of it really involves between the level of transparency, some

developing countries would prefer to have some developed countries who have a lot of higher technology, perhaps, on their side.

The broad question, though, is what have two events over the past 24, 48 hours really done for the spirits of these talks? You saw the U.S. fossil

fuel presentation. Startling, frankly, to see a nation which led the Paris agreement to its fruition, instead turn up here and tell everyone they

should be using is fossil fuels in a better way. A sales pitch some people have described it. You've also had two cueist issue involving the United

States, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait. In fact, the weekend refused to welcome a key scientific report about the need for urgent action to prevent

global warming getting above 1.5 degrees by 2030. That really shook people here as a sort of stark symbolic move. The lack of international cohesion

during this incredibly vital two weeks -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes, they vote the against welcoming this report. That being Russia-Saudi, Kuwait and the United States. Why are they quibbling about

the language? What's want point?

WALSH: Well, I mean, you're right. It's clearly a semantic issue here. I mean, it's the difference between them saying we welcome a report and then

saying they take note of the report. It's simply a matter of words.

[10:40:00] But much of what happens here is in the language, fine, is in the technical agreements. But more broadly moments like this are about

setting a tone of a discussion, and those who watch coverage of climate change events like this. Perhaps begin to understand the seriousness of

what the world is dealing with in the next 12 years or so to about, frankly, whether they're able to make changes that radically change the

daily lives that you and I simply have. It's not a debate. It's simply a matter of scientific fact.

When you have key emitters and key fossil fuel producers like Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, standing up and saying that they don't welcome a

report like that, which is science. It's the same thing that lets you know when the sun will rise tomorrow and whether or not your smartphone will

work. It's not a dispute. The fact that they try and suggest maybe this is something they no longer wish to endorse or aren't entirely sure about

leaves people here perhaps with an element of doubt. Provides leverage or space for those who don't want to make tough decisions to wriggle out of

them. And perhaps even more clearly makes people at home who are wondering am I going to eat a beef burger tonight or am I going to take a business

class seat on a plane, makes them think, well, is it that urgent -- Becky?

ANDERSON: The American Meteorological Society very much at odds with this U.S. administration -- this Trump administration. Its new report not only

links climate change to extreme weather, it says human activities actually causing some of those events including hurricanes, floods, fires, and heat

waves. It believes, were linked to and possibly caused by a warmer planet.

Later today the Trump administration is expected to announce its plans to roll back on clean water regulations, implemented by President Obama. What

impact will that have?

WALSH: Well, that is very much about limiting what landowners, farmers could do near certain water sources. And preventing them from potentially

admitting pollutants into freshwater supplies, into the water table more broadly. And that is something which the 90s and the Obama administration

were keen to place controls upon.

What we're seeing in fact now is from the administration throwing those completely out of the window. Look, I mean, there are a lot of moves from

the administration are making to roll back environmental protections, and a lot of that is simply about the messaging. Saying that they have a

different belief system, if you like, about how the planet should be looked after. How people should be able to govern their lives. Their choices

about energy, their choices about pollutants.

It's not a belief system, frankly. It's simply an idea of how you want to pursue your life, whether you care or not about what's going to happen in

just over a decade or so. These things, though, are to say, a setting the tone. It was the Obama administration that got people together to agree to

the Paris Agreement document. That was 27 pages, and it lacked the nuts and bolts. It lacked the things that are being decided here. Who measures

what, how. How do you actually be sure what people have theoretically agreed up to? Kind of if you like, the concept of a divorce. How do you

work out exactly what the terms of who gets what and who has to do what and sacrifice what actually are?

It's an incredibly important two weeks here, and throughout all of this, we have the drumbeat of the world's leader -- it used to be -- the United

States, on this issue. Now saying it doubts the science. It doubts it's needs to keep its environment cleaner at home. It doubts its restrictions

on coal -- we saw earlier on last week. And a broad message, frankly, which is the less invested, if not uninvested at all, in exactly what comes

next. I should point out, behind me here in one of the halls, there are a number of stores for various different countries. The U.S. simply don't

have one -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. Nick Paton Walsh looking into how our love of burgers and steaks is costing our planet in an investigation. Part of

CNN's 1.5-degree series on climate change. Thank you, Nick. You can find Nick's reporting -- you watch this and things will make sense. I promise

you. And you can find that website CNN.com, of course. So, how far would you go to reduce your beef intake? Watch the film, and then maybe we'll

have some tasty alternatives listed for you. Bug burgers, anyone?

Live from Dubai, this is CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, five journalists face years in prison as Turkey goes after employees at one of the few

newspapers still openly critical of the government. That is next.

[10:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: You're watching CNN. This is CONNECTED THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. It is 46 minutes past seven here in the UAE.

Turkey pushing forward in its apparent crack down on journalists. Prosecutors are seeking up to 15 years in jail for five employees of a

newspaper which is critical of the government. The five men are accused of assisting a Muslim cleric who Turkey says masterminded the cue attempt back

in 2016. My colleague Jomana Karadsheh with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, Istanbul's chief prosecutor has charge five Turkish journalists with aiding the outlawed group of the

US-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen. The prosecution is seeking lengthy prison sentences. Anywhere between 7 to 15 years for the three editors and

two columnists from this opposition secular newspaper. The trial is set to begin on the 18th of January.

And one of those journalists, our producer spoke to him earlier, and he was surprised and called these charges absurd and ridiculous. This is the

latest in a long list of similar cases against journalists here in Turkey over the past couple of years with this crackdown that followed the failed

coup attempt.

Dozens of journalists have been jailed according to the journalist union here. They say that more than 140 journalists remain behind bars. Now

many of those journalists have been accused of either being members of or aiding designated terror groups here. Whether it is the movement of

Fethullah Gulen, that Turkey says was behind that failed coup attempt or the Kurdish militant group, the PKK, that Turkey has been battling since

the 1980s.

Turkey has repeatedly denied that it is attacking journalists, that it's going after journalists, that there is a crackdown on press freedoms here.

Saying that this is a matter of national security and that they are fighting terrorism. But critics of the Turkish government, of President

Erdogan, say that he has used that failed coup attempt as a pretext to go after journalists and opposition figures in this country to silence the

voices of opposition and defense -- Becky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, our next story is linked to that very topic. "Time" magazine's 2018 person of the year is more than one person. The people,

and the mission the magazine chose to highlight is just ahead.

[10:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back. Images of a man whose tragic fate colored much of the past few months for you. The murder of the journalist, Jamal

Khashoggi, inside the Saudi consulate of Turkey two months ago, laid bare a region's tipping point. Embroiling major regional powers, and the White

House, of course, but it is his life's work that put Khashoggi among those chosen as Time's person of the year. The guardians and the war on truth

share the label of 2018 person of the year.

Now it features journalists targeted for their work, including a U.S. newspaper where a gunman murdered five employees. Also, on the cover of

time, Maria Ressa, she's executive of the Philippines website, Rappler, who has been targeted by the Philippines President. And two Reuters

journalists arrested late last year in Myanmar are also on it. Let's go to our Clarissa Ward with more on this choice by "Time." And the U.S.

President calls them the enemy of the people. Time magazine calling them the collective person of the year. It kind of says it all, right?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does. Calling them the guardians of the people. Calling into, you know, pointing out

just how essential the role is that journalists play in today's society. According to the executive editor of "Time" magazine, the theme really this

year, Becky, was the abuse of truth. What has truth come to mean? In a world where facts are being routinely called into question. Where

journalists are constantly being berated, targeted, punished, even killed.

We have really come to a kind of critical point in terms of reassessing the importance of the work that journalists do and the importance of the notion

of facts of truth, of impartiality. These are all the critical foundations of journalism. And so, time's executive editor said that they chose these

four different covers, each of them, as you say, representing journalists who have either paid the ultimate price, such as Jamal Khashoggi. This is

the first time, Becky, that "Time" magazine has ever featured a deceased person as their person of the year.

And the executive editor also made the point that this was an unusual one because Khashoggi has become so much more well known in his death than he

was during his life. Because his writings have had such an impact on Saudi Arabia, on global policy, on geopolitics, on the war in Yemen, and many

others.

Looking at some of the other people who are featured on these covers, of course, you have, as you mentioned, the two Reuters journalists, or their

wives holding up their photographs. They've been imprisoned in Myanmar as they went about trying to cast a light on the massacre of Rohingya people

in that country.

Also, as you mention, employees of the "Annapolis Gazette". They were attacked by a gunman. Four of them killed. They still put out a

newspaper, Becky, the next day.

Then, finally, as you also mentioned, Maria Ressa, who has been doing critical work on the President Duterte in the Philippines. She is now

under indictment for some of her work. Let's take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA RESSA, CEO RAPPLER: For every single time that it is so apparent that the charges are politically motivated that we are -- that we are

targeted precisely because we keep telling the truth. Well, then that challenges us to keep telling the truths. We know it's a tough time to be

a journalist.

But I think what strengthens all of us is that there is probably no better time to be a journalist because this is when we live our values and we live

our mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:55:04] WARD: And you hear those inspiring words by Maria Ressa. I just wanted to point out as well, Becky, that there were two other runners-

up that "Time" magazine was considering. One of them was Special Counsel Robert Mueller. And surprisingly, the other was President Donald Trump.

He was, of course, "Time's" person of the year back in 2016, and last year "Time's" person of the year was the so-called silence breakers. The women

who essentially together instigated the me-too movement, which, of course, went on to have global ripples -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Fascinating, isn't it, when you consider those last three covers. You know, it sort of says it all, doesn't it? About what has

happened over the past couple of years. Truth matters. It really does. It really, really does.

I'm Becky Anderson live from Dubai this hour. That was CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you for watching us.

END