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Iran Passes Law to Ramp Up Nuclear Enrichment; U.S. Hits Worst Coronavirus Death Toll; U.S. Braces for Possible Retaliation from Iran, Scales Down Embassy; Colorado Family Restaurant on Brink of Shutting Down; Evolving Landscape Presents New Challenges to Biden. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 03, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: More people died from coronavirus in the United States yesterday than ever before.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Tonight, America's deadliest coronavirus day.

Then we're going to put you on the ground in Iran as parliament there passes a law to make even more nuclear material, just days after the

assassination of its top nuclear scientist.

And that is as America, now bracing for retaliation from Tehran near a sensitive anniversary, pulling some of its people out of Iraq.

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ANDERSON: It is 10:00 in the morning in D.C., it is 6:30 at night in Tehran, 7:00 pm here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. I'm Becky Anderson. Hello and

welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.

We start in America as we often do, not because it matters more than anywhere else but because the scope of the calamity there is now so

enormous that we must, even cruelly, as a COVID-19 vaccine seems within reach.

More people died from coronavirus in the United States yesterday than on any other single day ever. Let that sink in; 2,804 people lost their lives

in America on Wednesday, more deaths in a single day than 144 other countries have experienced throughout the entire pandemic. Let that sink

in.

We often start with a graph like this to help us visualize the numbers. But it's easy to become numb to the statistics. So let me personalize this with

the story of one person, who lost his life to the pandemic.

This is Pablo Paul Castillo, he was in the American Navy; afterwards he worked for General Motors in Ohio for 25 years. He liked to coach kids

playing American football. He leaves behind his wife, three daughters and two granddaughters. He was 54 years old.

Now imagine that same loss 2,804 times over. That is the reality in America today. And it is only going to get worse. There are right now more than

100,000 Americans in hospital sick with COVID-19. Sadly, not all of them will make it out of their beds they are in now, struggling to breathe as

they are.

It's scary being in hospital itself, isn't it, let alone with a new pathogen attacking your system. And more soon will be coming. Yesterday,

more than 200,000 people found out they had COVID in America, meaning they don't know what the next few weeks of their lives will look like, how sick

they will get, if at all, and what happens to them and their families if things, well, you know, take a turn for the worse.

The number of people needing help really matters. Just listen to the director of America's most well-known infectious disease institution, the

CDC, with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROBERT REDFIELD, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I

actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation, largely because of the stress that it's

going to put on our health care system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That is Dr. Redfield and that is a grim outlook. Close to 250,000 Americans could be dead from the pandemic by February. To give you

some context to that, 675,000 Americans died in the so-called Spanish flu of 1918. So you can see that the scope of this thing is enormous.

So what's the current leadership doing to set an example?

Well, you could argue that it's not only less than nothing; it's worse than nothing. I'm going to just roll this tape for you.

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QUESTION: I wonder, does the White House -- is it setting a good example for the public for the White House to have in-person holiday parties at a

time when the CDC and other organizations are asking Americans to forego those kinds of celebrations?

[10:05:00]

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESPERSON: Yes, so, you know, if you can loot businesses, burn down buildings, engage in protests, you can also

go to a Christmas party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Indoor gatherings in a pandemic for what reason?

Well, there's not much talk of steering the country in the right direction; instead, when we hear from the American president or his advisers or

spokespeople, they are sounding off about the election still, so consumed with those baseless notions of widespread fraud that the U.S. president is

-- and new reporting from "The Washington Post" has it that Mr. Trump wants to fire his own attorney general for not buying into those conspiracy

theories.

That is a sideshow to the crushing reality we have just been discussing, though, isn't it, because we also do know that the White House wants to

know why vaccines aren't being rolled out faster.

That's fair; their Operation Warp Speed has helped us to get where we are. Those are questions that many rightly should ask, especially as, yesterday,

we spent a lot of time looking at the U.K. giving emergency approval to a vaccine developed in partnership with an American company, that being

Pfizer.

Here is how America's top infectious disease expert put the apparent delay stateside.

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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We really scrutinized the data very carefully to guarantee to the American

public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine. The U.K. did not do it as carefully; they got a couple of days ahead. I don't think that makes

much difference. We will be there, we will be there very soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, to the public, though, it is hard to imagine that two days couldn't make a difference, it could be thousands of lives saved. CNN's

Adrienne Broaddus is live from Chicago, Illinois. It's one of seven states that just saw more COVID-19 deaths in a single day than ever before.

And the concern there must be that these deaths will come from transmissions that occurred before potential Thanksgiving exposures during

the holiday period, of course.

Those will not yet be showing up in testing, correct?

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, that's exactly right. The numbers that we are seeing reported don't even include the impact that we

could potentially see because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Yesterday, another grim day for the U.S.; more Americans died of coronavirus than ever before. That means more families are grieving. Johns

Hopkins University reported 2,800 deaths. That's the highest or the most number of deaths we've had in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

And across the country, hospitals are filling up. Right now, there are at least 100,000 people in the hospital with COVID-19. On average, at least

for the last 30 consecutive days, the U.S. has seen about 100,000 COVID cases a day.

But yesterday that record was broken. More than 200,000 reported new cases and that's the second time the U.S. has seen that high of a number since

the start of the pandemic.

Indeed, as you mentioned, leading into this story, the vaccine is right around the corner. But health experts are warning we still have a long way

to go before we get there -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Adrienne, thank you for that.

Be sure to join CNN for some of the answers that may -- you may have on vaccines, Anderson Cooper teaming up with none other than Dr. Sanjay Gupta,

who you see here regularly on this show, for a new coronavirus town hall simply called "The Vaccines." That's 9:00 pm Friday in the U.S., 6:00 here

in Abu Dhabi Saturday morning, 10 o'clock Saturday morning in Hong Kong.

I just want to get you up to speed on some of the other developments around the world, capturing that cruel juxtaposition between vaccines on their way

and record-setting numbers of people getting sick and dying.

Turkey recording record high deaths for 10 days, back to back, with fatalities reaching 193 in just the last 24 hours.

Brazil's largest state tightening restrictions as a new wave of infections and hospitalizations hits that country. Bars, restaurants and shopping

malls in Sao Paolo must cut back their hours and limit capacity.

Italy telling people to stay put over the upcoming holidays to keep the virus from spreading. The government there banning travel between regions

for two weeks and even between towns on Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year's.

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ANDERSON: Well, now we are following three big stories in this region, all connected closely through Iran.

Firstly, the country itself passing a law, looking to enrich more uranium.

Then America sending staff away from its embassy in neighboring Iraq, as well as the potential for a breakthrough in the GCC rift with Qatar, which

Donald Trump's team at the White House sees as critical as keeping Iran in the crosshairs through a strategic alliance of Arab allies in region.

Let's take on the first one, Iran's new law, that the whole world seems is looking at. And this is why. Parliament approving a bill this week to ramp

up nuclear enrichment. Before the vote, President Rouhani spoke out against the measure, saying it could undermine diplomatic moves aimed at reviving

the 2015 nuclear deal once the Biden administration enters the White House.

You will remember that Mr. Rouhani was instrumental in brokering that deal. But the assassination last week of Iran's top nuclear scientist has changed

the calculus for many in Tehran.

Intelligence officials and Iran watchers that I've been talking to believe the killing may not be the whole reason for this hardline vote but it

certainly played a part. This is the first time CNN has been in Iran since the pandemic began. I want to get to Nick Paton Walsh in the capital,

Tehran.

Let's start with this bill approval, Nick.

Just how significant is that?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: It puts a lot of pressure on the government here, namely a timetable, to begin potentially

keeping inspectors out and maybe at the end of this bill and the measures it suggests withdrawing from the nonproliferation treaty.

And to a key number in this bill, enrichment to 20 percent. That sets alarm bells ringing across the region because it's a lot easier to go from 20

percent to the 90 percent you would need for a nuclear weapon.

Not that Iran, publicly says, it is pursuing that. Now that bill is not an immediate call for action, it sets out, as I said, a timetable over two

months, very conveniently a two month period at the end of which Joe Biden will be the president of the United States after January 20th inauguration.

Basically Hassan Rouhani the president said he didn't go to the parliamentary session where it was discussed for health reasons not because

he didn't -- sorry, not because he disagreed with the bill, which he does. But he has three to four days to sign it into law and then this time two

month timetable kicks in, after which they have to start implementing these measures.

People talk about Iran as one voice. There's always dueling between the hawks and the moderates embodied by Hassan Rouhani and his foreign

minister, advocating for diplomacy to some degree.

This bill calls for sanctions to be relieved as quickly as possible, to prevent the measures being kicked in. It may assist Rouhani and Zarif in

their negotiations with the Americans but it adds to a climate of tension here since the killing of Fakhrizadeh last week and the call for

retaliation, which we saw when Qasem Soleimani was killed back in January.

The Iranians were quite precise and limited, attacking a U.S. military installation. Nobody was injured. They haven't retaliated for Fakhrizadeh.

This may be the extent of it but, quite certainly, this does add to the pressure here, Becky.

ANDERSON: What Tehran clearly wants and what the conservative pragmatist Hassan Rouhani could do with it is some sort of compensation at this point.

And that doesn't have to be financial compensation, of course. It could just be some back door back channeling and some promises that the Biden

administration is on this and are going to be prepared to get on with it very quickly post-inauguration on January 20th.

Nick, you have only just touched down in Tehran. You are the first CNN reporter to get into the country since the pandemic began. We know this is

a country that has crossed a recorded 1 million cases today. We know, though, that the numbers never tell the whole story.

What is the situation on the ground that you have witnessed so far?

WALSH: Certainly there is a lockdown in effect here, which means nonessential shops are closed. That has limited people's presence on the

streets. Certainly you can see that. And after 9:00 at night, anything other than essential traffic business operations are banned from the

streets.

So it's a different Tehran certainly. That million case mark important because, of course, it's a symbolic figure certainly.

[10:15:00]

WALSH: It is, of all the people since the pandemic in Iran who have tested PCR positive for the disease. It's important to point out, too, that even

at its best, Iran is doing 50,000-60,000 tests a day so that isn't going to be the entire picture.

And they do very clearly state, the foreign minister today, saying that the sanctions are impeding their ability to tackle the disease. They have

always had issues with medicine because of ferocity of sanctions against Iran. Although the U.S. says exemptions are made, Iran says they are not

adequate and don't function.

But it is putting a lot of pressure not only on the economy but also the population and making it harder for Iran to fight this pandemic. That will

be playing into the broader sense of anger against the United States but also the need for sanctions to be eased, these dueling dynamics that play

both into the pandemic but also the ongoing bid to get diplomacy back on track after a startling four years of what the Trump administration called

maximum pressure, which has done little except for ratcheting up tension in the area.

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground in Tehran. Thank you.

As Nick explained, this new law which has been passed in Iran allows for the ratcheting up of nuclear material. It doesn't necessarily mean the

country will do that, will fire up that program specifically.

Uranium enrichment, then, what is it?

Let's have a look.

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ANDERSON (voice-over): To unleash this, you start with this, raw uranium. Fresh out of the ground, it's not useful for much. It needs enriching. To

do that, you need these, centrifuges, thousands of them.

They spin uranium around at super fast speeds, about 1,000 times a second, shaking out the stuff you don't want and leaving the powerful stuff you do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the next 15 years, no uranium will be enriched beyond 3.67 percent.

ANDERSON: Iran, though, has gone beyond that, reaching levels as high as 20 percent in the past. And that's important, because while there are still

technical challenges to going even higher, once you hit 20, you're well on the way to weapons grade enrichment.

That's 90 percent. And that is what that little phrase "uranium enrichment" really means.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, as tensions grow over the nuclear scientist's death last Friday, America bracing for Iranian retaliation over another killing that

Nick just was telling us about, that of the Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.

You will remember that he was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad at the start of this year. It seems an awful long time ago but,

yes, that was January of 2020. Tehran saying from the get-go that retaliation would be coming.

Well, because of that, sources tell CNN that D.C., Washington, D.C., temporarily pulling out some of its staff from its embassy in Baghdad. That

is an enormous facility. And this news will not be lost on Arwa Damon, who spent many years in Baghdad, has seen that facility for herself many times.

She is in Istanbul.

You were there at the beginning, the embassy, at the beginning of this year. Connect us to what you believe is going on currently.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously the Americans are greatly concerned over the potential for some sort of a

retaliation. Now what these sources and diplomats are telling CNN is that this also coincides with the holidays and, therefore, more people are being

permitted to leave.

They are all expected to return by January 15th, once the anniversary of the killing of Qasem Soleimani has passed. Of course, that will be

situation dependent.

Look, Iraqi officials are also very concerned about what is happening with these rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran because Iraq is the proxy

battlefield between these two countries.

And when the killing of Soleimani happened, it's worth remembering that Iraqis across the spectrum were quite shocked that the United States would

carry out this kind of a killing within their own country's territory.

And then, of course, we have the retaliation that happened by Iran, with the targeting of U.S. military facilities. And so among Iraqi officials

right now, there is this level of tension of what is going to happen next. On the one hand, Iran is their neighbor; they have an economic relationship

with Iran. They share a border with Iran.

[10:20:00]

DAMON: On the other hand the United States is meant to be an ally. And for Iraq to once again find itself stuck between these two countries' dynamics

puts it in a potentially tenuous situation, Becky.

ANDERSON: Arwa Damon on the story, always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed.

Pointing out that one thing is for sure, of course: Joe Biden is going to have a lot of challenges when he picks up that Middle East file. I will

talk to a guest who says there is a middle ground between overinvesting militarily in options here and pulling out altogether.

Plus --

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GERDA CHAVEZ, OWNER, SUNSET INN: It's just emotional to know that we don't know what could happen, you know, if it was to continue like this.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are running out of time to pass a coronavirus relief bill. But for so many struggling Americans it

could already be too late.

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ANDERSON: Right now American lawmakers running out of time to pass a coronavirus relief bill before the end of the year that millions, millions

of Americans, badly need this hour.

Democratic leaders now backing a bipartisan $908 billion stimulus. That is a major concession to Republicans as President-Elect Joe Biden urges

Congress to hurry up and take action.

From negotiations on Capitol Hill to the dire reality facing every day Americans, CNN's Lucy Kafanov introduces us to a family struggling to keep

their business open while so many have already been forced to shut their doors.

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LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a Chavez family holiday tradition. For nearly three decades, the owners of the Sunset Inn in

Pueblo, Colorado, have raised funds to buy gifts for homeless children.

CHAVEZ: Most of these kids, and if I don't do Christmas for them, they're not going to have nothing.

KAFANOV: But now their Christmas plans are up in the air. Three generations work at the Sunset Inn.

CASSY GIBBONS, GERDA'S DAUGHTER: It's kind of like the pillar of our whole family.

KAFANOV: But this bar and grill is one of countless businesses now crippled by COVID-19. Skyrocketing cases forced Pueblo County to ban indoor

dining last month. The restaurant now empty, more than half their employees laid off, takeout orders barely making ends meet.

KAFANOV: What's your biggest fear when it comes to the Sunset Inn?

CHAVEZ: Losing what we built all these years, having the fear that somebody else has it after we walk away and us not being here anymore.

That's -- sorry.

[10:25:00]

CHAVEZ: That's my most fear.

KAFANOV: For over 15 years the Sunset Inn was a favorite pub in Pueblo. But then in 1996, Chuck Chavez added sloppers to the menu, their menu

rising to national fame after being featured in an episode of the Travel Channel's "Food Wars."

GIBBONS: The Sunset to me is my whole family, our whole life.

KAFANOV: Their troubles began when the pandemic hit in March and Colorado effectively went into a lockdown.

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): We are resorting to this measure, this extreme measure, at this time to make sure people know that they need to stay in

their homes.

KAFANOV: The Sunset stayed shut for three months. Then in October, disaster struck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An outbreak and possible community exposure to COVID- 19 at the Sunset Inn.

KAFANOV: Eleven family members infected with COVID.

CHAVEZ: We wiped everything town, we did -- we complied with everything and we still ended up getting it.

KAFANOV: All recovered but the business is still struggling. Before the pandemic, the family says the inn could pull $5,000 on a good day. Now

they're lucky to make $400.

Emergency relief funding helped them stay afloat but barely. And if things don't change, they say the inn may have to shut its doors in three months.

New COVID restrictions imposed last week on Colorado's hardest-hit counties, including Pueblo, could make a return to normal a long way off.

KAFANOV: How has the hardship affected you?

CHAVEZ: Not sleeping at night, my hair is turning gray, constantly worrying about if we can pay the bills.

KAFANOV: A fear echoed by the family and thousands of small business owners across the nation.

GIBBONS: My mom and dad are the hardest working people I know and it's just emotional to know that we don't know what could happen, you know, if

it was to continue like this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: That's Lucy Kafanov reporting.

Next, we will have a lot more on the Middle East, the region that we are broadcasting to you from, and the way forward here for Joe Biden, at least

some expert analysis. We'll take a closer look at changes and the challenges that he faces.

Plus we will talk about China's latest crackdown on democracy and the arrest of activists with one of the founders of Hong Kong's Umbrella

Movement. That is later on CONNECT THE WORLD.

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ANDERSON: In the last weeks of the Trump administration, it is on a diplomatic push in the Middle East.

[10:30:00]

ANDERSON: President Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner in the Gulf this week, where he met with the ruler of Qatar. Experts believe

he is working to mend a rift with Qatar and its Gulf neighbors, also visiting Saudi Arabia on this trip.

That tension in the Gulf goes back three years and it's one of the ways the Middle East has changed since Joe Biden was vice president under Barack

Obama. Our reporters have taken you across the region this hour to Iran and to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Now let's connect you to the White House and to how the next occupant there will affect our home here in the Middle East. And do remember this show is

broadcast from our Middle East programming hub here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

My next guest, Dafna Rand, is co-editor of "Re-Engaging the Middle East: A New Vision for U.S. Policy" and she's one of the experts who has been

advising Joe Biden's campaign. She also served in the Obama administration and is now vice president for research and policy at Mercy Corps.

All of which suggests that you are exactly who I should be speaking to this hour as we discuss what is going on in the region today and what all of

this means for Joe Biden going forward. Let's start if we can with Iran and a bill passed this week, allowing it to enrich more uranium and get rid of

the weapons inspectors, should it want to do that.

What's the bigger picture here?

DAFNA RAND, MIDDLE EAST FOREIGN POLICY EXPERT: Great. Thank you. And good morning, Becky. Thanks for the question.

You know, look, there has been an escalation in tensions between Iran and the United States since the day that President Trump took office almost

four years ago. Rather than making Americans and the world more safe, he has actually made -- really diminished international security. And we see

this in Iran's provocative behavior this week.

So really the bigger picture here is that we've gone, in over four years, from a situation where the international community was working, you know,

with ups and downs but to try to get Iran to take a more peaceful path toward denuclearization, toward a situation where the Iranian program is

getting out of control.

ANDERSON: Here is the deal: you can argue until you're blue in the face about whether or not maximum pressure has worked. If you are on one side of

the aisle, you will say it has and, if you are on the other, you will say it hasn't.

Here is the deal, we are now, what, 50 days away from a new Joe Biden administration and we see Iran reacting to the assassination of its nuclear

scientist Friday with these moves.

What many experts tell me in this region and sources I talk to on a regular basis is that Iran is looking for some compensation. And by that I don't

mean financial compensation, although they could do with the lifting the sanctions, which are going to get worse, not better, before the end of the

Trump administration.

They want an offer, they want something from the Joe Biden administration early on, if not just a sign.

Are they going to get that?

RAND: Well, first I should clarify that I have no connection to the upcoming administration. I was just part of a volunteer group, like many

that tried to offer advice.. But I can't speak for the campaign or transition or the president-elect but I can look at his statements from the

past couple years.

And the president-elect has been very clear that he and his administration would be willing to reenter some sort of deal with Iran on nuclear

activities if and when Iran is compliant. And that is the key here.

ANDERSON: In a "New York Times" op-ed, Thomas Friedman warned President- Elect Biden that this is not the Middle East he left four years ago, writing, in effect, Donald "Trump forced Israel and the key Sunni Arab

states to become less reliant on the United States and to think about how they must cooperate among themselves over new threats like Iran rather than

fighting old causes like Palestine.

"This may enable America to secure its interests in the region with much less blood and pressure of its own. It could be Trump's most significant

foreign policy achievement."

And I read you this with, of course, the other leg that's going on here this week, which is the Jared Kushner trip through Qatar and Riyadh, trying

to resolve this rift between Saudi and other GCC countries with Qatar.

In an effort, it seems, to do exactly what Tom Friedman is pointing out there, there has been this promise, you know, by the Americans that, look,

you know, we are not pulling out completely. But we want you to do your own dirty work regionally.

And that would include having Qatar on board, wouldn't it?

RAND: Yes, thanks, Becky, for that question. I, too, have been watching Mr. Kushner's trip in the region. And I think it would be very welcome if

he could make progress in resolving the Qatari dispute with its neighbors. That was a very destabilizing conflict as your viewers will know quite

intimately.

[10:35:00]

RAND: And I would just point out it was the Trump administration that endorsed the blockade a couple years ago. So it's good and it's welcome and

overdue that Kushner and the Trump administration are trying to end that conflict.

I also should add I do hope in this swing through the Gulf by all the top Trump administration leaders on their way out of office, they're raising

the issue of Yemen. Yemen really can't wait longer and the suffering is tremendous.

On Yemen, it is very disturbing that, in one of their last moves in power, the Trump administration has decided that it wants to sanction the Houthis.

And really the only effect of the sanction that they are planning right now is to curtail humanitarian assistance to the 70 percent of Yemenis who live

in the northern part, governed by the Houthis.

I raise that because I sure hope that Kushner and Pompeo and all the senior officials traveling around the Gulf are raising that issue and trying to

deescalate the Yemen war and not taking provocative steps that would increase the suffering.

ANDERSON: By pointing that out, of course, you have revealed once again the messy multi layers of this region because, of course, the Houthis in

Yemen provided assistance by the Iranians. And that is one leg of what many here will suggest is the malign behavior by Tehran, which many players in

this region want reined in with a JCPOA plus-plus deal from Joe Biden and others going forward.

So your points are very well made and we very much appreciate it. To that end, is it clear as of yet -- again, I understand you were helping to

advise the Biden campaign -- one would hope with a mind like yours, you will be involved in the foreign policy for Joe Biden going forward.

But is it yet clear to you what Biden's policy will be with regard Saudi Arabia?

RAND: Sure. Again, I want to restate I have no official capacity, I cannot speak for the transition, I do not speak for the campaign for the

president-elect and I would refer your readers to the many statements that the president-elect has made on these issues in the past couple years.

This issue was debated even in the Democratic primary last year. This is an important question for U.S. foreign policy. And I do believe that Biden

will turn a fresh page. President Biden has said he will reevaluate the U.S.-Saudi relationship, he will look carefully across an array of U.S.

interests and U.S. values, will consider things like our energy relationship, our concern about human rights and reform in the region,

concern about regional security, how we talk about regional threats and, of course, Saudi positions on regional conflicts, like Syria, Yemen and other

-- and other issues.

ANDERSON: With that, we will leave us there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us. Thank you.

Joe Biden also weighing his approach with North Korea, as the year of Donald Trump's so-called love letters with Kim Jong-un fades and Pyongyang

is believed to have more nuclear weapons than four years ago.

We have more on the new administration's challenges there on our digital site, cnn.com.

Tune in Friday as Jake Tapper sits down with Joe Biden and Vice President- Elect Kamala Harris. That's their first joint interview since they won the White House. You can see that Friday 6:00 am in Abu Dhabi if you are

watching here locally. Anywhere else around the world, Hong Kong it will be 10:00 am. And you I know will work out at what time it is locally for you.

Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD, China's lunar probe to return to Earth with the country's first-ever samples from the moon. That is up next.

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[10:40:00]

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ANDERSON: To the moon and back, China's lunar probe has completed its mission to the moon and is ready to make the journey home according to

Chinese state media. The probe collected what will be China's first samples from any extraterrestrial body and the first samples brought to Earth since

the 1970s. Amazing.

In sport, Argentina's rugby captain will be back on the pitch soon after a very short suspension for making racial and xenophobic comments on social

media. Pablo Matera and two teammates have been suspended for comments made between 2011 and 2013.

(WORLD SPORTS)

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