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Facebook Whistleblower Goes Public; California's Disastrous Oil Spill; Military Gets Behind The Wheel For U.K. Fuel Crisis. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 04, 2021 - 10:00:00   ET

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

[10:00:09]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Sounding the alarm, a whistleblower says Facebook repeatedly chose its own interests over public safety.

A potential ecological disaster. This is the dire warning from local leaders after an oil spill off the California coast.

And the military is getting behind the wheel to help address the fuel crisis in the U.K. A live report just ahead.

I'm Max Foster in Becky Anderson. Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. Now we begin with an explosive allegation against Facebook. A former

Facebook employee turned whistleblower says the company knows it's harming society and is hiding the research that proves it. The whistleblower that

used to work on Facebook civic integrity team gave an interview to the U.S. program 60 Minutes.

Among her allegations she says Facebook's Instagram app enhances the risk of eating disorders and suicide amongst teenage girls. She's scheduled to

testify to Congress on Tuesday and is handed over tens of thousands 1000s of pages of internal Facebook documents. Facebook says her claims are

misleading. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan covers social media issues for us. He's following the story from Washington.

And she's saying that these documents were you show that the platform is spreading hate but also was aware that it was spreading hate and

capitalizing on it. So major allegations.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Max. I mean, this is bombshell stuff. There's so much here from everything from Facebook's

role in elections, democracy, to those harms on teenagers particular of interest here at of her hearing tomorrow is the comment she made on 60

Minutes last night where she spoke about that critical period between the election day and the insurrection here in Washington where she is certainly

-- essentially said that Facebook dropped the ball.

That the guardrails they had in place about misinformation in the lead up to the election, that they weren't as stringent as they were in the lead up

to the instruction. And she suggested that Facebook was essentially culpable in some way in the instruction. But one thing that makes this

Facebook scandal different than Facebook has had plenty of scandals on through the years whether it's Cambridge Analytica and so forth is the

inherently sort of personal nature I think of all of this when it comes to that issue of harm on teenagers.

It is an issue that is unfortunately relatable to so many people I'm sure watching this. Have a listen to what she had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS ANCHOR: One study says 13-1/2 percent of teen girls say Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse. 17 percent of teen girls say

Instagram makes eating disorders worse.

FRANCES HAUGEN, FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER: And what's super tragic is Facebook's own research says as these young women begin to consume this

eating disorder content, they get more and more depressed. And it actually makes them use the app more. And so they end up in this feedback cycle

where they hate their bodies more and more. Facebook's own research says it is not just that Instagram is dangerous for teenagers, that harms teenagers

is that it is distinctly worse than other forms of social media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLLIVAN: And Facebook is naturally enough pushing back on a lot of this releasing a very, very lengthy statement overnight trying to push back on

points that this whistleblower who was working at the company until May of this year, by the way, is making. She by the way, got her tens of thousands

of documents from the company leaked them, has handed them over to the SEC here in the U.S. to Congress and also to The Wall Street Journal which has

been reporting extensively on this.

Facebook, of course, for its point is essentially saying that there's nothing to see here. One of their executives said last week, this is not a

bombshell. But many people here in Washington D.C. including many senators disagree with that. Max.

FOSTER: And she's actually going to speak to Congress, isn't she this week? You know, have more time there, presumably. So we should hear some new

stuff again, and Facebook will have to respond again.

O'SULLIVAN: Absolutely. And I mean, I think, you know, what we will hear is I think a lot of questions about the teenage issue of this. What is it

really that Facebook knows about the impact, the negative impact, their tools, including Instagram can have on young people and really what are

they doing about us? And then I think as I mentioned also that issue here about the period between Election Day and the interaction, did Facebook do

enough to quell all the misinformation?

All the organizing in the weeks leading up to the interaction that might have happened on its platform, so I'd expect to hear a lot of questions and

hopefully a lot of insights I guess from this whistleblower on that tomorrow.

[10:05:05]

FOSTER: It's amazing, isn't it, Donnie, really that we're only hearing about all this now. I mean, this is a huge company with lots of people

working there. We've heard unsettled feelings from staff before. Why so much emphasis on this one voice?

O'SULLLIVAN: Well, there are -- there are leakers within Facebook, you know, that will oftentimes anonymously leak to journalists. But we haven't

seen a whistleblower like this in the company's history really. And one thing that I thought was quite remarkable is this whistleblower Frances

Haugen told the Wall Street Journal that the system where she accessed all these documents, which are now creating shockwaves, around the world, that

system, she said, pretty much 60,000, six zero thousand employees at Facebook would have access to that -- those systems would have access to

those documents.

Documents, which are now prompting all these investigations. So it goes to show how exceptionally rare really, that a whistleblower like this emerges

and it's creating a massive headache for the company. I can tell you why the traffic I am getting from representatives of the company who are trying

to push back hard on this. They know that this is going to cause a lot of trouble for them.

FOSTER: Big damage limitation exercise, I'm sure. Thank you, Donie. Now the unveiling of a huge trove of documents reveals how the rich and powerful

operate and how they can hide billions of dollars within secret straw companies, bank accounts and trusts avoiding taxes, and creditors and

accountability. The report is called the Pandora papers. Hundreds of investigative journalists from news outlets around the world unearth nearly

12 million financial records.

They reveal in damning detail the financial dealings of hundreds of public figures from celebrities to business magnates, and former and current heads

of state and other politicians, allegedly using a secretive offshore system that allows them to store money in tax free havens. It also offers

surprising new details on just where the money is stowed away. The report was in scope the 2016 Panama Papers which reverberated around the world and

sparked calls to fix the system.

Did it happen? We should note, CNN has not done its own analysis of the legalities here and using the financial instruments mentioned in the report

can be perfectly legal depending on where and how they use. But much more on this story in the next hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. next hour, US

President Joe Biden will speak about the need to raise the country's debt

Next hour, U.S. President Joe Biden will speak about the need to raise the country's debt ceiling to prevent the U.S. defaulting for the first time in

history. Will also rally -- he'll also rally support for his high-profile domestic agenda was stalled last week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reset

the clock. Lawmakers now have until the end of this month to strike a deal on a bipartisan infrastructure plan and agree on a more expansive social

spending and climate bill.

Progressive and moderate Democrats are still drooling over the $3.5 trillion price tag. White House Correspondent John Harwood is following all

the developments and joins us from Washington, D.C. And many people are characterizing this as a game of chicken.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly the debt ceiling is a game of chicken. It's a very high stakes one because if the

debt ceiling is not raised, that would have immediate catastrophic effects on both the U.S. and the world economy. The situation is this is a -- the

legislative need to raise the debt ceiling, it's existed for a long time, it's typically been a tool of petty harassment for the party out of power

to the party in power trying to hold it up and make them work harder to get those votes.

But what's happened in recent years is the Republican Party has dramatically escalated the stakes of this fight in 2011. House Republicans

withheld their support for the debt limit until right at the very end triggered a downgrade of U.S. debt. Now, Mitch McConnell is saying we will

get the debt ceiling raised but Democrats have to do it on their own. And we're going to filibuster if they try to do it through regular processes.

So he's trying to extract a pound of flesh, Joe Biden is trying to stare him down and saying no, we're not going to normalize the taking of this

hostage. I don't know how that's going to work out but it's a -- it's a dangerous situation at a time when the United States economy in the world

economy is trying to get back on its feet and return to robust growth in the wake of COVID.

FOSTER: One option for Democrats, as I understand it is something called the reconciliation process. I know it's complex, but it looks as though

we're heading towards that. And that really does put pressure on them in terms of time.

HARWOOD: Yes, that is what McConnell wants them to do. He's saying that you don't need any help from Republicans, but you can do it all on your own. By

doing that he's trying to raise the political costs of them, enacting the broader agenda that you mentioned at the outset. That's happening through

the reconciliation bill. The big 3-1/2 trillion dollar spending plans going to get cut down but it's still a very large plan.

[10:10:06]

HARWOOD: And Mitch McConnell by making Democrats raise the debt ceiling through that process is going to try to make that more politically painful.

Democrats trying to avoid the pain, saying let's just do it through a regular piece of legislation. Mitch McConnell stand out of the way don't

filibuster, we'll get it done. And that is the -- that's the game of chicken that they're playing right now.

FOSTER: OK. Thank you. We'll watch closely this week. And now this disaster is just one more reason. It's important for the world to move away from

fossil fuels. And to that end, we're less than four weeks away from COP26 climate talks in Scotland.

Ahead pressure worldliness to translate talk into real change. Plus, he's not exactly a political rockstar but Japan's new prime minister is getting

a thumbs up from Washington and Seoul. We'll show you why just a little later.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Some hopeful news for Australians on the extended COVID lockdowns. The country's COVID outbreak appears to be easing with cases dropping

significantly. In New South Wales home to Australia's biggest city Sydney, health officials say Australia is on track to hit vaccination targets. And

if things go as planned, the country could start lifting travel bans as early as mid-November.

Let's bring in Scott McLean who is in Dubai at Expo 2020 where he spoke to the Australian Minister of Trade and Tourism about that. There was lots of

relieved images over the weekend from Australians.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Max. Yes. First off, I should point out that the Australian pavilion here on the expo site is sort of exactly

what you might expect. It's a bit of a party on the outside and much more thoughtful and introspective on the inside. The only thing that's really

missing is actual Australians, at least ones who have actually come from Australia. And that is because as we know COVID-19 rules in that country

effectively bar citizens from leaving,

Now the government does insist that that is changing, at least when 80 percent of eligible Australians are fully vaccinated. I had a chance, as

you mentioned to sit down with the Australian Trade and Tourism Minister and I asked him about the plan. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: You said recently that the Australian borders would be opened by Christmas at the latest. When do you expect to open for tourists?

DAN TEHAN, MINISTER FOR TRADE, TOURISM AND INVESTMENT OF AUSTRALIA: We're expecting the borders to open now in November, and we'll get them open.

Obviously returning Australians are the other priority. But we're hopeful that we'll start to see tourists coming back to Australia before Christmas

as well.

MCLEAN: Are vaccinated tourists still going to have to quarantine?

TEHAN: So we're working through that with the state governments that were initially vaccinated tourists a week of home quarantine.

MCLEAN: I just wonder, how can you realistically expect to attract anyone to a country if they know that when they arrive they have to spend seven

days in a hotel room even if it's their own hotel room that they paid for, not a government one?

TEHAN: Over time as we work through testing, as we work through vaccination certification, we'll be able to change those requirements. And we're

confident that we'll see the tourists coming back because we --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now COVID-19 has been on the rise in Australia over the past couple of weeks, and the government has acknowledged that zero COVID as a strategy

is not a viable long term one. The problem is that because Australia has really managed to isolate itself from the rest of the world, very few

Australians have any kind of natural immunity and we know what can happen from other countries once you reopen the economy and start acting as if

things are normal.

Case in point the U.K. has at least an adult vaccination rate of over 80 percent and a heck of a lot more natural immunity because so many people

have had the virus. Now Dan Tehan, the Minister has insists that Australia will take other public health measures to try to avoid a situation where

you have hospitals overwhelmed and a lot of deaths. But just in the past week, Max, more than 1000 British people died of COVID-19 despite that

higher vaccination rate and natural immunity, as I mentioned.

FOSTER: We're getting a sense of the setup behind you. This is a massive mega project, isn't it? This Dubai Expo. Some concern expressed by rights

groups about the working conditions of the workers that were brought in to help with that, and you've had a response to that from the authorities?

MCLEAN: Yes, that's right. So, Expo organizers were asked about that during a press conference over the weekend and they said that three workers have

died in the construction of this massive Expo site that's the size of some 600 football fields. Three others have died of COVID-19 and 72 have

sustained serious injuries. Human rights groups have long-raised concerns about the treatment of workers in this country toiling for relatively low

pay in the extreme heat, especially in the summer.

In fact, the European Parliament just last month, passed a resolution calling on European sponsors and member states to actually withdraw from

Expo in part over those same concerns though none of them actually have. The Emirati government has rejected that E.U. Parliament resolution and

what was contained within it and Expo for its part insists that safety is top of mind and says the contractors who are working on site have to have a

plan to make sure that workers can work safely and what can sometimes be a really extreme heat into the high 40s with some serious humidity as well in

the summertime, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Scott in Dubai, thank you. Now we are less than a month away from the COP26 international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. Over 14

ministers from around the world attended preconference talks in Milan last week. And there are still major gaps in what's been promised and what's

needed as Becky reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Devastating floods raging wildfires, monstrous hurricanes. Extreme weather events are

increasing in intensity and frequency before our eyes. Signs that the planet is warming at an alarming rate. And it's affecting our lives and our

livelihoods. Wildly this will again come together to address the climate crisis.

And the larger issue of what is being done to prevent it from getting worse. This year's event COP26, the United Nations is put on the climate

change summit for nearly three decades. This Conference of the Parties is attended by countries that signed the U.N.'s Framework Convention on

Climate Change in 1994. The 12-day event will be held in Glasgow in Scotland and is hosted by the U.K. and Italy.

More than 190 world leaders are expected to attend along with tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses and

citizens. To secure global net zero emissions by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming compared to preindustrial temperatures

within reach, countries must meet their emissions reductions targets adapt to protect communities and natural habitats.

And they must mobilize finance. Countries have to deliver on raising at least $100 billion in climate finance each year. Something that was agreed

to more than a decade ago in 2010. When the UNFCCC developed the Green Climate Fund. And work together to deliver on these goals. The organizers

say the talks will be the world's best last chance to get the runaway climate crisis under control. And time is running out.

[10:20:02]

ANDERSON: We've seen this movie before, big conferences year after year where leaders commit to implementing policies yet little is done.

GRETA THUNBERG, SWEDISH CLIMATE ACTIVIST: All leaders intentional lack of action is a betrayal towards all presents and future generations. The

people in power cannot claim that they are trying because they are clearly not.

ANDERSON: Well, some climate advocates are skeptical about the possibility for real change after so many parts of the world have been impacted by

recent extreme weather events. Event leaders are hopeful that this time the goals are attainable. Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir has long covered global warming and its impact on the environment as well as everyday people. He

joins me from New York. And Bill, would you get very optimistic and hopeful that we're ahead of these events. But only occasionally do they actually

pay off? I mean, genuinely do you feel it's different this time?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, next, this is the Conference of Parties 26, which means they've had this exact meeting 26

times over the years, which is what led Greta Thunberg to say recently to sum it all up as 30 years of blah, blah, blah. Yes, this is a story about

human nature, no longer the forces of nature, or physics or technology, we know the dangers, we know the steps that need to be take.

It's all about sort of political will in an era when you don't get elected to public office, at least in the West, or to the Board of Directors with a

big corporation by saying we need to slow growth and change everything we do in our lives. Everything we do in our businesses, new forms of

transportation, and housing. And all of those things is what it'll take. And unfortunately, the last promises were woefully inaccurate.

John Kerry said even if they met the promises made in Paris six years ago, they would blow past that 1.5-degree target by two degrees. So, much more

needs to be promised laid out. And of course, as you say, Max, much more action needs to take hold here. And perhaps the sort of severity of the

events we're seeing around the world from droughts to fires to too much water in some places, not enough and others can spur people.

But a watchdog group recently took a look at all of the developed nations and only country in almost 200 countries that signed on to Paris that's

even close to meeting our target is Gambia.

FOSTER: Fascinating, isn't it? Obviously, there's a lot of optimism comes to the fact that the current presidency is more interested in protecting

the environment than the previous one. You've also got this infrastructure bill, you know, make its way through Washington, potentially. We're talking

about that earlier in the hour. And that's got a lot of climate related policy in relation to it as well, hasn't it? So that is something you're

looking at, too.

WEIR: Yes. This is something that is unique to America, and may be hard to explain to our friends around the world that even though the climate crisis

is such a flashing red light in the United States, in order to get meaningful action, they have to candy coated in an infrastructure bill

that's, you know, and sell it as it's about bridges and new broadband. But it is the most ambitious spending by far this country has ever proposed.

And unfortunately, it's being jammed up by two senators, two sort of conservative Democrats from energy producing states. And for better or

worse when China makes a pledge they don't have to worry about two senators stopping it. And so, a lot of folks are questioning well, even if the

United States comes to Glasgow and make some really sweeping grand new resolutions, what happens if the politics pendulum swings back the other

way in the United States?

And that is a very valid question. And also there are sort of promises made to developing countries. $100 billion a year to help them prop up a new

form of energy and trend, you know, and adjust transition. And countries are at least 20 billion behind in making good on those pledges. So there's

a lot of scrutiny but really, it's all about social license. Oil companies keep doing what they're doing because the public gives them social license

by using their product, although that's changing and the courts, especially the United States.

And now I think as Greta and her generation has proven the social license to just make platitudes and promises at these conventions, and then take a

break for another couple years. Those days are gone.

FOSTER: OK. Bill Weir, appreciate it. Environmentalists focus very much in the moments on an oil spill of the Southern California Coast is an

ecological disaster there. Official say dead fish and birds are washing ashore after pipeline began leaking Saturday, starting about 3000 barrels

of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. Some popular beaches have been shut up to help protect the public there. Natasha Chen joins us live from

Huntington Beach, California where the cleanup is underway. And they're still trying to just limit the spread of this soil.

[10:25:09]

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, we're talking about a lot of efforts by boats that we've seen in the last day or so just dragging

a boom trying to collect the oil there. So far as of last night, more than 3000 gallons of oily water mixture have been recovered but that is nowhere

near the amount of potential total spilled gallons of oil here. We're talking about more than 120,000 gallons in the water right now.

Now, it's unclear when this leak actually started because some people living in the area report having smelled something even Friday evening, but

it was officially reported to the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday morning. And by Saturday evening, some of that oil had seeped up to the shoreline here

and Huntington Beach where this weekend this past weekend, there was the Pacific Air Show bringing a million people to the beach for performances

including the Blue Angels by the Navy.

So it's really -- a really huge impact for the third day of the airshow. They had to cancel that knowing that some of this oil was coming on shore.

Yesterday we talked to people who had tarballs stuck to the bottom of their feet. So they were --they were trying very hard to scrape that off. It got

onto people's skin. The county health officials say that this is a real warning. People should stay out of the water, stay away from the shoreline

because contact with this oil could cause skin irritation.

Evaporated products from the spill could even create irritation with the throat, the nose, the eyes, and perhaps even cause dizziness or vomiting

especially for those who are vulnerable with respiratory illnesses. Right now we are trying to get answers from the people responsible, the company

Amplify Energy. Their CEO spoke yesterday saying that this pipeline is regularly maintained. It goes through routine inspection every other year.

And that this pipeline is about 20, 30 years old. And this is potentially a spill that happened about 4-1/2 miles offshore. They had divers going

underwater on Sunday evening trying to potentially locate the source of the leak and figure out how exactly this happens, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Natasha, thank you. As she says they're still trying to find the source of the leak. Still ahead, Haiti's fire justice minister is

calling on the current prime minister to step down. An exclusive interview with Rockefeller Vincent coming up.

Plus, easing the U.K.'s fuel crisis. We'll have a live reports on how the military is hoping to boost supplies.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:13]

FOSTER: Welcome back. I'm Max Foster in London. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. To an CNN exclusive now and Haiti's fired justice minister is

speaking out and has a strong message for the current prime minister that is stepped down. Rockefeller Vincent says Prime Minister Ariel Henry is

implicated in the murder of the country's president and should offer his resignation on. Henry denies having anything to do with the killing.

Vincent oversaw the investigation into the assassination of Jovenel Moise who was gunned down in July and Vincent has gone into hiding after he was

fired last month. CNN's Matt Rivers has been following Haiti's descent into chaos. Following the President's murder. He joins us now live from Mexico,

Matt.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max. Basically, our viewers will remember it was about two weeks ago now roughly, that the

current prime minister of Haiti Ariel Henry actually fired both the previous Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent and also the country's top

prosecutor, Bedford Claude. Now, this was after Claude specifically went public with the fact that he was asking for unspecified charges to be

brought against Henry in connection to the assassination of the president of Haiti Jovenel Moise.

According to Bedford Claude, it was Henry who had a phone call the night of the assassination with one of the key suspects in this case, according to

Haitian investigators. But it was the former justice minister, Rockefeller Vincent, who backed Bedford Claude, did not want him fired. And as a

result, Henry fired both men. And as you might imagine, the ex-Justice Minister not happy about that saying this is clearly a cover up on the part

of the prime minister who has strongly denied, having anything to do with the assassination.

And as a result, listen to a little bit of what he told us about how he's calling for the prime minister to resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCKEFELLER VINCENT, FORMER HAITIAN JUSTICE MINISTER (through translator): On a public key in all serious countries, once you are implicated in such

an affair, the Prime Minister should offer his resignation. He should resign, and we are still waiting for him to resign because on the night of

the President's death, a few hours later, he had phone conversations with the president's assassin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: Now we asked the interim justice minister, the man who took over for Rockefeller Vincent about these allegations over the weekend, he

actually told us that he believes that the firing of the previous Justice Minister and the country's former top prosecutor is justified. He says that

the only reason that Bedford Claude, the former top prosecutor wanted to bring charges against the current prime minister is political in nature.

So you basically have both sides arguing the same thing just from different sides, both accusing the other one of political cover ups of a political

game. And we asked them, look, how could anyone both in Haiti or in the international community have confidence in this investigation right now

because it has taken months with still no clear answers as to who killed President Jovenel Moise.

And also just the twists and turns in the constant political infighting. But the current interim Justice Minister told us he does have confidence in

this investigation. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISZT QUITEL, HAITIAN INTERIM JUSTICE MINISTER: This is a very prominent case. I will start this. So we cannot, you know, you know, wash into

conclusion. And then when we make referrals, and then the lawyers of the defendants, you know, can say, hey, you did this mistake or that mistake.

And even if we have (INAUDIBLE) then we cannot make the case, and then they go (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIVERS: So Max, basically what he's saying there is that yes, the investigation has taken months now. But it doesn't matter how long it takes

because he believes that the justice process in Haiti is being followed that the case is in independent hands, in the hands of the judges, as he

told us. He does believe eventually there will be a conclusion from this case. But, you know, when you can't help but notice you've got the previous

Justice Minister fighting with the current justice minister, you have the current prime minister of Haiti being implicated in one way or another

depending on who you ask.

In the assassination of this president, you have him strongly denying it, it all adds up to just an utter mess, frankly. And, you know, this

president was assassinated on July 7th, Max and here we are months later, with no definitive answers as to exactly what happened and why. And it's

really undercutting the confidence of both Haitians and the international community when it comes to figuring out or waiting for some clear cut

answer from this investigation.

FOSTER: It's very sad. Matt, thank you. The U.S. and South Korea congratulation Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was confirmed

earlier on Monday. In a special session of Parliament, his supporters say he's a safe pair of hands. CNN's Selina Wang brings us the latest from

Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:35:06]

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan has a new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who has the tough job of leading the world's

third largest economy through the pandemic, stagnating growth, increasing tensions with China and a rapidly aging population.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The hearts of the Japanese people have been broken into pieces because of the coronavirus.

WANG: But Kishida, an ex-foreign minister and political veteran wasn't the popular choice. Known as a moderate consensus builder. He had lackluster

public support, struggling to shake off his image as a boring politician. The public's favorite was Taro Kono, an outspoken political maverick with a

massive Twitter following. But the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ultimately chose what experts describe as the safe and stable choice.

KEITH HENRY, PRESIDENT, ASIA STRATEGY: He's not going to be a T.V. star. He's not going to capture the imagine -- the imagination of the average

Japanese person. But the Japanese people want stability and security and I think Kishida will be able to provide that.

WANG: Kishida's first major test will be the upcoming general election. He'll be the face of a party that's been criticized for outgoing Prime

Minister Yoshihide Suga's handling of the pandemic and the Olympics. Kishida campaigned on narrowing the income gap and spending billions to

boost in economy hard hit by the pandemic.

HENRY: The feeling among the Japanese people that this gap between the haves and have nots. The gap between wealth, wages and opportunity is

increasing.

WANG: On foreign policy, he also faces an increasingly aggressive North Korea and is expected to support a strong alliance with the U.S. and other

allies as a bulwark against China. A key challenge will be balancing Japan's deep economic ties with China and its concerns about Beijing's

growing military assertiveness. But it's unclear how long lasting because she does leadership will be.

TAKESHI NIINAMI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SUNTORY: There are so many complicated issues. And he is not the strongest leader in the ruling party

of LVP.

WANG: Before the second term of Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest serving Prime Minister, Japan cycled through six prime ministers in six years. Selina

Wang, CNN, Tokyo.

FOSTER: Up next, the military is now behind the wheel to help end the fuel crisis here in the U.K. But some wonder could this happen again. A live

report you just ahead. And we'll look ahead to a World Sport with one of the best football goals. One of the best football players on the planet. Do

stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The military is on the move here in the U.K. helping to deliver fuel to gas stations would you believe as part of the government's efforts

to stabilize the nation's fuel supplies. A shortage of truck drivers and the consumer anxiety that followed letter panic buying an empty pump so

over the past week. CNN's Anna Stewart is covering the story for us in London. And last week you told us they said it was getting better.

[10:40:10]

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: And I think it has, Max. In many parts of the U.K. but unfortunately, the fuel crisis is far from over here in London and

for much of the southeast of England. The latest figures we've had today from a survey from the Petrol Retailers Association shows that one in five

of the members they surveyed are completely empty of fuel. And that was the case here at this B.P. station. It had a refill though this morning.

And I can tell you the queue is very, very long. Now it is hoped that the U.K. military is going to help the situation. 200 members of the armed

forces from a very wide spectrum are being deployed from today. We've seen them already picking up fuel from depots around the country and it's

hopefully we'll be targeting the areas that need it most. Haven't seen anyone from the army here yet today, though, Max.

In addition to this, the U.K. government are also issuing 5000 temporary work visas to try and get some foreign truck drivers into the mix as well.

All of these measures, of course, will help alleviate the immediate crisis that we see here today. But it won't really address the longer term issue

which is a huge shortage of truck drivers. That has been the case now for years. But certainly the pandemic and Brexit really exacerbated it.

Brexit saw an exodus of European workers. Over the weekend it was very interesting to hear from Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking in a BBC

interview saying that he doesn't believe immigration really is the answer here. He thinks the issue here is that market forces need to take hold of

the problem. They need to see wages higher for the haulage industry to recruit more people within the U.K.

That is going to take a very long time. So I think we can expect to see supply chain issues and further crises like this one for months to come.

Max?

FOSTER: OK. Anna, thank you very much indeed. We'll keep watching that one. In the world of sport. Everyone is talking about a jaw dropping goal by Mo

Salah on Sunday. He gets past multiple Man's defenders to score this absolute banger. Amanda, you listen to the radio I gather. And, you know,

it's as exciting whether you watch it in CIL video or in audio.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Max. I was one of those people who wasn't able to get fuel in London on Sunday. I spent the

morning driving around couldn't find any. But I have to say Mo Salah's made things that are a little bit better. And you suspect it's one of those

goals that your children, children across playgrounds will be trying to replicate today. The way he got past so many men.

Even LeBron James was having his say on social media. It really was a spectacular goal in a brilliant game. A fantastic advert for the Premier

League. And we've got plenty more coming up in a couple of minutes.

FOSTER: Will it be the goal of the season everyone's saying? Amanda, thank you very much indeed. More on that amazing goal with Amanda next. I'll be

back with the second hour of the world in 15 minutes.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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