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Connect the World
Deadline Nears as Justice Department Moves to Unseal Search Warrant; Ukrainian nuclear authority: Zaporizhzhia Plant Risks Violating Radiation and Fire Safety Standards Pelosi's Taiwan Visit Gives China's Xi Political Ammunition; FIFA To Begin Qatar World Cup A Day Early; Foster Feels Pressure As New Zealand Face Archrivals. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired August 12, 2022 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:31]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: New details emerging about the FBI search of Donald Trump's home. The contents of that warrant could be made public
later today.
And the head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog condemns the deteriorating situation around Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Plus, a
drought officially declared in parts of the U.K. Is there any rain in sight?
I am Paula Newton in New York. Hello and a warm welcome to Connect The World. An extraordinary week in U.S. politics. And guess what? Not over
yet. Right now, it's Donald Trump's move in a chess game with the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Now, the former president now has five hours to respond to the Justice Department motion to unseal documents related to the FBI search of his
home, Monday. Now, he said he won't oppose unsealing the warrant or that property receipt. This is about the alleged mishandling of classified
documents taken from the White House to Trump's Florida Resort home. A new report in The Washington Post in fact suggests why authorities are ramping
up efforts to get them back.
The post writing and I'm quoting here, "Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of
former President Donald Trump's Florida residents." Now, on Monday, according to people familiar with the investigation that was from the
Washington Post.
CNN, though has not independently confirmed that report. Trump has now dismissed it. He calls it a hoax. The FBI search has inflamed his
supporters who claim it was politically motivated. Now, the intense public interest is why Attorney General Merrick Garland told the nation the
unprecedented move at Mar-a-Lago was his call. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARLAND: There are however, certain points I want you to know. First, I personally approve the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.
Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an
alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Joining me now is Harry Litman. He is a former Deputy Assistant, U.S. Attorney General and host of the talking Feds podcast. When we
definitely need someone with your expertise to weigh in here. I mean, let's start with what we may learn from those FBI documents. They may be released
today, what will we see if they are released this afternoon?
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, they'll be limited, the biggest part of the warrant package is an affidavit with
sum 100 pages of notes from the person who actually applied for it. We'll have here a cover sheet that lists potentially and this would be the most
important, the crimes that were actually found probable cause to search, and then a list in the inventory of the things they took by likely to be
very sort of general and high level.
NEWTON: I think many people want to know, how will this in fact, impact the debate? We just set it up at the outset of the show, right? You've got
Trump supporters saying, you know, this is a hoax. And in fact, in some cases, we've now learned, you know, basically, it's led to violence. And
yet you have the DOJ saying look, we did everything that we could to get to these essential documents without having to go to these lengths.
LITMAN: And they did and they showed it and they did a subpoena and then conversations and this is over months dating back from January and he
remained intransigent. How will it affect the debate? The proof of the last couple years is there's a large percentage of Trump supporters who can't be
persuaded by any form of argument or evidence at all but that small cadre perhaps of reasonable people in the center, anyone who understands the
department, Washington et cetera will know that the DOJ's bona free days are solid here they did everything they could and it's not just that they
took these preliminary steps but they really, really had to go in because Trump remained in possession of material that by definition could harm U.S.
national security even put lives in danger.
[10:05:21]
NEWTON: OK, Harry Litman will wait to see and duly noted that perhaps we won't get the detail that many may be looking for. Thanks so much for your
input there.
LITMAN: Thank you.
NEWTON: Joining me now is CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez. Evan, we want to say at the outset, right, we haven't confirmed that
reporting from the Washington Post. But if it's true, why is that significant?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the significance of the -- of what the Washington Post reporting is, it sort of explains why there
has been this month's long, 18 months really, of back and forth between the federal government between the National Archives and between the U.S.
intelligence agencies and the Justice Department to try to retrieve these documents.
We know from our own reporting, that among the documents that ended up the FBI and the Justice Department believe ended up at the beach house of the
former president, were documents related to what we call Special Access Programs. Now, these are the most highly prized, highly secure, or supposed
to be highly secure jewels, frankly, of national security of the United States government. Nuclear weapons programs would be among those. We
reported that SAP programs were among the things that the FBI was trying to get back. And which, you know, over a period of months, there was some
resistance from the former president and his legal team about whether they should run to send it back. That's the context.
The other important part of this is that Mar-a-Lago which is a private club that belongs to the former president is known for, let's just say, lacks
procedures, where you have foreign nationals, people who should not have any close access to things like nuclear weapons programs details, would,
you know, be able to get access. There was a case of a foreign national, Chinese national, who was actually prosecuted because of this. And we also
know, you know, from previous reporting, that the president was known to carry around classified documents to social settings and wave them around,
things that should never ever happen. That's the context for why there's been this very big push to get these documents back. And why ultimately,
the Justice Department after exhausting all of its efforts, decided to do this highly unusual move to search the former president's home, you know,
despite the fact that he's been claiming that he's been cooperative, Paula.
NEWTON: And Evan, just I've been following your reporting closely here. And I know and speaking to your contacts of the Department of Justice and the
FBI, it was an extraordinary move for the Attorney General to come out the way he did yesterday, then to try and unseal these documents. You know,
what did your -- how did your reporting inform you about why they did it, even though they might have been reluctant?
PEREZ: No, absolutely. You're absolutely right. It's a historic move by the Justice Department. They never do things like this. First of all, the --
this attorney general in particular, he's a former judge, he is very reluctant to allow anyone to talk about ongoing investigations. It's a --
let's just say it's a frustration of mine and over the journalists, the fact that they do -- they just don't want to say anything. And when this
the search happened on Monday.
You know, I think the fact that the former president is claiming that, you know, they came in and raided and they called it a siege, and he's made
claims that they may have planted evidence, you know, this was done with the utmost deference, frankly. I've never seen the FBI show up to do a
search at around 10 a.m. Usually, they do these things at dawn. They come in with guns, they make sure that they are secure. They come in with FBI
jackets, emblazoned on, you know, they call them rain jackets. None of that happened. They came in with suits and ties, they tried to make sure they
did not create a spectacle. They frankly waited until Donald Trump was in New Jersey or New York, so that there was no, you know, there was no such,
you know, confrontation.
So they've done this in a way to try to minimize the amount of spectacle, and it's the former president that went out publicly and talked about it.
That's the reason why the Justice Department yesterday decided to finally say something because they realized that you've given Donald Trump and his
allies, about 72 hours to have the open field and to set the narrative of what happened. And frankly, they were saying things that were completely
false about what had happened.
And also, Paula, you know, just to put in, you know, in broader context, you know, there have been threats now being made at FBI officials, FBI
agents. You saw an incident in Ohio where someone tried to enter an FBI office that's the sort of the surrounding, the narrative that we have.
We're living, frankly. And that's the context in which the Attorney General finally stepped to the microphone yesterday.
[10:10:18]
NEWTON: Yeah, as you said, extraordinary developments, which you will continue to follow today, or less than five hours from now, we may or may
not get the release of those documents. Evan Perez, thanks so much for being on the story for us.
PEREZ: Thank you.
NEWTON: And now we want to bring in CNN's Katelyn Polantz, who has done a lot of reporting as well on this story. And she joins me now from
Washington, quite a team we have there in Washington, and it takes that much to get through the details of his story. Do we know for sure that the
former president will not object to those documents being unsealed if they are in five hours' time? I mean, what is he said?
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, what Trump has said and what Trump does, are not always the same thing. So what Trump
has said so far, late night on social media, he said that not only I will not oppose the release of the documents, I am going a step further by
encouraging the immediate release of those documents, we're going on almost 12 hours, 10 hours about since he made that announcement on social media.
We have not seen a release from his team. They could provide to the public those documents that they have in their possession, if they wanted to.
The justice from it, obviously, yesterday came in with Merrick Garland calling their bluff saying, if you guys want to be talking about this,
let's see it. We move to unseal. Do you do, want to do the same as well. And what we are waiting for now is an official statement from the Trump
lawyers to be made to the Justice Department that will then be carried into the court record. And they will tell the judge this is what the Trump team
wants to do, whether or not they want these documents to be unsealed.
So we're really waiting and seeing I just looked again, at the court file for this search warrant case, there's no updates yet. There has been some
other activity news media organizations, including CNN asking for unsealing here even further on unsealing of the narrative, the affidavit that would
describe even more behind this search. But there really isn't anything yet from the Justice Department.
The big question here, coming down today is when are we going to get this resolved? Could it be today? That is of course a possibility if Trump's
team does not oppose the release of this in court, the judge can move very quickly. We sometimes see things happen over the weekend, even late at
night in court. Judges are watching for hot button cases like this. And we know that if there is a release, there could be a lot of information there
that would be very illuminating as to what was being looked for, what crimes are being investigated. And also, Paula, what was taken away from
Mar-a-Lago what was seized and returned to the hands of the federal government and especially the intelligence community.
NEWTON: Yeah, and we should say, you know, no matter what happened, and what we learned, that doesn't mean necessarily that the former president
will be charged with anything, it just means that they believed that perhaps there was an issue with these documents, and they were of national
security import.
Katelyn Polantz we'll continue to watch with you in the hours to come. I appreciate your reporting there.
POLANTZ: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now, alarm is going over conditions at the Zaporizhzhia Power Plant in Ukraine. That's a day after an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting
on the plant, where Ukraine's interior minister says, there is no adequate control over operations there. Now, the Ukrainian plant operator warns
there is now a serious risk of the plant violating radiation and fire safety standards. That's pretty alarming. You've got to imagine. And that's
all as the fighting discontinues in the area.
Ukraine says rockets and shells hit two cities not far from that plant in the last few hours. Senior International Correspondent, David McKenzie is
connecting us today from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
I know how closely you've been watching all of this. And to be clear, we should say at the outset, the IAEA says these are their words, that there's
no immediate threat to nuclear safety. But the U.N., of course, worried telling us that look, things could change at any moment. David, could you
give us a snapshot of what it's like to be at this nuclear plant, especially that as we just reported, there are still military battles going
on in close proximity at all hours?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's sort of painting a picture. Imagine being the Ukrainian technician or engineer working at that site,
you are there fulfilling an extremely important role for the country. And then Russia invades back in March and takes over that site. Now, Ukrainian
technicians. One official told us around 1000 of them are still working in that site. Some of them are staying there. Some have to move back and forth
through a very volatile part of the conflict. And they have to do their jobs to ensure safety while being held hostage as it were by Russian
forces. There has been this video emerging of Russian military putting AP seizes armored personnel carriers and other assets inside storage
facilities right inside that overall plant.
[10:15:08]
It is a vast area, one must say. And as you say, the IAEA say, well, there's no immediate danger of a fallout or a leak, right the second that
could change at any moment. And given that this is a very hot zone of this conflict, this is why everyone's worried about the worst case scenarios and
for those workers that should have -- should be focusing on safety at all times anyways, and backup systems and backup to the backup systems. They
are dealing with this while dealing with an occupying force and a frontline scenario. Paula.
NEWTON: Yeah, it's alarming the situation you just sketched out for us there. And David, you know, I've asked you this question before, actually,
where is the negotiation on this? Given that it's even in Russia's best interest that there is no nuclear accident there? We have seen that we've
had a deal on grain exports, is there any hope that they will begin to broker some kind of a deal where you have a zone around this plant that is
safe, that is not militarized?
MCKENZIE: I think the difference between the negotiations with some believe wouldn't have no chance of success of allowing grain in and out of black
sea ports. And this situation is that the Zaporizhzhia Power Plant, as I described is far closer to the area of contestation in this conflict. Right
across the river, you have Ukrainian positions which are being regularly shelled by the Russians and to the north of that side on the southern
and/or eastern side of the Dnipro River. So from a point of view of the actual military strategy, this is a much more sensitive area which makes
some kind of negotiated settlement that much harder. Paula.
NEWTON: OK, once again, we continue to keep an eye on that power plant and also obviously concern for the employees, the Ukrainian employees in there.
David McKenzie for us, I appreciate it.
Just ahead here on Connect the World, England's green and pleasant land hotter than Barbados, think about that, and parts of it have been pushed
into official draught. We'll look at when there might be some relief and how to stop wider damage to the planet itself. Why there could still be
hope for the future of East Antarctica's ice shelf, a vital component of life on this planet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: It is indeed official, droughts have been declared in several parts of England. The announcement a short time ago means stricter water controls
and water is what England desperately needs right now after several months of low rainfall and waves of extreme heat.
In France, meantime, there's a new climate crisis worry. The E.U. says carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires raging in parts of the southwestern
region are at their highest that they have been for at least two decades.
[10:20:08]
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is across all of the latest for us. As you yourself, right, you're sweltering in this heat, you can certainly see the dry grass
behind you as well. You are in London. And I want to get an indication from you that what are the measures in the U.K. that they are looking at to deal
with this really extreme drought that has been going on for so long? And the all-important question, when will it rain? We are used to rainy summers
in Britain, in fact.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: It's a very strange occurrence indeed, Paula, when you see that London has basically seen virtually no rain for
weeks. Now, you can see the result of that parched land right behind me here in Greenwich Park where we are. But what's happened now is officials
have officially declared a drought in about half of the country, several parts of England. And what that does is it allows water companies to put in
bans on the use of water. So it means you can't water your garden. You can't wash your car, you can't wash your windows, but they're calling on
everyone essentially to start conserving that precious resource that is water. But it's not of course just here in the UK. It's across all of
Western Europe that these extreme temperatures yet another round of heat wave are causing massive consequences. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): 5000 hectares more than 12,000 football fields burnt in a single night. Temperatures inside the fire zone in this
community ingrown France reached 1000 degrees Celsius according to the local fire department, enough to bend steel.
MATTIEU JOMAIN, GIRONDE FIREFIGHTERS SPOKESPERSON (through translator): We are still in the phase of trying to contain the fire. Our mission is to
direct it where we want, where there was fewer vegetation where the layout allows our vehicles to position themselves best in the most efficient
manner.
ABDELAZIZ: Scorching temperatures and months of dry weather are causing dangerous conditions across Europe. The continent is in the midst of its
fourth heat wave the summer. E.U. Chief, Ursula von der Leyen tweeted Friday that help was incoming for Portugal, Slovenia, Albania and France as
part of the bloc's civil protection mechanism. Following an emergency plea from Paris on Thursday, the E.U. sent for firefighting planes to Frances
Southwest where emergency services have battled wildfires for six consecutive nights. Reinforcements from Romania started to arrive Friday
morning.
CRISTIAN BUHALANU, ROMANIAN FIRE CHIEF: Doesn't matter the country we are firefighters, we have to help people around the world.
ABDELAZIZ: In the U.K., the London fire brigade remains on high alert and describes the city as tinderbox dry. Water companies have introduced bans
given the drought conditions stopping people from watering their gardens, washing cars or cleaning windows. Even the River Thames has dried up
further downstream than ever before.
ALISDAIR NAULLS, RIVERS TRUST ENGAGEMENT OFFICER: This is the climate crisis in action that I am stirred in about that deep of the Thames 15
kilometers into it. I should be a lot wetter than I am right now.
ABDELAZIZ: Germany's River Rhine was also exceptionally low, threatening further disruption on Germany's most important inland waterway, used for
transporting chemicals and grain the Rhine is particularly crucial for the movement of coal, which is in higher demand as Germany races to fill
storage facilities ahead of next winter.
Meteorologists say the current wave of extreme temperature sweeping Europe is associated with a robust dome of high atmospheric pressure. Not only
does that dome bring hot air into the region, it also suppresses storms and clouds, trapping the heat and preventing it from rising.
Scientists say that every heat wave the world experiences today has been made hotter because of human induced climate change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: Now, Paula, to answer your earlier question, yes, rain is outlook for next week. So that does bring a bit of relief, particularly
when it comes to that fear of potential fires, wildfires being started because of this extremely dry conditions. But it only begins to put a dent
into what's missing here. As you heard there are rivers, running low parts of the country running absolutely dry. And then there's the bigger picture,
of course, Paula, that is the climate crisis. The reality here is that everyone is going to have to start thinking about how they conduct
themselves. How do they use water? How can they conserve because this will only get worse in coming years. Paula.
NEWTON: Yeah, no matter where we are on the globe, we should all be thinking about protecting and preserving that precious resource. Salma
Abdelaziz, thanks so much for that update.
Now meantime, the heat wave in Europe is causing at least one Swiss glacier to melt at an accelerated rate. Now, you're looking at drone footage of the
Aletsch Glacier in the south of the country, which is being affected by the extreme weather. This as a new analysis says there is still a chance to
slow down the melting of the east and Arctic ice sheet provided, this is key here, the world can limit global warming to just two degrees Celsius.
If not the melting ice sheet would cause sea level has to be driven up by many meters. CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir joins us now.
[10:25:03]
You know, you're always so good at explaining all of this in plain language. And we need you to kind of explain this latest study to us and
its implications given that even the scientists themselves were quite surprised at what they found.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, you know, just as your phone gets better, seemingly every five minutes, all of the satellites
above us studying these phenomenon on Earth are getting better and more precise, and there's actually a couple of studies out when it comes to the
bottom of the planet right now. Turns out that Antarctica has lost twice as much ice, as previously believed.
The edges are crumbling off, calving off into the sea at a rate that would cover Switzerland just in the last 25 years as the glaciers inland are
thinning as well, from the warmer seas beneath there. Now sea level rise around the world is about four inches or 10 centimeters since 1992. But
NASA NOAA predicts it will be another 30 centimeters, a foot by the middle of this century by 2050. But this when we talk about the Paris Accords, 1.5
or 2.0, keeping that limit, that's what you're trying to prevent, trying to prevent that ice bowl down south from lash, you know, sort of sloshing over
the sides, and taking out low lying cities around the world.
And this data is really important for city planners, you know, from Bangkok to Boston to Charleston in Miami, who are planning for a certain amount of
sea level rise. Right now they're raising streets, they're putting in bigger pumps, but you may have to adjust as the realities outstripped the
predictions.
NEWTON: Even that may not be enough programming notes. Congress is expected to vote on what would be a historic climate bill in the hours to come. And
Bill, I know you'll be watching it closely. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.
WEIR: Absolutely, you beat.
NEWTON: And if you would join us as well in the next hour, we will be speaking to the co-author of that report that Bill was just talking about.
Timo Vihma the head of Polar Media Meteorology and Climatology at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, will join us from Helsinki. And we will
be hanging on to every word.
Now, China's show of force around Taiwan has many worried about Beijing's next move. We'll look at the firestorm set off by Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan
trip.
Is it the cause of the increased tension or just a symptom? Taking advantage of the opportunity perhaps. We'll take a look. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And welcome back. I am Paula Newton in New York and you are watching, Connect The World. Returning to our top story in this incredible
week of U.S. politics, Donald Trump's legal team is staring at a deadline now less than five hours away.
[10:30:00]
The Justice Department has filed a motion to unseal the warrant and property receipt from the FBI search of the former president's Florida
property Monday. Trump wrote on his social media platform late Thursday that he would, quote, encourage their immediate release.
The FBIs investigating Trump's handling of presidential documents including classified documents that may have been brought to his Mar-a-Lago estate.
He will continue -- we will continue, in fact, to bring you the latest on these unprecedented events in U.S. politics. Meantime, in China, also, they
made big waves there this week, literally and figuratively, with its largest ever military drills around Taiwan.
Now, the war games came, of course, on the heels of a controversial trip to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, trying to make no secret of the
fact that it was deeply angered by the visit. Beijing showing its displeasure with a simulated blockade around Taiwan and island it claims as
its own. Now Pelosi is getting both praise for her bold show of support and condemnation for getting China another reason to become more aggressive
militarily.
Selina Wang joins us now from Beijing. It's been quite a week there as well. How has Beijing responded now to Pelosi's visit especially as it
relates to how they want it to play out across the country in China?
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing this play out in a sense of creating national unity here, Paula. We have seen this actually
play really well into Xi Jinping hands. It is has in a way reinforced his power leading up to the party Congress. We've seen the nationalism, the
patriotism really increase which has been fanned by all of this propaganda and it's captivated the national attention at a time when the conversation
before this had been dominated by all the economic troubles in China, by China's ongoing zero COVID pandemic.
And military experts tell me that this also provided an excuse for Xi Jinping to up the ante on Taiwan over the long term and, of course, shore
up shoes power leading into this party Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WANG (voice-over): This show of force was made for TV. Chinese soldiers preparing for battle. War planes flooding the skies, destroyers encircling
the waters around Taiwan. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in Taiwan for less than 24 hours. But Beijing's military drills in response are lasting
for days.
CHENG LI, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Nancy Pelosi's visit, actually, I see it as a gift to President Xi Jinping because he can use that to united people.
WANG (voice-over): Before her visit, outrage was brewing in China over brutal COVID markdowns and economic devastation from Xi Jinping zero COVID
policy. Ever since news of Pelosi's visit leaked, propaganda has been in overdrive, captivating the nation. Some prominent hawkish voices even
suggested China should shoot her plane down. The country rallying behind Beijing's view that Pelosi's visit is a direct challenge to China's
sovereignty.
Even though the Communist Party has never ruled over Taiwan, people in China are taught from elementary school that Taiwan is part of the
motherland and unification is only a matter of time. The night of Pelosi's visit, millions of people in China tracked her flight in real time, waiting
to see if the military would intervene. When she landed safely, the most hardcore patriots were disappointed. Some even breaking into tears that
state media had lied to them about the unprecedented measures Beijing would take to stop her.
But the military drills that followed proved to be more provocative than before. Shooting rockets towards the Taiwan Strait. Even over the island
for the first time. Chinese war planes flew ever closer to Taiwan, and in greater numbers, this time, encircling the island in a practice blockade.
And well, the mood in China quickly changed. Some even started thinking Pelosi on China's Twitter like platform Weibo. One wrote, "The unification
of her motherland will soon be realized. Thanks Pelosi for your helping hand."
MICHAEL RASKA, ASST. PROFESSOR, NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY: It provided a lot more benefit for the Chinese because they use it as an
opportunity again to demonstrate power, the military power. It provided political ammunition that Xi Jinping needs solidify his position ahead of
the party Congress.
WANG (voice-over): Xi Jinping may have turned this crisis into his advantage at home but abroad he's further antagonize the U.S. and decreased
Taiwan's resentment towards the mainland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WANG: Now the narrative inside China I know which is, of course, controlled by authorities, it is vastly very different from how it is playing out
abroad.
[10:35:06]
Inside China, the narrative is that this is the result of foreign forces that are trying to weaken and split China. So China's reaction is
completely justified. Of course, the U.S., Taiwan and its allies, they see China's strong military response as an overreaction. That is just a
continuation of China's increasing coercion of Taiwan.
But while we have seen Xi Jinping's reaction when a lot of praise at home, it has backfired in many other ways. It's further antagonized Taiwan, the
U.S. It's further damaged that relationship. It put the entire Asian region on edge. We've also seen it hard in the resolve of the Taiwanese not to
mention it's put Taiwan's plate back into the global spotlight.
Recent survey shows that increasing numbers of Taiwanese support maintaining the status quo while fewer and fewer want to see that
reunification. So we're also hearing these very defiant statements, Paula, from Taiwanese officials who say it is up to the Taiwanese people, up to
its 23 million people just to decide the future of Taiwan and that it will stand up to what they see as bullying from China, and that they will not
act out in the way that they want -- that the authoritarian regime wants them to to behave. Paula?
NEWTON: Yes, I will say, Selina, even the startling images that see television put out in China of these military exercises, it was something
to behold for the last week. Selina Wang for us, thanks so much.
Now, Hong Kong has recorded a record annual drop in population, shrinking 1.6 percent to under 7.3 million people now. More than 113,000 people left
Hong Kong over a period of 12 months that was ending June 30. A government spokesperson blamed the city's strict COVID border controls and quarantine
measures for interrupting population inflow. Experts though, also blame a crackdown on political dissent for that Exodus.
Now we want to get you right up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. An investigation is underway to try and find the cause
of Thursday's roller coaster crash in a logoland amusement park in southern Germany. Police say 31 people were hurt and one of them suffered severe but
non-life-threatening injuries.
The power's back on downtown Toronto, but earlier the city was in the dark. Thanks to an incident involving a large crane. It high voltage transmission
lines which caused damage to equipment at a nearby power station. In all, about 10,000 people were without electricity for several hours on Thursday.
Peru's president is now facing a sixth criminal investigation of barely a year into his term. Prosecutors allege Pedro Castillo disrupted public
order in the form of a criminal organization. The investigation involves his awarding of government contracts. His housing minister is also under
investigation. The President denies any wrongdoing.
A senior Biden administration official says the White House has engaged in direct engagements, in their words, with serious government to secure the
release of detained American Austin Tice. The official says several interactions so far have not yielded progress. Tice was taken hostage in
Syria some 10 years ago this week.
Next for us, an early start for one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Why the World Cup in Qatar will begin a day ahead of schedule.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:40:30]
NEWTON: The Center for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that the U.S. ease up on some of its COVID restrictions. Now their big focus is
now on using vaccines and therapeutics to reduce the risk of severe illness. The latest guidelines do not mention social distancing.
Now the agency is also downplaying the need for people who have no symptoms or known exposure to COVID to get screened on a regular basis. Those
exposed to COVID who are not infected no longer need to quarantine. But the CDC still says everyone should wear high quality masks when COVID levels
are high in their community. And, of course, everyone, this is key here, we got to change your behavior, everyone with symptoms needs to get tested and
stay home. Of course, if the test comes back positive, you should be at home, by the way, the CDC says for at least five days.
Now a senior Food and Drug Administration official says the government's new strategy to fight monkeypox could vaccinate the entire target
population. The vaccines manufacturer has limited supplies, but demand of course is sky high. The new plan will allow a different injection method
and smaller doses which could stretch out supplies. Now the official said up to 1.7 million people are eligible, meaning some 3 million doses are
needed to vaccinate everyone, only about half that number of doses will be available by this December.
Now it's already one of the most unconventional World Cups in history taking place for the first time in winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Now
FIFA has in fact confirmed a new decision about the timing of the tournament and it will begin a day ahead of schedule.
Amanda Davies is here to explain why. This whole thing already does my head in because I'm expecting that we're supposed to be seeing the World Cup
competition on TV. We are not. So fill me in here because I'm confused as to why the one-day schedule is significant.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Paula, I mean, the feeling in Qatar for some time now has been let's just get this tournament going. And what
we have now is that it is starting a day ahead of time instead of Monday, November the 21st. It is going to kick off on Sunday, November the 20th
with hosts Qatar playing their opening game against Ecuador.
And after 11.5 years of planning, the longest build up to any World Cup in history with three months ago. They've made this unprecedented decision,
basically. So the hosts get their moments in front of the world to kick off the tournament with the fireworks, with the traditional fanfare. But to
change it at this late stage, the impact it has on fans, on sponsors on broadcasters, it is huge. There are a fair few people who aren't
necessarily happy. And that's what we're going to be looking at in just a couple of minutes.
NEWTON: Yes, good luck to anyone going online to figure out what to -- how to exchange the tickets and the flights and everything else to get there.
Well, I'm glad you filling me in Amanda, as you will continue to bring us more of world sport and we will be right back with more in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:14]
DAVIES: Thanks for joining us. Welcome along to World Sport live from London with me, Amanda Davies. Friday marks 100 days to go until the start
of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. I know you haven't made a mistake in your countdown and may have had the longest build up to any footballing World
Cup in history. But after 11.5 years of planning just three months to go, the unprecedented decisions being made to move at the tournament start date
forward.
The opening match, the opening ceremony will now take place on Sunday, November the 20th with host Qatar kicking things off against Ecuador at the
Al Bayt Stadium. It had been due to start on Monday the 21st with Senegal against the Netherlands. The decision confirmed by World football's
governing body FIFA on Thursday, saying it followed an assessment of the competition and operational implications and consultation with stakeholders
and the host nation and it quote, "The change ensures the continuity of a long-standing tradition of making the start of the FIFA World Cup with an
opening ceremony on the occasion of the first match featuring either the hosts or the defending champions."
A little bit earlier on I was joined by Tariq Panja of The New York Times for his take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIQ PANJA, NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST AND GLOBAL SPORTS REPORTER: It's kind of ridiculous. And it adds kind of more uncertainty, as you said in
your intro there. No World Cup has had a longer build up and lead in as this 2022 World Cup. December the 2nd, 2010 is when Qatar's name popped out
of that envelope. And since then, they've been planning and building to the World Cup.
And it seems strange a few months ago when following the draw, when FIFA said the World Cup will be opened by a game between Senegal and Holland. No
disrespect to either of those two teams, because that's one of the better games of the opening phase. But surely Qatar that has spent billions of
dollars on this. It's such a vital state project, it wouldn't want to be the third game of the day and have an opening ceremony after two games
because England versus Iran was going to be there.
So it's kind of obvious that Qatar should open the tournament. The fact that it's taken less than, you know, we're close to 100 days out or 100
days out today. And now that decision, I mean, it's just kind of makes you scratch your head. And the organizers themselves, I was talking to people
there, they didn't know about it. Certainly the people, you know, fate on the coalface.
There's red buses, London buses now branded with the wrong dates of the Qatar World Cup because of this 100 days. There are buildings and
skyscrapers around the world with the wrong dates. This is very, very strange.
DAVIES: And of course, it has huge implications, doesn't it? As you rightly point out in your most recent article for fans and their travel plans, for
broadcasters, for the sponsors and their planning. I found it fascinating. The line in the statement from Qatar 2022, saying, "The impact of this
decision on fans was assessed by FIFA. We will work together to ensure a smooth tournament for the supporters affected by the change."
I mean, what does it say about who this tournament is really for, that this decision has been made and made this late?
PANJA: Well, it certainly and it hasn't been for a long time that match going fans. And that's the true football all around the world. Because of
television, this product is a TV product. The fans in the stadium provide the acoustics and a backdrop to football for billions around the world.
Now, Qatar's World Cup is going to be different and strange in many ways. And also it seems one of the most expensive for supporters eyewatering
prices for flights and accommodation. And it's already been very confusing. I've found people who have bought tickets for the Senegal versus
Netherlands game, for example, which will now also be moved to the slot that the Qatar-Ecuador game was going to be in. So that was going to be the
7:00 p.m. game.
And they also had games tickets for the night match, the last game USA versus Wales. Now they can't make those. So this is the individual -- one
of the individuals that FIFA will have to make good and you think what about their flights? What about their accommodation? And as for Ecuador,
this is the thing I find quite strange. I'm pretty sure if the first game was Qatar versus Netherlands, there was absolutely no chance the
Netherlands would have agreed to this.
[10:50:02]
Because of this World Cup being moved to the European winter because of the fierce heat in June and July in Qatar, teams will only be getting together
seven days before the tournament. The Premier League, for example, European leagues will be finishing on Sunday, the 14th, six days now before this
opening game. And that means Ecuador have six days to get their players together, including those that play in Europe.
Meanwhile, Qatar's team are going to be training for five months in preparation for this. I would love to know what convinced the Ecuadorians
to agree to this.
DAVIES: And of course, so much has been made about the fact that this is going to be a World Cup where you can go to more than one one game in a
day. People's schedules for the Monday certainly now we're up in the air. I know you and I have both spent time in Qatar, we've heard the calls from
Nasser Al-Khater and from Hassan al-Thawadi saying, please don't believe everything you read, please come and experience this tournament,
experienced the reality before you make judgments. What do you think this will have done in terms of changing people's views or impacting their views
on the tournament?
PANJA: Just to take you up on that point. Yes, they've said, come here and find out what Qatar is like on the ground. But again, we're three months
out and there's been precious little detail from the Organizing Committee of what fans can expect from from, you know, where they can drink beer, for
example, might seem like a small thing, but it's been part of the circus of the World Cups for years, Budweiser as a sponsor.
You know, what kind of -- what the fan experience will be still hasn't been articulated. Now if you're spendin,g you know, north of $5,000, you know,
in the world, which is facing a global recession on this trip of a lifetime, you might want to know what it's going to be like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIES: Has been in charge of your life for 25 test matches, but it's number 26 that could be the one that defines his tenure.
News ahead of a crunch test against South Africa coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DAVIES: Welcome back All Blacks coach Ian Foster is a man under pressure. There was a very tense press conference in Johannesburg ahead of his side's
clash against South Africa, a game where they'll be looking to avoid their sick defeat in seven test matches, which is one of the worst runs in New
Zealand's rugby history. Amidst speculation about his future in the role, Foster is preparing his side to try and avoid a repeat of last weekend's 26
points to 10 defeat at the hands of the Springboks, their biggest defeat in South Africa in nearly 100 years since 1928.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IAN FOSTER, NEW ZEALAND COACH: Clearly, we've made some changes the last few weeks. We've I think working really, really hard to beat those in. And
so when we look at the squad, we've -- we, you know, haven't made wholesale changes but we've certainly made some pretty critical ones we think to add
energy. With also if you look at (INAUDIBLE) bench, we're pretty happy with what's coming off and what we think is going to be a bit of a game of
endurance. And that's a bit of a similar strategy to what the South Africans use as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIES: Plenty of coverage of this weekend's big rugby championship fixtures coming up here on World Sport over the next couple of days.
Now, our world's -- sorry, excuse me, women's tennis well number one. Iga Swiatek is more used to winning runs than losing ones but she was stunned
by well, number 24 Beatriz Haddad Maia on Thursday knocked out of the Toronto open in three sets.
[10:55:16]
It took over three hours. It was not the results she was looking for just two weeks before the start of the U.S. Open.
Swiatek won six titles this season but had a mild victory in Nottingham and Birmingham both on grass in June. And in beating Swiatek becomes the first
Brazilian to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament.
It was a marathon as well for American teenager Coco Gauff won. She saw the 18-year-old emerge victorious for the second day in a row. She help to
overcome some real struggles on herself. 15 double faults this time, but in the end, she squeezed past Aryna Sabalenka took her place in the
quarterfinals. 7-5 4-6 7-6. She will take on Simona Halep for a place in this semi.
And Nick Kyrgios rolls on as well. The Australian cannot be stopped at the moment playing some of the best tennis of his career in the last couple of
weeks and having beaten well number one Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday at the Canadian masses. This time he saw of Alex de Minaur, his good friends with
his fellow Australian that did not stop him though he powered to 62-63 victory in just over an hour.
His 15th win and 16 matches and after taking the tournament victory last weekend. He'll now move high enough up in the rankings to be seated at
Flushing Meadows in two weeks time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK KYRGIOS, AUSTRALIAN TENNIS PLAYER: Today, it was really hard mentally for me to go out here and play. Alex was such good friends. And he's been
having such a good career so far and carrying the Australian flag for so long. And it was just tough mentally. It's never easy to play a friend like
that, especially if they're an Australian.
So, you know, I just got out here and got the job done. You know, I played the way I had to play. You know, he's a hell of a player. If you play into
his strengths, he's one of the best players from the back in the game and any so far. So, you know, he's going to have a hell of a career.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAVIES: Got out here, got the job done. Maybe. Nick Kyrgios turned a bit of a corner and realized that that's what he needs to do, to fulfill all that
potential we've seen from him for such a long time, having a brilliant run at the moment. But that is it from me and the team for now. Paula?
NEWTON: Amanda, I can tell you those Canadian audiences whether it's Toronto or Montreal, loving it, especially post-COVID. Such great crowds
there. Amanda, thanks so much.
And I will be right back with more Connect the World after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
