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Russian Strikes Plunge Ukrainian Cities into Darkness; Iranian Women Take Up Arms in Iraqi Kurdistan; Strikes across France over Inflation and Pay; U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss under Pressure; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Says "No Space Left for Negotiations"; U.S. Tells Venezuelan Migrants They Will Be Sent to Mexico; Iraq has New President and Prime Minister, Ending Deadlock. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 18, 2022 - 10:00   ET

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

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JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Russia targets critical energy infrastructure across Ukraine as winter fast approaches. Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): As long as they oppress my people, I will not surrender to the invading Iranian government. We are

ready to die.

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): Some Iranian women take up arms in Iraqi Kurdistan after the brutal crackdown on demonstrators back at home. And --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): "We can't go back to Venezuela because there is nothing for us there," she says, "no jobs, we don't even have a

home there anymore. Colombia's more expensive every day and now we don't know what to do."

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): Migrants from Venezuela are in shock and in limbo after the U.S. announces a new immigration plan.

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CHATTERLEY: Hello, I'm Julia Chatterley in New York, welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD, great to be with you.

Our top story today, Vladimir Putin is now trying to plunge Ukraine into a cold darkness as winter draws closer. The government is conserving citizens

to conserve electricity and water and to brace for outages after Russia hit power stations overnight across the country, including in Kyiv.

More than 1,000 towns are said to be without electricity and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia has now destroyed 30 percent of

Ukraine's power stations in just a week's time. At least three cities, including the capital, are experiencing blackouts after Tuesday's attacks.

And the mayor says three people were killed and all of them worked in an infrastructure facility. Let's get right to CNN's Nic Robertson and he is

live in Kyiv for us.

You and I were talking in the last hour and it's incredible to see the extent of damage in just a week's time. Also the swift response from the

government to try to get these operations and facilities back up and running.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, they have to because the imperative is that the weather obviously is long nights in the

winter but it is the cold here that people are really going to feel.

The government told people living in the east of the country several months ago that they would not be able to keep them heated through the winter.

They are close to the front line.

But in the cities, in Kyiv and Lviv and Dnipro, in Zaporizhzhya and Kharkiv all of these big cities, where there are still a lot of people living, the

government is committed to making sure that they are affected as little as possible by the war.

And that means having electricity, having water to wash in and, within a few weeks, as the temperatures drop, having heating. And President Putin in

Russia knows this.

This is very clearly why he is trying to target the energy systems here, to try to break the morale of the Ukrainian people, which is not happening; to

try to stretch the government services here and stretch their finances by making them continually repair and get the electrical systems up and

running.

So it is potentially a weak point but it is not going to affect the battlefront and it's not going to change the morale of the Ukrainians. If

anything, the opposite, because it's making them more determined to fight and beat Russia.

The fight is being brought into their homes now. And so it's very real for people here in a way that it perhaps was not a few weeks ago, if they did

not have relatives immediately at the front line, let's say.

CHATTERLEY: Fascinating, in a way that you say that, because these are people who have already been so much for many months of this war that we

have already seen.

What are they saying to you?

When you say that actually, if anything, it's not breaking morale but it's sturdying (ph) their resolve to continue fighting.

Does that come down to in many ways a lack of alternative options?

They have no choice but to fight.

ROBERTSON: They have no choice. And this is civilians and not soldiers being targeted by Russia's military.

And so it flies in the face of international norms of war. And it's terrorism according to President Zelenskyy. And it this point that he is

making for the international community and for people here, they may not have other options and other places to go to.

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ROBERTSON: They may not be able to afford to leave but people here know that they can live through cold winters. It would be hard. They know they

can live through shortages of water and I've certainly seen this in other wars.

And I think in particular of the Balkans and the siege of Sarajevo, which for several years was without running water in many parts and without

decent supplies of electricity for many parts.

People had a terrible time but they endured it and they did not give in. And it's very much the same sort of resolve that you find from people here.

CHATTERLEY: And you saw that in a tweet, that President Zelenskyy sent out, there is no space for negotiation with Putin regime. Nic, great to

have you with us. Thank you so much for that.

(INAUDIBLE) mayor says the body of a fifth victim has been found under the rubble of a residential building hit on Monday in the so-called kamikaze

drone strike. Russia is denying claims that Iran is supplying those weapons and Iran denying it as well.

Regardless, the drones are opening a fresh chapter in this war, as CNN's Clarissa Ward talked about this earlier, with John Berman.

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukraine says it needs a couple different, things.. First of all, they want the

international community to put a lot of pressure on Iran. They are demanding sanctioning against Iran for supplying this weaponry to Russia

because it is creating a host of different problems for them.

It's bad for the psyche of the Ukrainian people, the sort of very distinctive whirring and whining noise that these drones, make. They've

nicknamed mopeds here in Ukraine.

But you can imagine the terrifying impact that has for people on the ground to see these kamikaze drones flying toward them, to know that it is almost

impossible for air defense systems to spot them in the sky.

So you are really talking about people on the ground, using line of sight, using a MANPAD if they have access to, that or whatever kind of rifle that

they might have with them and trying to shoot them out of the sky.

That is one component but the other thing that the Ukrainians are asking for again and again is more sophisticated air defense systems and more of

them. This is a vast country, John.

And so it is one thing to get when air defense system in place that might protect effectively one city or one part of the country but in order to set

up a wider spread infrastructure that would really afford Ukrainians the proper protection from this threat, it makes it very challenging for them.

The more that they believe that they make these successful counteroffensives on the ground and take back territory from the control of

Russian forces, the more they fear that Russia is going to respond with these blistering attacks on civilian targets, creating very many challenges

for them in terms of the infrastructure and supplying people with what they need to survive.

But also as we have mentioned, that effect on the sort of morale of the populace.

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CHATTERLEY: Clarissa Ward, there.

And there's a concern and uncertainty surrounding an Iranian rock climber who may have angered her government in an international competition. She

completed an event in South Korea on Sunday without a head scarf.

She says that it was a problem with the covering and not a protest. A new website critical of the Iranian regime reported that she would be jailed

when she got home.

Iran's embassy in Seoul denies that. The international governing body says it's trying to establish the facts and will monitor the situation as it

develops on her arrival back in Iran.

Protests over Iran's hijab rule (ph) broke out last month when 22 year old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being detained for wearing the

hijab improperly. Since then, the demonstrations have grown and so has the protesters' list of complaints.

The government's crackdown on dissent has been severe and the Kurdish community is among the hardest hit. Many of them are fleeing to Iraq, where

some are joining armed opposition groups to support protesters inside Iran. CNN's Nima Elbagir reports from northern Iraq. A warning: some of the

images in her report may be too graphic for some viewers.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a remote area in northern Iraq's Kurdish region, an all female fighting unit

belonging to the armed Kurdish Iranian opposition party, PAK, continues to train.

These women have been pulled back from the front line. For the last three weeks, the area they patrolled in the northeast of Iraq has been hit by

shells sent from across the border by Iran. This unit is part of a larger fighting force. For every single one of these women, this war is personal.

"Rezan," not her real name, crossed the border from Iran with the help of smugglers just over a week ago.

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ELBAGIR (voice-over): The city of Sanandaj, which she calls home, is in Iran's Kurdish majority Western region. In recent weeks, it is been likened

to a war zone, according to its residents as protests have erupted here.

And across Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian. "Rezan, " just a teenager, joined these protests.

"REZAN," KURDISH FIGHTER IN IRAQ (through translator): We were treating casualties but we were also like most people participating in the

revolution, in the uprising. Everyone who suffered from the oppression of the Iranian regime came down to the streets and market and defied the

government. I was also participating and I had no fear of death.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): "Rezan" says that while she was dragged by her uncovered hair, she passed prone, lifeless bodies. Even after she left, she

says she has continued to receive information about people she knows who have died.

Like this man, a newly married 27-year old, murdered by Iranian regime forces for sounding his horn in solidarity with protesters.

ELBAGIR: What is happening with your family?

"REZAN" (through translator): My family told them that no matter how many members of my family they arrest and for as long as they oppress my people,

I will not surrender to the invading Iranian government. We are ready to die.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): When Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini died in police custody, her name became a symbol of the oppression of women across Iran.

But Mahsa is not her true name. Her Kurdish name is Zhina, a name Iranian authorities barred her family, like many other ethnic minority groups, from

using. The regime only legally registers Persian names.

Yet, in her last recorded moments, Zhina resorted to begging her captors in her Kurdish mother tongue, entreaties which were ignored, reinforcing the

fears of Iran's Kurdish minority.

Hundreds of Iranian Kurdish families have crossed the border to Iraq seeking refuge from the most recent regime crackdown. But even here,

they're not safe.

This family fears the long arm of the Iranian regime after what they saw inside Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I left after I saw one of my friends killed. During the demonstration, in sir clears (ph), near of the

mosque, right in front of the mosque.

They say they are Islamic.

But how can they claim to be an Islamic republic when I saw them murdering my friend outside a mosque?

ELBAGIR (voice-over): He and his family have every reason to be afraid. Iran's reach to oppress the protests within its borders are stretching far

beyond.

Over the last few, weeks Iranian missiles have fallen into the Kurdish region of Iraq almost every day. The onslaught is relentless.

This map shows where Iranian strikes have hit, killing at least 18 and injuring at least 63 to date. This video filmed by a local television

channel shows the moment just after an Iranian drone and several missiles struck one of the Kurdish Iranian opposition party bases, killing eight

soldiers and injuring more.

On a day on which 70 missiles, Kurdish authorities say, rained down in the space of just four hours.

This base, only two years ago, was on the front line in the fight against ISIS after PAK received U.S. training. It isn't far from U.S. Central

Command -- CENTCOM -- forces. Just one day after the attack on the PAK base, CENTCOM shot down another Iranian drone.

It appeared, they say, as a threat to CENTCOM forces stationed in the area. And as the U.S. anti-ISIS presence in Iraq is set to continue, so is the

threat Iran poses.

These female fighters have vowed to fight until there is a regime change in Iran. They say they share Zhina's pain. Called by a name forced on her by a

repressive regime, all of them have a Kurdish name just like her not spoken outside their homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: And Nima joins us now live from northern Iraq,

Nima, an incredible report there, an emotional report. These families have fled but they're clearly not safe there.

I think one of my questions would be, how long -- are they even talking about timing in terms of potential regime change?

Are they prepared to stay there and fight as long as it takes?

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CHATTERLEY: And who do they want to help?

Are they even talking about who perhaps in the West might provide more help?

ELBAGIR: The heartbreak is that there is really no expect a timeframe around when they can go home.

And many of these families, hundreds of families in addition to the single women and single men that are crossing and walking for days and taking

these incredible risks, what they described to us is that the cities essentially have become surrounded by Iranian regime forces.

So many of them are going through the age old smuggling routes and they're trying to avoid Revolutionary Guard live fire to make it here. "Rezan"

walked for three days. The young family that we spoke to had a 2-year old.

Imagine carrying a 2-year old in the dark with you, desperate to know that you were finally safe. But there is some form of refuge here, despite

Iran's ability to enforce its terror, even here in northern Iraq. But it is a refuge that comes with guilt.

Many of them speak about the stories that they hear from their families back home. And they speak of recognizing many of the dead in these videos

that are coming out from inside of Iran. They are desperate to know why the international community is not helping.

Why, they say, that the focus is not on them, given that Iran is not just internationalizing its internal troubles but it's also internationalizing

its pain. It's seeking to hurt even those who have managed to flee from inside its borders, both its own citizenry and in the region and U.S.

troops.

And unfortunately, there's not really much that we can say for them in return when they ask us about no-fly zones or whether the U.S. can enforce

some kind of a human rights sterilized zone.

There is very little that anyone can say and every day brings with it fresh fear and fresh stories of loved ones tortured and detained and disappeared,

Julia.

CHATTERLEY: It's so important that you are there in that you are telling the story. As you said, it's incredibly dangerous even to get there. And

it's incredibly dangerous it seems wherever you are, particularly if you are taking a stance.

Do they expect some of the members of family, friends they left behind, to follow them?

Clearly there will be more people there as long as this continues.

ELBAGIR: They do and they hope, in fact, they can follow them. But with this movement of troops along that kind of Kurdish majority region of Iran,

the border is still open and this is one of the main roads that leads down from the Iraq-Iran border.

So you can see that there is still commercial traffic moving. But when your name is on a, list when you are of a certain age when you fear that you are

already under the scrutiny of authorities it is more than your life is worth to take that risk and come across the official border because that

is where the buildup of the troops is.

And "Rezan," the 19-year old, the young lady in the piece, she relayed to us just a heartbreaking conversation with her mother, when her mother told

her that authorities had threatened to take hostage "Rezan's" siblings if "Rezan" was not forcibly brought back by her family.

And she said that her mother told her that if I had 100 children I would give over every single one of them just in the hope that any one of them

could be free. So there is an almost unimaginable level of bravery and perseverance in the face of a cruelty that only seems to grow day by day,

Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Heartbreak and heartbreaking. Nima, thank you. Thank you again for that report.

OK, we will take a break here on CONNECT THE WORLD. And coming up, taking to the streets, across France, strikers say they're walking off the job

over the cost of living crisis and what this might mean for president Emmanuel Macron and the country.

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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD.

Strikes are expanding across France as more workers walk off the job demanding higher pay. They include teachers and transport workers with

inflation soaring, the sweeping job action has become a major test for president Emmanuel Macron since his reelection back in May.

France already reeling from the weeks-long oil workers strike, causing shortages at the gas pumps. That pushed president Emmanuel Macron to hold a

crisis meeting on Monday with his top ministers.

One of the labor union says that Emmanuel Macron has underestimated the anger in the nation. I'm going to bring in CNN's Melissa Bell, live in

Paris.

You are there with protesters who clearly are saying that our pay is not enough.

Can you please give us some sense of scale and context with regards to this union?

What kind of numbers of people are we talking about?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When you mentioned, Julia, a moment ago the strikes that perhaps more fundamentally really represent a challenge to

the government and that is that refinery strikes, those long queues at the petrol stations that we have been seeing for more than a week.

But to that has been added this other strike being led by transport unions mainly and they've called this demonstration and also some public sector

workers. And what this is about, Julia, is the cost of living. The inflation that so many workers in France say has made it impossible for

them to live.

And so the goal here is for greater wages to help compensate that. I think the numbers are really very impressive the. Strike really hasn't crippled

France very much, many trains are still running.

Only 6 percent of teachers are on strike today. We've walked the length of that line Julia. It stretches remarkably far. But nothing we've really seen

since the Yellow Vests petered out in 2019.

And so impressive numbers really here to show their discontent over a number of issues but primarily, Julia, that problem of inflation. Bear in

mind that France is also facing that energy crisis brought on by the war in Ukraine. So many more divisions since the Yellow Vests, so much more

pressure financially.

And that is what the chants today are speaking to.

CHATTERLEY: It's impossible when inflation rates are this high to keep pay even in line and, unfortunately, continues to fall further behind and the

solution to this is tough. Melissa, thank you so much for that.

Pressure is also mounting on the British prime minister too. Liz Truss apologizing now for her now scrapped mini budget that rattled investors and

hurt the pound. Joining for an interview with the BBC, she admitted that she, quote, "went too far too fast" with the rollout of her economic reform

plan.

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LIZ TRUSS, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Now I recognize we have made misstates. I'm sorry for those mistakes. But I fixed mistakes, I've appointed a new

chancellor. We have restored economic stability and fiscal discipline. And what I now want to do is go on and deliver for the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Despite a possible revolt from within her own Conservative Party, the prime minister is vowing to stick around. She says she will lead

the Tories into the next general election.

In the meantime, U.K.'s defense ministry is a warning for all former British military pilots to avoid Chinese army recruitment.

[10:25:00]

CHATTERLEY: The ministry says that some former British pilots are being lured by large sums of money to pass on their expertise to the Chinese

military. CNN's Bianca Nobilo is watching this from London and joins us live.

This is a fascinating story.

How many pilots are we talking about?

And do we have any sense of the money that they're being offered in order to head over to China and train and teach, I am assuming?

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Fascinating indeed, Julia. The ministry of defense has made this rare threat alert today. And that is

because they say around 30 former British fighter pilots have been lured across to China to help train their pilots, to help assist their defense

industries and to help them devise strategy around the modernization of their air force.

This, as you can imagine, is just rife with national security issues. In terms of the lucrative money that they've been offered to go, we are

hearing reports in the ballpark of around a quarter of 1 million pounds to try to incentivize former and current British serving fighter pilots and

members of the military to go over to China and help their armed forces.

We also understand that it's not just Britain that's being approached; there's also other Western countries. Now we understand that third parties

are often the intermediaries here and there is one which has been linked to South Africa, not the government but a business that is based in South

Africa, to try and bring the fighter pilots and the former military serviceman over to China to facilitate this.

The military state for the armed forces spoke out today, too, Julia, about this red fresh (ph) alert. Take a listen to what he said.

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JAMES HEAPPEY, BRITISH ARMED FORCES MINISTER: China is a competitor that is threatening the U.K. interests in many places around the world. It's

also an important trading partner.

But there is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets. And their recruitment of our pilots in order to understand the capabilities of

our air force is clearly a concern to us and the intelligence part of the admitting (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Now Julia, on the subject of secrets, obviously all current and former serving members of the military in Britain are subject to the

Official Secrets Act, so they're not allowed to divulge things of a national sensitivity.

And in addition, a new element of the national security bill going through Parliament is now going to try to toughen up the rules around serving or

former serviceman doing something like this.

They're going to make it legal that you have to declare if you are serving any foreign government and in what capacity you are doing that to check

whether or not the ministry of defense would actually be comfortable with what that individual is doing.

The wider context of this is China's drive to modernize its military. A U.S. Defense assessment said last year that China wanted to fully modernize

its People's Liberation Army by 2035 and to have a world-class military by 2049.

So they want to develop a better understanding of NATO level fighter jets, like the Typhoon and Tornado, as well as helicopters like Merlin and

Wildcat. SO even though they're not using the pilots in Western fighter jets, they are trying to understand how they would respond to those types

of jets in a military scenario.

So you can understand why the British ministry of defense wants to take a much tougher line on this, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: What stood out to me in that clip was the delicate balance of the geopolitics of this, the strategic interest in foreign and more

advanced technology in this area.

But at the same time it's an important trading partner and so this is a balance of delicacy as always with these things. Thank you Bianca. As we

said, fascinating story.

OK, up next on CONNECT THE, WORLD the difficult journey from South America to the United States, how a new U.S. policy has some migrants rethinking

the risks. That is next, stay with us.

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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back, I'm Julia Chatterley in New York, you are watching CONNECT THE WORLD.

There's no space left for negotiations with Putin's regime, powerful words from Ukraine's president as his country's energy and other critical

infrastructure come under renewed attack by Russia.

Residents of Kyiv are being urged to restrict their electricity and water use after two more facilities were struck on Tuesday. Three people were

killed in the attacks. President Zelenskyy states nearly a third of the country's power stations have been destroyed in just over a week.

The United States is taking new steps to control the flow of migrants from Venezuela. A new policy gives migrants a legal path to get into America

requiring, among other things, a sponsor in the country. It is warning that migrants who do not qualify will be sent to Mexico if they try to enter

illegally.

The new policy has taken a lot of attention in Colombia, which has long been the first stop for migrants leaving Venezuela in search of new homes.

Journalist Stefano Pozzebon has been tracking the story from us from Bogota, Colombia.

Great to have you with us. I think the obvious thing here now for these people is, do you push on and risk ending up in Mexico?

Or do you go back home to Venezuela, which I guess is the conversation that the U.S. government wanted to force.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This decision is really a decision whose effects are rippling down across the entire region. And we're talking

of hundreds of thousands of migrants, who are still trying to reach the United States.

Just on Friday in a call with reporters, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told us that about, according to their estimates,

about 3,000 migrants are crossing from Colombia into Panama every single day.

That is where the journey begins and from there they can only move up north toward the U.S. southern border. With this new decision, most of these

migrants, talking with dozens over the last few days, are telling us that they are between a rock and a hard place. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON (voice-over): Heidiz Morele (ph) says she is running out of options. When she migrated from Venezuela to Colombia four years ago, she

thought she could find a new life here. And for a while, it seemed to work.

But now, prices keep rising for this mother of three. And she says that she had to take her children out of school last month, because she can no

longer afford their meals.

Like tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants this summer, she had decided that she would try to reach the United States. And she started planning a

journey that would have taken her from Colombia to Panama, Central America, Mexico, up to the U.S. southern border.

Her children show us the drawings they made for their grandmother in preparation for the upcoming departure. They were due to travel this week.

But a new policy from the Biden administration halted their plan.

Last Wednesday, the White House launched a new plan to welcome some Venezuelans flying to the United States with the help of a sponsor and

officially turn away those who attempt to enter without one, while up to 24,000 will be allowed to resettle in the U.S. if they qualify for

temporary protective status.

Anyone entering the country without authorization will be eligible for deportation.

[10:35:00]

POZZEBON (voice-over): In this video from the Colombian, border ambassador James Story (ph) warns Venezuelan migrants not to travel on their own and

to follow the protocols to obtain the protective status.

But Morele (ph) says she could never afford the paperwork and the air ticket to relocate from Colombia to the U.S.

"We can't go back to Venezuela, because there is nothing for us there," she says, "no jobs; we don't even have a home there anymore. And Colombia is

more expensive every day and now we don't know what to do."

It is a familiar story in 2022. The world's poorest priced out by a global cost of living crisis that includes soaring food prices.

At this aid clinic in central Bogota, most of these migrants shared the same sense of helplessness.

POZZEBON: Why is there now a new trend to go up north?

SHANTI SATTLER, DIRECTOR, VENESPERANZA NGO CONSORTIUM: There's a major sense of urgency. People need money tomorrow, to put food on the table for

their families tomorrow. They need to pay their electricity bills, tomorrow. They need to have a place to stay tomorrow night for their

families.

And again, with the rising prices, people are not able to make it work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON (voice-over): Tomorrow is Morele's (ph) main worry today. Their rent is due this, week and with the plans to travel to the U.S. canceled,

she needs to find a way to put a roof over their head.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POZZEBON: And Julia, that situation is far from unique. And we're talking about really of a huge number, quantity of people and a sheer number of

people who say that they are feeling the rising tide of the cost of living crisis here in South America but they cannot go back, where they came from,

in Venezuela.

CHATTERLEY: I think that's the key point and it's so hard listening to a family talking like that and the challenges that they face. You can see

both sides, the United States, they don't want to just openly encourage illegal immigration.

That comes with its own risks for these families but just help us understand, Stefano, why can't they go back to Venezuela?

What is the situation like there currently?

pause Yes, Julia, Venezuela has been far away from the front line of news over the past few years but that doesn't mean that the crisis has gone

away. And a good portion of the country has suffered for over a decade of constant continued economic collapse.

And we're talking of a country where the facilities are of an underdeveloped country. And of course, these are people, mostly people

we've spoken with, Julia, over the past two or three weeks, are people who have been -- left Venezuela in 2017 and 2019.

That is where the big migration waves of the Venezuelan migration occurred. And we're talking about 6 million Venezuelans now living outside of their

country. In Venezuela, Maduro, the strongman leader, Nicolas Maduro, has cemented his power. There has a little economic renaissance through an

informal dalalization (ph) in the privileged areas of the capital, Caracas and main urban areas.

But the vast majority of the population, we're talking about almost 90 percent of the Venezuelan population, still lives below the poverty line.

And I was talking with Heidiz (ph) over last week.

And she was telling me that I didn't even have a home anymore because in order for me to migrate and come here to Colombia, I sold my house, for

$1,500 , in Caracas. It shows you how much desperation there is where they bet everything that they had on these Colombian dreams of finding a new

stability here.

And with the cost of living crisis, arriving not just in Colombia but all across South America, they realize that that dream is now in fragments --

Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Wow, sold their house for $1,500 in Caracas, which is why she was saying I can't afford the paperwork or to find a sponsor in the United

States. Stefano, thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate it.

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CHATTERLEY: And let's get you up to speed now for some of the other stories on our radar.

Extraordinary new video is giving a first underwater look to a break in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. This is from Sweden's economic zone in the North

Sea. Meanwhile, Danish police say preliminary investigations show extensive damage to both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 in Denmark was caused by powerful

explosions.

You can see that damage there and the underwater activity.

The UAE is asking the E.U. to explain comments made by the E.U. foreign policy chief last week, which it calls racist. This after Josep Borrell

compared Europe to a garden and most of the world a jungle that could invade the garden.

Borrell since denied the message is racist or colonialist.

And Iraq has a new president and prime minister, ending a year of political deadlock.

[10:40:00]

CHATTERLEY: Kurdish politician Abdul Latif Rashid was sworn in, Monday and he named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister. Al-Sudani now has a

month to form a new government.

Next on CONNECT THE WORLD, the best of the best. Football crowns its new king and queen. Stay with us for all of the details.

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