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Connect the World

Pension Protests; Prince Harry in Court; Ukraine & Russia Blame Each Other for Dam Breach; Official: Blinken Expected to Meet With Saudi Crown Prince; Iran Unveils Its First Hypersonic "Fattah" Missile; Animosity in China Grows; Fatally-Shot Palestinian Toddler Is Buried; Blasts in Khartoum as Clashes Intensify; Flooding in Haiti Kills at Least 42 People; IATA Unveils Roadmap to Reach Net Zero by 2050. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired June 06, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:19]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNNI ANCHOR: I'm Becky Anderson, live from Abu Dhabi where the time is just after six o'clock in the evening. This is Connect the

World, coming up this hour (ph). A critical dam collapse in Ukraine, close to a thousand people are evacuated. Protestors in Paris storm the Olympic

headquarters. Prince Harry is cross-examined in a battle against the British tabloid media.

And later on the show, Premier League football team, Tottenham finally nail a new manager.

Ukraine is calling for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council after what it says was a terrorist attacked by Russia on the Dnipro River. Kyiv

accuses Russia of blowing up this dam to cause maximum damage and danger to human lives. Moscow, on the other hand says Ukraine is behind the breach,

but it's still not clear if this was caused by an attack at all.

Regardless, the flooding is putting dozens of nearby settlements under threat. Ukraine says more than 800 people have been evacuated from the

Kherson region. Well, much of the area is affected, is controlled by Russia, and you can see the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

that is upstream, but reassurance coming from all sides. Russia, Ukraine, and the International Atomic Energy Agency saying there is no safety risk

to that power plant.

While Sam Kiley is in Kharkiv, he says the Russian control dam recently has been under some stress. This is his report earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A few days ago, there was a breach of the dam. This dam, as you rightly point out, is under

Russian control. The dam, the lake above the dam, was at dangerously high levels, had indeed flooded some residences upstream of that location.

And then in the early hours of this morning, there was a total breach. Now, the Ukrainians claim without evidence at this stage that the dam was

deliberately blown up by the Russians in what they say is an ecocide, an attempt to destroy the ecology and cause a humanitarian disaster

downstream. The Russians flatly reject that.

And indeed the areas affected are mostly going to be in Russian control. They are going to be on the right hand side as you look at the map of the

Dnipro River, which is controlled by Russia, 80 dwelling settlements, sorry, towns and villages and indeed the city of Kherson are in potential

danger from floodwaters.

There have been some evacuations from Kherson. The local authorities there have laid on trains to evacuate people, exhorting people to get out of the

low lying areas. The Russian authorities in Nova Kakhovka say that the town has been completely inundated and I think ultimately the blame for behind,

for who is behind this will always going to be laid at the feet of the Russians because they've had control of that dam for some time and it was

breached in the past and they had laid explosives on it.

We do know that because that is something the Ukrainians have been very concerned about in the past. It is also slap bang on the front line between

the two sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Sam Kiley reporting from Kharkiv. Well, on the battlefield officials in Ukraine say they are making offensive moves in several areas.

See (ph) Deputy Defense Minister saying that the country's forces are making "successful advances in several directions" around the city of

Bakhmut. But Kyiv has not said if this imminent offensive has begun. Meanwhile, Russia's defense forces claim it repel the Ukrainian military

advance in the Donetsk region.

Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen with the details.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russian military drone video allegedly showing a massive Ukrainian attack in the south of

the country. Some vehicles appear to be hitting mines or being the target of indirect fire. The Russians claiming they're able to hold the line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GEN. IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES SPOKESPERSON: The enemy launched an unsuccessful attempt at a large scale offensive in the south

Donetsk axis, the spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry said.

But is this already Ukraine's much anticipated large scale counteroffensive?

[10:05:03]

PLEITGEN: The Ukrainians claim, they have no info. Kyiv put out this video urging people to not even talk about a counteroffensive. Their message

plans love silence, but anti-Putin Russian fighters are loudly making their presence felt across the border in Russia's Belgorod region.

The local governor saying hundreds of munitions have been fired at towns there just in the past day. It's a far cry from when we were in this area

in February of last year when Russia invaded Ukraine. Belgorod was one of the main staging areas for the attack on Ukraine's Northeast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Teaming with tanks and armored vehicles, this military hub seemed invincible. Those streaks that you're seeing up there in the sky? I don't

know how I can see directly. Right now, you can see more artillery rockets apparently be firing from Russian territory towards the territory, I would

say around Kharkiv. I don't know if you can hear this right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: Today, Russia's army appears bizarrely absent. This Russian military blogger dodging for cover in the Shebekino village in the Belgorod

region.

We are lying in Shebekino on the ground under Ukrainian grad missiles, he says, strikes are coming one after another. The local governor says The

shelling from the Ukrainian side has been relentless with several killed and wounded and thousands evacuated. The leader of the Wagner private

military company, ripping into the Defense Ministry.

YEVGENY PRIGOZHIN, WAGNER PRIVATE MILITARY COMPANY: We surrender our historical lands. He says, today, children are getting killed, civilians

are getting killed in Belgorod, and the Ministry of Defense is not in a state to do anything at all. As it de facto doesn't exist. It is chaos.

PLEITGEN: And the Russians are also on the back foot in the area Prigozhin's mercenaries just left. Bakhmut in East Ukraine, Moscow's forces

struggling to fend off a strong Ukrainian military, both in the occupied territories and inside Russia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Fred Pleitgen, CNN Kyiv.

ANDERSON: And more on Ukraine as we get it. Right now, America's top diplomat is headed to Saudi Arabia. U.S. official tells CNN that Secretary

of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet with the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman there and that would be the latest move by Washington too. Mend

it's relationship with the kingdom, which has been frayed since U.S. Intel blame the Crown Prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The meeting also comes after the Saudis announced a plan to slash oil output. CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Washington. Is it clear what the

Secretary of State is hoping to accomplish on this trip, Alex?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It's clear, Becky, that there are a number of topics that they really do have to

discuss, as you mentioned, because the relationship has grown, quite tense.

The Secretary due to touchdown in Jeddah, in just a few hours time, as you noted, he will be meeting with the crown princes and their entourages will

get to work very quickly, on talking about a number of different areas. Security cooperation, the U.S. is the biggest supplier of weapons to the

kingdom.

Economic cooperation, as you noted, the Saudis have just announced one of their biggest cuts in recent years of oil production. Starting next month,

they will drop production around 1 million barrels per day, which could of course have an impact on gas prices here in the United States. The Saudis

are keen to mount a civilian nuclear program, which the U.S. is looking to potentially help with.

And of course, Washington always says when these trips happen that the cornerstone of these conversations is human rights. The U.S. of course,

accuses the Crown Prince of being behind the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi. But at the same time, the U.S. has also given MBS immunity

from prosecution here, but Becky, one of the biggest things that, that we're going to be looking out for is any kind of progress that the U.S.

might make, the Biden administration might make in terms of expanding one of the biggest diplomatic successes of the Trump administration, and that

is the Abraham Accords, the normalization of relation of the relationship between Israel and four Arab countries, Morocco, the UAE, Bahrain, and

Sudan.

And there is a lot of speculation about whether Saudi Arabia will become the next country to normalize the relationship. And just before taking off,

just yesterday, Blinken touched on this and talked about what a security priority it is for the United States. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States has a real national security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and

Saudi Arabia. We believe that we can, and indeed we must play an integral role in advancing it.

[10:10:06]

BLINKEN: Now, we have no illusions that this can be done quickly or easily, but we remain committed to working toward that outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Becky, that was Blinken speaking at the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC just yesterday.

Another thing that the United States is now contending with is growing Chinese influence in the region and influence, particularly in Saudi

Arabia. Just a few months ago, a China brokering that they taunt (ph) that normalization of the relationship, the reestablishment of the relationship

between Saudi Arabia and Iran, both countries agreeing to open up their diplomatic posts in each of those countries.

In just this week, Becky, Iran announced that they will be opening up their embassy in Riyadh. Becky.

ANDERSON: It's going to be interesting to find out whether the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear talks feature as part of the discussions, whether or not we

find that out remains to be seen, but clearly some noise being made about getting those talks back on the agenda at this point.

So, we'll watch for any information on that as well, particularly as you rightly point out in light of the rehabilitation of the relationship

between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Thank you. And Iran has peeled back knee curtain on its first hypersonic missile. State run media proclaiming that

the weapon has a 1400 kilometer range and can target defense systems and evade anti-missile technology.

Iran's missile island drone program is one of the largest in the Middle East. Landmark and historic, Prince Harry's showdown with the UK tabloid

press reaching a new level today. The Senior British Royal heading into court earlier, and then taking the witness stand in his lawsuit against

Mirror Group Newspapers, which is a major UK newspaper publisher.

Harry alleges his phone was hacked to gather information about his private life. MGN is contesting those claims. Let's get to CNN's Nada Bashir, who

is outside the UK High port in Central London. So, we did finally hear from Prince Harry on what is day two of this case. Obviously, didn't make it to

court yesterday.

What did we hear from him?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, Becky, Prince Harry has gone as the details of his witness statement outlining the impact the media's

intrusion, the British tabloids under MGN has had on his life and growing up. He is now currently undergoing cross-examination, Andrew Green, the ba

rrister representing Mirror Group Newspapers, taking some pretty fierce questions to the court over the impact.

That the Mirrored Group Newspapers publications has had on Prince Harry. A lot of questions as to how Prince Harry could have been distressed by some

of these articles if they were written and published at the time where he was very young, perhaps reading the articles, questions as to why Prince

Harry has taken issue with some of these articles when in fact similar statements have been released by the palace itself.

They're currently going through a number of articles that Prince Harry has submitted as part of his payment. Total of 147 articles published between

the early 1990s and 2011 were submitted as part of that claim. 33 of them are being considered and heard by the court, at the moment, they're just

reaching Article Number 13.

Now, of course, as you mentioned, their Prince Harry and his legal team allege that the Mirror Group Newspapers use unlawful practices, unlawful

means in order to obtain private information that includes phone hacking, intercepting voicemails, and even using private investigators to glean

information about Prince Harry's activities and that of those random. And he's spoken about the impact this has had, talking about how it made his

friendship group were smaller and smaller as a result of paranoia.

He said he suffered from bouts of depression and that this eventually led to the breakdown and some of his relationships, including that of his

relationship between himself and his former long-term girlfriend, Chelsea Davies. And of course, MGN has contested these claims they say they were

not aware of any wrongdoing by their journalists at the time, but they also contested there was simply no evidence that Prince Harrying himself was

hacked.

And in fact, that has been a repeated question now by Andrew Green, the barrister representing MGN in court over the last few hours. Questions as

to how Prince Harrying had his legal team have come to the assertion that hacking was in fact used or other unlawful measures where in fact used in

order to glean information featured in some of these articles, he has referenced, quote, by spokespeople from the Palace, including St. James'

Palace in just the last couple of hours.

One example used a story published around Prince Harry suffering from glandular fever and Prince Harry himself, telling the court that he

believed the timing of this article was suspicious.

[10:15:07]

BASHIR: He believed that the quotes used in this article could only have been known through gathering information through illegal means. MGN's

lawyer, however, pulling out a quote from St. James Palace confirming, such that this was true.

So, of course, some real questions there that hearing is set to continue. Prince Harry will continue to face questions today and potentially even

into tomorrow. Becky.

ANDERSON: Nada, thank you. Well protests break out across France. Let me get you some images just coming into CNN.

These are all too familiar, aren't they? Out of Paris. Just ahead. A live look at the unrest over pension reform measures. The unrest continues in

the country. Plus we'll show you how public perception of the United States is plummeting inside China right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Right, you're looking at live pictures from Paris. This is the 14th day of protests across the country over pension reforms. Unions

extremely frustrated that the government raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. This is the scene in Paris, earlier protestors storm the Olympic

headquarters in the Capitol One Media organization says it expects as many as 600,000 protestors across the country today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN's Melissa Bell, joining me now live from Paris. You know, it sort of feels like we've been here before and we have, and you and I have had this

very same discussion with you standing in almost exactly the same position. Melissa, how would you describe today's, uh, protest? Because this is now,

you know, what? The 14th day of protests, so they are not giving in.

MELISA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: It is the 14th day, Becky, but this could well be the last big day of protests that we see over this particular

reform simply because the main union has said that is what it expects.

[10:20:04]

BELL: Essentially, there will be a summer break. The French will go off and reconvene in September, and it will be a question of what further reforms

they can take to the streets to stop this one. They have failed to, and yet they're back on the streets again today. As you said, the, for the 14th

time since the month of January, in far fewer numbers to answer your question, Becky, and although we've seen a couple of bursts of tear gas, we

haven't seen as much of the violence so far as we had in the last few weeks.

Of course, a function of the fact that there are fewer people on the streets. We don't have the figures yet, but you can feel it nowhere near

the numbers we've seen in the past. The strike action down is down as well. Essentially, this reform is going to go through, so it is a final burst of

anger to indicate that they are unhappy about it. But everybody here understands that from September, the French will retire two years later

than they have. It'll be incremental, but that will start to happen. Becky.

ANDERSON: Hmm, France, of course, a place with a healthy culture of protesting. You've covered these demonstrations for years and you've been

speaking to other journalists who have been in a similar position. What did you learn?

BELL: Well, essentially that it is possible for young French journalists who earn a living from these kind of protests.

You're quite right, they are a regular feature of French political life. The French come out to protest fairly easily, and you mentioned a moment

ago that action that we saw this morning at the site where the Olympics really take place next year, we got to follow one young French journalist

just a few weeks ago at another of those events that they have just ahead of the protests, essentially taking over a public building.

This time the protestors took over the Paris Euronext Stock Exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Another pitched battle between protestors and police in the heart of Paris. The images captured by a journalist who's made this his specialty.

Clement Lanot covered every major French protest for the last seven years. His focus to document the many uprisings against the government and tell

the stories of the anger behind them.

The money is there, says one protestor. We just have to go and get it. Traveling across the city, the protestors hush each other as they get

closer to the Euronext Stock Exchange. There, they pause, then charge.

Through the flares and the smoke that engulfed the building lobby, the sound of anger at the French President. Shocking scenes, but for Paris,

nothing new. The protests against the government's upping of the pension age from 62 to 64 are just the latest round to draw people to the streets.

CLEMENT LANOT, VIDEO JOURNALIST: In Paris, there are protests almost every day. Some smaller, some bigger because in France we are used to it. As soon

as something goes wrong, the French protest.

BELL: The hardest to cover he says, we're the Yellow Vests Protests of 2019 and 2020.

LANOT: The police, the protestors. We've never seen protests that violent. Everyone was a little shaken. Everyone was a little changed.

BELL: Over the years, the 25 year old spin on the receiving end of rubber bullets, police batons, and angry tussles with protestors. Being a

journalist is little protection, he says.

LANOT: Several times I found myself in the middle of the police charges. They hit me with their shields, even though they could see I was a

journalist and they could have avoided me.

BELL: But despite the dangers, images like these have been earning Lanot decent living for the last seven years, covering hundreds of protests, he

says.

LANOT: Once a demonstration is over, everyone goes home and life goes back to normal. You'll probably see bus stops that have been shattered, but life

goes on and everything is okay for the Parisians who go back out for a war when the protest is done.

In a city where the culture of protest runs deep, it's just another day and another cleanup of the streets of the French Capital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Becky, both the numbers out on the streets of France today, and those lower strike figures as well across the country suggest that this

particular movement may now be petering out. But make no mistake, by September when everyone gets back and Emmanuel Macron tries to plow on with

further reforms, these protestors have certainly been hardened that after the end of the Yellow Vests Movement, they were able in such a consistent

way over the last few weeks to get these numbers out on the street. Becky.

ANDERSON: Melissa Bell on the story for you. Thank you. And just before we move on, some news just coming into CNN, the PGA Tour and the Saudi backed

LIV Golf have agreed to merge into a new yet to be named company. This deal would combine the PGA Tour and LIV Golf's commercial businesses and rights,

more on that as we get it.

Of course. Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. And a three-year old Palestinian boy shot and

killed by Israeli troops has been buried in this home village in the West Bank. Muhammad al-Tamimi died on Monday after he and his father were

wounded last week when the Israel Defense Forces opened fire or government, the IDF says it, "regrets harm to non-combatants."

[10:25:08]

ANDERSON: The child's father survived. Fighting has intensified in Sudan after a ceasefire expired over the weekend, people reported explosions in

and around Khartoum on Monday, and plumes of thick smoke were seen rising in the distance.

Fighting between warring factions has now entered its eighth week. Meteorologists swarm that shifting winds in rare dry lightning storms as

they are known, could lead to erratic fire behavior. Today, across eastern U.S. cities, which are already choked by thick smoke from Canadian

wildfires. Philadelphia, among the metropolitan areas under the warning, forecasters say the lightning and wind may act as a catalyst for wildfires

to develop.

Well, in Haiti, at least 42 people are dead, and 13, 000 have been displaced by heavy rains that triggered widespread flooding and landslides.

Officials there say the rain caused several major rivers to overflow.

At least 85 people have been injured. Nearly a dozen are still missing. Well, major U.S. airlines are bouncing back from the pandemic with share

prices, quite frankly, flying. United up 30% so far this year, and Delta and American Airlines both gaining about 15%. The airlines trade body,

IATA, the International Air Transport Association, is holding its annual meeting in Istanbul right now, and it has announced what it describes as a

roadmap to reach its net zero carbon emissions.

By 2050, but in an interview with Richard Quest, CEO of Qatar Airway says he doesn't believe the industry will achieve that goal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AKBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS: I'm one of the only CEOs, I think, that have been very frank, that we will not be able to achieve the target. SAF,

the volumes you need will not be available. And coincidentally, in the Qatar economic forum.

The boss of Boeing did say that anything will not happen till after the middle of the current century. So, I was right. We won't be able to

achieve, let us not fool ourself.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: The whole industry is predicated, is just frothing about this idea of net zero by 2050.

AL BAKER: We will not even reach the targets we have for 2030, I assure you, because there is no enough raw material to get the volumes of SAF I've

spoken to, I don't know, to mention the oil companies, and they said that the volume they need is not available.

QUEST: So, is this?

AL BAKER: This is why not enough volume of SAF is being produced. You know, you cannot only produces in United States and, you know, cater for the U.S.

carriers. We are talking about the global net zero emission by 2050. It's not only one region and it's not available, and what we are trying to do is

for PR exercise saying that it'll happen and it'll be done, it'll be achieved.

But it won't be able to be achieved, and the governments will use this to align their pockets by putting levies.

QUEST: You are a bit like, you know, the boy and the emperor's new clothes standing there when the emperor goes past and say the emperor is naked, you

are sort of saying what nobody really wants to hear, which is that it can't be done.

AL BAKER: I am not saying it can't be done, but to do it in the timeframe the industry is far behind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Hmm. Interesting. Well, still ahead, we'll explain how dangerous encounters between the U.S. and Chinese militaries are negatively shaping

public perception of America inside China.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:31:57]

ANDERSON: Well, some breaking news in the world of golf. The PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Liv Golf are forming a commercial partnership, which will

end the litigation between the groups. Now, as you may recall, some famous golfers like Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka had been wooed by the Saudi-

backed Liv Golf for big money. PGA Tour, the long established golfing organization for backing court against the new league.

But now it seems the parties have come to an agreement. It is not clear how golf will be organized after this 2023 season. We will though bring you the

latest, as we understand it in world sport, which is just a few minutes from now. We (ph) are the headlines.

This hour live pictures coming into CNN from Paris where demonstrators are making a last ditch effort to try to stop changes to the pension system

there. One of those, changes, raises the retirement age to 64, and much of the country is furious about it. Well, a couple of hours ago protestors

stormed the Olympic headquarters in the French Capital.

Russia says it has opened a criminal investigation into the destruction of a critical dam in southern Ukraine. Moscow accuses Ukraine's army of

attacking the dam. Kyiv says Moscow was behind the breach, Ukraine calling foreign an urgent U.N. security council meeting and further sanctions

against Russia.

Well, the U.S. and Chinese governments say they held candid and productive discussions in the Chinese Capital on Monday. This is the latest effort to

keep rising tensions from frankly, spiraling out of control. Well, these talks come just days after a near collision in the Taiwan Strait between

U.S.-Chinese military ships. Both sides, blaming the other for provoking the incident, adding fuel to a growing list of U.S.-Chinese diplomatic

conflicts.

Well, at the same time, animosity towards the U.S. is growing amongst Chinese residents after these flare up. CNN's Will Ripley has that part of

the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On the streets, in the skies, and on the sea. Rising rhetoric in the U.S. warns real danger of

military confrontation, a growing list of U.S.-China flareups, fueling fierce, anti-American sentiment among the Chinese, public Chinese state

media, adding fuel to the fire, blasting the airwaves with outrage.

Public perception of the U.S. plummeting. A recent Chinese poll reveals more than half of those surveyed have a very unfavorable or somewhat

unfavorable impression of the U.S. The U.S. keeps picking on China, says this man in Beijing. It feels like the U.S. is bullying China. Another

making his views clear. I don't like the U.S.

All bad things in the world are caused by the U.S. U.S. polls show many Americans have similar views about China, even in polarized Washington.

[10:35:07]

RIPLEY: Countering Beijing has rare bipartisan support. From the Taiwan Strait, to the South China Sea, to Singapore, the U.S. and China seem to be

spiraling closer to conflict. On Saturday, a near collision on the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. accused a Chinese war of cutting off a U.S. Navy

destroyer.

The U.S. says both ships came within 150 yards, less than 500 feet of each other. The U.S. destroyer took emergency measures to avoid a collision. A

close encounter, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called extremely dangerous.

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I'm concerned about at some point now having an incident that could very, very quickly spiral out of control.

RIPLEY: Austin speaking at this Asian Defense Summit in Singapore, the Pentagon says China rejected a proposed meeting with its Defense Minister

Li Shangfu. Their only interaction, this brief handshake, the U.S. says they did not have a substantive exchange. General Li had plenty to say

after the near collision, blasting U.S. claims of a peaceful passage through the Taiwan Strait with a Canadian warship.

They are not here for peaceful passage, he says, they are here for provocation. Tensions already high, getting even higher. Just days earlier

over the South China Sea, a mid-air incident caught on camera, a Chinese jet dangerously close to a U.S. reconnaissance plane. The U.S. calls this

an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.

China says it was just safeguarding its sovereignty. Accusing the U.S. military plane of deliberately intruding into China's training area, the

government spokesperson saying the U.S. should immediately stop such dangerous and provocative actions. Washington rejects Beijing's territorial

claims over nearly all the South China Sea saying the United States will continue to fly sale and operate safely and responsibly wherever

international law allows.

Tensions rising ever since a controversial Taiwan trip by former U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi last year and this year's meeting in California

between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan. China also claims sovereignty over the self-governing democracy, its

communist rulers have never controlled, launching two rounds of massive military drills near Taiwan, only adding to U.S. concerns of a potential

military miscalculation with massive consequences.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: The White House says that top U.S. officials did bring up the near collision at a meeting in Beijing on Monday, and just the fact that there

is a meeting that both sides are talking is certainly a welcome development for those watching the situation in this part of the world, because

animosity between the U.S. and China has been on the rise significantly in recent months, from Taiwan and the South China Sea to China's deepening

partnership with Russia, that brief thaw when President Biden and President Xi met in Bali last November that was derailed by the Chinese spy balloon,

has resulted in an inability for both sides to have high level talks.

Perhaps the fact that there's a meeting in Beijing could signal a turnaround. Will Ripley, CNN Taipei.

ANDERSON: Well, you're watching Connect the World. More just ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:22]

ANDERSON: Well, huge news in the world of sport. We brought this to you as a breaking news event just moments ago, the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and

LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed competition of forming a commercial partnership, which will end the litigation between the groups. PGA Tour, the long

established golfing organization had fought back in court against this new league.

But it does seem as if an agreement has been reached. Let's get Amanda Davies help for you. You got world sport coming up and I know you will be

talking about this, this is huge. Just explain why it is so big and what we understand to have been agreed here.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, Becky, this is literally one of those stories.

When this press release dropped, everybody stopped, read it, and reread it. The arrival of LIV Golf has without doubt been one of the most divisive

issues in sport. They played their first event just a year ago, June the ninth, 2022, and you were in or you were out. There was massive

ramifications for players, for relationships, for partnerships across the board.

You've mentioned the raft of litigation that has been going on, and this was like the Montagues and the Capulets, or you know, the greatest

rivalries in sport. There was no midway between LIV Golf, the PGA Tour, and the DP World Tour. And now we have this statement about, as you rightly

say, this commercial partnership, there was no whiff of this.

There was nothing rumored about this coming down the pipe. So, a lot of people asking a lot of questions and they are what we're going to be trying

to answer in just a couple of minutes in World Sport.

ANDERSON: Well, I certainly know you will do your best. But this is a story that literally has just dropped in the past, what? Half an hour or so. So,

stick with world sport for that and we'll work hard around the network to ensure that we get you as much as we can. World Sport up after this, we'll

join you top of the hour again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

[11:00:00]

END