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Navalnaya: Putin is the Leader of an Organized Criminal Gang; President Biden's Son has Deposition with House Republicans; Fire Risk Prompts Mass Evacuations in Australia; Gulf Region's Initial Public Offerings Bringing in Billions; Pope Francis back at Vatican after Hospital Tests. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired February 28, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

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ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Happening soon on Capitol Hill, Hunter Biden the son of sitting U.S. President will testify in the House

GOP impeachment inquiry into his father. It is 9 am in Washington. It is 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World".

And you're at the headlines this hour. In Gaza a warning of a real prospect for famine with half of a million people at risk that says uncertainty of a

possible ceasefire continues. And the wife of late Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny, Yulia has addressed the European Parliament saying

she is worried that police could disrupt his funeral.

Welcome to the show, and the markets in New York will open in about 30 minutes from now let's check in on how the futures are faring we are in

negative territory, NASDAQ is down four tenths of a percent and the DOW futures showing three tenths of a percent to the negative for the start of

the day.

We are anticipating some inflation data later on this week, which of course will be very important for the Federal Reserve in terms of their interest

rate decision. All eyes will be on those numbers, which of course are going to be very pivotal in terms of understanding how the macroeconomic

environment is playing out.

Now the funeral for Alexei Navalny will take place this Friday, exactly two weeks after the late Russian Opposition Leader's mysterious death at an

Arctic penal colony. His spokesperson made the announcements on social media earlier. Meanwhile, Navalny's widow delivered a powerful address to

the European Parliament.

Yulia Navalnaya said she wasn't sure if her husband could be laid to rest without interference from authorities. Take a listen to what she has to

say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YULIA NAVALNAYA, WIDOW OF ALEXEI NAVALNY: The funeral will take place the day after tomorrow. And I'm not sure yet whether it will be peaceful or

whether the police will arrest those who have come to say goodbye to my husband.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now live from Paris, very powerful message to the EU but also to Vladimir Putin. We know she and her children

possibly cannot attend the funeral, worried themselves about being arrested.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and now that we've been hearing more from Alexei Navalny's team about the

preparations for this funeral, the fact, Eleni that they'd hoped to hold it tomorrow, which is the very day when Vladimir Putin gives his annual speech

to the Russian parliament.

They say that they tried to find funeral parlors some of them turn them down. There was apparently says the Director of Alexei Navalny's anti-

corruption foundation. No one able to dig a grave on that day, suggesting that the fear from the Kremlin Vladimir Putin speech might be overshadowed

by Alexei Navalny's funeral was a real one.

So instead what they say is that this funeral now be held on Friday. And of course, the question is, Eleni, how many people dare to come out to say,

pay their respects to say goodbye. And as you were just hearing there from Yulia Navalnaya, the question of what the response will be from a police

very real fear that this could be a difficult day for anyone who comes out in support of Alexei Navalny on Friday, inside Russia.

Still, this was an important call to arms on the part of Alexei Navalny's widow not just speaking to European politicians, but also to there's many

millions of Russians who are now outside the country, urging European Leaders to work with them to try and achieve what she described as the

right future for Russia, beautiful Russia that had been envisaged by Alexei Navalny.

She also repeated what had been at the heart of his platform, the allegations that this is a corrupt mafia state and that Vladimir Putin is

not someone that the West can negotiate with. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAVALNAYA: You cannot defeat him by thinking he is the man of principle who has morals and drills. He is not like that. And Alexei realized that a long

time ago. You're not dealing with a politician, but with a bloody mobster. Putin is the Leader of an organized criminal gang.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:00]

BELL: She repeated that last phrase at twice with some relish and urged European politicians to go much further. In fact, in her words to liken

themselves to Alexei Navalny who never lacked any sense of innovation when it came to making his opposition to the rule of Vladimir Putin plain urging

European politicians to show more creativity still than they have so far more sanctions.

She says more of the same is not going to change anything. Vladimir Putin is still in command. And the West needs to think far more creatively about

how we can help those many Russians she said that are hoping for a democratic Russia, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right, Melissa Bell for us in Paris. Thank you so much. Well, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is rallying support today in

Albania. He arrived in the capital at a short time ago greeted by the country's Prime Minister. He is expected to attend a South Eastern Europe

summit and hold meetings.

Mr. Zelenskyy posted on social media that bilateral talks will focus on defense as well as political co-operation. The meetings come after an

intense 24 hours on Ukraine's Battlefield, where at least five people were killed and more than a dozen injured from Russian strikes.

Now, there is uncertainty today. Of course over the prospect of a temporary truce in Gaza. All sides involved in negotiations are pushing back over

U.S. President Joe Biden's comments that he expects a ceasefire to be in place by Monday. Now talks are going on in Qatar, the Qatari Foreign

Ministry spokesman says he is hopeful that some sort of deal could be reached before Ramadan, though it hasn't happened yet.

It is unclear how any pause in fighting would impact the Israeli Prime Minister's vow to move ground troops into Rafah. And right now, the worst

level of child malnutrition anywhere in the world is in Gaza, according to the World Food Programme, which is also warning of a real prospect for

famine by May, with half a million people at risk.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has promised $53 million in new assistance. But says bureaucratic bottlenecks and inspection delays

must be resolved. And the Red Cross says some families are eating animal feed as well as rationing basic supplies, so they children have one meal a

day.

We've got Paula Hancocks with us in studio. Look, we're also hearing I mean, I want to talk about the negotiations are underway right now, new

comments from Hamas leadership saying that they are flexible. As we know, these negotiations are underway. What does that actually mean?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been hearing from other officials as well Eleni, that Hamas has pulled back from some of the

demands that it had been making over the past week or so we had heard Israeli officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu call those

comments.

And what the Hamas wanted delusional. We have moved on it appears from that position, although we are not at the point that the U.S. President believes

we are saying that it was hopefully by the end of the weekend. Now we have heard from Israel officials telling CNN that they were surprised by the

word Monday they were surprised by the word ceasefire.

We've heard from Qatari officials, though, that they believe that it is a positive trajectory, but there are still details to hammer out. And of

course, what many want is to make sure that there is some kind of a truce as soon as possible, of course before Ramadan, but also so that the first

phase of hostage releases, Palestinian prisoner releases can take place and then that leaves some kind of a space to actually be able to talk about the

next phases, which will be far more difficult.

GIOKOS: Yeah, and we know how delicate these negotiations can actually be. But as we wait for any news on the talks, the death toll is approaching

30,000. You've got over 70,000 people that are injured right now we keep hearing about the risks of famine as well. So the question being why is not

more aid going in to Gaza right now? Why are there delays?

HANCOCKS: Well, the very fact that they're carrying out some drops from the air we've seen Jordan do it UAE and France involved as well shows that

there is a desperation in Gaza and a difficulty of being able to get there at the aid to where it needs to be. We've heard from many countries around

the world that they have the aid ready.

It is simply not getting through quickly enough. There are Israeli checkpoints, for example, along the border the restrictions have been

complained about. We've heard U.N. groups within the country itself saying that they were trying to get aid and fuel and medicine to areas in North

within Gaza which desperately needed that they believe had been cleared in the past with Israeli officials but then they were unable to do so on a

daily basis.

[09:10:00]

So they believe they have been restricted from what they are trying to do. The situation we're hearing about is absolutely catastrophic. We're hearing

from U.N. agencies. And we don't know for sure what is happening in the Northern part of Gaza, which many of these NGOs simply hadn't been able to

get to for many days --

GIOKOS: Absolutely hearing stories that are coming through from the entire Gaza Strip, but of course, particularly in Northern Gaza, Paula Hancocks,

really good to have you in studio with me. Thank you so much -- see you. Well, in the U.S., a Biden, Trump rematch in November is one step closer to

reality after big wins for both candidates in Michigan's primary.

But Tuesday's context also highlighted some of the biggest political vulnerabilities. President Joe Biden faced a significant number of protest

votes for what we've been reporting in the show his handling of Israel's war in Gaza, a coalition of Arab and Muslim Americans led a campaign urging

Democratic voters to choose the uncommitted option on their ballots.

And as you can see, tens of thousands of them did, and far exceeding expectations. Now, on the Republican side, Donald Trump faces a formidable

challenge as well, too many Republicans refusing to support him. For that reason alone, Nikki Haley says she's staying in the race. I want to turn

now to CNN's Omar Jimenez in Waterford, Michigan, and he's falling reaction to the election results from the trail campaign.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, look, there weren't expectations that Biden was going to lose this primary. There weren't expectations that

Trump was going to lose this primary here in Michigan, but we got a good level set for where their support actually lies in this critical

battleground state of Michigan.

Let's start with President Biden there was a large movement led by Arab- American activists to vote uncommitted instead of vote for Biden over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Now, in the statewide, they got over

100,000 votes, which is obviously a very significant number, but here in Dearborn, which has one of the largest Arab-American communities in the

country, uncommitted actually beat Joe Biden 56 percent to 40 percent.

Now we're talking about a total of 11,000 votes on in that contest, but still shows that this movement and this message pushing the Biden

administration to get toward a permanent ceasefire is a serious one and one that they believe should be respected come November.

I mentioned over 100,000 uncommitted. I want you to keep in mind that Biden actually won this state by around 150,000 people in 2020. So you can get an

idea for the margins that are really in play here. On the Republican side of things, yes, no expectations that Donald Trump was going to lose this

date.

But Nikki Haley getting around 26 percent of the vote, just under 300,000 votes is no small block to -- And for someone like Donald Trump, who is

clearly trying to move toward a general election mindset. This has remained a thorn in his side that Nikki Haley is still generated some significant

support, not just here, but in the previous primary in South Carolina, where she got around 40 percent of the vote approaching 40 percent there.

The question, though moving forward is you need delegates to get to the nomination. And she has not won any of these contests. And Super Tuesday,

which is coming in less than a week here. We're going to see more than 15 states with voting contests and more than a third of the delegates at stake

here.

And if she can't be successful in that Super Tuesday effort, it's hard to see what her path moving forward is. But there is no doubt that there's a

significant amount of Republicans who are looking to put their support behind her rather than the Former President.

GIOKOS: All right, that was Omar Jimenez reporting for us in Michigan. In less than an hour President Biden's son Hunter is expected to appear for a

deposition with U.S. House Republicans behind closed doors on Capitol Hill. His testimony will be part of an impeachment probe into his father.

This is a chance for Republicans to interrogate Hunter about his foreign business dealings. This will be the most important testimony since

Republicans began his father's impeachment inquiry. However, it's happening after the former FBI informant who provided details about a million dollar

bribes to Hunter Biden is now facing federal criminal charges, that his story is a false allegation.

I want to bring in our CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid, joining us from Capitol Hill. Paula, look, we knew Hunter Biden has been

saying that he wanted to testify that was public announced behind closed doors. Do we know why?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, GOP lawmakers have made at least two significant concessions to get him to agree to --

deposition behind closed doors.

[09:15:00]

The first is that this will not be filmed. That is a departure from other witness interviews in this inquiry. Those have been filmed. The other

concession is about the transcript of what happens in this deposition. And we expect that transcript will be released to both parties simultaneously,

and then released pretty quickly, possibly even within 24 hours.

And both of these concessions were aimed at allowing those concerns that Republican lawmakers could selectively leak portions of his testimony to

support the allegations that so far they have not presented any clear evidence to support this allegations, of course, being that President Biden

benefited from his son's foreign business dealings.

So we expect Hunter Biden to arrive here on the Hill any minute, we expected this will get underway around 10 am. But it's interesting, I'm

actually going to use a bigger room than they usually do for this deposition because we are expecting a record number of members to attend,

which could not only make for an interesting hearing, but also a very long day.

GIOKOS: All right, Paula Reid, thank you so much. Well, this news just coming into CNN, The White House says President Biden is headed to Walter

Reed Hospital to receive his annual physical. This is of course, being watched very closely. The president is 81 years old, and in the midst of a

grueling campaign that would exhaust fire younger candidates.

I want to now cross over to our Arlette Saenz who is standing by at the White House. Arlette, the question of age, of course, has come up numerous

times over the past. While how important is this medical checkup going to be for President Biden?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Eleni, President Biden departed here from the White House just moments ago to head to Walter Reed

Medical Center for this annual physical, and it will be something that's closely watched as questions about the president's physical and mental

fitness have been in the front and center in the 2024 campaign.

Now this is the third physical, Biden will undergo since taking the White House he had won back in 2021, and won in 2023. It's expected to be

conducted by his physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, and the White House has committed this morning to releasing a summary of the physical results a bit

later in the day.

Typically, this takes several hours. So we likely won't be seeing the president back here at the White House until a little later in the morning

or in the afternoon when he's slated to deliver remarks and appear before reporters as he talks about ways to fight crime and make communities safer.

But all of this comes physical, as there have been concerns about the president's age and mental fitness. That is something that his Republican

opponents have sought to really highlight in this campaign. It's something that also was raised after Special Counsel Robert Hur's reports that

looking into the president's handling of classified documents, during which he portrayed the President as an elderly well-meaning man with a poor

memory.

The president, of course, has shot back at that saying that he may be well meaning he may be elderly, but he knows what he is doing and has often

tried to cast his age as an issue of experience that can help the American people. Now the president last year had his physical around the same time

this year.

In that physical that Dr. Kevin O'Connor wrote that he found the president was healthy, vigorous and fit to successfully execute the duties of the

presidency. During that physical, he talked about a few of the side things of the President's dealing with, including a stiff gait, being treated for

AFib, which is an irregular heartbeat that the physician said that he experiences no symptoms of.

And then he also talked about the president occasionally having some symptoms of gastro esophageal reflux that refers to clearing his throat

often something that we often do hear from the president in his speeches. So we will see a little bit later what the president, physical has to say

at a time when many voters are watching him very closely heading into the 2024 campaign.

GIOKOS: All right, Arlette Saenz for us. Thank you. And still to come people in the Texas Panhandle are being forced to flee their homes as

wildfires burn out of control, we'll take you to the Texas towns where some communities have burned to the ground. We'll be right back.

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[09:20:00]

GIOKOS: Out of control wildfires are raging across the Texas Panhandle right now the worst of them. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is now the second

largest fire in Texas history with more than 500,000 acres scorched. Homes and buildings destroyed. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is 0 percent contained.

It has been burning 150 football fields every minute since Monday. CNN Lucy Kafanov has the latest from Amarillo, Texas.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me set the scene for you. We are in Amarillo, Texas where there is low visibility, extremely high winds all of

that due to the five wildfires burning in the surrounding areas. Now the air here is still full of smoke and burns your eyes and burns your mouth

and throat.

Residents are being encouraged to stay inside to keep their pets inside. This is also one of the areas that folks who can get here from neighboring

counties are being encouraged to come here for evacuation. We actually visited a shelter late last night they're bringing in more cots to make it

more comfortable to people who have sought refuge and shelter here.

Governor Greg Abbott issuing a disaster declaration for 60 counties that 60 and as of this morning that Blaze exploding to more than 500,000 acres. Now

the Smokehouse Creek Fire that's the largest of the five that's burning, being described as the second largest in Texas history.

Now, a lot of these areas are rural. That means it's not just people that are impacted but ranches, wildlife, there was some dramatic footage of

horses and other animals trying to flee the smoke and the flames. The main facility that disassembles America's nuclear arsenal is located about 17

Meyers -- miles pardon me from where we are standing.

That is the Pantex Plant that had to shut down on Tuesday and is back online as of Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the City of Fritch one of the

areas that was evacuated, residents were asked to limit the water use that fire trucks could be filled. They are also that city asking for outside

help to bring their water system back online after that massive wildfire knocked out power their -- Texas.

Another area that was very hard hit by the blaze one of the motel owners there told CNN that it looked like Armageddon. All of the trees are covered

in white ash the local hospital there had to evacuate all of their patients due to the fire on Tuesday. In other parts of the Panhandle, people had to

take shelter in schools, in churches.

Not safe enough to stay home the blaze just so powerful there. Now we are alerting those fires spreading to neighboring Oklahoma, back to you.

GIOKOS: All right and parts of Australia also facing catastrophic fire dangers. With some of the worst conditions the country has seen in recent

years. About 30,000 people were ordered to evacuate parts of the state of Victoria by midday, Wednesday.

One bushfire has been burning out of control since Thursday, fueled by hot, dry as well as windy conditions. It's destroyed at least six homes and

authorities fear the flames could spread to more populated areas.

[09:25:00]

This comes more than four years after bush fires ravaged large parts of Southeastern Australia killing 33 people and wiping out critical animal

habitats. I want to get you up to speed now on some other stories that are on our radar right now.

Brazil's President Lula da Silva pledged in 2023 to end deforestation in the rainforest. It looks like he is on the right track. Deforestation has

decreased 50 percent last year. That is, according to Brazil's Environment Minister.

Also good news for the environment, the decline prevented nearly 250 million tons of co2 being released into the atmosphere. The most dangerous

active volcano in Mexico is spewing massive columns of ash and smoke, forcing airlines in the region to cancel flights.

The Popocatepetl volcano is about 72 kilometers from Mexico City, which reported falling ash. And while there are 25 million people who live in the

96 kilometer radius area of the volcano, civil agency says there is no risk for the population.

Meanwhile, in Argentina, President Javier Milei's government has banned gender inclusive language in all official documents and public

administration across the country. The move comes after a growing trend of using more gender inclusive language in the Spanish language, which

designates agenda to every --. And coming up, we're minutes away from trading on Wall Street. We'll check in to see how those numbers fare.

Stay tuned to see how those opening numbers will play out. And of course, IPOs are going gangbusters in the Gulf region, I'll find out what's behind

the trend. And if it's time to ride the wave, we'll be back right after the short break, stay with CNN.

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GIOKOS: Al l right. Always joy when you hear the sound of the Opening Bell in New York, of course Wall Street kicking off markets starting right now.

Of course we're waiting for inflation data later on this week. We're also anticipating to see how the Federal Reserve will be changing or altering

its stance in the way it views interest rates. Of course, it all has to do with consumer invasion.

All right, so we've got the market numbers right now. DOW Jones, S&P and NASDAQ all in negative territory, the DOW is down around half a percent,

S&P down three tenths of a percent. Remember last week we finish on record highs. Of course taking back some of those gains as we wait, for a bit more

news on economic data front as well.

All right, so it is 6:30 here it is 9:30 in New York. And you are watching "Connect the World". I'm Eleni Giokos. Also want to take a look at how

Asian markets closed on Wednesday. Now they reacted to the news that Chinese property developer, Country Garden faces a liquidation petition.

This of course has been in the works for quite some time.

It is from a creditor after not repaying a loan and SENG shares of the developer falling by more than 12 percent in Hong Kong. That comes just a

month after rival property firm Evergrande was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court. In the landmark ruling as you can see red around NIKKEI

flat but the SHANGHAI Composite down almost 2 percent.

Now as part of a new market watch segment here on "Connect the World" we are highlighting business as well as technology projects in the Middle

East, impacting global markets. Today we're kicking off with the latest UAE Company to go public in an industry most of us living and working and

driving in busy cities no very well paid parking.

As long as there are cars, they will -- we will need other spaces a strong foundation for the park in company business model. The Dubai government

will soon sell a 24.99 percent stakes, it's almost 25 percent stake in park in, it's the Emirates first privatization deal this year. But it comes

after a flood of regional IPOs in 2023.

The UAE and its Gulf Cooperation Council neighbors is drumming up capital through more and more private international investments. That GCC led by

Saudi Arabia produced almost $11 billion in proceeds from IPOs in 2023, that number coming from data collected by Kamco Invest. It is a Kuwaiti

based firm. Thomas Mathew is the Vice President of Investment Strategy and Research there.

He joins me now from Kuwait City, Thomas, really good to see you. Look, if I look at that 2023 number in terms of IPOs over $10 billion, it is quite

big. But I want you to give me a sense of whether this is repeatable in the year ahead and of course starting off with this IPO that we saw here in the

UAE.

THOMAS MATHEW, KAMCO INVEST CP OF INVESTMENT STRATEGY AND RESEARCH: Thanks for having me on, Eleni. Definitely active days here in the GCC IPO

markets. In 2023 what we've seen is a significant activity in the IPO market. We had around 46 issuances in the primary issuances and like you

mentioned about $11 billion of issuance proceeds that were amassed from these IPOs. I think there's a little bit more details in there.

You had a great showing in terms of sectorial participation; you had around 13 sectors participating. And right across these business models, you had

both small and big IPOs featuring in these markets right across the region. And like 2022 Saudi was the main market in terms of issuance numbers, and

you had UAE, which was the dominant market in terms of issuance proceeds.

GIOKOS: So Thomas, I'm curious to know that sort of the play between -- I'm curious to know the play between, you know, government led IPOs, --

enterprises, privatizing parts of their business and wanting to go public versus multinational companies and private owned institutions going and

listing on the market.

MATHEW: I think it's always been a mix Eleni between these two, these two segments of the market. I think what the government owned enterprises have

done to the market is, they come and stabilize this market for the IPO market.

[09:35:00]

And you find these companies they do not come with short operating histories. They come with significant operating histories and they come

with a strong balance sheet. You'll find them giving up a significant amount of the earnings as dividends really solidifying the market in terms

of providing a backboard for the IPO market in the GCC.

In terms of expectations for this year, I think at the start of the year, we did some study. And we found that there was around 28 to 30 companies,

which are in the pipeline, right from, let's say, rumored to sort of mandated. And if anything, history is to go by, we're definitely going to

see a similar sort of showing like 2023 and 2024 as well. These are definitely happy landings at the market.

GIOKOS: So Thomas, I mean, in terms of sort of the options that institutional investors have at a global level, will they be looking at GCC

markets and going, you know, we want to be heavily exposed into what the UAE is doing in terms of what Saudi is doing? Are we seeing that kind of

liquidity coming through from foreign investors?

MATHEW: Sure, I think foreign investors into the region are going to get their share in 2024, as well with great dividend plays that are expected to

come to the market. And also some idiosyncratic businesses in technology healthcare, pharma, which really do not have peers, globally, so therefore,

they definitely will look at these businesses.

And it's going to be a combination. And they can probably pick from the whole variety of options that are there in the market, right across

geographies within the GCC as well. So it's really going to be a market where you find a lot of options, especially for international investors who

really are looking for dollar paid returns and also dollar paid dividend yields.

GIOKOS: Yeah. So Thomas, I want to talk about the geopolitical environment in this region. I want to talk about the oil price. And when we're seeing

issues in the Red Sea, there's so many things that people are going to be looking at closely. To what extent does that impact regional markets?

MATHEW: I think global geopolitics, interest rates, oil prices are all important. And nevertheless, I think secondary market valuations are what

are key for IPOs and valuations, so that these issuers feel confident enough to bring their stories and their businesses to the market and get

that valuation.

So for us, I think the most key is secondary market valuations in which we've seen from the start of the year, the market is happy and stable, I

think the MCI and GCC is up about three to 4 percent. So I think its stable ground for issuances to come to the market as well, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Thomas Mathew, great to see you thank you so much, great to have you on the show with us today. Now ahead in sports, one man city

superstar's celebration, time's five. Plus a major legal blow for Prince Harry in the UK, he lost a high court challenge over his level of taxpayer

funded security protection. We'll be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now Pope Francis is back at the Vatican and that's what we're hearing from people officials. They tell us the Pope underwent

some tests at a hospital in Rome today before that the Vatican says Francis held a general audience. These pictures are from that event. And you'll

know from watching this program that the Pope has been in and out of hospital over the last year due to illness. And in the past week he

cancelled several audiences because he was unwell.

We're following a major legal defeat for Prince Harry; he just lost a high court challenge against the British government's decision to reduce his

taxpayer funded security protection while he's in the UK. His security status changed after he quit his royal duties. Prince Harry will appear the

high court's ruling according to his spokesperson.

English football fans are buzzing over a five star performance by Manchester City's superstar Erling Haaland. He netted five goals in

Manchester City's 6-2 victory over that's in an FA Cup match. And that isn't the first time he's accomplished that incredible feat. Patrick Snell

is here with us. Five goals, wow, exciting and we are showing some of those right now.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, the wow factor. You know, just when some people were you know, in some circles being a little over harsh on him

saying he wasn't scoring as routinely as he should be. What a response from him in the English FA Cup against Luton Town, how he made the haters --.

You've got to look at his season big picture, though. He's been hampered by injury. He's coming back into form though at just the right time.

We've got the Manchester Derby no less than the Premier League on this coming weekend. And he made a bit of history as well, I'll tell you last

night because he's now the first player from an English top flight club to score five goals in an FA Cup tie, doing it since the great George Best no

less. That is quite an accolade, back to you, Eleni.

GIOKOS: It is indeed. OK, we'll see you after the break. I'll be back at the top of the hour. You're watching CNN.

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