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CNN International: South Korean President Resisting Pressure to Resign; Manhunt Underway after CEO's Killing in New York; Bleak Outlook in Southern Lebanon as Tenuous Truce Holds; Amazon: Claims are "Categorically False"; Manchester City Snap 7-Match Winless Streak. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired December 05, 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]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Seoul. Protests continue there. The fate of South Korea's President hanging in the

balance following his short-lived declaration of martial law. It is 11:00 p.m. now in Seoul, 09:00 a.m. here in New York. I'm Erica Hill in for Becky

Anderson, this is "Connect the World".

Ahead here as well, the Syrian army withdrawing from a key city as opposition forces enter Hama. Heavy damage and anger, meantime, where

returning residents in Southern Lebanon are also looking to find some hope amid the fragile cease fire. And a massive manhunt continues in New York

after CEO is brazenly shot dead.

The stock market here in New York set to open about 30 minutes from now. The indices, as you can see, looking for a little direction after the DOW

actually closed above 45,000 for the first time on record in the previous session. So, we'll keep an eye on those futures as well and on the markets

again, set to open here in just under 30 minutes.

Syria's rebels have entered the strategically important City of Hama, forging, forcing, rather, the army to redeploy outside, that is, according

to a Syrian military statement. We have some new video as well that we can show to you an activist celebrating as rebels enters the city.

Losing control of this strategic city of Hima would be a massive blow to the Syrian regime, opposition fighters recently, of course, we took Aleppo

reigniting Syria's civil war. The main rebel commander was seen touring Aleppo's ancient citadel, a symbol of control over northern Syria.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is closely following these developments, and of course, has reported on Syria for a number of years, and knows the situation there

quite well in terms of the rebels now being in this city, which you and I have discussed for the last two days. What does this now change?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically, it really just sort of tips the balance in favor of the rebels. At this point, they

now control Syria's second largest city, Aleppo, and its fourth largest city, Hama. And these are two cities on the main M5 highway that links

Aleppo with Damascus, which means that it's going to be ever more difficult for the regime to launch a counter offensive to take Aleppo, let alone

Hama.

And also, Hama is really at the center of the country, and whoever controls Hama really has the ability to cut off Damascus, potentially, from the

coast, the Mediterranean coast, where there is a Russian Air Base, a Russian naval base. And it's also, of course, the homeland of the Alawite

minority which dominates the regime of Bashar Al Assad.

And he, of course, is a member of that minority. In addition to that, Hama was the scene in 1982 of a massacre under the regime of his father, Hafez

Al Assad, of anywhere According to Amnesty International, between 10 and 25,000 people during an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood.

So, for this city to fall, which hasn't fallen to, I mean, the regime has been in control of it since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011

really represents a massive domino falling for the regime of Bashar Al Assad. We're not seeing the sort of strong Russian attempt to bolster his

regime, along the lines of what we saw in September 2015 when the Russians massively intervened.

This time, they're using their air force to bomb rebel targets. But it doesn't seem to be enough to blunt this offensive, which only began a

Wednesday before last and it was only last Friday that the rebels took Aleppo. Here we are Thursday, the following Thursday. Now they're in

control of Hamas. So, these are massive developments, and certainly a very bad sign for an embattled regime in Damascus, Erica.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely. Ben, thank you. Turning our attention now to South Korea, where the president is resisting calls to resign over his botched

attempt at instituting martial law earlier this week. Yoon Suk Yeol is now facing an impeachment bid launched by the opposition as well as a treason

investigation.

And today, the head of the president's own political party called for him to leave that party. Ivan Watson has more now from the National Assembly in

Seoul, which has really been ground zero for this turmoil.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: South Korea is still reeling from President Yoon Suk Yeol's, shocking but short-lived decree

made late Tuesday night trying to impose emergency military rule over this country.

[09:05:00]

I interviewed the leader of the main opposition political party in the National Assembly, who said, when he first got news of the president's

announcement, he thought it was a joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE JAE-MYUNG, LEADER OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY: My wife suddenly showed me a YouTube video and said, the president is declaring martial law. I replied,

that's a deep fake. It has to be a deep fake. There's no way that's real. But when I watched the video, the president was indeed declaring martial

law. Yet I thought to myself, this is fabricated. It's fake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now Lee Jae-Myung went on to say that as the president's chief political rival, he assumed that law enforcement would show up at his house

Tuesday night to try to arrest him. Instead, he was able to make it his way here to the National Assembly building, where there were police and

actually soldiers trying to stop lawmakers from getting in here.

In the end, 190 legislators made it into the chambers here and voted unanimously to overturn President Yoon's martial law decree. Among them

were 18 members of President Yoon's own political party. And I had an exclusive interview with the leader of that party, who made it clear that

declaring martial law crossed a red line, even for his own political allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAN DONG-HOON, PEOPLE POWER PARTY LEADER: Declaring martial law illegally is fundamentally at odds with the spirit of our people power party, which

is the party of freedom and democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Korea has witnessed bipartisan opposition to a president's attempt to overturn decades of democratic civilian governance. But now new battle

lines are being drawn. The opposition party is calling for an impeachment of the president.

His political party, while criticizing the controversial moves he made earlier this week, is drawing the line saying that its lawmakers will not

vote to impeach the president. Ivan Watson, CNN, reporting from the National Assembly in Seoul.

HILL: Also joining us from Seoul. CNN's Mike Valerio. So, Mike, you know, as Ivan just laid out there in terms of this push for impeachment. It

almost feels as if we are at a bit of a sail mate as we wait to see where things go next. What are you expecting?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So that is really the question, Erica, and I think that Ivan makes such an important point on whether or not this

impeachment vote is going to happen, because the dynamic that we're looking at here, the National Assembly needs eight members of President Yoon Suk

Yeol's party to sign off on impeachment before an impeachment proceeding can happen.

And today we heard the leader of the Yoon Suk Yeol's party, who we just heard from in Ivan's piece, saying, you know what, the president should

leave the party, but we're not going to vote for impeachment. So, if that happens, Erica, you can expect to see this weekend, throughout Seoul.

Huge protests from all corners of the city, because there's public polling that's out saying that upwards of 70 percent of citizens across the country

want impeachment to happen. There is still trauma that lingers, not so deeply underneath South Korean society. It's still fresh, not too far

beneath the surface of how we all operate our daily lives, remembering what authoritarian rule was like in the 60s, 70s and 80s, right up until the end

of 1987, 1988.

So, impeachment not a sure thing as of yet. As for Yoon Suk Yeol it seems as though he's trying to do some cleanup and try to justify what happened.

Erica, a couple minutes before we came on the air, we have a new statement from the presidential office, where his office says martial law was taken

as a measure to regulate political activity.

Now a measure to regulate political activity. I think the critics and most people across the country would say regulating political activity through

martial law, that's what a dictator would do. At the end of the statement, it says all of these measures were taken within a legitimate framework.

This is a president who is a former prosecutor. If impeachment does happen, expect him to be up for this fight. We haven't heard anything from him,

Erica, since the one-minute statement that he gave as soon as he was rescinding his order of martial law. He did not apologize, but we're

waiting to see what if anything he says to the country that is still wondering why he went down this path and what his exit strategy was, Erica.

HILL: Yeah, those comments an important part of any cleanup as we wait for them. Mike Valerio, appreciate it. Thank you.

VALERIO: Yeah.

HILL: There is also turmoil in one of Europe's largest democracies today, after French lawmakers voted to topple the prime minister's minority

government in a no confidence motion on Wednesday.

[09:10:00]

French media says Michel Barnier is expected to submit his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron in the coming hours. This was the prime

minister's convoy arriving a little earlier at the Elysee, the presidential palace. President Macron is set to address the nation later today.

Joining me now French Journalist Christine Ockrent, who joins me from Paris. So, Christine, as we look at where things stand this morning, one of

the questions, of course, is who could be appointed as prime minister that could perhaps unite these, frankly, these three different factions that

we're seeing in parliament. Is there anyone who can?

CHRISTINE OCKRENT, FRENCH JOURNALIST: Well, you're asking exactly the question, which I guess the whole of the country is asking itself. There

are a few names floating, one is the current defense minister who's been part of President Macron steam ever since 2017 when Macron got into office.

Another one is an old timer from the center of the political chess. His name is -- There could also be more to the left a former prime minister

called Bernard Cazeneuve. But frankly, the real issue whoever President Macron decides to choose. The issue is how to govern, because what Michel

Barnier showed with a lot of good will, frankly, is that both extremes have become very radicalized.

It is true of the far right with Marine Le Pen, but it's certainly true of the far left. And in fact, both extremes would like to actually really

shamble the whole calendar and to have an earlier presidential election. Our next presidential election is scheduled in 2.5 years' time, but both

extremes would love to have even further political chaos, and they imagine that would compel Emmanuel Macron to resign.

HILL: And they're both and folks on both sides. Right to your point, those more extreme sides both calling on him to resign. I also do want to let you

know I've just learned that Michel Barnier has, in fact, given his resignation. As we look at where things stand amid these calls for his

resignation, Macron is really trying to project a bit of calm.

We're waiting to hear from him later today. But frankly, this gridlock was created by him with those snap elections.

OCKRENT: That's true, he probably calculated, and he was obviously very wrong, that by calling snap elections last summer, it would actually break

the rather strange conglomerate on the left, where you have rather traditional social democrats together with far left, and they don't agree

on anything.

So, Macron's calculus was to try and shake up that didn't work. As a result, we now have a very fragmented and very fractious parliament,

National Assembly, and that's what makes -- that's what made -- an impossible job to try and govern. And it will obviously be the same.

What is interesting, just one more remark, is that the far right is coming to realize that its own supporters are getting very worried, because on the

whole, that's true everywhere. You know, people don't like chaos, political chaos or political disorder.

HILL: Yeah.

OCKRENT: And we're not used to that in France, and so the far right may be more amenable to the next prime minister, assuming that person is on the

right enough, according to Marine Le Pen's criteria.

HILL: Be interesting to see who it is there is, of course, also importantly the matter of the budget. I believe the deadline for that is December 21

and of course, the impact, the broader impact on Europe, all of which will be closely following. Christine Ockrent, really appreciate your insight

today. Thank you.

Police at this hour still searching for the suspect in what officials call a brazen, targeted attack on health care executive Brian Thompson, who was

fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel Wednesday morning. This is actually the clearest image so far that's been released of the suspect.

It was taken at a Starbucks about 30 minutes before the shooting. We are also learning from law enforcement sources who tell CNN that two words

delay and depose were found on shell casings. The motive behind the shooting unclear. Though, Thompson's wife did tell NBC News there had been

some threats against her husband.

[09:15:00]

CNN'S Brynn Gingras is following us, following rather all the developments for us from here in Manhattan. So, Brynn, this manhunt now still underway,

some 24 hours plus after and Thompson was gunned down. What do we know?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and really, at this hour, you know, just talking with sources, Erica, it's kind of unclear if

they even know this person's name just yet. There are running into a number of roadblocks. But that isn't to say there's a lot of evidence that is

coming out that we are learning about from sources.

And some of that is what you just mentioned there. Those inscriptions that were found one on a live round, which means a round that was found on the

ground by police after that gun jammed, so it actually had a bullet inside of it, and that was the word delay. And then depose was found on a shell

casing, and that would have been from one of the bullets that actually hit Brian Thompson during this horrific, really, execution.

So, the question here for investigators is, did this point to some sort of motive by this gunman because of the popular freezing in the insurance

industry that says, delay, deny, defense. So, this is one of the things that they are looking closer into. Another thing is like you just also

talked about, are the threats that the wife, we learned from NBC talking to her, she said there were threats.

She wasn't clear about the nature of them against her husband. I also had heard from sources that there were just some general threats that were seen

by the security team of United Healthcare that were concerning to them. And they did point out, not by name Brian Thompson, but others, you know, CEOs,

some of the top executives.

So, this was something that was being flagged internally as well. So, there were some concerning things regarding, sort of, the healthcare industry.

And of course, this is really all getting closer, hopefully for police to a motive and hopefully even a name, and then, of course, looking for that

person.

And again, we've also learned a lot about the timeline of this gunman. We've learned from sources that police believe he actually got on a subway,

possibly from the Upper West Side of Manhattan early yesterday morning, coming downtown, here to Midtown, getting out of the subway about 57th

street and going to a Starbucks.

Now this is key for investigators, Erica, because they believe, actually saw him on video buying a water and two power bars, and they believe that

he dropped that water bottle in an alley as he was trying to get away. It's possible they might be able to grab some DNA off that water bottle.

And also, they found a cell phone. They're trying to break into that cell phone see if they can get any forensics off of it, also any possible

fingerprints. So, all of this is said there are a lot of investigative threats that are happening behind the scenes, and investigators are really

hoping something will point to a name and then eventually find this person who is responsible for this brazen --

HILL: Yeah, absolutely! Brynn, appreciate it. Thank you. Turning now to politics, Donald Trump's embattled pick for defense secretary, promising to

fight like hell as he returns to Capitol Hill today. He's there trying, once again, to win enough support for confirmation some of Pete Hegseth's

former colleagues at Fox News are also rallying around him as he defends himself against a series of misconduct allegations, including excessive

drinking and sexual assault.

Hegseth says he spoke to President-elect Trump and still has his support. CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox joins me now live. So, he has

some more key meetings today. How did some of the meetings go on Wednesday, Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of these meetings happened behind closed doors yesterday. Some of them, we have a lot of

details about some of them, we have fewer details about Senator Joni Ernst, who was a highly anticipated meeting yesterday, just given the fact that

she is a woman on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

She has a personal experience with sexual assault. She has been one of the strongest advocates on the Hill when it comes to supporting women in

combat. She had this meeting yesterday, and she was relatively mum afterwards, saying just that they had had a robust and frank discussion.

That it had been a thorough meeting, that is all she said over the course of the day, as we reported yesterday, then we saw last night Kevin Cramer.

He emerged from his office after a more than hour long meeting with Hegseth at the end of the day. And he was arguing that he was very happy with the

way that the meeting had gone, that there were assurances that Hegseth made, that he would not drink as long as he had this job leading the

Pentagon.

And specifically, there was one notable exchange in which Kramer basically pushed Hegseth, what are you going to do if a call comes in at three in the

morning? And Hegseth said, I will be ready at three in the morning, I'll be ready at three in the afternoon. I'll be ready at any moment in between.

And that really went a long way to satisfying Kevin Cramer's concerns about some of the reporting about his drinking in the past. So that was a real

highlight for Senator Cramer. He said that he could see a situation where he did vote for this nomination. I think that, that is a promising signal.

[09:20:00]

And just moments ago, Hegseth arrived on Capitol Hill for a meeting this morning with Senator Rick Scott of Florida, someone very close to Donald

Trump and Hegseth said that he had just spoken with Trump this morning. That gives you a sense that he still feels like the incoming president has

his back, wants him up here fighting on Capitol Hill. So those meetings we see, five of them will happen today are going to continue.

HILL: Right. Lauren, appreciate the reporting, thank you. Still to come here. CNN finding a bleak outlook among the people of Southern Lebanon is

that fragile truce does hold between Hezbollah and Israel. Our report from Lebanon is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Well, Donald Trump's second term, of course, doesn't begin officially until January 20, but the U.S. President-elect Middle East Envoy Steve

Witkoff is already traveled to the region, to Qatar and Israel, trying to reach a Gaza cease fire and hostage release deal, meeting separately with

the Israeli and Qatari Prime Ministers, according to Reuters.

We'll continue to follow those developments. Meantime, saying in the Middle East, Israel's October strike on Iran has paralyzed Iran's ballistic

missile production. That coming from a top British military official, the chief of the U.K.'s Defense Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, says Israel has,

quote, destroyed Iran's ability to produce ballistic missiles for a year and left Tehran with a strategic dilemma in how it responds.

For its part, the Iranian government says Israel's October attack caused limited damage. Meantime, America's top diplomat, Antony Blinken, now on

his way back to Washington, the U.S. Secretary of State and other key diplomats gathered in Malta earlier for a meeting of the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Ahead of that meeting, Blinken told reporters the cease fire in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel is holding. CNN's Clarissa Ward is on the

ground in Lebanon, where the view for many people, frankly, is bleak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): From the balcony of his apartment, a man gazes out at his city. Tyre, once renowned for its glittering waters in ancient ruins,

now in ruins itself. Moussa Saad has lived through many wars in Lebanon, but none like this. 25 years we have been here entire he tells us.

An Israeli strike pulverized the next-door building where his neighbors once lived. Their clothes still hang ghost like in the closet. Imagine a

person was sleeping here. The building collapsed on that. Everyone died, a woman and her children, all of them dead, why for what he says. America did

this to us. Not Israel. It's America that goes like this, like she didn't see anything and she didn't want to know anything.

[09:25:00]

Lebanon is a country where loyalties are divided, but bitterness towards the west for its support of Israel is everywhere. In villages around Tyre,

Hezbollah flags fly proudly. No community has been spared. The Melkite Greek Catholic Church had been a refuge for displaced people when it was

hit by an Israeli missile on October 9th, eight people were killed.

81-year-old church caretaker, Milad Iliya has prayed here as long as he can remember. This is my house, he says. Next to the church, a mosque connected

by a shared hall for events. If our homes were hit and the church stayed, it would be better, he tells us. If the church is gone, there is no

coexistence between people here.

Tyre is one of the world's oldest inhabited cities, mentioned several times in the Bible. As the light falls, Kamal Istanbuli does what fishermen have

been doing here for thousands of years. For 60 days during the war, Israel's military barred boats from going out on the water.

Of course, it was tough, he says, we fishermen must work every day to feed our families -- What's your dream for the future? We don't have a future

here, he tells me. With Israel as your neighbor, occupying your land, there's no future for you. There's just war after war, destruction after

destruction, and the country collapses and collapses. A bleak outlook shared by many in this historic city, even as a shaky cease fire continues

to hold.

WARD (on camera): The IDF says it has repeatedly targeted Tyre because it says that it is a Hezbollah stronghold and that there have been many

attacks against Israeli forces launched from the Tyre area. Now, on Wednesday, there was another Israeli strike in the South of Lebanon.

Israel's Air Force saying that it targeted a launch pad.

But so far, diplomatic officials saying that cease fire does continue to hold. Clarissa Ward, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: We do have more now on the "Breaking News" this hour that the Syrian army has withdrawn from the key City of Hama, we have just received new

video of rebels entering the city and celebrations inside. It is not clear when exactly the video was shot, but we can't underscore just how quickly

things have turned in Syria, of course, following years of civil war which began back in 2011.

Hama now the second major city to be taken by rebels after Aleppo, just last week. And of course, is a key city on the road to Damascus. We'll

continue to follow those developments for you. Still to come here as well speedy deliveries that were not speedy, and now one attorney general is

accusing Amazon of specifically targeting 2 U.S. neighborhoods. Why and what Amazon has to say.

And putting people and planet first. We speak to the CEO of Red Sea Global about his quest to bring regenerative tourism to Saudi Arabia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill in New York. You're watching "Connect the World". At the top of the show, the markets were looking for

directions. Well, now that the bell has rung here in New York, let's take a look at where things stand at this hour. Get those numbers up for you

shortly.

I think we have them, if they're loading, there we go. A slight increase for the DOW, of course, basically flat, but we'll take a little bit, a

little bit of green, it never hurts. We'll continue to monitor those for you. Meantime, Jeff Bezos says he will try to speak with Donald Trump to

talk him out of the idea that the media is the enemy.

Those comments coming at "The New York Times" deal book summit on Wednesday, the billionaire Amazon founder and now owner of "The Washington

Post", said he hopes the second Trump Administration will look more favorably on the press, during his first administration, of course, Donald

Trump railed against Bezos, calling "The Washington Post" fake news.

He also, of course, regularly attacked journalists with similar language. Jeff Bezos, his other company, Amazon, meantime, hit with a new lawsuit.

The Attorney General of Washington, D.C. is now accusing the company of excluding two predominantly black neighborhoods from its fastest delivery

option while still charging people for that option in their prime membership.

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon actually made a secret internal decision to service two regions of the nation's capital with third party delivery

services, and in doing so, was also misleading those customers with misleading advertising about the delivery speeds. CNN's Matt Egan joining

me with more on this now.

So, talk to me more about this lawsuit, specifically saying Amazon did this knowingly. They meant to do this.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Erica, imagine finding out that many of your neighbors, for the past two years have been getting much faster

Amazon deliveries than you, even though you're all paying the same price for a prime membership. That is essentially what is being alleged here in

this new lawsuit, which accuses Amazon of, two years ago, secretly deciding to exclude two zip codes that are predominantly blocked, predominantly low

income, excluding them from those speedy deliveries.

And along the way, deceiving 48,000 residents into paying for those fast delivery benefits that they actually were not receiving. The lawsuit says

that Amazon decided two years ago to no longer send those Amazon branded vehicles that we've all kind of become accustomed to seeing into those

neighborhoods, and instead, they relied on the postal service and UPS.

And as you would imagine, this had a significant impact on delivery speeds. The lawsuit says that the percentage of packages that arrived in two days

in those impacted zip codes was just 24 percent whereas the rest of D.C. was getting those prime packages delivered within two days, 75 percent of

the time.

And here's the kicker, the lawsuit says that when Amazon was confronted about this from customers, they were not forthcoming about it, saying that

Amazon quote, concealed the exclusion and misled the consumers to believe it was a coincidence. Now the Attorney General of Washington D.C., wants

Amazon to stop what they're describing as unfair and deceptive practices, to refund customers and to pay penalties, Erica.

HILL: So, what is Amazon saying here, Matt?

EGAN: Well, Amazon is categorically denying the allegation that they've been deceptive or discriminatory. What's interesting, though, is Amazon is

not denying that they did make a change here in terms of how they were delivering packages to the zip codes. They're just saying they did that

because of concerns about crime.

[09:35:00]

They say that there were specific and targeted acts against delivery drivers, including carjacking, vehicle theft, armed robbery and assault. An

Amazon spokesperson put out a statement saying we made the deliberate choice to adjust our operations, including delivery routes and times for

the sole reason of protecting the safety of drivers.

And Erica, Amazon says that they are offering to work with the D.C. Attorney General on efforts to fight crime. The point, though, from this

lawsuit is yes, of course, companies can make decisions on how to structure their operations. They've just got to be up front with customers about how

those changes are impacting the services that they're providing.

HILL: Yeah. Matt, really interesting development. Appreciate it. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks Erica.

HILL: Well, today marks the kickoff to the highly anticipated Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. That event, which is

now in its fourth year, includes a variety of films and features a number of understandably high-profile stars. This year's honorees Bollywood star

Amir Khan and British actress Emily Blunt.

Organizers say the festival aims to showcase the film industry's growing presence and vitality in Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, as well as Asia and

Africa. Well, the Red Sea is open for business. But just how do you accept tourists into such an iconic destination while also protecting the

environment and hoping, at the same time to enhance it for future generations? Becky Anderson spoke with the CEO of Red Sea Global, John

Pagano, about their approach.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN PAGANO, CEO OF RED SEA GLOBAL: Before we actually even broke ground, we brought science into the equation. So, we brought our scientific

partner, King Abdullah, University of Science and Technology, to work alongside us to really map out the entire destination from a marine

biodiversity point of view.

And then what we decided to do was, again, we looked at we created a marine spatial planning simulation, which really took the entire destination

apart, assigned conservation values for every element of the destination, and then we played almost like war games. We moved things around.

We said, OK, if I develop here, what happens, and I look at it from the construction phase through the operational phase, how does that impact our

local environment? And what we did is we ended up making choices driven by that, and what we did differently, and this is why I say we differentiate

ourselves, is we said, let's not just simply maintain the status quo. Let's actually raise the bar and actually seek to positively enhance the

destination.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, CONNECT THE WORLD: This project fits squarely into Saudi's economic vision 2030 and its aspiration for tourism to play a

key role in the economy going forward. How have you managed the scale and scope of this project?

PAGANO: It's not been a straight line. We all know that, we've had a pandemic, we've had supply chain disruptions, there's geopolitical issues.

And as long as everybody believes in that end goal and in that vision, we find solutions. You know, you can't come up the Red Sea, OK, we'll figure

out to come up the Gulf, or we'll figure out come from the north through the Suez Canal. We manage those challenges that come, that present

themselves.

ANDERSON: It has been a nightmare, surely for you, as far as supply chain logistics are concerned. I mean, you couldn't have known even 18 months ago

that traffic in the Red Sea would almost come to a halt.

PAGANO: Yes, we couldn't have anticipated it, but we've managed to work around it. We've diverted vessels that are coming from Asia to go up the

Gulf instead of coming through the Red Sea. That means, you know, one of the UAE ports, or Dammam, transshipping onto trucks and then driving across

Saudi Arabia to get to the destination.

Sometimes we found that our loads that were being delivered from Asia ended up in a port in Europe. They drop it off, and they said, good luck. Figure

out how to get it to where you need it. And again, we just have to work through those challenges. I've got a dedicated team. It comes back to the

people and the passion to deliver this project.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: All right, thanks to Becky for that interview. Stay with us. "Connect the World" continues after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

HILL: A new development to tell you about just coming into CNN what it comes to this man, hunt for the gunman who killed United Healthcare CEO,

Brian Thompson, yesterday on a street in New York City. Police and CNN has learned have searched a hostile on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where

they believe the suspect may have been staying.

Thompson was gunned down outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, and what authorities say was a targeted attack. Police found a phone and a bottle of

water near the scene that they believe could belong to the shooter. It is unclear what else police may have found in their search.

We're going to continue to follow all of those developments for you, and we'll bring them to you as soon as we have them. Meantime, turning to

sports. Now, good night for Manchester City after a seven-match win list streak, city we're playing Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, and at

least for one night, really delighted their fans.

Their manager, Pep Guardiola looking relieved, as he, of course, has been trying to turn Man City's fortunes around. So, could this actually be a

turning point? Patrick Snell, joining me now, perhaps you, you have that answer in your crystal ball.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Maybe I do? Hi, Erica, yeah, certainly fans will be hoping so. Man City, are the dominant force in English football.

There for time and defending Premier League champs. They're trying to win it for a fifth straight season, which no team has ever done before.

That no team had ever won four straights before. But look, they've been through a bit of a rough patch, by their standards, crisis. Yes, by their

standards, it was a crisis. They'd lost six out of their last seven, but they finally got the win under the belts last night. They have Crystal

Palace next in the Premier League, still will be looking to build on this momentum.

There's still more than half the season to go, Erica, there are only nine points off the top city historically come back very strong in the second

portion of the season. Liverpool, are the team to beat those so far. The reds are the league leaders at the moment. But as I say, more than half a

season and we still haven't even had the hectic Christmas schedule of fixes either. Back to you.

HILL: All right, Patrick, thank you. We'll see a little bit more from you just ahead in "World Sport". Stay with us for that.

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