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Israel Claims Bibas Children Killed in Cold Blood; Trump Seeks Deal to Trade Support for Ukrainian Mineral Rights; Pentagon to Hit pause on Mass Firings; FEMA Employees on the Chopping Block; 58 Cases of Measles Reported in Texas, 9 in New Mexico; Arab Leaders Meet to Counter Trump's Gaza Plan; German Voters Head to Polls to Choose New Government; Speculation about the Next Actor to Play James Bond. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired February 21, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:25]
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. It is 7:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos.
Hamas is saying that it's investigating after returning the remains of hostages, but not the body of Shiri Bibas, according to Israel. Israel
calls it a violation of utmost severity of the fragile ceasefire deal. And as pressure mounts, six more living hostages are set to be released on
Saturday.
U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg calls Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war. That's a
sharp contrast from the rhetoric of President Donald Trump as Russia unleashes a fresh aerial assault overnight.
And regional power play as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosts a crucial meeting with Arab leaders to discuss how to counter U.S. President
Donald Trump's reported plan for control of Gaza and the expulsion of its people. Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states all at the table.
Welcome to the show. And the Israeli prime minister is vowing revenge today, accusing Hamas of killing three hostages, Shiri Bibas and her two
children, Ariel and Kfir. Their remains were meant to be returned yesterday. And while the military has confirmed the identities of the
children, it says it received the remains of a different woman.
Hamas, for its part, says the remains of Shiri Bibas was mixed up with other bodies under the rubble in Gaza. That's after an Israeli airstrike.
The group has maintained she and her sons were killed in a strike around a month after they were taken.
The Israeli military spokesperson says it will be sharing forensics about how the family was killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two
young boys. They killed them with their bare hands. Afterwards they committed horrific acts to cover up this atrocities.
This assessment is based on both forensic findings from the identification process and intelligence that supports the findings. We have shared these
findings, intelligence and forensics, with our partners around the world so they can verify it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, CNN's Nic Robertson has more on what we heard from Hagari.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think what was significant here was that he was speaking in English. So he's speaking to
an international audience. He had previously spoken in Hebrew. Speaking to an international audience and he called for the whole world must condemn
this. The murder, he said, of Oded Lifshitz, of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, that the whole world must condemn that.
Now, you know, this is an absolute point of contention. Hamas said that it was IDF bombardment that killed the Bibas family, including Shiri. Here the
Israeli authorities, their forensic pathologist team, their experts in this field, have had a chance to examine the bodies. And they are saying, hold
on, Hamas' account doesn't stand up. We are saying, this is the IDF saying, categorically that they were murdered.
So this really establishes a huge point of contention over these remains that have been returned. And it will again heighten tensions over and
around the return of other remains. There were the remains of four hostages expected, and Hamas had indicated that they would return those next week
some time.
The prime minister of Israel has called -- has called out Hamas on this, and has said, double down, if you will, on what the IDF has been saying
that absolutely, Hamas must hand back the body of Shiri Bibas. This is how the prime minister framed it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In an unimaginable cynical move, they didn't return Shiri by her little children,
the little angels, and put the body of a Gazan woman inside a casket.
[10:05:07]
We will operate determinedly to bring Shiri home along with our hostages, both the living and the dead, and ensure that Hamas pays the full price for
this cruel and vicious violation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Interestingly, what the aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas is saying is essentially not revenge, but making sure that all the hostages, living
and dead, are all returned. There is a big strain between the Bibas family, the community they live in, Nir Oz, and the government because the Nir Oz
community, the Bibas family, all feel incredibly let down by the government on October 7th that no troops arrived there to save them and their kibbutz.
Hamas and others had left by the time the IDF arrived.
So this is a community that saw more than one quarter of its population murdered or taken hostage by Hamas. And they are now saying not revenge to
the government. We want to make sure you prioritize getting the hostages back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, the Israeli military is ramping up operations in the occupied West Bank, and that's in response to a series of bus explosions near Tel
Aviv.
Israel is labeling them an act of terror. No casualties were reported and no one has claimed responsibility for the Thursday blasts in three empty
busses. Now, Israel launched its devastating campaign in the occupied West Bank two days after the Gaza ceasefire went into effect in January.
Now to a major shift in tone after this week's fiery war of words between the presidents of Ukraine and the United States. Donald Trump's Russia-
Ukraine envoy is calling President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, quote, "the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war." As Mr. Zelenskyy says
he was encouraged by their meeting Thursday in Kyiv.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): General Kellogg, our talks restore hope. We need strong agreements with America.
Agreements that will really work. I gave instructions to work fast and very much even handedly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: We're also hearing from a Ukrainian official that a potential deal on rare earth minerals is again part of ongoing discussions with the United
States. Days ago, Mr. Zelenskyy said he rejected a U.S. proposal for half of Ukraine's rare minerals, which he said offered no security guarantees in
exchange.
Now, rare earths have been part of this week's discussion. It is unclear if Ukraine will agree to sign away any of their rare earth minerals in
exchange for U.S. support. Earlier this month, President Trump was confident that a deal would go through.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth, and they've essentially
agreed to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: $500 billion. Well, that's a lot of money that Trump expects. Let's take a look at what exactly the president is talking about. What makes it
so valuable, but why he might be overestimating it just a little bit?
When you hear the term rare earth minerals, it refers to 17 minerals that have magnetic and conductive properties, particularly useful for making
electronics. They are also vital for some of the major weapons systems the U.S. relies on. As President Trump wants $500 billion worth of these
minerals, that's a pretty big number that might not be realistic. At best, the value of all of the world's rare earth production is around $15 billion
a year. That's according to Bloomberg.
To reach Mr. Trumps target number, well, it is going to take a lot of years of mining to do that. And according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Ukraine
is not even one of the world's top four reserves for rare earth minerals.
We've got CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kyiv for us.
Nick, good to see you. I mean, so much conversation about rare earths and this $500 billion number makes absolutely no sense. It's a point of
contention, I mean, but it's clear that the U.S. wants to sign this deal. Is Ukraine going to be up for it in terms of making this concession if it
does get security guarantees?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it does appear that Ukraine has little choice if it wants to continue
to receive U.S. aid. Now, just bear in mind, while rare earth minerals has been the term we've used as kind of the catch all for this agreement, when
we heard the U.S. National Security adviser Mike Waltz talk about it yesterday, he talked about an aluminum foundry which, if properly
refurbished by investment from the United States, could potentially provide enough aluminum to meet the U.S. needs for an entire year.
[10:10:18]
So they're looking at a wide range of minerals, frankly, conventional metals and obviously rare earth ones as well. The $500 billion figure, it
isn't really clear where Trump necessarily got that from. It's clear that Ukraine has been pushing hard on the idea of its potential to be a source
of rare minerals, some of them less rare like titanium, lithium as well.
But I can't see Kyiv trying to knock that number down. It's essentially a guarantee for future aid in the eyes of Ukraine. But importantly, the deal
originally put in front of Zelenskyy by the U.S. Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, was about essentially paying the United States back for aid that
had already been given by the Biden administration.
Now we understand from a Ukraine official that talks negotiations about this deal are ongoing today. It's not clear if they form part of what
General Keith Kellogg, the Ukraine envoy, talked about with Zelenskyy or with other officials today as well. In fact, he posted how it had been a
long and intense day of talks, whilst also complimenting President Zelenskyy himself.
I should point out that that was posted on Keith Kellogg's personal account, General Kellogg, rather than his other official account as a
special presidential envoy of Ukraine. Hard to know if there's much we can read into that, but he was complimentary about the Ukrainian president,
despite his boss, the president of the United States, calling him a dictator just over a day earlier.
So it's been an immensely intense week here for the Ukrainian presidency. And they are now, I think, faced with dealing with the minutiae of this
rare earth mineral document. It's one that a Ukrainian official told me they want to see security elements put into. That's not quite the same
terminology as security guarantees, which is the phrase President Zelenskyy used that might suggest a bid for arms, a bid potentially for some sort of
continued financial assistance.
But it seems like Ukraine just needs to get the best that it can out of this deal because essentially it knows it's urgently going to have to sign
it or see its relationship with the United States deteriorate yet further. But I have to tell you, that relationship has been in freefall in the past
three days, as we've seen this spat between Zelenskyy and Trump play out.
Zelenskyy, for his part, saying how much he respected Trump and the American people, but saying he needs to basically correct the
disinformation that had been put around the day before by Trump that Ukraine started the war and that Zelenskyy only had a 4 percent
favorability rating. And then since then, we've had this litany of insults, mistruths from the U.S. president calling Zelenskyy a dictator, saying he
was refusing elections, not having them.
But it's very complex under wartime, and saying that so much of the $300 plus billion given here had gone quite missing. All factually wrong. And
then on top of that, on Air Force One, Trump saying that when his secretary of the Treasury came here to get the rare earth deal signed, Zelenskyy was
sleeping. Well, we've had multiple press conferences between the two men in which they were both clearly awake.
So it's been an exceptionally rocky week. And I think Kellogg's tweet now, at the end of it, he may be leaving potentially later today or tomorrow is
a bid to try and show this relationship is back in some kind of regular form. But you can't pretend that the deterioration between Trump and
Zelenskyy simply hasn't happened.
We're in new territory here as a result of it, despite the fact that this long awaited meeting Ukraine has yearned for, for months between part of
Trump's peace negotiating team, Keith Kellogg, and their own officials has happened under such a, well, absolutely awful circumstances.
GIOKOS: Yes, and a big dose of uncertainty as well, Nick, many would say. You've got insults coming through from President Trump towards Zelenskyy.
Then you've got compliments from his top envoy, Keith Kellogg, and then Ukraine not being involved in the discussions in Saudi Arabia. At the same
time, you've got Russia quite emboldened, where you've got a lot of other things happening on the battlefield as well.
How are you weighing up this? It feels like a completely new dynamic that is playing out three years into the war.
PATON WALSH: Yes. I think it's important to separate the fact of what's happening on the battlefield where Russia has been making incremental but
sustained progress in the face of Ukrainian military lacking manpower and with intermittent arms supplies in the way that it really needs.
Russia has been making progress there. A huge cost. So that is one dynamic that persists certainly. It is separate to what happens in Saudi Arabia and
elsewhere. The diplomatic level between the United States and Russia, which appears to be a bid by Moscow to get Washington to talk about their
relationship, where Washington seems to initially wanted to talk about Ukraine.
[10:15:06]
But they do feed off each other. And for Ukrainian troops, seeing the U.S. talking to Russia like that, without Ukraine at the table, after so many
years of being the sole military and political backer, well, the main military and political backer of Ukraine is damaging to morale, certainly.
And then you have to bear in mind, too, the impact that hearing the world's most powerful man leveling mistruths at President Zelenskyy here over a
sustained period, what that does to his international standing.
Of course, these things are not true, but they are being said at a bid to try and undermine the standing of Zelenskyy here. And we've had this
persistent drumbeat of maybe there need to be elections after a ceasefire here, a wildly impractical idea that will just feed into uncertainty about
the legitimacy of any government that emerges from it. Incredibly hard to do in peacetime here in Ukraine, given Russian interference over the past
20 years.
In wartime, phenomenally foolhardy notion many officials we've spoken to have said. But this just puts us into a very complex situation with the
fourth year of this war a matter of three days away. We have the key fundamental assistance of the United States in doubt and contingent on
Ukraine agreeing to a very disadvantageous deal about its natural resources.
We have a personal spat between Zelenskyy and Trump overshadowing key diplomacy here that was supposed to move a peace deal forward with a degree
of urgency. And then we have this inexplicable reticence by the head of the White House to criticize the Kremlin heads. That's the mystery here,
frankly, and one that we've seen Trump receive significant criticism from his Republican entourage or senators on the Hill about and will continue, I
think, to just be the riddle here that leaves this profound change in security on the European continent in jeopardy.
GIOKOS: Nick Paton Walsh, good to have you on. Thank you so much.
And then worth noting that not all of Donald Trump's Republican allies agree with his approach to Ukraine this week. I want you to listen to this
fiery speech by Senator Thom Tillis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I support President Trump, and I believe that most of his policies on national security are right. I believe his instincts are
pretty good. But what I'm telling you, whoever believes that there is any space for Vladimir Putin in the future of a stable globe, better go to
Ukraine. They better go to Europe.
Vladimir Putin is a liar, a murderer and responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Still to come, the deep cuts President Trump has in store for FEMA. That's the agency that oversees America's emergency recovery from largest
disasters. We have a live report for you, that's on the way. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:20:14]
GIOKOS: Breaking news, just moments ago from the Pentagon, the U.S. Defense Department is temporarily pausing the mass firings of civilian employees.
Officials tell CNN they will wait until there is more thorough review from the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel and from Secretary of Defense Pete
Hegseth.
CNN's national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand has the details for us.
Natasha, what more can you tell us?
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Eleni, we're told that this plan to carry out a mass firing of probationary civilian
employees across the Pentagon, which would include all civilian employees who have essentially been on the job for about a year or less, has been
paused pending a review of whether such mass terminations are actually legal, because there is a law in the U.S. Code that says that the secretary
of defense cannot essentially carry out this kind of mass termination of civilian employees inside the Pentagon unless he conducts a review of how
such mass firings could actually impact U.S. Military readiness.
A lot of these probationary employees, they serve very critical national security functions. They work in intelligence, cyber security, foreign
military sales, mission critical operations, and so to blanket fire them all at once in something that could impact over 50,000 civilian employees,
that was raising real concerns among Defense officials earlier this week who raised this issue with their superiors, saying, look, we really need to
wait a second, hit pause and make sure that we are in compliance with the law here, and also that we are not impacting U.S. Military readiness.
They also have to take a beat to review all of the exemptions that military leaders have been making lists of, to provide to the Office of Personnel
Management, people who they believe should be exempt from any firings once they do take place, because they are in such critical roles. And we have
been told that Defense officials have spent all week making lists of individual workers who simply cannot be spared at this point.
And so all of this is coming together now and leading to the Pentagon to determine that they need to hit pause on this so that they don't end up
like other government agencies, which over the last week, two weeks have had to claw back many of the employees that they initially fired because
they are so critical for U.S. national security positions -- Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right. Yes. And it's true. We've seen it at the USDA. We've seen it at the nuclear agency as well. So this is definitely a worrying
trend in terms of firing and then having to rehire because of critical positions.
Natasha Bertrand, great to have you with us. Thank you.
In the meantime, FEMA is the latest agency on the Trump administration's chopping block via DOGE. President Trump has called FEMA a disaster, slow
and totally ineffective. Now, FEMA senior officials have been ordered to submit a list of employees for possible firing. That includes anyone who
worked or works on climate, environmental justice, equity or DEIA, according to a copy of the e-mail shared with CNN.
There is alarm about the cutting jobs at America's emergency response agency and even Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are asking for
details.
CNN's Annie Grayer joins us now from Washington.
Annie, it comes at a really peculiar time where you've got -- we're showing images of the flooding that we've seen in the U.S. We've seen wildfires
ripping through parts of the country as well, and you'd think you'd want to shore up FEMA in terms of emergency response. We're seeing the opposite.
Why?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Trump has publicly been very clear that he thinks FEMA might not need to exist. Last month, when he
was touring hurricane damage in North Carolina, he made those comments. And since then, a council has been made to review FEMA about potentially
gutting it. And that e-mail that you referenced in the intro is just the latest sign of these big steps that the Trump administration is taking to
potentially eliminate the agency.
But the Republicans that I spoke to in this reporting, many of whom represent districts and states that have been recently hit by natural
disasters, say that FEMA plays a critical role. They acknowledge that maybe there is some waste or mismanagement that needs to be dealt with. But the
essential functions of FEMA to provide disaster relief and help states in the immediate aftermath and recovery from a hurricane or natural disaster,
they say is critical.
So the question is going to be, is the cuts that the Trump administration tries to make to FEMA? Does that become a red line for Republicans? They
have so far supported President Trump in all of the gutting of agencies that he has done so far, whether it's through a consumer protection bureau
or through USAID.
[10:25:01]
They support Trump's ultimate plan to get rid of the Department of Education. But they're starting to speak out about the importance of FEMA.
So the question will be, if these -- all these changes really do go into effect, will it be a red line for Republicans?
GIOKOS: Yes, it's a really important question. And what would it mean practically, logistically, reality for states getting rid of FEMA? Describe
that to us.
GRAYER: Right. FEMA is kind of like the quarterback in an emergency disaster relief situation. It is the agency that helps deploy resources and
personnel on a large scope and scale that states just can't really do on their own. Also, we think about a natural disaster. It doesn't really stick
to state lines, right? So FEMA helps multiple states that are affected by the same disaster, coordinate relief efforts there.
So states have very robust operations in place, but they -- many of them told me they are not in a position to take on the full robust kind of work
that they would need to do if FEMA were to go away.
GIOKOS: All right. Annie Grayer, great to have you with us. Thank you.
And this morning, for the first time, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation will be run by someone with a long history of attacking that
very organization. The U.S. Senate has confirmed Kash Patel as the new FBI director. Thursday's vote was 51 to 49, with two Republican senators voting
with Democrats against his confirmation. Patel says he plans to, quote, "rebuild" the bureau, but adding there will be no acts of retribution at
the FBI.
In the United States a measles outbreak is growing, raising concerns nationwide. There are dozens of cases in Texas and several now detected in
neighboring New Mexico.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has been on the ground in west Texas covering the measles outbreak for a couple of days now. And
here's his report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So many of the people who get infected with measles, who get sick, who need to be hospitalized,
are children. So we're here at Covenant Children's, and I want to give you an idea of how this works over here. Somebody pulls up. Even before they go
inside the hospital, they'll actually get evaluated in this shed out here.
They want to determine if someone actually has measles, they need to be put into personal protective gear, and then taken inside the hospital.
DR. LARA JOHNSON, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, COVENANT HEALTH LUBBOCK SERVICE AREA: We've had over 15 patients admitted here in our children's hospital
with measles over the past several weeks.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Lara Johnson is the chief medical officer here.
How do you even begin to approach this? A patient comes in, what do you do for them?
JOHNSON: Most of the patients who've been admitted have had respiratory issues. They've been needing supplemental oxygen and respiratory support to
help them get over the viral pneumonia part that we see with measles.
GUPTA: It's one thing to treat these patients on the ground, but the key in the middle of a measles outbreak is to try and prevent more cases from
occurring. That's really challenging, given how contagious this is.
Appreciate it. Hey, how are you doing? Nice to meet you. How's it going?
DR. JENNIFER SHUFORD, COMMISSIONER, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES: Schools can be expected in (PH).
GUPTA: That's kind of the reaction we're getting.
SHUFORD: Freezing weather and a measles outbreak.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Jennifer Shuford is the commissioner for the State Health Department.
What do you think the next weeks and months is going to look like?
SHUFORD: I think that we're going to continue to see cases. And what the next few months look like kind of depends on how effective we are at
getting messaging out about, you know, making sure that people get vaccinated, that they stay at home if they're sick, and really trying to
push that message through really trusted community leaders.
GUPTA: You and I have been doctors for some time. I think me a bit longer than you. But have you ever seen measles before?
SHUFORD: No, and I'm an infectious disease physician.
GUPTA: Wow.
SHUFORD: I've never diagnosed a case.
GUPTA: That's incredible.
SHUFORD: It's because, you know, measles was declared eliminated.
GUPTA: Right.
SHUFORD: From the United States back in the year 2000 because of the effectiveness of that vaccine, and it's only now with falling immunization
rates, not just here in Texas, but across the country and around the world, that we're starting to see more of these outbreaks.
GUPTA (voice-over): Now, while most of the cases have been in a close-knit rural community, worry has started to spread.
Hello.
AMY GANDY, PARENT OF IMMUNOCOMPROMISED CHILD: Hi, how are you doing?
GUPTA: How are you doing? Hey, I'm Sanjay.
GANDY: Amy. Nice to meet you.
GUPTA: Nice to meet you. You, too. How's it going?
ERIC GANDY, PARENT OF IMMUNOCOMPROMISED CHILD: All right, this is Owen.
GUPTA: Hey, Owen.
AMY: Owen was a micro preemie, so he spent the first 102 or 103 days in the hospital. And since then, you know, with his weakened immune system and
everything that he went through, we just don't know how he would handle the measles.
[10:30:01]
GUPTA (voice-over): Amy and Eric Gandy have lived in Lubbock for 20 years.
E. GANDY: And the good thing about it is Riley really likes getting shot, so.
RILEY GANDY, ERIC AND AMY'S DAUGHTER: No, I don't.
GUPTA (voice-over): Now both their kids, 11-year-old Owen and 9-year-old Riley, are vaccinated. But that's the thing about outbreaks. Low
vaccination rates can put vulnerable people in danger.
E. GANDY: I mean, it's really, I think it's time that everybody, like, takes a look just at your political reasons or your religious reasons and
kind of think about that group of people, the new or the old information about vaccines, and really take a deep look into what it is that you really
believe and why you really believe that.
GUPTA: You just set this up.
DR. RON COOK, LUBBOCK HEALTH AUTHORITY: We just set this up.
GUPTA: When outbreak is happening, you say --
COOK: Set it up this week.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Ron Cook is with the Lubbock Health Authority.
COOK: We've got plenty of vaccine, but we just need people to come get it.
GUPTA: And are people coming in?
COOK: They did 13 yesterday?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-three.
COOK: Twenty-three yesterday.
GUPTA: Twenty-three? OK. How would you describe what's going on here?
COOK: We have pockets that are not well-vaccinated. But these individuals, like in Gaines County down there, that come to shop here. We have Costco
and Sam's and Walmart's, and they come here to do big shopping on the weekends, and they bring their kids, and they walk through Costco or they
walk through these big shopping centers, and then they're exposing these people.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
GIOKOS: Let's get you up to speed on some of our other stories on our radar right now.
The man accused of gunning down a United Healthcare CEO in Manhattan is due in court in the coming hours. Luigi Mangione has pleaded not guilty to his
murder and terror charges in his New York state case. The 26-year-old has yet to enter a plea on federal murder charges. He faces life in prison
without parole if convicted.
Take a look at these spectacular pictures from the big island of Hawaii. The Kilauea volcano has been erupting on and off since late December. This
video was recorded Thursday when fountains of lava shot up 400 feet, or some 122 meters into the air. Officials say the eruption isn't a major
threat to people at this point, but it may impact air travel in the area.
Police in Italy say they've uncovered a clandestine painting lab in a Rome workshop, and they've seized dozens of fake paintings that's attributed to
famous artists, including Picasso and Rembrandt. Investigators say the suspected forger has likely sold hundreds of counterfeit works of art. No
arrests have been made as yet.
And up next, Arab leaders meet in Saudi Arabia to weigh up a response to Donald Trump's reconstruction plan for Gaza. We'll bring you the details
after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:30]
GIOKOS: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Eleni Giokos. Here are your headlines.
Israel says its military forensics show that hostages Ariel and Kfir Bibas, whose remains were returned yesterday, were murdered in captivity. The IDF
says it will share its findings with global partners. Hamas has maintained the entire Bibas family was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
A Ukrainian official says a potential deal on rare earth minerals was part of ongoing discussions between the United States and Ukraine Friday. It
comes as Donald Trump's Russia-Ukraine envoy called Volodymyr Zelenskyy, quote, "the embattled and courageous leader of a nation at war." That's in
sharp contrast to the U.S. president's rhetoric this week.
Leaders from Egypt, Jordan and Gulf Arab States have met in Riyadh today for an informal meeting on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It's the first
time the leaders have met since Donald Trump outlined his radical proposal for the enclave that included the United States taking ownership of Gaza,
expelling its Palestinian population and turning it into a Middle Eastern riviera. Arab nations are still working to formulate an alternative to the
plan.
For more now on that story, I'm joined by Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern politics and international relations at the London School of
Economics, and he's also an acclaimed author who recently wrote the book, "What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the
Middle East."
Fawaz, it's great to have you with us. Thank you so much for taking the time. In many, in a big sense here, you've got this meeting that is taking
place in Saudi Arabia, which is a precursor to the Arab League meeting, which is set to take place in Cairo early March. The question is, do Arab
leaders actually have a plan that could counter what Donald Trump is thinking?
FAWAZ GERGES, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROFESSOR, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Well, they are scrambling to come up with a counterproposal to
Donald Trump. I think what the Arab states have done is that they have allowed Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to determine the priorities and
the agenda. Donald Trump has flipped the script on the Arab state.
The question is not really whether what Donald Trump wants. Donald Trump's idea is monstrous. It has been rejected by the entire world, with the
exception of the far-right in Israel. The question is, what is the Arab vision? What is the Arab plan for Palestine? There is a vision, and the
vision was in 2000, you know, the Arab peace proposal, the Arab initiative during the Arab summit in Beirut in 2000 and the principle of the Arab
vision for the Israel-Palestine conflict is peace for land that Israel, all the Arab states, will normalize relations with Israel if Israel basically
grants the Palestinians self-determination and pulls out of occupied Palestinian and Arab territories.
But sadly and tragically now the Arab states are scrambling to deal with Donald Trump's idea about expelling two million, more than two million
Palestinians from Gaza and try to offer an alternative plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.
GIOKOS: So, Fawaz, let's go through this logically. The United States is saying that it's going to cost around $53 billion to reconstruct Gaza.
They've got to think about what the plan is going to be, who's going to pay for it, and then who's going to run it. What is your sense of the
parameters here that they could be looking at that could be realistically accepted by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu?
GERGES: Well, I mean, I don't think Benjamin Netanyahu will accept any plan for the reconstruction of Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu wants the Palestinians
out. Benjamin Netanyahu wants to reoccupy Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu wants to annex the West Bank. And the Trump administration is considering plans for
the annexation of large parts of Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu refuses any idea about Palestinian sovereignty.
I think behind the noise, behind all the noise in the past few weeks are two major underlying ideas by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu --
expelling Hamas from Gaza politically and militarily, and having an Arab force, an Arab force to police Gaza.
[10:40:04]
And this was initially proposed by the Biden administration and Blinken, having an Arab force, collective Arab force to secure Gaza. And the reality
is now the Arab state, who's going to pay for the reconstruction of Gaza? It requires, as you said, more than $50 billion. And both Saudi Arabia and
the Gulf states have made it very clear they will not finance reconstruction unless there is a vision for the day -- the morning after, a
Palestinian state.
And secondly, I think, who's going to govern Gaza? Another major problem facing the Arab state. And I think for Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, they
do not really want the Palestinian authority to return to Gaza. They want the Arab state to take care of security and protect Israeli security.
Period.
GIOKOS: Look, Jordan and Egypt have been very clear about the fact that they will not accept the removal of Palestinians into their respective
countries. But are Arab leaders, do you believe, aligned on potential plans? Because we've heard some things coming out of Cairo, for example,
that Cairo can build -- rebuild Gaza in 10 to 20 years, but they didn't say how or who's going to pay for it.
Then, you know, there's been multiple sort of references to the possibility of what this could look like. What are you expecting realistically, Fawaz,
to come out and be put on the table?
GERGES: Well, first of all, all the Arab states or most of the Arab states have rejected Donald Trump's idea for basically expelling the Palestinian
populations from Gaza. Both Egypt and Jordan have rejected any notion of Egypt and Jordan accepting, you know, 2.4 million Palestinians. This is for
sure.
So the question is not really whether we're talking about, you know, how the Arab states view the Donald Trump's foolish idea. The question is for
the Arab state, what to do about reconstruction? Who's going to pay for the -- I mean, Israel destroyed everything. Clinics, hospitals, schools, roads,
mosques. I mean, nothing remains of Gaza. And here is the irony, the tragic irony. Israel destroyed Gaza using American armament.
And yet neither Israel nor the United States will contribute anything to rebuild Gaza, to reconstruct Gaza. My take on it, I don't -- I'm sorry to
say that I'm not very, I don't really, I'm not very optimistic that anything concrete will come out of the Arab summit, even though the Arab
states mean well. The reason why, because there are major practical problems about costs, about the morning after, about who's going to take
care of security in Gaza.
Where is the Palestinian authority? Hamas has made it very clear it will never disband militarily. So there are many, many problems. And the reason
why I'm not very optimistic, because Donald Trump and the far-right in America and Israel have flipped the script. It's no longer really about a
Palestinian state. It's about the fate and the future of Palestinians in Gaza itself.
GIOKOS: So, Fawaz, let's look at it from -- let's be realistic about this. What is the probability of Donald Trump making good on his threat, his
plan, where he says he's just going to take Gaza under what he called the U.S.'s authority? We also worried about the West Bank in terms of full
annexation there. What do you think the actual outcome will be? In a few months' time when we're talking, what do you think the reality of Gaza is
going to be?
GERGES: Donald Trump's idea is bad. Donald Trump's idea is really monstrous. It's not going anywhere. It has no wings. What Donald Trump has
been trying to do is to really basically change the conversation, change the agenda, change the priorities. Here what I see. And I had hoped I am
wrong. My take on it is that Benjamin Netanyahu has the green light to resume the war in Gaza.
I think you're going to see an Israeli occupation of Gaza. It's going to be a very brutal next phase of the war. That's exactly what Benjamin Netanyahu
and far-right coalition really want to do, because they're trying to use every justification not to go through phase two of the ceasefire. I doubt
it very much, and I hope I am wrong. I doubt it very much whether Benjamin Netanyahu will accept to turn this temporary ceasefire into a permanent
ceasefire. So we might really see a resumption of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's war in Gaza in the next few weeks.
GIOKOS: All right. Fawaz, really grateful for your insights today. Thank you so much for your time. Fawaz Gerges there for us. A consequential
meeting happening in Riyadh right now with Arab leaders and, of course, we'll keep track on the outcome of that meeting.
[10:45:02]
In Germany, far-right politicians are expected to do well at the polls this weekend, but that doesn't mean they'll be included in a new government. Why
these snap elections are being watched so closely by the world, ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: When German voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a new parliament, the country's sluggish economy, immigration reform, and
Ukraine's war with Russia are expected to be top of mind. The snap election was triggered by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling coalition.
As CNN's Sebastian Shukla reports, the high stakes election will likely shape a new direction for Germany with global implications.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): One of the final stops for Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democrats as he zeroes in on the German
chancellorship. The predicted winner of Sunday's election will follow the historic trend of German politics coming from one of the major parties.
FRIEDRICH MERZ, CDU LEADER (through translator): We are witnessing an almost tectonic shift in the world's political and economic centers of
power.
SHUKLA: But the projected success of the far-right Alternative for Germany, the AfD, coming in second behind Merz, is new, as have been their
superpower endorsements. Elon Musk, the world's richest man, appeared as a floating head to address the AfD in January with some grandiose words.
ELON MUSK, BILLIONAIRE CEO: This election is so important. It's extremely important. I do not say it lightly when I think the future of civilization
could hang on this election.
SHUKLA: And last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance rebuked Germany in its own backyard at the Munich Security Conference.
JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What no democracy, American, German or European, will survive is telling millions of voters that their
thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid.
SHUKLA: Hours later, he met with AfD co-leader Alice Weidel.
Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, had previously criticized Musk and also had some choice words for Vance.
OLAF SCHOLZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We will not accept it if outsiders intervene in our democracy, in our elections, and in the
democratic formation of opinion in favor of this party. That is just not done. Certainly not amongst friends and allies.
SHUKLA: A faltering economy and security concerns have been among the campaign's major issues. Three deadly attacks in as many months, all
carried out by migrants, have poured fuel on the migration debate. The AfD seized on the issue and, as a result, have forced the larger parties to
make it a top priority.
But an unwritten political agreement called the firewall, where parties work together to pass legislation without the AfD, means they will likely
be frozen out of coalition talks.
[10:50:07]
(On-camera): Merz has already categorically ruled out working with the AfD should he win. So the question becomes for Germany, with who and how will
he form this country's next government?
Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: CNN will host a two-hour special on the German election on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Eastern. That's going to be at 9:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi
and 6:00 p.m. in Germany. So stay tuned for that.
What would Miss Moneypenny say? Up next, concern over what the multibillion-dollar James Bond franchise might look like under Amazon
founder Jeff Bezos. We'll explain after this. Stick with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL CRAIG, ACTOR: The name's Bond. James Bond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, it is a movie franchise that makes billions of dollars and very beloved and creative control has been in the hands of one family for
more than six decades. But that is now changing. Amazon MGM Studios is taking over 007 and the James Bond legacy that comes with it. It is part of
a deal announced Thursday and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is already drumming up excitement about who could be the next actor to wear Bonds tuxedo.
CNN entertainment reporter Elizabeth Wagmeister has more details for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: A huge shock in Hollywood as a new business deal can determine the future of James Bond.
For the past 60 years, one family has controlled everything related to James Bond, and that is the Broccoli family, the producers behind the James
Bond franchise who have infamously been resistant to give up any creative control as it pertains to the James Bond films.
But now the Broccoli family entering into a shocking deal with Amazon that hands over creative control to Jeff Bezos' company. Now, Jeff Bezos has
already gotten into the action, taking to X with this post, quote, "Who'd you pick as the next Bond?" Clearly, Bezos is already drumming up some
excitement for the future of this iconic franchise, which has had 25 films and has made $7.8 billion over the past seven decades.
Now, the casting question, of course, is top of mind, some fan favorites that have been floating around, everyone from Idris Elba to Henry Cavill to
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who had been rumored last year to have actually been offered the part. But the fact of the matter is there's no next James Bond
movie that is currently in the works. There's no script, there's no writer and there's certainly no star.
So it remains to be seen when we will see that next James Bond movie. But it also remains to be seen what the future expansion of James Bond will be.
Now that Amazon has creative control, is James Bond going to get the Marvel treatment? Are they going to expand the world of this I.P. so that it's not
just theatrical films, but that there are television series and spinoffs?
Now, of course, any time you dig into the I.P. and expand a franchise, you run the risk of alienating lifelong fans who love James Bond.
[10:55:06]
So it has to be done right. But this is big news in the world of James Bond and definitely a lot more to come.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. Stay with CNN. CNN NEWSROOM is up next. I'm Eleni Giokos. Have a fantastic weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
