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Rubio: U.S. Will Bring Ceasefire Proposal to Russia "Directly"; U.S. Education Department Cutting Nearly Half of Workforce; 190 Hostages Rescued after Pakistani Train Attacked; Investors on Edge as Trump Tariffs Spark Global Uncertainty; Arctic Sea Ice Levels Shrink to New Record Lows. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired March 12, 2025 - 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)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Washington where the Trump Administration is slashing the U.S. Education Department
workforce by nearly half. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C., it's 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World".
Also coming up, the U.S. has resumed security assistance to Ukraine following talks in Saudi Arabia. Now the world is waiting for Russia to
weigh in. As authorities intensified the search for missing U.S. college students in the Dominican Republic, we are learning new details about her
final moments from a surveillance video.
And new calls for concern in the Arctic Sea ice there is at a record low. Well let's check in to see how the stock markets in New York are going to
be set to open. These are the futures a very different picture that we're seeing right now. It is green across the board. DOW Jones pointing to a
seven tenths of a percent positive start.
S&P looking good as well. It's all on the back of a softer than expected inflation number that came through for the month of February, an annual
number of 2.8 percent in the United States. So, inflation seems to be softening, at least for the month of February, keeping in mind that the
S&P, the NASDAQ, as well as the DOW Jones, have seen big losses over the past month.
Notably the NASDAQ, the biggest drop, 11 percent it seems like we might just see a bit of a rebound today. Moving on now, and the ball is in
Russia's court. That's what America's top diplomat is saying. After Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire during day long talks on Tuesday in Saudi
Arabia.
The White House immediately lifted its pause on intelligence sharing with Kyiv and resume security assistance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy, spurned by U.S. President Donald Trump, after that explosive White House meeting two weeks ago, says Kyiv's forces would stop fighting
as soon as Russia agrees to the pause.
But will Russia agree? The Kremlin is withholding a response for now, saying it wants to hear from U.S. officials in the coming days. In the
meantime, fighting continues, with Ukraine reporting at least 14 people killed in the latest barrage of Russian missile and drone attacks.
CNN's International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson is following developments for us from London. Nic, always great to have you on. Ukraine
agreeing to this. Is Russia likely to do so, given that it has its eyes on Kursk and that could be something that could derail potential agreement to
the ceasefire?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, and it was an indication from the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov yesterday, that big
drone barrage, the night before last that they say Ukraine sent towards Moscow more than 343 drones. They say they shot down, is something also
that the Russians indicate, could, you know, derail the process.
What are the Russians likely to do? They're going to have to weigh up what President Trump might do. And we've just learned some interesting new
details in the last few minutes from both President Zelenskyy, speaking in Ukraine. And we've learned from Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, U.S. National
Security Advisor, who touched down in Ireland on their way back from the Jeddah meeting with the Ukrainians.
So, a little bit more information to play with here. Zelenskyy says when he was asked what's going to happen if the Russians say no to this, he said he
expects strong pressure. He said he didn't know what that pressure would look like, but he did indicate that it might be sanctions or something like
that.
So, he's expecting strong pressure. What we should expect from the Russians is them to stick to the formula that they have historically used in
negotiations, which is to slow roll, which is to turn language around. And we heard that from Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister, this morning.
And the example that I would use, that he gave this morning, as he said, you know, people are always saying, no discussions about Ukraine without
Ukrainians in the room. Well, what about discussions with Russia? Russia is not in the room. Words to that effect, well, the U.S. had discussions with
Russia last week.
So, we can expect a lot more of this sort of pre-positioning by the Russians to try and position themselves. A as the victor, A is going into
these talks strong. B not likely to be threatened by President Trump. That's the perception they're going to want to create in Russia, that's
historically clear.
The other thing that's historically clear as they will get into the minutia of the details if they decide to engage in these negotiations, which I
think most people expect that they will, but the detail they will sort of choke off avenues of discussion.
[09:05:00]
They will put forward and demand that their issues are dealt with as a primary part of the discussions. And the Russians are tactically strong
about drawing out discussions to get what they want. And really, it's going to be down to the White House that put themselves in the middle here. The
real test of Trump is, you know, how does he play that if Russia takes that position?
GIOKOS: Really good point, and whether he can bring Putin to the table. I want to talk about something that is also very interesting that has
happened Iran's President Pezeshkian saying that he won't engage with Donald Trump because of his treatment of Zelenskyy. I want you to listen to
what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT: What he did with Zelenskyy. It's shocking that someone will interact this way with you. It's impossible to
accept someone saying, do this, do that, if you don't, we'll do this. I wouldn't come talk to you. You can go do whatever you want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: All right. Nic, what do you make of this? What does it ultimately mean for Trump's plan to engage with Tehran?
ROBERTSON: Well, the Iranians are sort of calling him out, aren't they? Trump told Fox News last week that he had sent a letter to the Iranian
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying that there were two ways to deal with the United States. You can either do it essentially around the
table through talks, or you can do it by military means.
Certainly, United States, big ally in the region, Israel is really prepared and wants to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities. Sees Iran as getting
close to being able to produce ever more nuclear weapons, because it's refinement of Ukrainian to a moderately high and rich level, 60 percent.
And the amount of your refinement that is doing is putting it close to having a much shorter gap, to having much many more potential weapons. So
that's the key piece of the puzzle there. The clock is also ticking. But what the Iranians are doing here to try to head off any U.S. pressure by
having Donald Trump sort of follow up on what I given you an opportunity for talks, they're heading that off.
They're saying there's no chance of talks. We don't like your talks. We know what they look like. You'll get us in the room. King Abdullah in
Jordan was a Middle East recipient of some of that bombast by President Trump inside the White House. We're really put under pressure about taking
Palestinians from Gaza.
He didn't want to do it. The optics were bad. The pressure was really clear and evident. Again, with President Zelenskyy, the same sort of thing. The
Iranians don't want to put themselves in that position, because it gives them sort of no avenues, but one avenue the direction Trump is pushing them
in, which will be a level of containment.
Trump has spoken about wanting to reopen discussions about Iran's nuclear capabilities. This is the big threat to the region. Before you look at all
the proxies, Iran has in the region, the United States is certainly seized. President Trump is certainly seized of those issues. So, the Iranians are
trying to stay one step ahead.
The next step on this is clearly down to President Trump. He says he doesn't want wars, but will he therefore go for a maximum economic pressure
on Iran, as he did in his last presidency.
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right. Good point there. Nic Robertson, good to have you. Thank you. And we should also tell you that Iran's Foreign Ministry
reportedly says President Trump's letter to Tehran will be delivered by the senior advisor to the UAE President Anwar Gargash.
The Gaza hostage ceasefire deal is getting plenty of attention today from U.S. Envoy Steve Witkoff. He is in Qatar for more talks between Israel and
Hamas as the fragile agreement hangs by a thread. And as diplomatic efforts continue in Doha, we're hearing that four Palestinians have been killed in
an Israeli air strike in central Gaza.
We're live in Jerusalem with CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, Steve Witkoff, what is his plan in Qatar? What is he hoping to achieve? And we keep
talking about how fragile the ceasefire is. So, take us through what we're seeing on the diplomatic front.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, clearly over the course of the last few weeks, the Trump Administration has been probing and
prodding, trying to get a sense of what can actually be achieved here in terms of getting more hostages out of Gaza, which the Trump Administration
has made clear is their priority in these ceasefire negotiations.
We know, of course, that, that has included direct outreach by Adam Boehler, the Trump Administration's hostage envoy directly to a top Hamas
official who has led Hamas' negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
[09:10:00]
And so, this week, the negotiations that are now underway in Doha will certainly be a continuation of those efforts to try and figure out what
exactly can be unlocked, how quickly it can be unlocked, and also to see if a deal is not possible, and what that would then mean.
We know, of course, that the main idea that now appears to be on the table is a proposal that would see roughly half of the remaining hostages
released in exchange for an extension of the ceasefire. Hamas, for its part, has said that they hope to see progress towards implementing the
second phase of the agreement, meaning that they are still pushing for this to not be an extension of phase one of this ceasefire.
But entry into phase two, which by the end of it would lead, according to the proposal that Israel and Hamas had agreed to, to the removal of all
Israeli troops from Gaza and the end of the war. Israel, of course, has seemed much more inclined to trying to strike a shorter-term deal that
would see more hostages emerge without having to address that issue of the end of the war.
And critically, these negotiations this week, we do not expect them to lead to any kind of immediate deal, in particular because Ron Dermer, the
Israeli official who is now leading these negotiations, is not part of this delegation that is in Doha. In the meantime, Israel is continuing to keep
up its blockade of the Gaza Strip.
It's now been 11 days since Israel has not allowed any food, any humanitarian aid, any fuel, into the Gaza Strip, which risks spelling
disastrous consequences for Gaza. And the only thing it seems that will unlock that aid, that will unlock that flow of goods, is if a new ceasefire
deal can indeed be struck.
And Israel has made very clear that even as they've been accused of violating international law, that they see this as a pressure tactic on
these negotiations. But the fact that they are stopping aid into Gaza is indeed prompting the Houthis, who had stopped their attacks on Israel and
on those Red Sea shipping lanes, amid this ceasefire in Gaza.
They are now saying that they will resume attacks on any Israeli ships that travel through the Red Sea, saying that they are reimposing their ban on
those ships, and that any ships that try and breach it will be quote, targeted, Eleni.
GIOKOS: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you. Well, in the coming hours, a showdown in a New York courtroom over the deportation of a prominent
Palestinian activist, Mahmoud Khalil, has been sitting in an ice facility in Louisiana where he was transferred after his arrest by immigration
authorities in New York on Saturday.
A federal judge blocked his immediate deportation until the Trump Administration explains why it wants to deport him and revoke his green
card. Khalil helped organize last year's pro-Palestinian rallies at Columbia University. Now protesters across the country are coming out in
support of him and calling for his release.
The U.S. Education Department is cutting nearly 50 percent of its workforce. That's roughly 1300 employees that were notified on Tuesday, in
addition to those who took voluntary buyouts. It's a major step for the Trump Administration as it works to eliminate the agency altogether.
The cuts follow similar layoffs at other federal agencies as Elon Musk's cost cutting team works to dramatically shrink the size of the federal
government. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is following the story for us from Washington. Sunlen, good to have you with us. We're talking about 50
percent of jobs in the Department of Education. Which jobs are at stake? And what has the reaction been?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Eleni, this is a significant cut to the Department of Education. And certainly, the reaction
has not been favorable among unions and workers who are among these cuts, and also the workers, federal workers who remain at the Department of
Education and are worried about what impact this will have on students and their ability to carry out their mission.
As you noted, nearly 50 percent of the work for fifth that's amount to 1300 workers at the Department of Education were informed starting last night
that they are out of a job earlier in the day, notably, workers received an email that the building would start to be shut down last night.
And the building would be closed into today, that really set off alarms within workers there, who are anxious about looming job cuts coming. And
senior administration officials briefing reporters last night acknowledged that they did indeed shut down the building while these layoffs were going
on.
So that just adding to the already concern that's going on among federal workers as President Trump, you know, works to shrink the size of the
government. Now, in addition to these layoffs, there of course, is this threat looming that President Trump has promised that he would dismantle
completely the Department of Education.
[09:15:00]
And the Secretary of Education last night acknowledged that these layoffs were one part in that step going forward. So, it's very clear, Eleni, that
first you have these big, insignificant layoffs coming, but then there will be additional changes coming to this very important agency that certainly
brings help to so many families and kids across America.
GIOKOS: All right, Sunlen. Thank you so much for that update. Americans aren't impressed with Donald Trump's handling of the economy. That's
according to a new CNN poll. In the survey, 56 percent disapproved of how the president is managing. What is the number one issue for Americans?
In contrast, 51 percent approved of Trump's work on immigration. And still to come on the show after a delay in transit, the Former Philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte is back enroute to the International Criminal Courts at The Hague. Details on that story in just a moment.
Plus, police in the Dominican Republic are looking at new surveillance video of a missing American college students. Will have the latest on that
story just after this short break. Stay with CNN.
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GIOKOS: The flight taking Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court in The Hague is back underway after being
delayed enroute. Duterte stopped for several hours in Dubai, where Reuters says he received medical attention. The 79-year-old is now expected to
arrive 10 hours later than originally scheduled. As CNN's Mike Valerio explains, Duterte is traveling to The Hague to face charges of crimes
against humanity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte was never far from a cheering crowd. The self-
styled strong man remains hugely popular with large parts of the public, despite his willingness to have people killed.
RODRIGO DUTERTE, THEN-PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: But in Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the guys that, if I can do it why can't you?
VALERIO (voice-over): Tuesday night, it was Duterte's detractors who were cheering sending him off at the airport on his way to The Hague to be
prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
MARIA RESSA, JOURNALIST: The best part about all of this is that during a time that's been called the era of impunity, little Philippines, the
Philippines actually shows that impunity ends at a certain point.
VALERIO (voice-over): While Mayor of Davao City, Duterte boasted of killing suspects himself when he became president, Duterte took his war on drugs to
the entire country, giving police and hired gunmen licensed to kill those who didn't cooperate.
DUTERTE: Resistance is violent, thereby placing your life in jeopardy, shoot. And shoot him dead.
[09:20:00]
VALERIO (voice-over): Police data shows at least 6000 people were killed like this during his time in office. Rights groups say the toll was much
higher. The victims mostly young men from the country's most impoverished areas. Their families told their slain sons deserved to die. Llore Pasco
lost her two boys to the frenzy of violence.
LLORE PASCO, LOST HER CHILDREN IN DUTERTE'S BRUTAL WAR: This is only the start of our fight. Our justice has not yet been achieved because there's
still a lot of things that will happen, but we will not stop fighting.
VALERIO (voice-over): Tuesday's arrest came as a shock to the former president's supporters, and seemingly to Duterte himself.
DUTERTE: What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?
VALERIO (voice-over): Duterte had appeared to enjoy the protection of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and that of the Vice President Sara
Duterte, his own daughter. But Marcos allowed Interpol officials to move on Duterte as he returned from a visit to Hong Kong.
An act that has empowered the International Criminal Court to prosecute a former president, and may give some solace to the families of the thousands
killed without so much as a charge against them. Mike Valerio, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, independence was a central theme in Greenland's parliamentary elections. On Tuesday, Greenlanders largely voted for a future that does
not involve the United States or U.S. President Donald Trump. Greenland's pro-business opposition party won virtually 30 percent of the vote.
It favors a gradual path to independence from Denmark and strongly pro- independence lawmakers doubled their representation. In Pakistan, more than 150 hostages have been rescued as the country's military battles, militants
who stormed a passenger train carrying more than 400 people.
It is unclear how many people are still being held. Pakistani forces say they've killed 27 militants as they continue their standoff with the
terrorist groups. CNN's Sophia Saifi joins us now from Islamabad. Sophia, clearly a fast-moving story. What more can you tell us about the latest
developments, the hostages that have been released, and of course, the ongoing battle to get to the bottom of this?
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Eleni, we know that this is happening in a very remote part of the country. It's in the southwest province of Baluchistan.
This has been happening for over 24 hours. It took place early Tuesday morning on the Jaffar Express, which is a train line that goes from the
north -- Southwestern City of Quetta to the Northwestern City of Peshawar, and it's known to carry a lot of military personnel as well.
It is in a very remote location where this train was taken by the BLA which is the Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist militant group that's been
active and an insurgency that's been ongoing in that province that has been quite violent over the past couple of months here in Pakistan.
We're getting information from security sources that as of right now, 190 hostages have been recovered, and 30 militants have been killed because of
the fact that this is in a very remote location. It's a very mountainous region, very desert. It's a desert mountain area with deep gorges and
valleys, access is limited, information is limited.
So, the information, while it's a fast-moving story, the information that we've been getting has been trickling in. What we've seen on the ground is
that there have been coffins that have been arriving at the train station in Quetta to move them forward, to take them to the nearest station.
We've received information that there will be dead bodies returning soon. We do not have an exact number, an updated number of how many people have
been killed, about 30 at the moment, including civilians and military personnel and as well as the driver off the train itself.
There is, of course, a lot of criticism as well, and a lot of concern to the fact that this kind of hostage situation has unfolded in Pakistan. So,
everyone here in this country is waiting to see what happens. We spoke to witnesses, to survivors, hostages, actually, who were released late last
night, who told us that it looked, it felt, that it was the day of judgment, because of the explosions that they've heard, because of the
remote location, because of the way that they were rescued.
The security sources that we've spoken to have released information that they're also suicide bombers amongst the militants, as well as women and
children who've only just been released. So, lots of conflicting information, information trickling in slowly, but it is still an active
situation that has still not ended. As we get into Wednesday evening, a lot over 24 hours since it began, Eleni.
[09:25:00]
GIOKOS: Yeah, exactly, a developing story there as Sophia Saifi, thank you so much. I want to get you up to speed now on some other stories that are
on our radar. The U.S. says it welcomes the landmark agreement between Syria's new government and the powerful Kurdish led Syrian Democratic
Forces.
This week's deal means that the SDF, which is backed by Washington, will be integrated into Syrian state institutions. Meanwhile, the United Nations
says armed groups killed entire families during violent sectarian clashes in Western Syria last week. The captain of the cargo ship that collided
with a U.S. flagged tanker in the North Sea has been arrested.
The company that owns the ship, says he is a Russian national. British police say they've opened a criminal investigation on suspicion of gross
negligence manslaughter. One member of the cargo ship's crew is missing, presumed dead. Authorities in the Dominican Republic have intensified their
search for a missing American college student.
20-year-old Sudiksha Konanki was last seen nearly a week ago, and she was on a spring break in the resort of Punta Cana with a group of friends. This
is believed to be the last known footage of her. Police say she and half a dozen of her friends left their hotel for the beach around 04:00 a.m. last
Thursday, while the others returned to the hotel, hours later, there was no sign of Sudiksha.
Well, coming up, the European Union is heading back against Trump's tariffs. A look at what they are targeting and how markets are reacting.
Will bring you the opening of the U.S. markets, right after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos, live in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". We are monitoring our top story. U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he hopes Russia will accept a 30-day ceasefire agreed to by Ukraine after U.S.-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. immediately lifted its pause on intelligence sharing with Kyiv and resumed security assistance. The Kremlin says it will wait to be briefed by
U.S. officials before responding.
[09:30:00]
Right. That is the sound of the opening bell in New York, and I think a lot of excitement today on the New York Stock Exchange floor. It seems that
markets are going to be opening well into the green, and that's after very dismal performance, frankly, over the past month.
And it's all because we saw a softer than expected inflation rate that came through at 2.8 percent year over year. That number dropping just before the
markets opening. As you can see, DOW is up half a percent. NASDAQ looking good, 1.6 percent to the good, and S&P also in positive territory.
Now in terms of the inflation rate, we got 2.8 percent for the month of February. In January, it was 3 percent so slightly better, but that
improvement may be short lived. Mr. Trump's trade war has now gone truly global. On Wednesday, his sweeping 25 percent tariff on all imports of
aluminum or aluminum and steel went into effect, and the reaction has, of course, been very swift.
Just hours after those tariffs went into effect, the European Union announcing it will impose duties on $28 billion worth of American goods.
CNN Business Reporter Anna Stewart is in London for us to break down the numbers. How we love doing that, especially during a full-on trade war,
Anna.
So, we're seeing hardcore retaliation, frankly, happening. I want you to give me a sense of what products they're targeting and what this ultimately
means for what we used to review as allies the U.K. and the United States.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, from the EU, we always knew they were going to retaliate. They made that super clear. And what we have is
actually almost two rounds of tariffs, in a way, the first being reimposing tariffs that they'd actually suspended in 2018 and 2020.
This includes things that you may remember, like Bourbon Whiskey, Harley Davidson motorbikes, Denim Jeans. This will take effect on the first of
April, and it totals around 8 billion euros. Now, to bring that up to the value that they're going to be hit by intensive aluminum and steel, they
will do a second-round worth 18 billion euros.
This will be sometime in mid-April. And we don't actually know the specifics of what they will target there that essentially getting their
calculators out and trying to work out a way to target the same value that they will be hit by. Now, it's interesting, the EU would like to negotiate
with the U.S.
This is not their sort of favorite option. We had the EU trade commissioner actually, in D.C., fairly recently, talks came to very little, and he came
away saying, in the end, as it has said, one hand cannot clap. We are watching for retaliation or comments or reaction from elsewhere in the
world, some stern words, actually, Eleni, from the Australian Prime Minister. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Tariffs and escalating trade tensions are a form of economic self-harm and a recipe for slower growth
and higher inflation, they are paid by the consumers. It is disappointing. Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to
act in a way that reinforces to our respective populations the fact that we are friends. This is not a friendly act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: So that's the sort of other way of responding, is to essentially express your disappointment and reinforce that you are friends. No
retaliation from Australia, no retaliation here in the U.K. The U.K. would like to strike a trade deal with the U.S., and that was discussed recently
between the President and Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
And the other sort of response we've had, of course, in the last few days is the Premier of Ontario in Canada, who actually walked back threats to
impose their own sort of levy on electricity. And he's actually due to meet with the U.S. Commerce Secretary tomorrow. Canada, of course, will be hit
the hardest by the metal tariffs.
GIOKOS: Yeah, I keep hearing the word friends. You don't do this to friends. I think the word they're looking for is frenemies. Frankly, Anna,
because I think that's what we're seeing playing out. But tell me how business is weighing up this chaos and the cost implication?
STEWART: Well, what's so interesting when it comes to something like steel and aluminum is just how far felt these tariffs will be. And particularly
then when you take into account the retaliation, we're looking at so many different sectors. I think it's particularly interesting to consider what
the tariffs will mean in the U.S. for U.S. businesses, obviously it could be a bit of a boost for U.S. steel and aluminum.
But think of all of the many, many products that many sectors that impacts that EU steel and aluminum, from autos to tools, to machinery, importing
those metals, of course, is now more expensive, but also by U.S. made steel and aluminum also more expensive. U.S. steel is up 30 percent over the last
two months.
[09:35:00]
Aluminum is up 15 percent because of this huge demand. Now this will particularly impact a sector like cars. Of course, a car is, you know, made
up hugely of aluminum and steel. Also, when we look at the auto sector in the U.S., you have to consider this sort of very complicated supply chain
relationship, particularly with a neighbor like Canada.
So potentially seeing huge cost increases for some U.S. manufacturers as well.
GIOKOS: Brilliant analysis, Anna, as always. Thank you so much. Now, a thriller in the Champions League on Tuesday night, PSG knockout Liverpool
on penalties. Details coming up just after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Now we are tracking new extremes in the Arctic. Temperatures spiked last month and sea ice recorded its lowest ever level for February. The
situation in the region has been deteriorating for the past two decades as humans continue to burn fossil fuels. And scientists say the loss of sea
ice is a red flag for overall climates change
It couldn't be more urgent. CNN's Chief Climate Correspondent, Bill Weir joins us now in New York. He is going to take us through the numbers, the
reality of why this is alarming, and please tell me, there's a way we can reverse this. Oh, do you have good news for me?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Eleni, there's always hope. There's always hope. It doesn't seem like it given the leadership on planet
Earth these days, but here's a here's the knowledge that leads to power, at least is what we hope. Let's first talk about the temperature at the top of
the world right now.
Just record shattering warmth, the last few months up at the North Pole. These are the anomalies. The colors here, 20 degrees Celsius above normal.
36 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in the North Pole, up in the Arctic Circle in February. And that has led to the shedding of incredible amounts
of ice, not only from land where hundreds of millions of tons are shed each year, enough ice to cover the island of Manhattan in two miles of thickness
of ice.
That's how much is lost just from the Greenland sheet every year. But now we're getting a sense of what's happening as sea ice, the floating ice up
at the top there. And this is what happens in the in the winter months, when the ice gets its thickest, is its most frozen robust, density up
there, and then it dips down in the summer, down to its bottom.
So historically, the gray band here, it gets up close to 16 million square kilometers of sea ice up at the North Pole. The worst year ever is 2012
that's this dotted line, which came way down below 4 million in the summer as it melted. Here's where we are right now, the blue line, well below the
record of 2012 so if you extend it out, it could go well below that.
That record shattering 2012 year, and we're headed towards an ice-free Arctic by 2050, Eleni. And that could have huge implications.
[09:40:00]
Of course, dark water absorbs a lot more heat from the sun than ice, which reflects it back into space. So, it would accelerate the climate crisis,
going forward, changing weather patterns, changing sea level rise, changing the strength of storms, the jet stream. So many effects of this as a result
of that scorching hot North Pole.
GIOKOS: That is an absolutely scary graph that you're showing us, and a reality check. So, I want to talk about the Trump Administration, President
Trump talking about drill, baby, drill. How scientists responding to this? What does it ultimately mean?
WEIR: These are such dark --
GIOKOS: You are saying you're hopeful --
WEIR: Well, you have to cling on to some hope. And I believe that these --
GIOKOS: Yeah.
WEIR: In a democracy, these people still have agency, but we're in the middle of just a dramatic bloodletting of scientists across different
agencies. The head scientists from NASA just fired. People at NOAA who study the cryosphere and ice at National Science Foundation.
All of these places are under siege right now. Trump is trying to strip out all references to climate change, global warming, environmental justice,
from dozens of federal websites, hundreds of different pages, trying to pretend that the problem simply doesn't exist. The rest of the world is
going on.
The science will continue. The physics obviously don't care who's in the President of the United States right now, but these are really, really
dark, stressful times for people care about life on Earth and really what is coming in years ahead.
GIOKOS: And for future generations, really important. I hope investment isn't unraveled as we start to see policy changing in the United States.
Bill, always good to have you on. Thank you.
WEIR: You bet.
GIOKOS: Now they might not have the superstars of the years past, but PSG fans are daring to dream, after their round of 16 win over on penalties
over English leaders Liverpool on Tuesday night. Amanda Davies joins us now to give us an update on this dramatic.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah.
GIOKOS: Well, yeah, tell me what have you got for us, Amanda?
DAVIES: Yeah, Eleni, I sat in May with the Chairman of Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser Al-Khelaifi. And I asked him, you know, I'm embarrassed to say this,
but without the star power of the likes of Lionel Messi without Neymar, with Kylian Mbappe, you've not managed to win the Champions League.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
DAVIES: Now, you've lost those players. What are you going to do? And he said, it's very simple. It's going to be a change of strategy. This is
going to be about the team. It's not going to be about the superstars. And I think a lot of people doubted him when he said that. But fast forward to
where we are now, and this is a Paris Saint-Germain team with the momentum and putting on a show that we haven't seen from them in really, quite a
while.
As you said, they got past the premier league leaders Liverpool last night to knock them out and book their place in the quarter final. And fans are
daring to dream that maybe, just maybe, this could be the year they get their hands on this trophy that they have wanted for such a long time.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Well let's see.
DAVIES: But there's plenty of action to bring you from last night and looking ahead to more to come this evening. We've got it in a couple of
minutes.
GIOKOS: Yeah, right. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Amanda will see you after this. And I'll be back at the top of the hour. Stay with CNN.
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