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Questions Remain as North Korean Delegation Heads Home from Olympics; Russian Plane Crash Kills All on Board; Trump Defends Rob Porter, Ignores Abuse Victims; Golan Heights a Flashpoint for Syria and Israel; Kim Jong-un's Sister Is Stealing The Show At The Winter Olympics; Worries Surfacing About Rising Inflation In U.S.; Countries Focus On Volatile Markets; New Detail About Prince Harry & Meghan. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired February 12, 2018 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Olympic star diplomacy. A breakthrough between North and South Korea but where does that leave the United States?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A Russian plane crashes with 71 people on board. No survivors. CNN has an update there at the scene.

CHURCH (voice-over): And later, a royal revelations. We are learning new details about the highly anticipated wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

HOWELL (voice-over): We are live at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta and we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH (voice-over): And I'm Rosemary Church. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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CHURCH: Kim Yo-jong's trip to South Korea may be over but Kim Jong- un's sister may have just started a new era in diplomacy.

HOWELL: Indeed, her three-day charm offensive captured the attention of the world's media during the start of the Winter Olympic Games, but it also earned some criticism. It included an invitation to South Korea's president to visit Pyongyang.

Now if he accepts that invitation it would seemingly reopen an important high-level diplomatic channel.

CHURCH: So does South Korea's warming with the North mean a split with the U.S. and Japan?

U.S. Defense secretary James Mattis says no. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JAMES MATTIS, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I know that people are watching for a wedge between South Korea, Republic of Korea, in other words, and the United States. There is no wedge there. They staff, the military staffs are integrated on a political level in Seoul. There is no wedge that can be driven between us by North Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: All right, General Mattis there.

Now on the way back from the games, the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told "The Washington Post's" Josh Rogin that it is all part of a plan to put pressure on Kim Jong-un while engaging him at the very same time. Now here is the quote.

Quote, "The point is no pressure comes off until they are actually doing something that the alliance believes represents a meaningful step toward denuclearization. So the maximum pressure campaign is going to continue and intensify. But if you want to talk, we will talk."

CHURCH: Well, Paula Hancocks joins us now from PyeongChang where the Olympics are happening right now.

Paula, North Korea's Olympic delegation, as we reported, led by Kim Jong-un's sister, has returned home but not before scoring four meetings with South Korea's president. And while Kim Yo-jong attracted a lot of attention, many in Seoul protested against her presence there.

What was the overall assessment of her Olympic diplomacy efforts?

And where does it leave the United States?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, there was really a mixed response to her being in the country in the first place. I just spoke to the governor of Gangnam province, this province where the Olympics is being held.

He met with her three times. He said that she was -- she was polite but she chose her words carefully. She did not talk very much but was very accurate in what she said, he believed that she was speaking for her brother, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

Also saying that the relationship between the North and South Korean delegation was very warm, but even after the most intense few days following her around, we still don't know too much about Kim Yo-jong.

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HANCOCKS (voice-over): Kim Yo-jong's every move is being filmed, analyzed, judged. Three days of the world's media running after the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. And still, we know very little about the woman who has stolen the headlines at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Believed to be around 30 years old, she studied in Switzerland like her brother and is the youngest of seven siblings, according to experts who follow the family closely. What is clear is she has her brother's absolute trust, the first member of the Kim family to venture south since the Korean War in the 1950s.

Also clear: she was the one in charge on this trip, as shown when 90- year-old Kim Jong-nam, senior by title and age, tried to give up the most prominent seat to her when they first arrived.

Kang Myung Do was the son-in-law of a former prime minister in North Korea. He defected in 1994, but is known to have contact with some of the elite inside the country.

"As Kim Yo-jong is the only family member around him," he says, "it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Kim Jong-un rules the country A to Z through her. That's why many North Korean officials see her as having a similar status to the North Korean leader."

Kang says anyone who wants to meet Kim Jong-un has to go through his sister. Promoted last year to the Politburo, the senior body of North Korea's Communist Party, Kim Yo-jong manages his public events --

[02:05:00]

HANCOCKS (voice-over): -- often seen close to his side.

So what do South Koreans think of the first sister?

This man says, "I hardly know anything about her except that she has direct authority on the man at the top."

"She's the first one to come here from the Kim bloodline," this woman says, "and she came instead of Kim Jong-un. I think things will improve now."

Not everyone agrees. Some South Koreans are furious that a relative of a man they see as the enemy has been welcomed into their country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is not coming. She is the dictator's sister. I'm sure she is exactly like Kim Jong-un. She is not looking at the North Korean people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now the North Korean delegation nay have returned to Pyongyang but still South Korean media has Kim Yo-jong as their top story, the headlines. And it really was an intense following of everything she did, every move she made over the past few days -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes indeed. That is what we saw and, Paula, Vice President Mike Pence spoke to reporters on his way back to Washington and suggested engagement with North Korea might be possible in the future. That, of course, signals a shift from his hard-line approach. What are we to make of this?

HANCOCKS: Well, it's what we had heard, Rosemary, in recent months from other members of the Trump administration, that if North Korea was to change its tune, then potentially engagements could follow.

Now we just had a statement from the South Korean unification ministry, saying that the U.S. and South Korea has maintained a consistent stance that talks between North and South Korea should also follow by talks between the U.S. and North Korea. The South Korean administration officials here have been pushing the fact that if North Korea wants improved relations with the South then they do have to involve the United States as well.

The statement from the government also pointing out that the U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson has already been publicly stated that the U.S. is open to preliminary dialogue before they even talk about denuclearization.

No of course we have had some mixed messages from the Trump administration, not least from the U.S. president Donald Trump himself, specifying that there could be appeasement talking to North Korea with the personal insults against North Korea. But we have seen in recent weeks a pullback from that, from the U.S. president.

And so potentially the U.S. and South Korea are on the on the same page and, in some respects, certainly, we're hearing from the South Korean point of view that they're not going to agree to President Moon going to Pyongyang until they have this consensus from the United States as well -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, we will continue to watch this. Paula Hancocks joining us there live from PyeongChang, where it is just after 4:00 in the afternoon. Many thanks.

HOWELL: Now let's get some perspective on this, now bringing in Duyeon Kim. Duyeon a visiting senior research fellow at the Korean Peninsula Future Forum live for us in Seoul, South Korea, this hour.

It's good to have you here on the broadcast today. Let's talk about this a new development. The U.S. vice president saying the United States is open to preliminary dialogue with North Korea.

How significant do you see this opening, given the invitation from the North to engage with its neighbor to the South?

DUYEON KIM, KOREAN PENINSULA FUTURE FORUM: Well, thanks for having me, George. This is certainly welcoming news. It is good news but it also reinforces -- you know, we keep forgetting, it seems, that Washington had always had a policy of maximum pressure and diplomacy.

So diplomacy engagement has always been the other pillar of its approach. But we've almost seen Washington play the bad cop. And of course still play the good cop, we saw that play out in real life at the PyeongChang Olympics. So it is certainly welcoming. Now there are lots of practical issues and sequencing that needs to be sorted out in order for this to happen.

So do the North and South -- do the U.S. and the North Koreans speak to each other first before inter-Korean summit?

Do they speak to each other after?

And these types of issues need to be worked out and also there is a lot of criticism about holding talks for talk's sake. But I think between the U.S. and North Korea, where actually talks for talk's sake is actually needed. Preliminary talks, if you want to call them exploratory talks or what have you, it is actually needed because we've had years of U.S. and North Korea posturing and sending out public messages.

And it is really -- you cannot get the full picture of each other's intentions and opportunities and possibilities by just reading public statements.

HOWELL: All right, you touch on this. It is the fear that we have all seen of a good cop/bad cop/sideline cop looking back at the weekend.

Who won the battle of optics, in your view, the vice president Mike Pence in his efforts to ignore the North Korean --

[02:10:00]

HOWELL: -- delegation?

The South Korean President Moon, his efforts on engagement?

Or Kim Yo-jong and that letter, opening the door for possible talks?

KIM: Well, if we're talking about a PR competition, I would certainly say that North Korea came out the winner and that is exactly what they intended to do with their unusually large entourage, especially Kim Yo-jong, the first Kim bloodline family member to visit the South.

And sending her, of course, she would steal the spotlight. Of course, global media would be on her 24/7, her every move, analyzing her every expression, her every word. So certainly the North did but I know there's a lot of criticism about the optics and how Vice President Pence portrayed the U.S. at the Olympics.

And sure, there is good reason for such criticism. However, I would imagine that the U.S. is more focused on what happens after the Olympics and more focused on how North Korea acts, what happens when, if and when, U.S. military exercises resume after the Olympics.

Another that's another issue that President Moon will have to discuss very closely with President Trump.

Do they -- I can imagine a scenario in which President Moon might want to be tempted to postpone military exercises once again until perhaps even after a inter-Korean summit to keep the North engaged and to keep tensions or reduce.

So these are very practical issues and logistics that the U.S. and South Korea will have to discuss very intimately before any inter- Korean summit happens.

HOWELL: So what will be the fruits of the fact that the door has been opened now for talks?

Duyeon Kim, thank you so much your time and perspective and we will stay in touch with you of course.

CHURCH: On to another story we're watching very closely. Russian investigators hope a recovered flight data recorder will help them figure out what caused a deadly plane crash. A surveillance camera captured the moment the jet came down, killing all 71 people on board.

You can see a big explosion there in the distance.

HOWELL: The plane had just taken off from Moscow to the city of Orsk (ph), when it disappeared from radar. Investigators say the crash site scattered throughout a radius.

CHURCH: CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now from the crash site near Moscow.

Fred, we know as we've been reporting, Russian authorities have located that flight data recorder.

So how much closer are they to determining the cause of this plane crash?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, I think finding the flight data recorder certainly was a big step for the investigators and they really have been working all night. It was around 4:00 am in the morning that the Russian authorities declared that this was no longer a rescue operation but a recovery operation.

Certainly it's one that is very difficult for authorities. Maybe you can see behind me, the roads leading into this crash site are very, very small and they're completely snowed under. It's one of the unique things about Russia that, before they can actually get to that crash site they had to move mountains of snow to really start this very large operation.

Nevertheless, we do have some update that I wanted to share with you. On the one hand, it is that flight data recorder that they found, hoping to get some information from that. Not clear whether they've been able to find the cockpit voice recorder, which of course, is the other part of what we call the black box. It measures the data of planes and shows what's been going on in the cockpit.

And the Russian authorities are saying that they are going to be working in this area for at least a week on this recovery operation. Obviously a lot of that has to do with forensics as well. One other interesting point that they've made. They've apparently found something like an impact site. They say that there is a crater that's about 25 feet wide and a little less than 5 feet deep that they found.

Of course, one of the questions that we had been asking shortly after this plane crashed was whether or not a crash log was intact or whether or not it might have disintegrated in midair for whatever reason.

So it certainly could offer a clue as to what happened there but, again, of course, this investigation still very much in its early stages as this plane crashed less than 24 hours ago -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, of course, that is critical and investigators are looking at all possible causes, weather conditions, human error or mechanical fault.

Does this mean they've ruled out any possibility of terrorism or foul play or not?

PLEITGEN: That is one of the interesting things that we have been looking at as well. So far the authorities are not speaking about terrorism or foul play as one of the reasons why this crash happened.

But again we have to keep in mind that all this is still very much in the early stages. And you mentioned the other things that they've said, mechanical failure, possible pilot error and then also the weather as well.

Yesterday afternoon when this crash happened, the plane took off around 2:20 pm local time. There was some inclement weather going on over Moscow, some pretty heavy snowstorms and very low visibility as --

[02:15:00]

PLEITGEN: -- well. Does that have anything to do with the crash?

Absolutely unclear. One of things we also have to see is that there were other planes that were taking off and landing from Moscow, (INAUDIBLE) Airport at the time. So still very much at the beginning as the investigators are trying to piece all this together. They say, however, that they have all their newest technology and their best experts, they say, on the scene, working around the clock to try and get to the bottom of this as fast as possible.

Of course one thing that really does help them is that the plane crash did crash on land. It's not submerged somewhere. So it should be fairly to retrieve a lot of the debris and then possibly also that voice recorder that could offer additional clues as to what happened -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, still a lot of questions but they're working on this investigation. Our Fred Pleitgen joining us there from near the crash site, which is also near Moscow, just at 10:15 in the morning. Many thanks.

HOWELL: And a lot of news to share with you here on NEWSROOM as the show pushes on. This White House and the United States still on the defensive. How the president is fielding criticism about his response to abuse allegations against a now former staffer.

CHURCH: Plus the state of New York is suing Harvey Weinstein and his company and the lawsuit could undermine a deal to sell his former film studio. We'll have that and more when we come back. Stay with us.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

The White House is struggling to continue the fallout over its handling of the scandal surrounding Rob Porter. Now Rob Porter is the White House staff secretary, who resigned over domestic violence allegations.

CHURCH: Mr. Trump's aides showed up in force on the Sunday television talk shows to defend General John Kelly, Mr. Trump's chief of staff. But keeping Porter employed, despite allegedly knowing about some of the abuse allegations for months. More now from Ryan Nobles.

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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sunday was a day for spin at the White House as a myriad of White House advisors went to the Sunday talk shows, attempting to explain away how the White House handled those domestic abuse allegations against two prominent White House staffers.

Those staffers, Rob Porter and David Sorensen, are no longer on the job. But it was not until press reports emerged, specifically against Porter, that demonstrated the accusations against him.

On the Sunday talk shows, a lot of that went back to the role that Chief of Staff John Kelly played in this entire discussion. And there are some questioning whether or not Kelly's response was enough and that perhaps he could be out of his job.

But Kellyanne Conway, a senior advisor to the president, said that, at this point, Kelly is going nowhere.

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KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP COUNSELOR: I spoke to the president last night. I told him I'd be with you today and he said please tell Jake that I have full faith in chief of staff John Kelly and that I am not actively searching for replacing. He said I saw that all over the news today. I have faith in him.

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MARC SHORT, WHITE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: I think there is probably some in the process, some lack of communication between different elements in the White House.

I do not know, to be honest, I do not know who knew what when, at this point.

MICK MULVANEY, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET: And I think all the stories about replacing General Kelly are mostly being fed by people who are unhappy that they've lost access to the president under General Kelly's leadership as Chief of Staff.

So, no, I am extraordinarily pleased with the job the chief has been doing. Everybody in the West Wing is. The president is as well. I think that talk about the chief's departure is much ado about nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: And part of the reason that Kelly appears to be on the hot seat is because of how he handled this situation and the inconsistencies in his story. Kelly has said repeatedly that when he learned the full extent of the accusations against Rob Porter, he swiftly moved to remove him from his job.

But we are learning that as early as this past fall, Kelly was made aware of the concerns and specifically that Rob Porter was accused of violence against his two ex-wives and at that point decided to do nothing about it.

Kelly has said repeatedly that he confronted Porter about these accusations and Porter flatly denied him although our reporting tells us that even though Kelly is trying to paint a new picture as to exactly what happened in the White House, there are many people even within the administration that are questioning the validity of that point of view -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, at the White House.

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CHURCH: The State of New York is suing Harvey Weinstein and his former film studio, complicating a deal to sell The Weinstein Company. The suit claims the company did not protect its employees from sexual harassment and discrimination by Weinstein.

And for any sale to go through, victims must be compensated.

HOWELL: Weinstein's attorney says many of the allegations do not have merit. More than 60 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or abuse, including rape.

CHURCH: We turn now to the Middle East and tensions ran high over the weekend after Syria shot down an Israeli warplane. Israel says it then launched attacks against Syrian and Iranian targets.

It also accuses Iran of sending a drone into Israeli airspace.

HOWELL: Much of the latest action has taken place in the skies above the Golan Heights. CNN's Ian Lee filed this report from that disputed region. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Military hardware litters the Golan Heights, deadly reminders of Israel's last two wars with Syria.

In 1967, it was captured by Israeli forces. Ever since, the international community has regarded this high plateau between Syria, Israel and Lebanon as Israel-occupied territory.

War erupted once again in 1973. Thousands of Syrians and hundreds of Israelis died amid the barbed wire.

LEE: This area has always held strategic importance. In ancient times it was the crossroads of the Via Maris from the Mediterranean and the Kings Highway from the Red Sea, both going to Damascus. Nowadays those roads are gone, but it still holds that importance, with Lebanon visible to my right and Syria to my left.

LEE (voice-over): These days, it is the cameras doing the shooting here, the nature, the history in proximity to danger draws thousands of tourists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where you see the trees in the far distance there, these trees there, they are in Syria.

[02:25:00]

LEE (voice-over): The U.N. monitors tasked to keep the peace have also become part of the attraction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: California --

(CROSSTALK)

LEE (voice-over): A jolt from the past struck the Golan last Saturday. Israel and Syria engaged in their most significant clashes in decades. Syrian air defenses brought down an Israeli jet fighter, on a retaliation mission after an Iranian drone, launched from Syria, was shot down over Israel.

But even that couldn't dissuade tourists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel safe. I believe the Israeli army is going to take care of jus here. I live in Israel. I live in Jerusalem now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not what I expected. And I'm glad it -- we have U.N. people here and it seems very safe so...

LEE (voice-over): A sense of security Israel hopes remains.

A day later, and tensions seem to have eased; no one here, perhaps, desperate for a fight. But all are aware of the possible dangers that the ghosts of the past (INAUDIBLE) to the present -- Ian Lee, CNN, in the Golan Heights.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we will take a short break here but still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, weather conditions are wreaking havoc at the Olympics.

HOWELL: How snowboarders fared in the very fierce winds there, as CNN NEWSROOM pushes on.

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HOWELL: We're on coast to coast across the United States and live around the world this hour. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you so much for being with us. I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. We want to check the headlines for you this hour.

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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: After a week of extremely volatile trading in the United States and around the world, most of the Asia Pacific markets are starting this week on a positive note.

CHURCH: So let's take a look at those numbers. Japan's Nikkei is closed for a holiday but Hong Kong's Hang Seng that is up .65 percent. You can say the Shanghai Composite also up of more than three quarters of a percent and Seoul in positive territory nearly up 1 percent there.

HOWELL: Investigators will be watching for some key economic reports in the U.S. this week and whether inflation is picking up the pace.

CHURCH: Day three of the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea is underway and the stiff wind is not letting up.

HOWELL: In spite, several events have been affected, "CNN WORLD SPORT" Amada Davies has more now from Pyeongchang, South Korea.

AMADA DAVIES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is all about the wind here today. Once again, we knew it was scheduled to pick up. The gusts approaching 40 kilometers an hour down here at our Olympic studio. But that is up to about 75 kilometers now up at the alpine sensor and for the second time in two days, the ski racing events have been canceled. After the men's down here yesterday it's been the turn of the women's giant slalom to fall foul today. That means the highly anticipated start of Mikaela Shiffrin's Olympic campaign has been delayed. The 22-year-old American is expected to be one of the stars of these games and was scheduled to be competing in the first of her five events, but she's described the delay as a bummer. But says she's feeling good and will continue to train towards the race day. The women's snowboard slopestyle has gone ahead. But that has left some commentators asking big questions of the organizer after the majority of riders suffered falls.

After qualifying was canceled on Sunday, it went straight to the final shoot-out this morning with just five of the twenty-five riders making it to the end of their first run without a fall. And in the end, it was the defending champion from the United States Jamie Anderson who took gold. She wasn't unaffected by the wind though. Her winning score significantly lower than the 95.25 which won her gold in Sochi four years ago. And we knew that Canada has a good figure skating lineup heading into the games. They have proved it going one better than Sochi to take victory in the team event as their first gold of the games.

HOWELL: All right. Amanda Davies with the highlights and now a look at the medal count so far. Germany leads with three gold medals. The Netherlands and U.S. each have two. And when it comes to total medals, Norway right now is at the front of the pack with eight.

CHURCH: So let's get the latest now on those strong winds and cold temperatures at the Winter Olympics. Our meteorologist Ivan Cabrera joins us now with that. And Ivan, it's so bad. It's impacting a lot of these events.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. You saw it those cancelations and spectacular falls I might say. It's just unfortunate. There we had those not so strong winds but crosswinds impacting with all the competitors, all but five falling. That is quite something. But expected with 40 to 60 kilometer per winds and the winds are beginning to subside. So let's check the forecast and talk about what we can expect over the next few days.

[02:35:02] I think we'll be in much better shape. In fact, big area of low pressure that's been causing the wind will begin to weaken, and so that will allow for winds to begin to relax a bit. We're now at 22 kilometers per hour gusting to about 25 and 30. These are the highest gusting we've seen. Of course, a top the slopes with less pressure the winds are stronger as they typically have, so you can add a few to these. But I think we're in the going in the right direction as that low pulls away and begin to see these yellows going out. And then we're talking 15 to 25 kilometer per hour winds. We can deal with that. The problem is we have another system coming I think by Wednesday which will not only bring some gustier winds but also potential for some snowfall. They won't mind that upwards of a centimeter of snowfall. There's

what I'm talking about. By Wednesday, we're right back in. Tuesday looks good but by Wednesday, we're right back in 25 to 35 kilometer per hour winds. We'll watch that closely with this system coming in at Wednesday. Notice now it has cleared out as far as the cloud cover. And that big low up to the north and east is causing a pretty significant snow as well in Japan. Well, that's headed out along with the wind if -- there you see a little cluster of snowfall beginning to move in I think by the time we get into Wednesday morning.

And then at Wednesday afternoon, we could be talking about the potential for centimeter. My concern is not the snow. It's the wind that will pick right back up here on Wednesday, so that is the forecast. 35 kilometer per hour winds perhaps even a little bit higher atop the slopes. So that's going to be a problem I think in Wednesday. And then on Thursday, we'll begin to see improvement. Notice the temperatures of course. They're going to continue over the next few days to be right between 5 and 10 below zero. I'll leave with you information on tropical cyclone that is right here. This is going right for Tonga, the capital, Nuku'alofa, my goodness. This is not good.

This will be the equivalent in the Atlantic or the Western Pacific like in the Philippines of a Category 4 storm with just ferocious winds, and not just that but with the circulation here the clockwise side, the quadrant to the north here. We'll be seeing some significant storm surge. The archipelago, of course, is expansive here, but we're focusing in on the area that I think will be mostly impacted which would be unfortunately the capital or a lot of folks are Nuku'alofa is what we're talking about 250-kilometer-per-hour winds. And by the way, that happens in the next 12 hours. But we don't have to wait long, unfortunately. They are patching all their hatches across the island, guys.

CHURCH: All right. I'm glad you're keeping an eye on that, Ivan. Appreciate it.

CABRERA: Thanks very much.

HOWELL: This next story is about a homeless man in France. A man who's using social media to show the daily struggles of living on the streets in Paris and his followers are paying attention.

CHURCH: Yes. Now, he's calling out French authorities for their treatment of the homeless. Melissa Bell reports.

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's a homeless man who has become a Twitter sensation. But it's not Christian Page's first improbable change of fortune. He used to be a sommelier in a posh Parisian restaurant until the loss of his job, divorce, and depression led him to life on Paris' streets three years ago. The hardest thing he says is the isolation.

BELL: To avoid that, Christian uses the free Wi-Fi that Paris provides and Twitter where he has become something of a star collecting 22,000 followers in the space of just a few months. He describes it as a homeless man's diary in which he can tell of his daily struggles while he waits for authorities to find him some proper housing.

Like where he's tried to sleep and how authorities have placed strategically positioned flower pots to prevent him from coming back. In one tweet posted on Christmas Day and retweeted 2000 times. Christian showed the lengths that authorities were prepared to go to keep homeless people away from spots they might find comfortable.

The heat from the metro he says is what attracts the homeless here. The spot now has been cleared of the fence which was removed just a day after Christian's tweet perhaps proof that Twitter is allowing him to make a difference. Including on a small scale as a result of his high profile, he regularly receives gifts like these rechargers for mobile phones which he shares with other homeless people. Twitter is a medium that has allowed him to share both love and angry outbursts, but most of all just to share with others once again. Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

HOWELL: Social media there seemingly making a difference.

CHURCH: Yes. It seems that way for sure. Let's take a short break here. But coming up, volatile markets are the focus as people from all over the globe gather for the World Government Summit in Dubai.

HOWELL: Plus, the royal wedding, it is just three months away. How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle plan to share their big day with the community. Stay with us.

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[02:43:16] HOWELL: 140 countries are represented at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

CHURCH: Yes. And the focus this time is on future trends and what those countries around the world need to advance. But with the new trading week on the way, market jitters are taking precedence.

HOWELL: A lot to talk about here. Let's bring in "CNNMoney EMERGING MARKETS" editor John Defterios live in Dubai with the very latest. John?

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, George and Rosemary. In fact, you hit the nail on the head here. So navigating the future, I think from technology and also global risk. But you can't overlook the near and present danger. And that has been the market correction of 9 percent on Wall Street, 2400 points on the Dow Industrials even though we see kind of a leveling off of that. But the concern was over inflation and how that feeds into interest rates going forward. So we wanted to bring in where the largest industrial groups around the world. Let's welcome in Joe Kaeser, the CEO of Siemens, some 38,000 employees. It's good to have you here in this summit. First and foremost, I think it's great to get your read on the pressures of inflation particularly in the United States through your production lines today. Is it really the threat that the markets were worried about the last two weeks or not, Joe? JOE KAESER, CEO OF SIEMENS: Absolutely not. I believe it's been

quite an explore on volatility what we have seen in the marketplace. We in Siemens lost almost like 15 percent of the market cap that no one used just because of concerns about inflation. So I believe that if you look at what happens is really the -- there has been quite favorable economic environment. And so obviously, the costs going up, oil prices going up, but that's natural because growth has also happened. So I'm not overly concerned about inflation. We're actually more concern about getting the right people for the right jobs.

[02:45:07] DEFTERIOS: Yes. It's interesting you're hiring during the cycle. There have been concerns about artificial intelligence and I saw the McKinsey Global Institute reports suggesting, perhaps, as a baseline, 400 million jobs by 2030. But you have real concerns about managing that transition. How do you do that?

KAESER: I believe that's a -- that's the major topic (INAUDIBLE) today. So that there will be millions of millions of drop being lost. But eventually, more millions of drop been created. So, the challenge is that the current jobs are different from what we are going to need in the future. So, we have a massive transformation (INAUDIBLE). But this is about disqualifying our people.

For you, for example, Siemens, we spend about $600 million every year for disqualifying our people. And that's a very, very important topic because this determines the future into how be manage the force industrial revolution.

DEFTERIOS: Well, we talked about industrial revolution, but the reality is you have concerns about social unrest if it's not managed correctly. I mean, you could have a case where a whole generation shows not prepared for the future if the education doesn't keep base for the company.

KAESER: The generation is not prepared for the future, I see that on my company now in Germany. It just announced the drop cuts for the next two to five years for about 3,000 drops in Germany. While the same token in the same period of time, we are going to hire probably like 15,000 new people. So that means the topic is not about being -- you know, concern about the 3,000. The topic is how can we take this 3,000 and help them become employable for the demand of 15,000 which we are going to create. So that's the topic which we have at hand. And a bit concerned about menacing that timely because we have a very, very big difference in the forte that's the revolution has could be after the first three.

DEFTERIOS: Yes.

KAESER: And that's connectivity.

DEFTERIOS: Right.

KAESER: So, everyone, at any given time knows about issues. So people will communicate and will come together. And so, we need to be sure that we don't create that force about a public discussion on -- you know, what's going wrong and what's going right.

DEFTERIOS: OK, very good. There's business in this region, those interesting. You had a power agreement here in Dubai. You signed the couple solar contracts in India. Narendra Modi was here from India yesterday as he was the guest country speaker.

There is definite emerging market growth in this environment today even though oil prices are having around $60 a barrel. It's not 100, it's not 30. But it's like a sweet spot, isn't that?

KAESER: All right, $60 is put as about as tight as much as -- you know, we had in the old time. And both old time --

DEFTERIOS: 2016.

KAESER: 2016 laws. So, budgets are being filled up again, so people start spending. Your reason is very vibrant, there is a lot of many missionary leaders think about Dubai, Abu Dhabi, the UAE. Think about Saudi Arabia, which the vision are necessary. So a lot of things going on here, so I'm very optimistic about reaching the --

DEFTERIOS: Well, that's interesting. You had the current results were down slightly because of the gas business. I thought gas was going to be the great transition fuel here as we go to solar and we go to wind. We'll going to have it for the next two or three decades. Why the softness now?

KAESER: Well, there's the fall I believe, the softness have us more from the fact that the manufacturers have been very over the optimistic about building up catastrophist. So, I believe to say we have about a global capacity of 400 to 500 lots gas turbines, and the demand is about 100.

DEFTERIOS: All right.

KAESER: So we need to lose right size the capacity, and on the other hand, with the rights of renewable energy becoming not only ecologically but all economic (INAUDIBLE). You have a competing source of energy, which is good.

DEFTERIOS: That's not a bad thing, it's just managing again the transition.

(CROSSTALK)

KAESER: Not a bad thing for you the transition.

DEFTERIOS: Good to see you. Thank for your time.

KAESER: Good to see you. Thank you.

DEFTERIOS: Joe Kaeser, once again. He's the CEO of Siemens, the large German industrial group. In the next hour, George and Rosemary, we're going to be talking to the executive director of the Expo 2020 here in Dubai. This the biggest infrastructure project in the region. For now, back to you. HOWELL: All right, John, Thank you so much and an insightful interview. We'll be back in touch with you.

CHURCH: OK, for royal watchers, join us after the break.

HOWELL: We'll have details about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's big day ahead. You want to stick around this.

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[02:51:31] CABRERA: We're the "WEATHER WATCH", I'm meteorologist Ivan Cabrera, checking conditions across North America. We continue to see days of rain, in fact, so much so that there we have a floods threat that continues across portions of the Southeastern U.S.

If you're flying into the busiest airport in the world, and Atlanta may have some issues early on certainly few today. And then, conditions begin to improve as this front begins to march to the east. And on the sense of clipping the north and west, otherwise, again the big story here.

Look at the entire western, well, it is the entire western part of State of Georgia. And then, including portions of the panhandle of Florida, very heavy rainfall as the system continues pushing east. As I showed you on the map before, cold air in its wake and that will be filling in clearing things out. But enough for a little bit of snowfall across the appellation region. Otherwise, beginning to dry things out finally by the middle part of week.

As far as your temperatures, minus five. I sense sunny (INAUDIBLE) rain and snow will not be impacted with you there but further south, we'll continue to see those morning showers. Eventually, giving way to some acted in sunshine. Look at pretty good to across the western part of the United States. Into the Caribbean and Central America, showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. San Juan seeing a little wind through with that as well with temperatures in the 20s. Further west though, looking good, Mexico, and down towards Managua.

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, Kensington Palace is sharing new details about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's upcoming wedding.

HOWELL: We already knew the date, that date is May 19th. In the majestic location. But now we're learning a lot more about how would a low go down.

CHURCH: And our Max, full story's live in London for us with all the details. So, Max, a few more details coming out on the world wedding. What did you hearing?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, well, the wedding will start mid-day on the 19th. So, it's going to hit prime time, lunchtime. You're being the audiences, also in the east coast, where you are. We'll be there in the breakfast time, and prime time parts of Asia as well in the evening. So, it's going to have the biggest possible audience you could possibly have probably. And I know that the forecast of rights is already after running down there or getting all their plans together. So, it's going to be a big affair. It's going to be in St. Georges Chapel.

An hour after the service, once they married, there will be a carriage procession through Windsor which lots of people are hoping for. The couple is saying, they wanted the public be involved in the day. So, you can see the path there, that be winding through the streets of Windsor. Then up the long walk, which is really grand.

Straight path in the after (INAUDIBLE), the castle there. And once they get back, there will be a reception. It's in Georgia's hall, which is usually used for State banquets. And that will be for members of the congregation and the couple of courts.

And then, in the evening, Rosemary, there will be a private reception which we are not even invited to hosted by Prince Charles.

CHURCH: I can't believe that. Surely Max with your connections. So, how big will this wedding be? And how will it compare -- do you think to his brother, Prince William's wedding?

[02:54:55] FOSTER: Well, it's interesting. I think William's wedding was much bigger. He's in a direct line to the thrones as a few more formalities for that. He had his in Central London of Westminster Abbey. So we had a probably twice the number of guest that Harry is going to be held to have.

Harry will be in Windsor, it's in the castle, so it's easier to secure. Which is why it's interesting they arguing on this carriage procession. He is a target, a well-known target, not just for being a royal but also for being a serving member of the military. And this is a big landmark event, as well.

So, it's going to be a huge amount of security around there. But I think it's going to be slightly easier to secure in Windsor than it would be in Central London. So that's one thing, but certainly, it's becoming a big affair. I know that this all sorts of logistics going on at the moment. So try to make sure all the cameras can get in for example, and the security around it as well. A lot to organize, not like your average wedding for sure.

CHURCH: Not at all, and very strategic timing thee, a noon wedding. And Max Foster, bring us up to date on the details of that royal wedding. Many thanks.

FOSTER: A lot of people around the world will be watching for sure.

HOWELL: Thank you so much for watching here on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm George Howell.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church, CNN NEWSROOM continues after this very short break. Don't go anyway.

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HOWELL: Diplomacy was on Stage at the Winter Olympics. So, breakthrough between North and South Korea --