Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.S.-France Relations; Macron: Nationalism Is A Betrayal Of Patriotism; Trump Criticized For Skipping Cemetery Event; Mayor, 90 Percent Of Homes Are Gone In Paradise, California; At Least 31 Killed As Wildfires Ravage California; Israeli Soldier, 7 Palestinians Killed In Gaza; Bringing the History of WWI to Life; Alibaba's Online Sales Hit New Record on Singles Day. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 12, 2018 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:00] CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Ahead for you at this hour, a rebuke of nationalism from the international order. French President Emmanuel Macron's World War One commemoration speech is seen as a warning against Donald Trump's agenda.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Also this hour, the death toll rises in the most destructive fire in California's history and crews warn they are still a long way from getting the upper hand.
VANIER: And later, it's an event that is bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. China's singles day, breaks sales record.
ALLEN: One, one, one, one.
VANIER: Singles Day.
ALLEN: Singles day. We get it now. Welcome to on you viewers all around the world, I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier. Thank you for joining us.
ALLEN: U.S. President Donald Trump sat near the Arc de Triomphe Sunday and got a lesson on nationalism from France's President. With the world looking on, Emmanuel Macron said that nationalism touted by leaders like Mr. Trump and President Vladimir Putin, also seen right there, can erase a country's moral values.
VANIER: Now, his comments came during an Armistice Day ceremony in Paris marking 100 years since the end of World War One. Jim Acosta reports from the French Capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump was on his way back to Washington after receiving something of a lecture from French President Emanuel Macron at the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One here in Paris. President Macron said that nationalism is the opposite of patriotism in what seemed like a stinging rebuke of President Trump's politics. Here's more of what macron had to say.
EMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT, FRANCE (through translator): Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. I know there are old demons which coming back to surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death. History sometimes threatens to take a sinister course once again.
ACOSTA: Later on the day, the President paid a visit to a U.S. military cemetery to remember American soldiers who died in World War One. The President made the trip despite the heavy rain in Paris, contrast that with the decision he made one day earlier when he scrapped a visit to a cemetery to remember U.S. soldiers. That is a decision that was blasted on Twitter by the grandson of Winston Churchill who sent out a tweet saying, soldiers who died in World War I, they died with their face for the foe and that pathetic inadequate Trump couldn't everybody defy the weather to pay his respects to the fallen. Jim Acosta, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Let's bring in CNN U.S. National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd for more on this. Sam, the criticism of Trump for not going to the military cemetery on Saturday, fair or unfair?
SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It's completely fair, Cyril. I visited close to 20 countries with President Trump -- or with President Obama, excuse me, and I can tell you, that on every trip, whether domestic or foreign, to quote Ben Rhodes, there is always a plan-b whether it's weather delay or cancellation. The chief of staff's office typically flags those things in advance so if one event can't take place, like a cemetery visit, you have an alternative way for the President to spend his time other than sitting in his hotel room and in a sense watching television, that time can be spent interacting with counterparts, doing a public event, doing a media interview so that there isn't just empty time on the president's schedule.
VANIER: Well, in fairness, Donald Trump said that he made phone calls that were important to the country, to the U.S. Now, you mentioned Ben Rhodes so I want to put up his tweet because he kind of started and gave voice to this vain of criticism where he said I helped plan all of President Obama's trips for eight-year, there's always a rain option, always. So just to remind our viewers, Donald Trump did not go to an important place of pilgrimage really for U.S. marines where there are more than 2,000 tombs of soldiers who died in World War I because there was rain. And that is what the White House is alleging. I want to put up part of their statement now because they say they were prevented from going there by bad weather.
This is what Sara Sanders released. Yesterday, because of near zero visibility, Marine One was unable to fly as had been planned. A car ride of 2 1/2 hours each way would have required closures to substantial portions of the Paris roadways for the President's motorcade on short notice. And she goes on to add that President Trump it did not want to cause that kind of unexpected disruption to the city. Sam, that's to the layman for somebody like me who doesn't know about presidential travel, that seems like a possibility.
VINOGRAD: Let me make two points. The first is, President's car which is called The Beast can drive in the rain so let's be clear, he could have gotten there. And this whole notion this was an unexpected incident just doesn't hold water, Cyril. The Press Secretary saying that there would have been unexpected closures completely discounts the fact that there is always knowledge of what a weather event could do to a plan and you plan around it. You make other arrangements if you think there is a chance the helicopter can't fly. And if he wasn't able to go to the cemetery, OK, maybe he made calls from the hotel room, why wasn't he interacting with the 70-plus foreign dignitaries that were on the ground in France and engaging directly on actual security issues. None of which changes the fact he didn't have alternative plans in place and didn't really engage directly with any counterparts during that time.
[01:05:46] VANIER: I also want to get to the substance of Sunday and the actual ceremonies. Not for the first time, the French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a critique of Trumpism, and this time on home turf and everybody remembers this line where he says that nationalism is actually a betrayal of patriotism. Do you think it is fair to sort of level this criticism at Donald Trump, to lay that on his doorstep? The main argument was the kind of foreign policy advocated by Donald Trump is the first step towards the rivalries that eventually gave way to war in Europe.
VINOGRAD: Well, first off, (INAUDIBLE) Macron for really pointing out that nationalism was a threat in the past and is a threat today. We know one of the root causes of World War I was nationalism. We know that President Trump has personally called himself a nationalist, and recently he even said that the leader that he feels closest to is his Italian counterpart who is also a nationalist. He has close relationships with nationalist movements in Hungary, Poland and elsewhere. So the rebuke from Macron nationalism itself, is definitely spot on. And directing it at President Trump, frankly, makes sense. And the President as we saw in his speech at the cemetery today, at this commemoration today, did not denounce nationalism. He did not denounce the destabilization that nationalism can cause. He stayed silent on that.
VANIER: But I suppose what I am saying is, that on an intellectual level, yes of course, I understand the critique and it makes sense. I mean, I read the history books. But is it four on a practical level to really put Donald Trump in that category and say, hey, you know, you are at the beginning of a road that leads to conflict?
VINOGRAD: We know what happened in the past when people did not speak out against nationalism or fascism or other dangerous movements. We know that millions of people have died when that has happened and we know that not confronting nationalism in the United States which is all too present right now has led already to violence. So it is definitely a fair criticism. I am also conscious of the fact that Macron's perhaps primary opposition in France right now is a nationalist party led by Marine Le Pen. So in advance of more political confrontations with her ahead of the European parliamentary elections, I wonder if part of his criticism was also geared towards garnering some domestic support politically as well.
VANIER: All right, CNN's Sam Vinograd, always a pleasure to speak to you. Thank you, Sam.
ALLEN: As the French President denounces nationalism, opposition groups in Poland are asking whether their government is too open to anti-Semitism and the far right. That question came in to focus during the independence day march on Sunday. Poland celebrated 100 years of independence from the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires. 200,000 people marched in Warsaw, including neo-fascist activists. The march ended up as a joints event with the far right march that had been planned for the same day.
VANIER: And here in the U.S., the death toll sadly continues to rises in the state of California. High wind feeds massive wildfires burning at both end of the state. At least 31 people have now died, 29 of the deaths were from Northern California's ferocious Campfire, that's the name tying it for the deadliest blaze in California's history.
ALLEN: The Northern California town of Paradise was nearly leveled by the campfire. The fire erupted Thursday with little warning forcing people to flee as flames engulfed areas around them. Many people had to abandon their cars and run. Many people are still unaccounted for. Our Nick Valencia has the latest from what's left of Paradise.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that the "Welcome to Paradise" sign? Oh, it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's our Paradise sign.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: By the time, most people in Paradise realized how quickly the fire was spreading, they were already in trouble. This man couldn't believe his eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The (BEEP) town is on fire.
MAYOR JODY JONES, PARADISE, CALIFORNIA: This is nothing like what we have had before. But here, you're looking at 90 percent of the homes are gone in every single neighborhood.
[01:10:04] VALENCIA: Jody Jones is the Paradise mayor. She says the speed and ferocity of the fire only gave the town five minutes to evacuate. The mass exodus caused gridlock on the main road out of town. There was such panic some drivers abandoned their cars as they tried to flee on foot.
JONES: We did have an evacuation plan in place, we did implement it, it worked the way it was supposed to work. We just never anticipated having to evacuate all zones all at the same time.
VALENCIA: An automatic emergency alert was sent out to landlines and cell phones of registered residents. But not everyone got a notification. Cole Wyatt and his family, they live here and Cole tells me he was asleep at the time when the fire started. Had it not been for a phone call from his brother, he says he might not have gotten out before it was too late.
COLE WYATT, RESIDENT, PARADISE, CALIFORNIA: He didn't even think it was bad enough to call, but something in his gut said I need to you know, make sure my family knows and thank God he did.
VALENCIA: Cole wasn't registered to receive the alerts.
WYATT: I just immediately started thinking about my daughter.
VALENCIA: In the chaos, Cole says it took him two hours to find out his eight-year-old daughter had already been picked up from school by a family member. When they finally did evacuate, stuck in the gridlock, he ran out of gas. A stranger stopped and gave him enough to get out of town.
I mean has it -- has hit you yet?
WYATT: No, no, I'm still in shock. I'm still waiting to wake up from this terrible dream. My daughter, she said, I know we hated our home and we wanted to move out but it was our home and I'm sad that it's gone.
VALENCIA: Outside of paradise, we meet James and Ruby Harris. Their car still covered in ash from the fire. They show us where it was damaged when an R.V. crashed into them during the evacuation trying to move it out of the way. The scene they describe is absolute mayhem.
RUBY HARRIS, RESIDENT, PARADISE, CALIFORNIA: -- and my husband had to get our son out of the car and into the wheelchair and you know, buckle him in and you know, keep my other child to success from taking off.
VALENCIA: And this is while flames are surrounding you.
HARRIS: Exactly. And everybody is running past us.
VALENCIA: Though they were both able to get out, both the Harrises and Wyatts have nothing left to return to.
WYATT: The whole town was wiped off the face of the earth in a matter of eight hours.
VALENCIA: The most destructive fire in California history has changed their town forever. Nick Valencia, CNN Paradise, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: It's unreal what these people have been through and what they've lost. Let's get the latest on the fire now. California Fire's Public Information Officer Erica Bain is on the phone with us. She's from Chico California. That's in the northern part of the state. And what is the situation with the campfire? How big, how dangerous is the fire now Erica? ERICA BAIN, PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER, CALIFORNIA FIRE (via telephone):
Good evening, Natalie. Yes, firefighters had a real, real tough time fighting the fire today. The wind situation really were hindering our efforts. They have been working really hard since this area has been more than 200 days since the last rain so that coupled with the wind means that some spot fires become a possibility so crews are staying extra vigilant especially during these last hours going into the morning because there's a red flag warning so they've been working really, really hard.
ALLEN: Are there other towns like Paradise that could be in harm's way?
BAIN: Not yet. They're doing a really good job keeping a tight line on the fire they call it. They're trying to keep the perimeter so it keeps under control, so not yet.
ALLEN: All right, I want to ask you, Erica, about those that are missing. One report I read out of San Francisco says there were 200 people may still be unaccounted for from this fire. Does that number mirror what you're working with?
BAIN: Correct. Yes, that number mirrors. I believe the Sheriff's Office was reporting a little over 200 were unaccounted for but that the Sheriff's Office is working also diligently to work with these people. They're giving them plenty of phone numbers to call so that if one doesn't work, they have another one due to down power lines or whatever they have going on at that time. They have a Web site that they have to go to and they're working an extra step too in the coming days to make sure that everyone's getting accounted for.
ALLEN: Right, and that people are safe. Just that everyone's scattered about this disaster.
BAIN: Correct. Yes, there's over 52,000 evacuees and there's probably a little over -- the last number I heard was 1,300 that are still sheltered. So that leaves a lot of people unaccounted for that just tried to get out as soon as they could wherever they could.
ALLEN: Right, right. And leaving their cell phones behind, whatever --
BAIN: Exactly, yes.
[01:14:49] ALLEN: Because it's absolutely herring video -- harrowing video that people shot as they fled. And how are the firefighters doing there that are working and do you have enough support and rotations that they can stay safe?
BAIN: I will say, we have 45 -- more than 4,500 total personnel working the fire and more than 500 engines are out there working to make sure that we are trying to hold this fire together, so we don't let it get too much bigger.
I will tell you what helps the firefighters, is seeing the community band together like they have. I mean, you, we have seen so much devastation they have and the community has, but seeing them all come together and just be proud of where they came from, and that they are working to get back to what they're calling a new normal has given the firefighters something to even fight more for.
ALLEN: Yes, and we are seeing pictures of devastation. That was my next question about the governor saying this is the new normal. So that's what they're feeling as what you --
(CROSSTALK)
BAIN: Yes, she's saying that's the new normal. Yes, exactly, because they have to work to find out how they're going to move forward, and they will. And you see them banding together to know that they will come together and make it work.
ALLEN: Well, thank you so much for giving us your time, Erica. We know you're very busy. Erica Bain with the California firefighters in Chico.
BAIN: Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome.
ALLEN: Thanks, Erica, and good night.
VANIER: Let's find out what the -- yes, I mean, that's tragic and part of this, and containing these blazes in the short run here is what the weather is going to be like over the next few days. Let's find out from meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who joins us now. Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Cyril, Natalie, you know, I often say the weather always has the upper hand. The Mother Nature always has the upper hand when it comes to wildfires and it's absolutely the case, this go-around, as well.
And as you heard there, Erica, there on the phone, kind of mentioning the drought situation. Parts of Northern California, 200 days without rainfall just looked into this at the Southern California and around Los Angeles County.
The last time it rained for more than two days in a row was back in May. And guess what it's only the rain three times going back to the month of May. So, really a dry spell across this region, of course, California and wildfires match made in heaven when you take a look at the geography, the meteorology, and, of course, the weather pattern set up this time of year with Santa Ana winds that are come in and really pick up the winds.
We have the downsloping winds from the Santa Ana Mountains, they warm by compression. I often use the analogy of taking your bicycle pump and pumping your bike and seeing that the pump began to warm up, and that's precisely what's happening on a broader scale here. And the winds really like to funnel right down the canyons, the valleys, and pick up quite a bit of speed.
And unfortunately, those areas could see another day of a 100-plus kilometer per hour winds right along the canyons. Of course, wildfires will be spreading very quickly across this region as a result.
And unfortunately, we do have a critical and extreme risk now in place across Southern California. To the north, notice through the areas of concern there into the critical risk so, at least, we've dropped the level of concern just one knots there to the north. But still looking at humidity's only to around three and four percent across portions of this region.
And, in fact, when you take a look at the hectares consumed in the amount of land across the state of California, pretty gradual increase last several years. And you notice, in 2018, we've now topped what happened in 2015 which was one of the most destructive years on record.
And the forecast looks as such guys with temps generally into the 20s. No probability for rainfall the next couple of days. The next bet for rainfall looks to be right around Thanksgiving which is about 10 days away across part of the United States.
ALLEN: Yes, that's a long time.
JAVAHERI: It was a long time.
ALLEN: All right. Pedram, thank you.
JAVAHERI: Yes.
ALLEN: Well, in a series of tweets over the weekend, President Trump blamed to the California wildfires on mismanagement and threatened to cut Federal aid. He tweeted this, "With proper forest management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get smart."
VANIER: And California's governor responded to Presidents' Trump tweet -- President Trump's tweets, saying, "Forest management is only one part of the overall cause.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA: Managing all the forest in everywhere we can does not stop climate change. And those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we're now witnessing, and we'll continue to witness in the coming years. So, the chickens are coming home to root, this is real here.
And it's not a question of pointing this way or that way, but pulling together in these tragic circumstances, and thinking wisely and collaboratively. And that's the spirit in which I'm approaching all that we need to do in response to this fires.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Governor Jerry Brown, there. He's the one who coined the term the new normal which is an abnormal for Californian. Well, we're going to turn to other news in just a moment. That's new violence erupting in Gaza ahead the toll taken during an Israeli operation and the response from Hamas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:22:05] KATE RILEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN "WORLD SPORT" Headlines. We start in the English Premier League at the Manchester derby, where Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho faced off for the 17th time in their careers.
And on Sunday, Manchester City were just too good for United much of the match United were chasing city players around unable to even touch the ball, David Silva, opened the scoring early on.
Sergio Aguero, and substitute Ilkay Gundogan would add to the lead, a 3-1 the final score. Congratulations are in the order in the Czech Republic, they'd be forgiven if they getting tired of it.
The women's tennis team clinched their sixth fed cup in the past state years. Defeating the USA even though their two top players, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova were sidelined through injury.
And finally, Lee Westwood is one of the most established players on the European golf tour, but until this weekend, he haven't won any of their event in 4 1/2 years. So you can imagine the emotion when he charged through the field on the final day of the Nedbank challenge at Sun City of South Africa.
Ripping it up with a round of 64 to win it by three strokes. Turns out Westwood had not forgotten how to win, and he certainly, hasn't forgotten how to celebrate his caddy and girlfriend, Helen Storey, was there to help out.
And that's a look at "WORLD SPORTS" Headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
VANIER: Seven Palestinians and one Israeli soldier are dead in a fresh wave of fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
ALLEN: Among the dead, a senior military leader for Hamas. There have been a brief period of restrained over the past two weeks following months of border violence. For more on how this violence broke out, here is CNN's Oren Lieberman in Jerusalem.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a sudden spike in violence between Israeli forces and Gaza militants, an Israeli soldier and Hamas military commander were killed Sunday evening during Israeli Special Forces operation inside Gaza.
Israeli military said, its officer had been shot and killed during what it described simply as operational activity in Gaza. Seven Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the exchange.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, among them, 37-year- old Nour Baraka, a leader of the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
Reports of the deaths were followed by sirens in Israel warning of incoming rocket fire on the Gaza periphery. Israeli military said the Iron Dome aerial defense system had intercepted, at least, two rockets.
So, what happened here? According to a statement issued by the Qassam Brigades, Israeli Special Forces entered Southern Gaza in a civilian car and assassinated Baraka, the Qassam, brigade's leader. When the Israelis were discovered and engaged by Qassam militants, the statement said Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes to provide cover while the Special Forces escape.
Israel provides no further information about the Special Forces activity. Only saying that it had concluded. The sharp escalation comes just days after Qatar, seen as close to Hamas sent $15 million into Gaza to relieve the humanitarian crisis and to reduce tensions there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who was criticized for allowing that transfer of money defended the initiative. Saying, it was the right decision and that he was looking into every direction to restore calm to the Gaza periphery, and to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Netanyahu also said it was impossible to reach a long-term arrangement with Hamas since they vowed to destroy Israel. Netanyahu who was in Paris had ended his trip early because of the escalation.
Meanwhile, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two men Palestinian factions in Gaza are on high alert. Oren Lieberman, CNN, Jerusalem.
[01:25:45] ALLEN: And coming up here, two presidents, two very different approaches to diplomacy.
VANIER: And yet, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron say they've got a good thing going. France's leader explains why that's important after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM from Atlanta. Hello again, I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER: And I'm Cyril Vanier, let's look at your "HEADLINES". The death toll has now risen to 31 in the massive wildfires burning at both ends of California. Most of the deaths are in Paradise California, that's -- that town has been largely wiped away by the devastating fire known as the Camp Fire.
Firefighters are struggling against fierce winds to put out that blaze in the northern part of the state and the two large fires in the southern part of the state, as well.
ALLEN: Seven Palestinians and an Israeli Special Forces soldier were killed in a sharp escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Hamas said a senior leader of its military wing was among the dead.
[01:29:57] The violence disrupted a short period of relative calm at the Israel-Gaza border. VANIER: And French President Emmanuel Macron took aim at Donald
Trump's America First agenda on Sunday. The comment came during the World War I armistice centennial ceremony in Paris which the U.S. President attended.
With Mr. Trump looking on Mr. Macron declared that nationalism is the opposite of patriotism.
ALLEN: And Mr. Macron also said he doesn't do Twitter diplomacy, pretty much the exact opposite of the U.S. President who is constantly on Twitter and he even criticized -- Mr. Trump criticized Mr. Macron with a tweet just after landing in Paris Friday.
VANIER: Yes. In fact, he wrote this, "President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China, and Russia. Very insulting."
Now, Mr. Macron says he would rather talk face-to-face, not through tweets. He described his relationship with President Trump in an exclusive interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: We had a very good discussion in THIS and it confirmed in front of the press that he was -- he was ok. I think --
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Does that mean that his tweet was a mistake?
MACRON: I don't know. I'm not the one to comment on his tweets. I always prefer having direct discussion or answering questions at making my diplomacies through tweets.
But I think that we had a very clear discussion. He is in favor of a better burden-sharing within NATO. I agree with that. And I think that in order to have a better burden sharing, all of us do need more Europe.
And I think the big mistake, to be very direct with you -- what I don't want to see is European countries increasing the budget in defense in order to buy Americans and other arms or materials coming from your industry.
I think if we increase our budget, we have to build our autonomy. And become a (INAUDIBLE) sovereign for it. I mean it's part of our credibility vis-a-vis all people and vis-a-vis the rest of the world.
And I think it's true. I think your President is right regarding that. And I think I am right to precisely promote this idea. What I do believe is that if at this stage Europe has to become more consistent and more sovereign, more united in democratic power.
And today it's not yet the case. We built something very original during the past seven decades. But there is a new step forward to be organize and this is the case today. ZAKARIA: Let me ask you about your relationship with Donald Trump.
He says now that he has made up with you or after the tweet -- he says that you lots in common. And I'm wondering what that is because he calls himself a nationalist. He draws on these populist forces.
And you describe yourself often as one of the great opponents of these forces of nationalism and populism. So what do you think you have in common?
MACRON: Probably the fact that both of us are outsider of the classical politicians, I would say. And he arrived from the business side. He was not a favorite. And it was an unexpected candidate. And I was pretty much in the same situation in France.
Probably because we are very much in line in the fight against terrorism. And we work very closely together following this line.
We know where we disagree and we are very straightforward in that -- on climate, on trade, on multilateralism. But we work very well together because we are very regular on direct discussions.
But obviously, you are right. I would say I am a patriot. I do believe in the fact that people -- our people are very important and having French people is different from German people. I am not a believer in a sort of globalism without any different issue. I think it doesn't -- it's very inconsistent and it's extremely -- it makes our people very nervous.
But I am not a nationalist, which is very different for me, from being a patriot. I do defend my people. I do defend my country. I do believe that we have a strong identity. But I'm a strong believer in cooperation between the different people. And I'm a strong believer of the fact that this cooperation is good for everybody.
Where the nationalists are sometimes much more based on the unilateral approach, and the law of the strongest, which is not my case. That's probably our difference.
[01:35:03] ZAKARIA: Do you think it matters to have a personal relationship with Donald Trump? Because of all foreign leaders, he certainly seems to warm toward you.
And yet you tried very hard to keep him in the Paris climate deal. He said no. You tried very hard, I remember talking to you in Washington to get him to stay with the Iran deal. He said no.
I know from my reporting that you tried to get him to have a united front on trade with the Europeans, with the Canadians with the Japanese and to go to China with that. And he refused.
So it doesn't seem that personal dynamics matter that much with Donald Trump.
MACRON: I think it does matter. And you are right about the outcome on the different issues and I was pretty lucid about Iran. I told you before the decision and what direction my personal feeling. Because there is a very clear driver for your president, is that when
he committed to do something vis-a-vis your people and his voters, he delivers following this line. I do pretty much the same. I like to deliver in line with my commitments during the campaign.
So on all the different issues you mentioned it's a deed and he's doing exactly what he committed to do during his campaign. And I do respect that and I'm fine with that.
But I think this personal relation and our discussions can sometimes highlight some issues that's fake (ph). And I think it is very important because it allows us to have a better follow-up.
For instance, on Iran, he decided to leave the JCPOA. But finally, he did respect the fact that we decided to remain. And because of this personal relation and our discussions, he accepted the fact that we will remain in the JCPOA.
We have a different approach. And we coordinate each other which for me is the best way to avoid a big crisis in the region and to avoid increasing the tensions. So I think it's very useful.
On climate change we still have very regular discussions. At a point of time, believe me, the U.S. will join again -- I mean, the global community on that. For sure because your people want it. Because your business leaders want it. Your civil society wants it. So it's very important.
So I think my responsibility is to try to optimize the situation under certain constraints and my responsibility is to bear in mind that our bilateral relation is deeply rooted in the common past and has to be preserved beyond ourselves.
ZAKARIA: Will Europe come up with an alternative to the dollar as part of the response to the -- with the United States withdrawing from the Iran deal?
MACRON: I think today Europe is not a clear alternative to the dollar. Why? Because de facto there is an international (INAUDIBLE) reality of the dollar due to its strength. And until now, we fail to make the euro as strong as the dollar. We made it -- we made a great job during the past years. But it's not yet sufficient.
We are too much dependent -- our corporates are too much dependent which is an issue. This is an issue of sovereignty for me. So that is why I want us to work very closely with our financial institutions at the European level and with all the partners in order to build a capacity to be less dependent from the dollar.
It doesn't mean to be opponent, but I think for the stability of the global order you need a strong currency like the dollar, but you need some alternatives. Euro has to be one of these alternatives which means we have to better ring fence our financial structures and the financing of our players at the Eurozone level.
And de facto the yuan is becoming sort of an alternative, not at a global level, but for a certain region.
ZAKARIA: Were you disappointed that President Trump chose not to go to the cemetery and memorial at Aisne-Marne? I know it was his decision but this is a place that French and American soldiers died together fighting for freedom and is very important in the history of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Were you disappointed?
MACRON: No, I think it was just because of the weather and for security reasons. So I do respect that. I'm not part of the security team of President Trump. He did want to go there. And we had a discussion, we had a very pleasant and friendly lunch and he wanted to go there. But unhappily he was not in a situation to go there because the helicopter was blocked in Paris due to the weather.
[01:39:59] But anyway, I appreciate that he had the intention to go to Bois Belleau. And if you remember together at the White House garden precisely we put an oak coming from Bois Belleau together as a symbol of this alliance. So I am sure that next time it will be in a situation to go there.
But we still have a tree in a certain way representing this alliance and the presence of your Marines. These young American people came to France, they were 18, 19, 20, and they died there in a place they didn't know; unknown of -- from the families. I have the -- in my office normally I have the Bastille key that Lafayette brought to Washington. I mean, it's so strong that we are from our history and for the future altogether.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: There is even more of that interview to come. We'll bring you the rest of it -- our exclusive with Fareed Zakaria and president Macron, a few hours from now, 10:00 a.m. in London, 6:00 p.m. in Hong Kong.
VANIER: When we come back on CNN NEWSROOM, China's Alibaba Group racks up big numbers on the world's biggest online shopping day, breaking their own record from last year. We'll have a live report from Hong Kong, stay with us for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VANIER: After the 100-year commemoration of the end of World War I we want to show you how families who were affected are remembering and dealing with the aftermath of the war. Descendants are still discovering details about how their relatives fought and died.
ALLEN: And as Nick Glass reports, historians and film makers are bringing old black and white images to life with color.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[01:44:56] NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The trains, of course, are so much faster now. Just whittle (ph) through the station at Letchworth some 40 miles north of London.
The station building itself hasn't changed that much in a century or so. The big difference on that summer's day way back in August 1914 was the main platform was crowded with men in uniform going off to war.
The way we remember the Great War has subtly changed. The images have been tinted and we've gone to see the war in color for the first time.
DAN HILL, MILITARY HISTORIAN: This is Private Walter Flanders and Private Bill Johnson. They had a tragically short war in that these two chaps were both killed by the same shell buried alive.
GLASS: Dan Hill is trying to identify all the men on the platform to find out what happened to them.
HILL: This is Corporal Arthur Ernest Boardman. He's the very first man to fall.
GLASS: So far Hill has identified 11 of the men in the photo, eight of them never came home. Their names are on the War Memorial just 50 yards from the railway station. Corporal Boardman, Private Flanders and Johnson among a long list of other casualties.
Just colorizing old black and white stills obviously makes the story more accessible to a younger generation. Doing the same for moving footage has been infinitely more dramatic.
PETER JACKSON, DIRECTOR: It just brings it to life. And I'm -- I mean as someone who's had a long-term interest in the First World War this last two or three years that we've been restoring the footages and it's been incredibly excited.
I know I'm stunned. You see the faces. You see the people. You see the humanity.
GLASS: Peter Jackson's documentary "They Shall Not Grow Old" gives us a rare insight in what it's like to fight in the trenches on the western front -- both electrifying, funny and sobering. A film about camaraderie and animal savagery -- we learn what it was like to be an ordinary soldier.
This is the Welsh grandfather Peter Jackson never met. Sergeant William Jackson was machine gunned at the Battle of the Somme in France in 1916. He was the lucky one. He survived.
Private Ted Ambrose didn't. He was 19 when he died. His suitcase was returned from the Somme to his mother in England. She could hardly bear to open it and it's quickly consigned to her attic for most of the 20th century.
Ted's pipe and tobacco, his cigarettes, including army issue red (INAUDIBLE), a locket with pictures of himself and his sweetheart, and the service medals he never lived to receive. The artifacts amount to a rare discovery, a poignant time capsule. We began this centenary of the Great War in 2014 with the moat at the Tower of London filled with a sea of ceramic poppies. Some of them have now migrated across the Thames to the Imperial War Museum, a cascade, a weeping window spilling down the building.
Britain's poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy has written a new poem to mark the centenary of the armistice. "The Great War", she writes, "is the wound in time. Will we ever remember it with quite so much intensity again?"
Nick Glass, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:48:22] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAVAHERI: Good Monday to you. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with CNN Weather Watch.
And we're about five weeks officially away from the start of winter across the northern hemisphere. But wintery weather well in force there across the northern and midwestern portions of the states and also down toward areas of south central United States seeing some heavy snow fall.
And notice as you transition off towards the east the front is pushing offers towards the east and with it some cold air comes in across the Gulf Coast states of the southern United States.
And again back towards the west, some wintery weather going to slow down not only some travel around this week and potentially some schools being disrupted as a result as well.
Notice this, tremendous rainfall over the next several days from Atlanta points to the east and also to the north. Atlanta will take an 8 degree high temp well below the average of this time of year around 17 to 18 degrees while Dallas sits at 7.
Back towards the west though it is all about the warmer weather. Of course, the fire weather concern across that region remains very high. And of course the cooler air filters in towards the eastern United States.
Look at this. Highs in places like New York City, dropping down into the low single digits even snowy showers introduced Thursday into New York City and then warms up a little going in towards Friday afternoon.
Watching what's happening in to the Caribbean here -- Nassau around 29 degrees with partly cloudy skies also watching an area of tropical interest 70 percent chance it will form over the next week or so headed towards the Turks and Caicos.
VANIER: Let's talk big bucks and business for a second. Online retail giant, the Alibaba Group, set a new sales record on China's biggest shopping day. ALLEN: Alibaba says it rang in about, oh, $30.8 billion in sales on
November 11th. It's your so-called singles day. And it's well above last year's record of $24 billion. Singles day usually racks up larger sales than big shopping days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S. combined.
CNN's Sherisse Pham has been watching the numbers for us. She's live in Hong King. We're intrigued with singles' day -- Sherisse, and we're also intrigued with even trying to picture, Cyril and me, $30 billion worth of stuff.
SHERISSE PHAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. Absolutely. And you know what, the funny thing is that a lot of the stuff that was moved is makeup. So we're talking like a lot of lipstick. Plus electronic goods -- Dyson and Apple were big sellers.
But look, Alibaba kicked off this event with a four-hour long gala featuring circus acts and Mariah Carey. It is a huge day for Alibaba to rack up almost $31 billion in 24 hours.
This is also a day where they like to try out some of their new business models. This year was no different. They had big sales in grocery store, a brick and mortar grocery store that they have. So a little bit like Amazon with Whole Foods, with Alibaba in China, it's called Homa (ph). And you have to have an AliPay account to shop there.
So really trying to capture that online shopper and get them in to offline stores. They also pushed single day sales to Southeast Asia, through their e-commerce platform, Lazada. So lots of big numbers, big huge day for Alibaba, but -- because there is always a but, there was a slowdown in growth.
Last year Alibaba singles day growth 40 percent. This year, Natalie -- coming in at just 27 percent. So little bit of a good news, a little bit of a bad news for them too.
ALLEN: Right, because the Chinese economy, where is it in relation to what we have just seen here with Alibaba sales?
PHAM: Yes, the Chinese economy is definitely contributing to this a little bit. The Chinese economy is slowing down a little bit. You're going to have a compounded effect, too, with a weaker renminbi, a weaker Chinese yuan which drives up the prices of all those international goods that people are buying on singles day.
And of course, we cannot ignore the big elephant in the room which is the ongoing U.S.-China trade war. So shoppers not necessarily buying the goods on the tariff list. Not necessarily buying diesel and soy beans but they are buying things like coffee and liquor and those were on the tariff list and you can bet that they were more expensive -- Natalie.
[01:54:54] ALLEN: Right. Yes, they possibly were. And the makeup thing, I don't get that. Really. That's all the things you could buy, that's -- that's a lot of makeup. And I wear makeup, but my goodness.
Well, they're also -- there, like maybe needs to be a new word for shopping because this kind of transcends like normal shopping, doesn't it? We'll have to think about that.
PHAM: Indeed.
ALLEN: All right.
PHAM: Bonanza -- shopping bonanza.
ALLEN: There you go.
PHAM: Let's do that.
ALLEN: There you go. We got it. We are there. Al right. Shopping bonanza.
All right. Sherisse Pham --- thanks so much. We appreciate it -- fun story.
PHAM: Thank you.
NAPOLITANO: Makeup, liquor, and all that stuff. That's what people want. Yes.
VANIER: You had to -- you need to wait for sales day for the whole --
ALLEN: I don't know. I guess so.
VANIER: What do I know?
ALLEN: Thanks so much for watching CNN NEWSROOM. We're out of here for now. I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier. The news continues on CNN with George Howell next, right after this. You are in great hands. Have a fantastic day.
ALLEN: See you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:08] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: As the world remembers --
