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Dozens Killed After Two Trains Collide in Egypt; Massive Operation Underway to Free Stuck Ship; Biden: Not Seeking Confrontation with China; China Sanctions U.K. Individuals and Entities; EU Leaders' Summit Descends Into Dispute Over Vaccines. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired March 26, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:17]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Lynda Kinkade, filling in for my colleague Becky Anderson.

We are tracking two stories out of Egypt for you this hour. We start with breaking news out of Egypt, where two trains have collided. The Ministry of

Health tells CNN at least 32 people have been killed, dozens more injured.

Now, this happened in Egypt's Sohag governorate region earlier on Friday. Now, the railway authority says the accident was caused by someone pulling

an emergency brake. Now, Egypt's poor railway system is notorious for collisions, as well as other accidents.

Our Ben Wedeman is following the developments from Cairo and joins us now.

Certainly, horrific pictures we're seeing that are coming into us, Ben. Just bring us up to speed with what we know.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this is the train, Lynda, that was leaded from Luxor to Alexandria, really one of the

busiest train lines here in Egypt and of course, it's Friday, the weekend so we can fairly well assume that that train was full.

At 11:42 local time, that's about five hours and 19 minutes ago, somebody, according to the Egyptian government, pulled the emergency brake and caused

this train to stop and another train slammed it into it from behind, from the pictures we've seen several of the train wagons passenger train wagons

were thrown off the tracks and there are lots of injuries. Now, the latest is at least 32 dead. We just heard that at least 91 injured as well.

Now the prime minister and the president of Egypt have both said that whoever was responsible will be punished. Obviously. And -- but yes, as you

mentioned, Egypt has the Egyptian rail system has a long history of accidents. Some of them horrific, even worse than this one, in fact, but

yes, this obviously adds to the headaches of -- and heartbreak of this country. It's already dealing with this problem in the Suez Canal -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Yeah, it certainly is. Ben, I would like you to stick around, first, if you can, to discuss that story in just a moment. Thanks, Ben

Wedeman there.

That is -- the other big story that we are following out of Egypt, the blockage, of course, in the Suez Canal. Now, the owner of the giant

container ship blocking the canal says it might be free and floating again this weekend. Now, that's rather an optimistic outlook since one salvage

company says the Ever Given is stuck rock solid. It's been stuck since Tuesday bringing one of the busiest waterways to a stretching halt.

Now, it's no small task dislodging this massive vessel. More than 15,000 cubic meters of sand have to be removed to get it out. Giant machines have

been working around the clock to move the sand and the mud.

And take a look at this photo that we've got dozens of ships in the canal when the Ever Given got stuck and they are just waiting.

Other ships are taking other routes which adds time and, of course, money to every other shipment. We are covering this story from every other angle.

John Defterios is following the story for us from Abu Dhabi and our Ben Wedeman, of course, is joining us from Cairo.

John, I want to ask about the backlog because there are hundreds of ships, obviously, waiting to get through and the desire to make this happen

quickly. Just bring us up to speed with what the canal authority is saying with progress.

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, they are trying to turn the tide after a slow start in the first two days after this

operation. The canal authority is giving guidance it has target to reach 20,000 cubic meters of sand and mud to drudge out in a short period of time

and they are saying they are 87 percent there. I find it right but they are cautious, suggesting no timeline at this stage of the game.

And you talked about the hundreds of ships. In fact, the list is growing longer, Lynda. The latest update we have is from 10:00 a.m. this morning.

It crossed well over 200 to 239, and the data collection group and analysis group suggesting we're starting to see another 100 arrive by the end of

business on Sunday if this is not solved.

You talk about ships rerouting. We see this in the early stages right now. We have a count of container and energy vessels, 11 going eastbound and

westbound even if it's going to take them longer to go around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa into Europe and the United States.

[10:05:11]

They're going to be cutting their losses by taking action right now.

And what is global commerce? What does this artery actually mean? We try to put this in real numbers to give a sense of the value of the goods that are

passing through.

According to Lloyd's List, that's $10 billion a day going through the Suez Canal alone. If you break that down per hour, the value of the goods

passing through, $400 million per hour. So this would have an incredible impact in terms of commerce.

People keep on asking me or texting me around the world, and saying, what's the influence on growth? Nothing dramatic yet because we're four days into

it. If it spills into a second and third week, it's a completely different game, and that's what the Suez Canal authority is trying to avoid by

stepping up the dredging there.

KINKADE: Yeah, certainly, incredible figures you're throwing out as 400 -- I think you said $10 billion.

In terms of what we're seeing, I want to go to Ben Wedeman for a big more on the ramifications of all of this, because as we've discussed, this

shipping route is responsible for 10 to 12 percent of global trade. Just bring us up to speed with what is happening there in terms of the

ramifications we're going to see if this drags on not just for days but potentially weeks.

WEDEMAN: Well, if we're talking about Egypt, they get about $5.6 billion a year, they did last year at least in revenues from the Suez Canal. It's a

very important sort of prestige project for the Egyptians, and it really puts Egypt on the map in terms of global trade and therefore, there is a

lot of stake, a lot of stake if you also take into account the fact that with the shrinking polar icecap, there are new routes that are being looked

at as a way to avoid going through the Suez Canal altogether.

Also keeping in mind, the Egyptians spent a lot of money in the last few years trying to upgrade and expand the Suez Canal. But -- and this is quite

a task because we're seeing that ships are getting bigger and bigger. The Ever Given, of course, is one largest container ships on Earth.

Since 1956 the width of the Suez Canal has been doubled but even that isn't enough to avoid this kind of very expensive and frankly, embarrassing

problem -- Lynda.

KINKADE: Certainly it's embarrassing, Ben Wedeman.

I want to go back to John Defterios because -- as far as we understand, high winds played a role in causing this incident. Does Mother Nature have

a potential role in the effort to free it?

DEFTERIOS: That's what the shipping industry is hoping for, Linda. But let's cover off the sing the source of the challenge for the Ever Given.

Was it the veracity of stand storm that caused the problem? There is a huge debate inside the community that I'm listening to, saying that it seems

almost impossible not to have another feature involved, a faulty device or something, worth an engine challenge, but that's left to the community.

It's not been determined there is still an investigation taking place.

Now, regards to Mother Nature's role this weekend, I've had two shipping executives tell me in the last 24 hours, look at the tide reports. I said

okay, what are you talking about? It said, it's high tide, a seasonal high tide on Sunday, the 28th in the Suez Canal. I'm not going to say this is

going to be the problem solver. It can be the assistance for all that dredging that comes through. It will be the best chance for them to refloat

the vessel, according to the sources I'm speaking to.

But we're getting some very mixed signals and you mentioned this in the lead in. Right now, we have a Japanese ship owner suggesting it will be

refloated on Saturday evening. That seems like an accelerated timeline and one of the Dutch salvage companies, the CEO who's been pretty dour, very

straightforward over the last 48 hours, says this is a quote, he says that he thinks that ship is stuck rock solid, that's not going anywhere fast,

even though we see dredging numbers going up.

So, it's pretty impressive what we're seeing in terms of progress right now, Lynda, but it's a split decision whether this will happen over the

weekend or not, and right now, the canal authority is not willing to give any guidance whatsoever. So, it's interesting what we're seeing now is some

ships leaving the area at the same time, not wanting to get stuck in this challenge because of the backlog that we see at both entrances.

KINKADE: Yeah. All right. We will continue to follow the developments on this story. John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.

Ben Wedeman in Cairo. Good to have both of you with us. We'll speak soon. Thank you.

[10:10:00]

Well, U.S. President Joe Biden had a lot to say about China during his first news conference as commander in chief. Mr. Biden telling reporters he

is not seeking confrontation with Beijing but he also paints a broader picture of an on going global battle in his words between the utility of

democracies and autocracies, a battle l he says China cannot win.

Here's more from the U.S. president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH R. BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: China has an overall goal, and I don't criticize them for the goal, but they have an overall

goal to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world. That's not going to

happen on my watch, because the United States is going to continue to grow and expand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, China's ambassador to the U.S. says China is not interested in besting America. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUI TIANKAI, CHINESE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Our goal is to meet the growing aspiration of the Chinese people for better life. Our goal is not

to compete or replace any other country. This is never our national strategy. Hopefully, people can have a better understanding of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, the ambassador also denied claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang that had put China increasingly on the defensive.

He spoke with our Christiane Amanpour on CNN's exclusive reporting on the lost children of Xinjiang, which you saw on the show yesterday.

Now, today, Beijing responded to the latest sanctions from the West by slapping its own penalties on British individuals and entities, accusing

them of maliciously spreading lies.

One of those sanctions says he'll wear it as a badge of honor. Parliament member Ian Duncan Smith will join us later on the show says it's his

government's duty to collect Chinese abuses and genocide of the Uyghurs. Foreign Secretary Dominic Rob says if Beijing really wants to rebut the

claims, it should grant the United Nations full access to the region.

Our international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is following this story from London for us, and joins us now live.

Nic, the U.K. was not alone in imposing sanctions on China for these human rights abuses. The U.S. and the E.U. did the same.

Why then did China retaliate against the U.K.?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the China's push back against all these sanctions against from all these countries but

typically in a scenario like this, China is going to try to pick off countries depending on their national interest and part of the national

interest of the U.K. would be to have some kind of trade relationship with China going forward but that looks more difficult.

So in the same way that Russia, another autocracy, tries to divide the international resolve against it to what NATO tries to divide that, China

will try to divide the criticism against it because it understands fundamentally and you heard President Biden there, part of what he said was

right after his inauguration or right after he'd been announced as very clearly president elect, he had a more than two-hour call with President Xi

of China. That he made clear to the Chinese president he would work with a collision of allies and partners around the world to come up with a common

position to try to make sure that China abides by the global rules based system. Part of that is respecting human rights and particular, the

Uyghurs.

So, China's response does seem to be, to try to pick off nations individual, if it can say to the U.K., we're going to pick on these

particular politicians and these particular entities. That will weaken your resolve rather than sort of have a blanket response to the U.S., to the

E.U., and to the U.K.

So I think part of it is to pick off the U.K. and try to pick off other nations. That's what it will likely do, but also as an internal message in

China as well, of course, to try to portray that this is just -- you know, it's not a concerted effort against China. It is a concerted effort by

allies to try to reform China's behavior. That's what it is.

KINKADE: And just briefly, Nic, if China is adamant it has nothing to hide, why won't it let U.S. investigators in?

ROBERTSON: The U.N. investigators, if they were to get access would undoubtedly want to go to some of those locations that have been identified

by satellite photography, and have been seen by various governments including the British government of an example of what could be going on

inside those buildings as reported by people who have managed, who either have families in the buildings or managed to escape from the region and

certainly got firsthand or second hand accounts of what is going on there.

So China knows that there would be a very clear focus of those U.N. investigators and it would target -- it would target these buildings and

facilities that have huge question marks over their heads of many hundreds of thousands of people corralled up inside in difficult conditions as best

we know undergoing unexplained by the Chinese authorities reeducation.

So the Chinese government would know that that would be the focus and therefore the international community is led to a simple conclusion, that

there is something there the Chinese government doesn't want to see.

KINKADE: All right. Nic Robertson for us in London, good to have you on the story. Thank you.

Well, some western clothing companies have taken a stand against claims of forced labor in Xinjiang's cotton industry and now their words are coming

back to bite them. H&M, Nike, and Burberry are among those facing a huge backlash in the country, in China's state-run media and, of course, on

social media.

Calls are growing for boycotts and H&M has been taken off Chinese e- commerce sites. But China says the forced labor claims are, quote, completely untrue.

So, these retailers under fire in one of the world's largest markets are speaking out and taking a stand from China.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is following the story from New York.

And, Clare, I'm thinking a lot of people probably didn't realize this particular region in China is responsible for 20 percent of the world's

cotton. So there are a lot of major brands tied up working in that region.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Linda, but I think it's important to point out that these statements from these companies that say

in many cases that they're very concerned about human rights abuses in that region, some said they will stop sourcing cotton from there or never did.

Those statements came up months ago. It seems that the trigger for this online backlash and state media backlash was the geopolitical backdrop, the

sanctions that came out earlier this week. It's not new for global corporations to come under fire in China in this way for political reasons

but this is definitely spreading.

You mentioned H&M, you mentioned Nike, Burberry, the first luxury brand to be embroiled in this, and there is a lot at stake. H&M has 500 stores in

China. This is their second largest amount of stores outside of the U.S.

Burberry in particular is very exposed pre-pandemic. About 40 percent of their sales came from Asia Pacific. So, this is why you see companies

treading such a fine line here, saying very little about this, because this is such a huge consumer market for them, and t

they know this is the cost of doing business and navigating political issues.

But with Xinjiang, an issue that the U.S. government labeled genocide, it's very difficult to not come out and condemn this and if you don't want to

risk backlash outside of China. So, it's a really difficult choice for these companies.

KINKADE: Yes, it certainly is. Clare Sebastian in New York, good to have you on the show. Thanks so much.

Well, coming up, we're going to speak to a British human rights lawyer who was just hit with sanctions by the Chinese government. What he says about

Beijing's treatment of the minority Uyghurs, coming up next.

Plus, the European Union ramps up pressure on AstraZeneca for falling short on COVID vaccine deliveries. We'll tell you about the tense E.U. leaders

summit.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:08]

KINKADE: Well, for sometime now, CNN has bringing you growing fallout from allegations of China's human rights abuses. Just yesterday, a heartbreaking

investigation revealed that Uyghur children are being ripped apart from their families. Now, in an exclusive interview with our Christian Amanpour,

the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. denies that story and lashes out at CNN. Take a listen.

All right, having a couple issues with that. We'll bring you that shortly.

For now, the European leader summit has descended into dispute of sharing COVID vaccines. On Thursday after heated conversation, the bloc told

vaccine maker AstraZeneca that it cannot export any more COVID vaccines until the company makes good on delivering what it promised to the E.U.

The British Swedish firm is blame in part for slow rollouts across the continent and that's led to a spat with the U.K., which is criticized for

importing more vaccines that it's exported. But the bloc stopped short of imposing next export restrictions.

It's the end of naivety. The French president making that declaration about vaccine deliveries and demanding companies honor the contracts they've made

with European countries.

Emmanuel Macron admits there were mistakes in the E.U.'s initial vaccine rollout.

Jean-Francois Timsit, the chief in the ICU unit in Bichat Hospital in Paris says the COVID situation in France is dire at the moment.

I want to welcome him to the show.

JEAN-FRANCOIS TIMSIT, ICU CHIEF, BICHAT HOSPITAL: Yes, the situation is not good, especially in the Paris (ph) area, with a lot of contamination

and more than 600 per 100,000 people infected a day. So, very high level of contamination this time and a lot of work --

KINKADE: France --

TIMSIT: I'm sorry, go ahead.

KINKADE: I was just going to say this is the third wave, the third surge in COVID cases that France is in the middle of right now and you are asking

in certain cases and infections and deaths and you say that this is not just happening now. You've described what's coming in the next few months

as hell.

TIMSIT: Yes, it is very difficult at this time. The level of contamination is very high and the number of new case that require critical care at this

time is growing more and more and now we're obliged to open new ICU beds in the operating room and to stop (INAUDIBLE) surgery and to increase ICU beds

available in the Bichat area and it's not good in the other region at this time, and probably more extensive lockdown will be needed in the very near

future.

KINKADE: Other countries have done good rolling out a vaccination program and clamped down on the surge and infections. What do you make of,

obviously, the problems we've seen with the vaccination program there?

TIMSIT: Yes, it is a problem. We try to vaccine the oldest people during January and February, and now, the level of vaccination is quite low

because we have no sufficient amount of vaccine. You should know that considering our level of incidents at this time, if we are vaccinating

100,000 people a day in France, for people more than 50, we will spare 50 deaths per day.

[10:25:03]

So, it is a very high level of contamination and it is clearly an emergency for us to have vaccination very early now to decrease the ICU deaths and

the deaths in general in the next future, in the near future.

KINKADE: The E.U. is the biggest vaccine exporter in the world. Some 77 million doses have been sent abroad to dozens of countries since the start

of December.

From your perspective, the situation you're dealing with in France, was that a mistake?

TIMSIT: Well, I think it is very important to privilege the region in the world where the incidents is very high because at the first step to the

very important point is to decrease mortality. And so on, we need to increase and enlarge the coverage of vaccination worldwide because if we're

not vaccinating for example in Brazil or South Africa, this kind of variant that are probably very virulent will come back to the other country.

So I think we need to think globally of this problem of vaccination and perhaps starting with the region with a very high incidents and then going

and spread to the vaccination to other world, to the other world countries.

KINKADE: Yeah, this is certainly a global problem.

In terms of what we've seen happening in Europe, the number of restrictions and lockdowns that are being extended or rolled out right now, there has

also been some leaders that pulled back on some of those restrictions.

What's the cost of that confusion?

TIMSIT: Well, it is very difficult because our president has tried to decrease the intensity of the lockdown because people are very upset and

get upset and get very depressed and it is quite difficult to maintain the population and the lockdown for a long period of time.

So, there is a co-existence of absence of vaccination so no light at the end in the near future and importance of the circulation of the virus. So

for the moment, it is very difficult for the government to decide very strict lockdown policy but probably very important to do it because given

the situation at this time, it is not out of control but very near to a situation that is out of control.

KINKADE: Jean-Francois Timsit, the ICU chief there in Paris, good to get your perspective. We wish you all the very best as you lead up to the

Easter break.

TIMSIT: Thank you very much.

KINKADE: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Lynda Kinkade. We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:37]

KINKADE: Welcome back.

For sometime CNN has been bringing you the fallout from allegations of China's human rights abuses. And just yesterday, a heartbreaking

investigative report revealed Uyghur children are being ripped apart from their families.

Well, now, in an exclusive interview with our own Christiane Amanpour, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. denies that story and lashes out at CNN.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIANKAI: There has been so much fabrication so far, so I cannot --

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You know that's not fabricated, Ambassador, right? You know that's not fabricated.

TIANKAI: It's very unfortunate. I think it's very unfortunate. It's immoral to take advantage of any particular family situation and

manipulate. This is not true journalism. It's very unfortunate for CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, Helena Kennedy is a human rights lawyer, one of the British lawmakers just sanctioned by the Chinese government. She joins us now from

London.

Good to have you with us. I would first like to get your reaction for what we just heard which is very much in line with China calling the reports on

human rights that we've seen with satellite images fake reports.

HELENA KENNEDY, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER: Well, that has been China's response to most of the evidence that's come forward, and when we speak about what

is taking place towards the Uyghur in Xinjiang province. So, it doesn't come as a surprise. Those are denials and allegations against that we are

inventing these accounts is a constant and it's very interesting to hear the ambassador saying how immoral it is.

I mean, the real moral outrage is what is happening to the Uyghur people.

KINKADE: And the U.K., of course, placed sanctions on people in China who appeared to be complicit in these human rights violations. As a result,

China retaliated, sanctioning several organizations and nine individuals, including yourself a human rights lawyer.

Did you expect this kind of retaliation?

KENNEDY: Well, I wasn't surprised because I'm part of an International Alliance of Parliamentarians who are really raising these issues about

abuses of human rights at the hands of China. And so, when I saw there were sanctions being taken against for example a green politician in Germany, I

thought it was quite possible this would happen.

And it shouldn't -- a tit-for-tat is a regular thing in foreign relations as you know. But what is shocking is we've been -- I'm a lawyer and so I do

this on evidence basis and we've been looking at what is happening on the province for sometime now.

I've been receiving evidence directly from exiles and from women who managed to get out and the evidence of rape is very clear, evidence of

children being separated from their parents and sent off to sort of remand homes where they are going be reeducated and deracinated, basically taken

away from their religion and their culture.

We've got evidence of forced labor. We've got evidence of torture. This evidence has have been coming forth and it is largely reliable evidence and

we also have drone evidence which shows that mosques have been destroyed. That's video (INAUDIBLE) have been destroyed.

So, there is a continuing process of evidence being placed in the public domain and much of it is credible evidence.

And so, I'm not surprised. I have been very vocal in my criticism and in parliament. I have been raising the issue of the problem that we have.

There's a catch-22, which is that China has not signed up for the International Criminal Courts jurisdiction. It has presented a reservation

in the International Court of Justice on being brought before that court if it breaches human rights.

And so, there's no place which enjoys impunity and we have a duty to speak out, and I don't -- I don't want to start having conversations with China,

that people China of are, you know, people like all of us who I suspect want to have a world which is respectful of human rights and where there is

peace and justice.

[10:35:14]

So, we've got to keep this conversation going but as China becomes a grander and greater power in the world and is walking the world in great

clarity, I think we've got to be saying, there is a rules-based world and you're breaking the rules.

KINKADE: So, with that all in mind, what is the next step because clearly, we -- you do have clear and convincing evidence of human rights violations,

which you take us through, genocide against minority people in China and now this tit for tat in terms of sanctions.

What's the next step?

KENNEDY: Well, it is difficult and I think what one was hoping was that by having sanctions against some of the leading figures in China, we haven't

gotten to the very top, you know, with the sanctions regime, the target of sanctions of Magnitsky law, but we should do.

And I think that we -- it's about trying to draw China to the table to say, we want to trade with you. We want to work with you on climate change. We -

- you are a force that could be a great force for good in the world, but you have to, you know, be protecting and preserving human rights.

And there is historically good reason for us doing this because we know that we have -- we can't be bystanders when these things are happening. We

learned that from the Holocaust. We've learned it from other genocides that have happened even in the last 50 years.

And so, we've got to make sure when these things are happening, that we don't remain silent and don't allow our voices to be silenced. Trading is

important but it must take a secondary position to crimes of this magnitude.

KINKADE: And in terms of the way this has unfolded with sanctions, China claims that the U.K. imposed unilateral sanctions. That's despite the fact

that we saw sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the E.U. That was obviously, an intentional misrepresentation. Why do you think China would do that?

KENNEDY: Well, we've got to remember that targeted sanctions are compare comparatively new in the way they are being used now. It's about giving

teeth to international law because places like China just will not ever be brought before an International Court.

And so what other things can be done? And rather than actually punishing a whole nation of people, which we know can often impoverish people, can

often have dire consequences for the citizen who has got no power in all of this is to go after the people who are powerful.

Many Chinese leaders, those who are in the leading positions have properties in Manhattan, in London. They have assets, which are outside of

the country. They enjoy visiting regularly to our capitals and so having these events, having asset ban matters.

Now, an asset ban is being put on me -- visa ban, so that I can't to China. That's a regret to me because I like visiting China and meeting with people

who I think do share many of our values.

But I can tell you now is I have no assets in China. I have no financial interest in China. And so, the sanctioning of me doesn't really make very

much difference and it's certainly not going to have a chilling effect or stopping me denouncing what I see before me in evidence of serious crimes

against humanity and possibly genocide.

KINKADE: Helena Kennedy, human rights lawyer, good to have you with us. Thanks so much for time today. We really appreciate it.

KENNEDY: Thank you very much.

KINKADE: Well, it's fair to say it has been an emotional last few days for a Swedish superstar. The footballer is back on the international station,

why without scoring you can be sure he's still making headlines. We'll have that story coming up next on "World Sport".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:33]

KINKADE: Welcome back.

The self-proclaimed god of football returned to the Swedish national team on Thursday. Zlatan talks the talk, but, boy, does he walk the walk? The

39-year-old superstar provided an assist for the only goal of the game as Sweden defeated Georgia in a World Cup qualifying match.

We're joined now by Patrick Snell.

And, Patrick, Zlatan simply continues to impress.

PATRICK SNELL, WORLD SPORT: He absolutely does. Hard to imagine, isn't it, that later this year, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will turn 40 years of age, would

you believe it?

Just to set the scene for you, Lynda, as we observe those images there, he's been out of international l arena for the Swedish national team for

some five years but you wouldn't have known it because on his return last night, he didn't score a goal but a crucial really skillful assist, as

well, of course, he's getting almost post-match headlines and he will be one of the subjects we are focusing on on the "World Sport" show which is

coming our way to our viewers across the world in just a few moments from right now.

Quite incredible to think to say nearly 40 later on this year, the Milan man continues to write his story. Incredible stuff.

KINKADE: It really was and absolutely incredible setup.

Patrick Snell, we look forward to much more of it in "World Sport" coming up.

We're going to take a big break. Stay with us. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

KINKADE: I'm sure your family is much the same.

SNELL: I'm not so sure but thank you, I'll take that compliment.

KINKADE: Good to have you, as always, thanks so much.

SNELL: Back at you.

KINKADE: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

A new whole edition of CONNECT THE WORLD is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade, in for Becky Anderson.

Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. Thanks for joining us.

With the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. and the U.K. say China is committing genocide against a Muslim minority. The ethnic Uyghur

in Xinjiang ,China calls the claims baseless and today the U.K. is asking China to prove it but allowing the United Nations full access into the

region.

[11:00:00]

END