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Connect the World

Israeli Military Operation in Jenin in Second Day; Jenin was Site of Major Israeli Offensive in 2002; Stoltenberg to Stay on as NATO Chief for another year; Meta to Launch Twitter Rival "Threads"; Roger Federer Speaks about Life after Retirement; 13-Year-Old Ukrainian Refugee Published War Diary. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired July 04, 2023 - 11:00:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This hour a car-ram attack in Tel Aviv after more violence in the occupied West Bank. We'll bring you the

latest from the ground. And we will be speaking with a top official of the Palestinian government.

But first your headline this hour, Vladimir Putin has made his first appearance on the world stage albeit virtually since the Wagner rebellion.

He addressed the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit alongside leaders such as China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi.

Elsewhere in Russia, the Kremlin has allowed the U.S. Ambassador to visit detained American Journalist Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal

reporter is accused of spying and has spent months in a Former KGB prison in Moscow. But he is in good health according to the Ambassador.

The UK has seen its highest June temperatures ever this year, almost a four degree higher than previous records. Scientists warn its part of a

dangerous trend playing out across the world and later this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER FEDERER, TENNIS STAR: I'm so sorry. I'm not you know, so I kept on walking and the guy looked at me goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: CNN exclusive interview with Tennis Great Roger Federer. Welcome to our second hour of "Connect the World" more developments now in what

Israeli police are calling a terror attack in Tel Aviv. Hamas is claiming responsibility after a car rammed a number of pedestrians near a shopping

center wounding eight people.

This comes as a major Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp is now in its second day. Israeli forces say no non-combatants have been killed

during their ongoing counterterrorism raid. CNN's Hadas Gold is tracking both stories for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A car ramming attack on the streets of Tel Aviv, the attacker shot by an armed civilian militant

group Hamas taking credit for the attack, calling it a response to Israel's ongoing military raid in the occupied West Bank City of Jenin an operation

already in its second day, the largest incursion into the West Bank since the days of the Second Intifada more than 20 years ago.

Israel says its aim is to dismantle the Hornet's Nest, Jenin has become for militants. Overnight targeting underground tunnels used to store explosive

devices in the camp.

RICHARD HECHT, ISRAELI ARMY INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: They were focused mainly on dismantling terrorist infrastructure and handling and seizing

guns there in this camp.

GOLD (voice over): Scenes of destruction as bulldozers ripped up rows to disable IEDs. Damaged cars and homes, inside the camp streets are empty,

thousands of residents evacuating their homes overnight. International aid groups accused Israeli forces of blocking access to medical care in Jenin.

And firing tear gas in your hospitals the IDF refuting those claims saying ambulances have a free pass. Palestinian officials condemning the raid

calling it a new war crime and saying they will suspend contact with Israel.

A general strike in solidarity with Jenin has been called in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Palestinian militant groups calling for

action to strike Israel by all available means and while Israel makes it clear it doesn't want the operation to go on longer than necessary the

cycle of violence only intensifying Hadas Gold, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Alright, so the Palestinian Authority says it will suspend contact with Israel following its incursion in Jenin. I'm joined now by Nabil Abu

Rudeineh, Palestinian Authority, Deputy Prime Minister and Spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sir great to have you with us thank you so much for taking the time! Could you give me a sense of the latest news, how the operation is going? What

the targets and the objectives are? Could you give me a sense of what you're seeing from your perspective?

NABIL ABU RUDEINEH, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: Well, what's going on is a real war against the Palestinian people, raged by the

Israelis -- this Israeli government this Israeli army. They are following the Palestinians in their refugee camps.

[11:05:00]

So this is a war, and they should stop it immediately. And we are in a situation that is doing everything is horrible. The Israeli attacks of the

refugee camps are continuing for the last several months, since this new government came to power.

They should stop all of these incursions. The Americans tried last month before that in Jordan, and Egypt with the presence with the Americans to

limit all these actions, but the Israelis violated all these agreements and the Americans are silent or what they say that Israel has the right to

defend -- for self-defense. Anyway, this Israeli aggression is going to --

GIOKOS: I have to ask you this because the IDF says that they are targeting. They're targeting terrorists. And they're saying that Jenin has

become a hotbed for the Islamic Jihad and Hamas are you saying they're not targeting any terrorists or, you know, combatants on the ground?

RUDEINEH: No, no, you are saying the Israelis are saying the same thing. They are targeting refugee camp, and they are attacking a Palestinian area.

Nobody -- what's happening now is that this Israeli government is trying to put an end to the Israeli Palestinian struggle by force.

That is not going to happen that will not bring peace or security for them or us or even for the American interests in the Middle East. Peace should

be based on international law on what has been agreed upon with Israel itself and Oslo 30 years ago, two states living side by each other.

If they are ready for this kind of peace, peace will prevail otherwise, Israel the whole region will be at risk all the time. Israeli army's

attacking all the Palestinian cities in Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus and Jenin.

But what happened yesterday was completely dangerous, because they killed 10 people and injured more than hundred persons all of them are refugees.

None of them was carrying weapons, or none of them was going to Tel Aviv to do anything.

So what is happening is completely dangerous for them, for the Israelis, for the Palestinians, for everybody in the region. These attacks should

stop immediately. They should withdraw from the Palestinian areas immediately. Otherwise, the reaction will be horrible for us and for them.

And we don't want to go to war again. This Israeli aggression, which is continuing for the last several months, should stop immediately. And the

Americans should interfere because Israel should be stopped by the Americans immediately otherwise, the situation is very risky, very

dangerous for them and for us as well.

GIOKOS: Deputy Minister, you said the situation is very risky. I'm sure you've seen in the last hour and a half the car ramming incidents in Tel

Aviv. What is your response to those Hamas has claimed responsibility? Is that a sign of how inflamed and dangerous things can get?

RUDEINEH: Yes, exactly. That's what's happening. Once they invade the Palestinian areas there would be some reaction from somebody here or there,

after you kill the three children and 10 people in two hours in a refugee camp.

And then you ask the Palestinians to restraint or to stop or to wait until the Americans would interfere. The Americans are not doing anything. And by

the way, we limited our contacts with the Americans. We stopped all our context of Israel that was not the case in the past, when the Americans

took us to Jordan and Egypt, the situation was positive.

We reached agreements. We reached understandings. But Israel is immediately violated all these things and starting attacking the Palestinian settlers

and the Palestinian refugee camps.

GIOKOS: Sir we have a few things to get through. I just want to talk about the security coordination and the suspension of contact. Was there any

indication were you alerted beforehand that this operation was going to occur? Was there any indication from the Israelis?

RUDEINEH: You know the security coordination was going on well until they started violating all their agreements. There is no security coordination

these days.

[11:10:00]

The only coordination with the Americans, the people of the American administration who are here based in the Middle East. This is the only

coordination that we have. So far the Israelis are in it not in need of telling us we are seeing them daily encouraging the Palestinian territories

in every single city and every single village and they are talking about that openly.

Israeli Ministers are calling for killing the Palestinians killing the Arabs. That's what they are saying. When we went to Egypt and Jordan to

reach an agreement the Israelis said that what happened what had been agreed in Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt should stay in Sharm el Sheikh.

Can you believe a minister signs with us? The other Minister in the Israeli cabinet says no. So what else can be clearer than this?

GIOKOS: Do you want you want to reignite the security coordination? Would you like to get the security coordination packs back in play? Because the

question is, what would be the solution to this? Did you hear me sir? Deputy Prime Minister --

RUDEINEH: Yes, if you're talking about security coordination, as I told you, it was running well, until the Israelis violated all the agreements.

They are not allowed to cross the red lines, which is area B, area A, we are living in a divided country. Area A is Israeli government is not

allowed to enter these areas.

For the last several years, these Israelis are crossing this red line and entering every single Palestinian city. That's why the situation is

difficult and dangerous. They should abide by the agreements by the understandings, which we had agreed with them and with American several

times.

Now everything is on hold with Israelis and maybe it will be the same with the American administration as well. If you remember when the Former

President said Jerusalem is united, we boycotted the American Administration for three years.

So they should understand very well, that without reaching peace with the Palestinians, not with other Arabs here or there, they are living with us

peace with us, the peace which we agree upon, and the peace we are looking for, is agreed by the whole world community by the Security Council, peace

for the Palestinians and Israelis if they abide the international law and the agreements signed between us and them.

So the Israelis should be stopped immediately. The Americans should interfere, because the Israelis don't listen to anybody. They are against

any international law. They are violating every single law on Earth. So the only power that can stop them is the Americans while unfortunately the

Americans --

GIOKOS: Deputy Prime Minister I had to ask you this very quickly. What are you doing to help people that are fleeing? We've got thousands of people

leaving the refugee camp that are urgent need. Many people have been impacted? What are you doing to help them?

RUDEINEH: Can you believe what's happening refugees 70 years ago, now they are refugees again, in their own country. What we are going to do is to try

our best to help them to come back to their refugee camp, and to help them while they are in schools and the streets as far as we can.

So you know our economic situation is very difficult because of Israelis as well. They are deducting millions of dollars monthly on a monthly basis

from our own revenues. And this is another crime.

That's why the decisions of the Palestinian leadership headed by President Mahmoud Abbas is that they were clear enough, Israel should be stopped

immediately otherwise, the situation will be very difficult for them and for us and as I told you, even for the American interests of the Middle

East.

GIOKOS: Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Abu Rudeineh, thank you very much for joining us today great to have you on the show! And here's a reminder that

Jenin was also the scene of a major Israeli operation a generation ago.

In April 2002, Israeli forces raided the refugee camp after a series of Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians that

killed more than 50 people more than 20 years ago.

There was no video coming from inside the camp and very little information about what was actually happening as we hear from Former CNN Correspondent

Sheila MacVicar she was at the Salem checkpoint the entrance to Jenin from Israel in April 2002 I want you to take a listen to this.

[11:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEILA MACVICAR, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: For nine days now Jenin refugee camp has been all but inaccessible. The fighting there fierce in those area

22 Israeli soldiers dead and no one yet knows how many Palestinians.

The longer Jenin camp remains closed off the more many people especially Palestinians say they are convinced something terrible has happened there.

People here are talking about massacres about hundreds of people killed. There is no way to confirm any of these stories. No way until international

observers is let back into the camp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Alright, so you're watching "Connect the World" live from Abu Dhabi. Up next, Russia says flights in Moscow had to be diverted after it

intercepted at least five Ukrainian drones. And the uneasy calm in France of the days of fury. Could the west of the riots be over? We'll answer that

just after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Russia is accusing Ukraine of carrying out a terrorist attack in Moscow. Moscow is saying it intercepted and brought down five Ukrainian

drones near the capital. A spokesman for the Kremlin says all of the drones were either destroyed or neutralized.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says the drones were targeting civilian infrastructure. Ben Wedeman is tracking the story for us from Eastern

Ukraine. Five drones intercepted by Russia give us the latest Ben?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORREAPONDENT: Eleni, it happened early this morning. According to the Russians five drones were headed

toward Moscow four of them were brought down by air defenses one by electronic warfare means there was no damage nobody was hurt.

It did cause technical issues, according to the Russians did lead to the diversion of many flights away from one of the four airports around Russia.

A Spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said that she in her words Zelenskyy sent these western provided weapons bought with Western funds and therefore

it is international terrorism.

Now the adviser to the Ukrainian President responded in a message dripping with irony saying that, for a country that since February of last year,

almost 16 months has consistently targeted with cruise missiles and other weapons civilian infrastructure across this country that just last week,

used a caliber missile to hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk killing 13 people. It's a bit rich for the Russians to say that this is international

terrorism.

[11:20:00]

Now the Ukrainians however have not claimed responsibility for this incident, just as in May when there was a similar incident with a drone

exploding over the Kremlin, which Russian officials said was an attempt to assassinate President Putin.

Ukrainians have not claimed any responsibility. Although sources familiar with U.S. intelligence tells CNN that they believe the Ukrainians have

cultivated agents within Russia who might be launching these drones, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right, Ben, thank you so much. Well, Ukrainian president meanwhile is calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to invite his country into

NATO. Now, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Washington for its support in the conflict but asked for

more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I'm grateful to the U.S. for their support. President Biden and the U.S. Congress, both parties despite

their preparations for the elections pay a great deal of attention to the war in Ukraine. They are on our side, and they support us. It's difficult

for Ukraine to survive without the U.S. support. And it's a fact and I'm very direct when saying this.

Without the U.S. is held it will become a frozen conflict. With the U.S. help, we will de-occupy our territory. De-occupation of any next town is

weakening Putin. We don't have to be scared of that. The U.S. decides today whether Ukraine will get invited to NATO. This is today's situation, and

it's a fact.

The majority of the NATO countries support inviting Ukraine to NATO. Those who have their doubts look only at President Biden and he knows that this

depends on him. It will be his decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Well, you can see more of that interview on Erin Burnett out front on Wednesday at midnight in London. Vladimir Putin tried to project an

image of strength during a virtual meeting of leaders friendly to Moscow. The Russian president's address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Summit marks his first appearance on the world stage since the Wagner Rebellion.

Putin thanked Russian allies in attendance for backing him. Chinese President Xi Jinping also spoke warning against other countries in citing a

new Cold War in the region. And he called on regional partners to work together to boost economic growth. CNN's Marc Stewart reports.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even though this conference is being hosted by India's Prime Minister, China still has a significant role in the

Shanghai Cooperation Organization otherwise known as SCO, it's a founding member along with Russia and several former Soviet states.

We heard from Chinese leader Xi Jinping during an address to the summit. Xi brought up themes of unity and cooperation calling for regional leaders to

take care of their country's futures and apparent bid to resist outside influence in the region. He talks about chaos in the world bringing up

questions like peace or conflict, cooperation or confrontation, calling for win-win cooperation.

Xi added policies need to be focused on the long term interests of the region. But this is a challenging time for China. It's been leaning on the

west at times to encourage investment at a time when its economy is facing significant challenges. In addition, China hasn't condemned Russia's

involvement in the war in Ukraine, with one analyst telling CNN, Xi doesn't want the nation to become a bigger target of NATO than it already was

before the war. Marc Stewart, CNN, Tokyo.

GIOKOS: Iran has become the latest country to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. A flag raising ceremony in Beijing marked the event. Russian

President Putin congratulated his Iranian counterpart and highlighted the efforts of countries wishing to be friends with the SCO.

Iran is now the ninth member of the group. Despite months spent in detention in Russia, an American journalist accused of spying is apparently

in good health. On Monday, the Kremlin allowed the U.S. Ambassador to Russia to visit Wall Street Journal Reporter Evan Gershkovich for the first

time since April.

Earlier today, the Kremlin hinted that the door is open to talks over potential prisoner swaps, but that's those conversations need to happen out

of the public eye. Let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. NATO has extended its Secretary General's contract

for another year.

Jens Stoltenberg of Norway will stay in the top job until October 2024, giving him a full decade in the job on Twitter. Stoltenberg said he was

honored by the decision. The International Atomic Energy Agency chief has weighed in on Japan's plan to release treated wastewater from the Fukushima

nuclear plant.

[11:25:00]

Rafael Grossi says the plan conforms with international standards and will have a negligible impact on the environment. The new live action Barbie

movie has been banned in Vietnam. The film is distributed by CNN sister company Warner Brothers Pictures.

A safe run newspaper says the movie shows a map of Beijing's claims to the South China Sea, Vietnam considered some of the oil rich territory as its

own continental shelf. Now, to the relative calm and the caution in France, President Emmanuel Macron says he thinks the violence has peaked after days

of fury.

But he adds that he will stay cautious in the coming days and weeks. Mr. Macron has been meeting with dozens of mayors from communities that bore

the brunt of the violent protests, riots and looting. This all followed the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old boy last week after a traffic stop.

CNN Correspondent Melissa Bell is in Paris has been covering the riots for us since they began, Melissa, great to have you with us. Definitely more

calm. I guess this is pretty much in line with what we've been seeing coming through from the meetings.

But the worry is that more could come and come ahead. What is happening from a political perspective to try and temper what we've been seeing on

the ground?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, what the French president announced Eleni is a consultation process and procedure. He's called it a

reflection on exactly what it was that exploded. So suddenly, a week ago today, just after the news and the video, more specifically, of the killing

of young Nahel emerged, to try and get to the bottom of where that ego came from, whose frustrations were being expressed and what can be done about

them.

That consultation process will last sometime in the more immediate future what he's been doing Eleni is meeting here at the -- just behind me at a

meeting that's now wrapped up with the leaders of 241 of those communes that were most heavily impacted.

So the villages, the suburbs, where the violence was the greatest and where, of course, the damage has been the greatest as well. And what he

told the mayors of his communes a short while ago, Eleni is that he believes that the peak has passed and yet that he remains cautious.

When you look at the violence of the last 24 hours, there were only 72 arrests overnight. That's still substantial, but it is so far down from the

figures we saw over the weekend and at the end of last week as the violence that anger seemed to escalate heading into the weekend. 72 arrested are

down and the hope from French authorities is that this may mark the end of what has been a remarkably violent week, Eleni.

GIOKOS: It has absolutely and we've seen damage to infrastructure to public buildings, as well as private property as well. As the government tallies

up what that final cost will be, questions of course, who's going to bear the brunt of those costs. It is extraordinary to look at the numbers that

are being floated around right now.

BELL: That's right. The Head of France's main business unit puts it at a billion dollars, Eleni of damage that has been done now. That includes the

200 shops that have been damaged according to him 300 banks and 250 tobacconists that have been completely destroyed.

But it also looks ahead to some of the figures from tourism, bear in mind that this is the month of July, it is the start of France's, one of

France's Paris's biggest, biggest seasons in terms of tourism. What he told CNN a short while ago is that he believes that the number of cancellations

in early July is going to be as high as 20, 25 percent.

When you look at people coming from abroad, so that of course is going to have a huge impact on the restaurants on the hotels on such a huge part of

France's infrastructure. And that has yet to be counted. As to the more immediate damage, what the government has looked at and the interior

minister has been planning is the releasing of specific funds to help those communes fix what needs to be fixed, specifically, things like CCTV cameras

that have been damaged.

Those individual businesses that need to be repaired really trying to get the communes back up and running. And what they've also been doing is

speaking to the leaders of these communes, the mayors, the local prefix and encouraging them, to get out into the community to speak to people.

It is also of course, as they could start to count the costs and pick up the pieces and considered how to rebuild these communes, the idea is also

very much, how they can repair the relations that have been so damaged between some of those who went out and protested and some of those who were

trying either to keep order or to protect their businesses.

[11:30:00]

The idea is that going forward as part of that consultation, more effort will be made on the part of France's political class we're hearing to try

and reach out to the communities involved and make themselves heard and get their grievances fed back to them.

We don't know how long the consultation is going to last or what form it's going to take exactly. But that is hard Eleni is very much that trying to

understand what happened here in order that can be prevented from happening again.

GIOKOS: Melissa Bell, brilliant work. Thank you so much. Well, next on "Connect the World"; the gloves are off for two tech giants. Days after

challenging each other physically, now, Mark Zuckerberg has a tech challenge for Elon Musk's Twitter. And later Wimbledon salutes one of its

legendary champions. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back to "Connect the World". I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Your headlines this hour, Israeli police say eight people were injured when

a car rammed pedestrians outside of Tel Aviv more. They say the driver then got out of the car and tried to stab people. The suspect was killed.

Hamas is claiming responsibility. Israel is calling it a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, the Israeli military says its massive operation in the occupied

West Bank could go on for a few more days. 10 Palestinians have been killed in the raid as a refugee camp in Jenin and around 100 people have been

injured.

The Israeli military says it is targeting terrorist infrastructure. Russia is accusing Ukraine of trying to attack Moscow with at least five drones

calling it an attempted terrorist attack. The city's mayor says some flights were diverted at one of the city's airports because of the alleged

attack, but the airport is since back operating as normal.

Now, the gloves are off in the tech brawl between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the two billionaire executives have expressed interest in

meeting in the ring for a cage fight. But a more consequential face off may soon be in the cards too. NATO is preparing to launch a Twitter competitor

called Threads.

It's a new app offering real time conversations. Joining us now is the one and only Anna Stewart who knows all about Threads and Tweets, great to have

you on Anna, as always. What can you tell us about Threads and whether it is a potential competitor for Twitter?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, from what we've seen, it looks awfully like Twitter, whether it's the interface or the functionality, it looks and

feels very much like a copycat. It's not the first social media companies do this all the time. For instance, we had Instagram reels that was

launched very much as a response, I think to TikTok. It looked and felt very much the same.

[11:35:00]

Twitter itself recently announced it was launching encrypted messages and calls at some stage that will take on WhatsApp. So this is nothing new.

What is interesting, though, is how viable this might be actually as a rival to Twitter. Two reasons I would say actually, this might have more

success than the many, many other versions of Twitter that have been launched by other companies.

First of all, this is being launched by Instagram, by Meta. Instagram has more than 2 billion monthly active users already. So that's a pretty huge

user base to tap into. Second of all, the timing Eleni, when you consider all of the teething issues that Twitter is undergoing, with a huge

transition that not everyone thinks is going very well.

I mean, I'd say that, to put it mildly, whether it's the inviting back, or people have been banned from Twitter for misinformation and hate speech,

removing people's blue ticks and asking them to subscribe. And even over the weekend, when we had all those operational issues, Twitter down for

many people.

And let's have a look at this. Lots of people got this over the weekend, because they couldn't view as many tweets as they are used to because they

hadn't subscribed. So certainly the time is ripe to pick off some Twitter users.

GIOKOS: What I have to say I did try to get to my limit of 10,000, no, 1000, because I'm not verified. I just couldn't get there. I was pretty

impressed. But I have to say, I thought I've been to -- Twitter. Look, the one big distinction here is data and privacy. What is the sense of that?

Because that might put users off.

STEWART: And trust is such a valuable asset here. And for Meta this has been a big issue for them for many years. You'll remember the Cambridge

Analytica scandal in 2018. Ever since then, there has been, I'd say some trust lacking from users in terms of Meta and its data policy.

And this is something actually that Twitter's founder, Jack Dorsey put on Twitter over the last 24 hours flagging some of the data parameters that

threads will access. And it is including things like fitness data, financial information, purchases, sensitive information, and it goes on.

The one thing I would say if this is trying to use Instagram users and bring them over to threads, while they're already clearly accepting that

level of data access from Meta, so I'm not sure that that will dissuade many.

GIOKOS: Yes, I think they really know everything about us. Very quickly, where would you put your money, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk cage fight?

STEWART: Elon Musk every time, I can't wait. I want a front seat.

GIOKOS: Really? Do these going to happen, right, interesting times. We'll do a wager offline, Anna Stewart, great to have you on, thank you so much.

You're watching "Connect the World" on CNN. Still to come Roger Federer back at Wimbledon, but this time in a coat and tie for a salute to his

extraordinary career.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

GIOKOS: Wimbledon is underway and it hasn't been all strawberries and cream for two American women in the first round. World number seven, Coco Gauff

suffered her first ever opening round loss at Wimbledon. She lost in three sets to fellow American Sofia Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion.

And Venus Williams falling and playing through an injury, but coming up short against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina. In the men's draw defending champ

Novak Djokovic breezing through the first round. If he wins six more matches over the next few weeks, he will tie Roger Federer with a men's

record at Wimbledon titles.

And speaking of Federer, the eighth time men single champion is watching this year's tournament as his spectator Federer is now retired from tennis.

Wimbledon held a ceremony on center court honoring him earlier today. He received a prolonged standing ovation. The 41-year-old retired last year

with 20 Grand Slam titles, 20 wow.

Christina MacFarlane interviewed Federer exclusively for CNN and joins me now, firstly, what a fantastic conversation. It was really illuminating you

know, you were able to just draw out so much of his personality and what he's been up to. What stood out for you the most Christina?

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN SENIOR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, so many things Eleni. I mean, the great thing was, as we had quite a lot of time with him.

You know this figurehead of the game who hasn't really spoken out in the last nine months. It was interesting to see him get that standing ovation,

almost three minutes standing ovation on center court today.

Because I think it speaks to the fact that no matter what you feel or think about the goat debate in tennis. For tennis fans, a lot of tennis fans,

Roger Federer is always going to be number one just because of the way he plays the game you know, with flair with style with emotion.

I mean, we remember Eleni, those emotional scenes nine months ago at the Labor Cup when he was in floods of tears alongside his great rival Rafael

Nadal. And as I say, since then, we really haven't heard much from him. But I had 30 minutes with him more or less to talk about everything.

And he told me that he was slowly adjusting to life after tennis that he didn't really miss his old life, because he knew that given the state his

body was in, he could no longer really compete on the tour. He said instead, what he was relishing was being able to plan ahead for special

moments with his family, with his friends.

He took a really special trip to Lesotho in southern Africa just last month to show his children, his four children the charitable work that the Rafael

Nadal Foundation has been working on for the past 20 years. And he said he wanted to spark the fire of charitable giving in them. But also Eleni, we

know that away from the family, away from the charity stuff, he has been having a lot of fun.

I really only have to look at his Instagram account to see that he has been at multiple sporting events. He has hosted the Met Gala and just on Sunday

night he was out on stage alongside Coldplay performing alongside them.

I think one of the sort of favorite things that he said to me though, the thing that really made me chuckle is he said that while he is adjusting to

life away from the tennis court, some of his fans are having a hard time placing him away from that scene. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEDERER: I think because I show up in completely different random places nowadays. You know that, some people are really surprised. I'm very happy

then to all of a sudden see me. I mean, I've had a moment when I did Orient Express, I was in Venice and a guy chased me down. He was like; can I

please take a picture? I'm like, yes. Are you who I think you are? I'm like, no, I don't know who you think I am.

Because like, are you Nadal I'm like, I'm so sorry. I'm not here now. So I kept on walking and the guy looked at me, such a -- is Nadal. But he kept

looking back and I thought he was going to maybe figure it out, but he didn't. So that was a quite a --

MACFARLANE (on camera): He missed his moment.

FEDERER: He missed his moment, but he clearly didn't want a picture with me. One of the pictures of Rafael, but anyway, so I have obviously moments

like these. Or then like yesterday, when I went to the Coldplay concert, you know.

MACFARLANE (on camera): This kind of came out of nowhere and the sudden you're up on stage fooling --

FEDERER: Yes.

MACFARLANE (on camera): How did that come about?

FEDERER: On Saturday night, Chris Martin, he writes, and he goes, like, do you want to come and help us was one of the songs you know, I'm like,

really? I don't know. And I was sitting at dinner. And I read the message to my wife, my two daughters and some friends.

And they're like, oh my god, you got to do it. And Myla, my daughter looks at me goes like, Papa, go, you only have won. And I'm like, really? Like, I

should be 50,000 people. And I don't even know what I'm going to do. And then I'm like, you know what, Chris, I'll do it. What do you want me to do?

All you got to do is do the shaker you know, give a beat to the song. So I finished my music career on top, because I just retired from music as well,

the last night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: I mean, it was a bit of an awkward dad moment, wasn't it Eleni, but as you can see clearly, Roger Federer living his best life these past

nine months. And I'm sure, it will continue.

[11:45:00]

GIOKOS: I love that, that's a great way to define an awkward dad moment, right. I mean, it kind of suits him to be in the limelight. Anyway, let's

talk about what's happening at Wimbledon right now. Novak Djokovic, potentially doing what Roger has been able to achieve.

I mean, you're the sports guru here. So I leave it to you to tell us what he needs to do. I think what, six matches he needs to win over the next two

weeks?

MACFARLANE: Yes. And he got his first one in the bag yesterday. I mean, if he does, of course go on and win this fortnight, he will tie Roger

Federer's record of eight Grand Slam titles at the All England Club. And that is something I also had a chance to speak to Roger about and he spoke

very frankly about it.

In fact, he gave me a very interesting answer, which you can watch tomorrow when we released that segment, just to hear what he has to say. We also

spoke about the up and coming 20 year old Carlos Alcaraz you know, whether he thinks he's going to be the next Roger or Rafael.

We talked about Rafael Nadal's retirement, of course, that might be on the cards for next year. But interestingly, I also had a chance to talk to him

about what was next for him in tennis. You know, there's a lot of conversation going on that he might be commentating this week at Wimbledon.

That is not the case.

So where are we going to see him next? He gave his thoughts on that as well. And that will release tomorrow. So stay tuned.

GIOKOS: You're leaving us hanging, Christina. And we're going to have to just keep on watching to see what's going on. I mean, one part that I

really loved is that he is teaching his kids, tennis and he's saying he's the dad. He's not going to be the coach, right.

So that was really interesting to see, to see that, that sort of plan with his children. Now he's thinking, oh, my gosh, this is going to be the next

generation of Federers.

MACFARLANE: Yes, maybe it's not Carlos Alcaraz at all. Maybe it is a young Federer in the making that we have to keep an eye out for in the future. I

mean, he's, he's, as you say, said he's coaching them two or three times a week. So you can get no better coach than Roger Federer and his wife,

Mirka, that's for sure.

GIOKOS: Absolutely. Well, Christina, thank you so very much for joining us and for keeping us curious and waiting for the rest of the interview

tomorrow. Well done. It was really wonderful to see your conversation. Thanks so much.

MACFARLANE: Thanks, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right. Well, thank you so very much for joining us on "Connect the World". We are going to go to short break and of course "One World"

comes up next. And coming up, you can hear a 13-year-old story of surviving a warzone in Ukraine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

GIOKOS: All right, it was a record breaking month in the UK. But scientists say this record isn't one to celebrate. The UK met office says last month

was the hottest June in the UK since forecasters began tracking temperatures in 1884. It said June had an average mean temperature of 15.8

degrees Celsius last month. That's higher than the previous record of 14.9 degrees seen in both 1940 and 1976. And weather experts say it is a

dangerous trend.

CLARE NASIR, METEOROLOGIST: So all the numbers are suggesting that we're going in the wrong direction when it comes to the heat, the intensity of

the heat and how prolonged it is. Obviously, this month culminated in some quite violent thunderstorms towards the end.

And climate change trends do suggest that our summers are going to become hotter and also drier. But when we do see rain, it'll be more intense, so a

higher likelihood of things like flash flooding, and that's exactly how June played out this year.

GIOKOS: Well meteorologists say individually England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland also reported their respective warmest June's on record.

Now on to heroic rescue in the U.S. State of Georgia. A dramatic body cam video released by the -- of the Candler County Sheriff's Office shows a

sergeant rescuing a woman from a burning car.

Well, the sheriff says Sergeant Ashley Taylor was responding to a car crash on a highway Saturday. When he discovered the vehicle was in the woods on

fire, he immediately rushed to help. The sergeant broke the window and removed the driver from the vehicle as smoke poured out from underneath.

The driver is now safe.

Right for tonight's parting shots, we bring you now a fascinating story shot by Ukrainian CNN Academy students studying for her master's degree at

the UCD Clinton Institute in Dublin. Daria Tarasova used her mobile phone to tell the story of a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl who escaped from the

fighting in Ukraine.

Before leaving, the teenager documented her experience of being stuck in a warzone. Her diary went on to be published and read by thousands of people

across the world. This is her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YEVA SKALIETSKA, AUTHOR OF "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WAR IS": 7 p.m. today has been a day of constant activity in the air. The drone did a circle around

the area, dropping bombs as it went rivers of T's. I lay on the bat and for the first time in my life, I just thought about how I really want to live.

DARIA TARASOVA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Yeva Skalietska and this is her diary. She wrote it one year ago sitting in her basement in the

eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, when the Russian army started the war.

SKALIETSKA: This time, like when there was I was so close to death, I just realized that I lived like little life just only 12 years. And I didn't

want to die because I just leave little bit to lose my like my loved ones. It was so painful.

TARASOVA (voice over): With her grandma that she spent two weeks in the basement hiding from the shells. The home was destroyed. But she wrote her

diary every day, sometimes in total darkness using only her mobile phone. From there, it was a long way from the warzone to peaceful island to a new

life.

With the help of some British journalists, her diary was published. It has become a best seller in the UK and Ireland. The famous actress Keira

Knightley narrated it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone knows the word war. But very few people understand what it truly means.

TARASOVA (voice over): Yeva Skalietska has given speeches about the -- TEDEX Oxford University. She has received a lot of awards, even during our

filming. She have just won a British Book Award, she says. This Ukrainian girl has escaped from the war, but she hasn't escaped from her memories.

She still remembers every second of that period. Every day she thinks about her classmates who are still there.

SKALIETSKA: These children like the age the same as me like my classmates, they're sitting like, like in a cage. And we don't know the bomb will fly

next day tomorrow. Will you wake up even next day or will you or will you be done?

[11:55:00]

TARASOVA (voice over): Thinking about her Ukrainian friends Yeva Skalietska dreams about the war ending. So she can meet them again. Despite all she

went through, this girl is living her life far away from home trying to be happy as much as the world allows, Daria Tarasova Markina, CNN Academy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Well, thanks so very much for joining us for this edition of "Connect the World". We'll be back tomorrow, same time, same place. I'm

Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. "One World" is up next, stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END