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Football to Resume in Turkiye; Climate Deal Calls for Transition away from Fossil Fuels; Starvation, Disease, Winter Threaten Gaza's Displaced; Russia Has Lost Equivalent to 87 Percent of Prewar Ground Troops; Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill; U.S. President Joe Biden to Meet with Families of Americans Held by Hamas; China-Vietnam Cooperation; Argentina to Devalue Peso; U.S. Annual Inflation Slowing; Punched-Out Turkish Referee out of Hospital; Eco-Friendly Travelers Turn to Scooters. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired December 13, 2023 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This hour a historic climate deal made at COP28. We will bring you the details and
explain while some say that it still falls short. But first, your headlines this hour.
Israel is becoming increasingly isolated on the world stage. The United Nations General Assembly voting on Tuesday to demand an immediate cease-
fire, while in the United States President Biden warns Israel is losing international support.
We just heard an emotional statement from the U.S. president's son, Hunter Biden. He is admitting past mistakes and calling out Republicans.
And later this hour, football in Turkiye will return next week after a brief suspension following the attack on a referee at a game on Monday.
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GIOKOS: History has been made at COP28 in Dubai. The world has agreed to an unprecedented call for a transition away from fossil fuels. It is the
centerpiece deal for the climate summit and could signal the beginning of the end for the fossil fuel era.
Some countries and experts say that too many loopholes remain. It falls short of calling on nations to phase out coal, oil and gas. Language that
more than 100 countries have been calling for to be included.
They say that the agreement is not sufficient to reflect the growing urgency of the climate crisis.
So tonight we ask, is this climate deal going far enough?
We have David McKenzie joining us now live from Johannesburg.
David, we know that there was a huge delay in terms of getting this final agreement. It did seem to pass very quickly during that plenary session.
But it is historic and it must be said, because finally we have the words "fossil fuel" in a COP agreement.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Eleni, you have the words but now you need the action. In terms of
sentiment, it is definitely significant that the countries, all of, them came together to find consensus on the transition away from fossil fuels.
It's pretty extraordinary.
After all this time and all the evidence we have, that fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, are the chief culprits when it comes to climate change and the
climate crisis, that we are finally getting it in a document like this, that, unfortunately, for many isn't enforceable.
It's nonbinding but it is still significant. Countries have also been asked to move away toward renewable energy as a whole, tripling the level of
renewable energy and also looking into issues like carbon capture.
Some critics say that this is a loophole but it is significant that there was a consensus. The next decade will be critical to see whether the
reductions in fossil fuel use will be enough to get to this 1.5-degree goal of the past agreement.
GIOKOS: All right, David McKenzie, great to see you, thank you so much.
My next guest is the Dominican Republic's vice minister for cooperation and international affairs and she attended the COP28 summit in Dubai. And she
said this about the language in the climate agreement.
Quote, "We must call for consistency and pragmatism -- the pragmatic approach being the one where small islands can survive."
All right, Milagros De Camps joins me now, live in studio.
Thank you so much, Vice Minister, great to have you with us.
MILAGROS DE CAMPS, VICE MINISTER FOR COOPERATION AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Thank you so much.
GIOKOS: Look, it must have been really tough negotiations and very long hours. We know that it was delayed into the early hours of the morning.
Can you tell us what happened in the room, because we know that over 100 countries actually supported using stronger terms for fossil fuels but
clearly there were concessions made?
DE CAMPS: That is correct. So the day before yesterday, we had an iteration of the text that did not mention specifically phaseout of fossil
fuels and it provided a many of options and that was not acceptable for small island states but for many countries. We consulted with the
presidency during yesterday all day.
[10:05:00]
DE CAMPS: And we were until late night hours talking with them and expressing that this is a matter of survival for island states. We're not
talking about 1.5 limit as a negotiating target.
But it is a physical limit for us. So after many, many hours of working, we received a text this morning. And we reviewed this text. And even though it
is not what we wanted, it does not put us on the path to 1.5 degrees, it is the first time it is mentioned, fossil fuels. So it is a historic
agreement.
GIOKOS: Yes, it is historic in that sense but, as we have ascertained, there are, of course, loopholes. I think it is important to note that your
country, the Dominican Republic, has experienced unprecedented flooding; 37,000 people displaced.
You are at the cull face (ph) of this. And, look, small island nations even said that this is almost signing a death sentence if we don't use the right
language.
Do you feel that you signed a death sentence?
DE CAMPS: We feel we signed an agreement that is incremental and it will reach somewhere and we will have that happen, in part, because it is our
survival that we are talking about.
So the science is very clear on what we have to do. We need to peak emissions by 2025 and we need to reduce by 43 percent greenhouse gas
emissions by 2030. And we need to arrive to net zero by 2050.
This agreement does not take us there. So we will make everything possible to increment our actions and to have been negotiating text by the next COP
to be more ambitious.
GIOKOS: So in that room, during the negotiations, how powerful was the push from the oil-producing nations?
Did you feel that that was really strong?
Because we know that, publicly, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq are really pushing back. We heard that OPEC had sent a letter to its members, saying
they should not support that language.
Did that come across in the negotiations?
DE CAMPS: It did. And when we met with the president, he mentioned that he's losing a lot of political capital here in this text but that he was
determined to deliver what he called the North Star. And we trusted his leadership, because he delivered on loss and damage, which is also another
historic agreement that was arrived at COP.
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: But that's only $85 billion?
DE CAMPS: It's very small. It's not even -- it doesn't represent the loss and damage of the Dominican Republic. So we are still waiting for it to be
replenished.
GIOKOS: But even getting that money deployed and how you can tap into it?
The mechanisms?
DE CAMPS: The mechanisms are not in place and we're expecting that, for the board, it's the main role that the board has now, starting January.
GIOKOS: Actually, we have some sound bite from John Kerry in terms of his reaction to this final agreement. Let's take a listen.
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JOHN KERRY, U.S. SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY FOR CLIMATE: One country can say no to the whole thing. That actually makes it even more remarkable that
as much ambition is contained in this document.
Now we have to obviously push. But I will tell you what is going to make the greatest difference, in my judgment. The signal that comes out here
today is that the whole world is going to be moving even harder to try to make this happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: All right, so he is optimistic. He believes that this is a workable document.
But there are loopholes, right?
Carbon sequestration, the unabated calls that can be used, facing down the call but so forth and, again, it's still a many. Listen, the language
change so that countries could use these mechanisms.
DE CAMPS: That was the original.
GIOKOS: The original. Then they said that we are calling on countries. So the language changed.
(CROSSTALK)
DE CAMPS: It is a stronger language but it does not take us where we need to be. I am also optimistic because I know that we will do what we need to
do but it is not what we needed.
And the main thing is that it does not call on phaseout of fossil fuels, which is what we needed for this text, because this text was the only
opportunity that we had to course correct because it is a global stocktake. So by the next global stocktake, it will already be too late.
GIOKOS: OK, so looking through the final draft or the final agreement, something that really stuck out for me.
It says, in Article 80, "notes with deep regret that the goal of developing country parties to mobilize jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020" --
and actually, this also mentions that the Paris agreement, so much we failed on back then from eight years ago.
Then it also says that the concern, this is Article 81, "the adaptation finance gap is widening."
The money that was promised and pledged is still not being deployed.
What will change now with this?
DE CAMPS: We are expecting it to be deployed but it is not what we are hoping to happen, we're actually hoping to happen but not expecting to
happen. Adaptation is a priority for our states and we don't see the commitment or the strong language that we were expecting in this text.
GIOKOS: So let me ask you simply, this, then.
Have you received any money that has been pledged?
DE CAMPS: Very little.
GIOKOS: Have you been able to tap into any of the financing?
DE CAMPS: Very little. The Dominican Republic is costing climate change 1.8 percent of our GDP per year.
[10:10:03]
DE CAMPS: This year, we've only received about $100 million, which is not enough -- and loans.
GIOKOS: And loans. So you are getting loans. So this is putting pressure on you --
DE CAMPS: Exactly.
GIOKOS: -- fiscally, right?
DE CAMPS: We do not have the fiscal space to continue upfronting the cost of the climate change crisis.
GIOKOS: So this is the big issue. We're seeing these big numbers and people understand that this is financing and, frankly, you're still
hearing, well, we have to de-risk projects. And we still need to make them bankable.
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: -- feedback, you don't have bankable projects?
DE CAMPS: We don't have enough bankable projects for large investments. But the thing is that adaptation is not bankable projects. They're
necessary projects and we don't usually have the type of adaptation projects that are bankable.
And the cost of climate change is incremental per year. We're talking about our projections to say that by 2027, it's going to be 5 percent of our GDP.
And that's our economic growth.
GIOKOS: So and here's another piece of reality, right. So when there is financing, people want to make a return on investment.
DE CAMPS: Yes.
GIOKOS: So we're seeing this money being pledged and committed to.
DE CAMPS: But that doesn't respond to climate justice.
GIOKOS: It doesn't respond to climate justice but there's always money attached in some way, profits that people are looking for.
Do you think that we need to change the way that we view this type of financing?
DE CAMPS: We definitely need to change the way. Otherwise, it's just a shift of colonialism.
GIOKOS: Talking about climate justice and just seeing how little the developed world has really done in terms of investments into the global
south and, frankly, developing nations, do you feel optimistic that we are heading on the right path?
Your reality on the ground.
DE CAMPS: I feel optimistic that we will reach there. I don't feel optimistic today. But I do feel optimistic that we will make everything
possible for our survival, because I know that economic progress cannot trump the survival of millions of island states and our livelihoods.
GIOKOS: Really, I thank you so much for your time and for coming through today. And I wish you all the best. I know that you are at the cull (ph)
face of the climate crisis and --
DE CAMPS: We faced this year historic flooding, many lives lost; historic forest fires. So it is way too much already.
GIOKOS: It is. Vice minister, thank you so much. I wish you the best.
DE CAMPS: Thank you very much.
GIOKOS: Thank you.
All right, you can read more about what is in the climate agreement and what critics are saying. Some claim it does not go far enough, others
calling it not funded or fair. Just go to our website, cnn.com. You can find more information there. Fantastic analysis by our teams.
In the meantime, now the Israeli military says that nine soldiers were killed in a single incident in northern Gaza Tuesday as the ongoing battle
against Hamas expands. It is among the biggest losses of life in a single incident for Israeli forces since the ground offensive began in October.
Meanwhile, 85 percent of Gaza citizens are now displaced, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees. Many are now in areas
which offer very little shelter, not only from Israel's ongoing bombardment but also from increasingly cooling temperatures and torrential rain.
Parts of the enclave are now facing flooding. We can see these images right there.
All right, so we've also been seeing the spread of diseases like chicken pox and meningitis, very scary scenarios that are playing out in Gaza right
now. We have our chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, following all of this from Tel Aviv.
I have to say, looking at these images of displaced Palestinians with makeshift shelters, at least tents, and seeing children and adults trying
to sweep away water, what seems like almost a Sisyphean task, almost impossible with the diseases and everything that we have been hearing,
Alex.
Really tough to look at and really tough to comprehend, frankly.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It is. It is a catastrophe that frankly these humanitarian organizations are running out
of superlatives to describe.
As someone from the U.N. said the other day, just when you think things cannot get any more apocalyptic, they do.
The health care system, the hospitals, everything is falling apart. There is not nearly enough aid going in. You have this extraordinary massive
humanity that is on the move. You have 85 percent, almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip, who are fleeing the fighting and have been
displaced.
So many of them converging on the southern part of Gaza around the city of Rafah to get away from the fighting, that has generally moved south from
the northern part of the Gaza Strip now toward the southern city of Khan Yunis.
And there have been shelters there that were set up by some of the humanitarian organizations. But they aren't nearly enough. They are
overflowing.
[10:15:00]
MARQUARDT: People camping outside, putting together tents with whatever pieces of plastic and nylon and whatever tarps that they can find to create
tents. You have entire families, nine or more people, packed into these tents.
And, Eleni, at night it gets cold. Yes, this is the Middle East but it is cold at night. And then you have the inclement weather, the rain on top of
that. Yesterday, we saw these storms here in Tel Aviv and the same in Gaza.
I've not seen rainfall like that in a very long time. It has created flooding. And you can see those pictures of people wading in water up to
their ankles, sometimes higher, up to their knees. It's going into the tents.
When this war started two months ago, people were told to evacuate from the north and many of them listened. But that was two months ago. The weather
has changed. They left without many of their belongings. They left with that winter clothing so they don't have the proper clothing.
They are trying to create heat with fires, collecting whatever bits of plastic and wood that they can find.
And then in terms of the aid that's going in, clearly it is not nearly enough. And that is for a number of reasons. There is only one border
crossing that goes into Gaza. That is Rafah from Egypt. That was not built to have the hundreds of trucks needed per day go through it.
It can't cope with that amount. At the same time, once they do cross into Gaza, you have this chaotic situation, where people are swarming these
trucks because they are so desperately in need of aid.
The humanitarian groups can't drive those trucks any farther north and distribute the aid because of the intense fighting. So it is an incredibly
dire situation. More aid is needed and more gates and crossings are essentially needed to open up.
And that is why we are now seeing the White House very vocally telling Israel -- and, of course, the U.S. is Israel's biggest backer here -- that
they need to open that Kerem Shalom crossing I was at yesterday, which is now inspecting more aid.
But the U.S. saying that that needs to be opened up so that more aid can get in. It is truly a horrendous situation that is only getting worse by
the hour, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yes. Alex Marquardt, great to see you, thank. You
Losing troops and equipment, we will have more on the incredible price Russia is paying on the battlefield for its war on Ukraine. U.S.
intelligence experts say it is a big setback for Moscow. That is coming up right after the break.
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GIOKOS: Ukraine's president is taking his push for more military aid to Europe. The E.U. is considering another $50 billion to help Ukraine
continue to stave off Russia's invasion. In the U.S. yesterday, President Joe Biden again called on Congress to unfreeze $61 billion in funds.
But on both fronts there is new reluctance. This as Russia renews its strikes on the Ukrainian capital, hitting Kyiv again overnight. The mayor
says that 53 people were wounded.
[10:20:00]
GIOKOS: And we are hearing new signs of the staggering toll that the war is taking on the Kremlin. A declassified U.S. intelligence report saying
that some 315,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
That is equivalent to nine out of 10 active duty troops before the war; 2,200 out of 3,500 tanks have also been lost and 4,400 or nearly one-third
of infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers have been destroyed. CNN's Katie Bo Lillis has been working the story for us and she
joins us now from the U.S. Capitol.
These are really staggering numbers and seeing the impact that it's had on Russia and its ability and its resources and its stock in terms of what
Vladimir Putin has thrown at this but also the loss of life here.
And what does this mean for Russia's ability to continue?
KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty incredible figures here about the toll that this conflict has taken on the original set of ground troops
that Russia had at its disposal at the beginning of this conflict.
Now it's important to understand that Russia has been able to defray some of these losses. They have relied on groups like the Wagner Group, bringing
in convict fighters. They've also been able to launch a number of rounds of conscription. They have relaxed some of their mobilization and recruitment
efforts.
So Russia's continued to throw bodies at this fight and add manpower to this fight but nevertheless -- and I want to quote from this assessment
directly.
The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that the war has, quote, "sharply set back 15 years of Russian effort to modernize its ground
force."
As of late November, according to this assessment, Russia has lost over a quarter of its preinvasion stockpiles of ground forces equipment, which has
reduced the complexity and scale of Russian offensive operations, which have failed to make any major gains in Ukraine since early 2022.
So again, having a big impact on the Russian military but I think the important piece of context to keep in mind here is that the U.S.
intelligence community still believes that Putin thinks he can outwit, outlast, outwait U.S. import, that essentially the West is going to
eventually get tired of the support that it's providing Ukraine.
And Russia will essentially be able to do what it has done in past wars, which is achieve victory through just sheer volume, right?
They are just going to keep throwing human beings at this. And certainly the number of men in -- fighting age men, who are available to Russia to
call up, is significant. So this is a real concern I think for the Ukrainians.
And, of course, if you're Vladimir Putin right now, there are some signs that that strategy of patience may pay off. Here in Washington, of course,
the big story is that the support, the military and economic support that the United States has been providing Ukraine is in peril.
You have the White House warning that if Congress does not move to pass an additional package of military and economic support for Ukraine, that U.S.
support may be in very real danger here.
You have a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill, who have expressed increasing skepticism, if not outright rejection, of additional spending
for Ukraine and now lawmakers appearing increasingly unlikely to pass a package prior to the holiday break.
GIOKOS: Brilliant work, thank you so much for that story, Katie Bo Lillis for us.
Now the whereabouts of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny are still unknown to his legal team. His trial was postponed Tuesday, one day after his team
said that they lost contact.
The jailed Russian opposition leader was believed to be imprisoned in a penal colony east of Moscow. Supporters of Navalny claim that his
incarceration is politically motivated and that his arrest was a attempt to stifle his criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The U.S. President's son is on Capitol Hill after being subpoenaed by a U.S. congressional committee. The U.S. House Oversight Committee has
subpoenaed Hunter Biden for a closed-door deposition.
But as we just heard in the last hour, Hunter Biden and his lawyers say that he is willing to testify but only in public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTER BIDEN, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S SON: For six years, I've been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine, shouting, "Where's Hunter?"
Well, here's my answer. I am here. Let me state as clearly as I can: my father was not financially involved in my business, not as a practicing
lawyer, not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with the Chinese private businessmen, not in my investments at home nor abroad and
certainly not as an artist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:25:00]
GIOKOS: Well, Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to answer questions as part of the committee's escalated impeachment inquiry into his father, President
Joe Biden. In the past, House Republicans have threatened contempt of Congress if he did not appear.
The U.S. Supreme Court is wading back into the hot button issue of abortion. It has just announced that it will take up in appeal from the
Biden administration, which wants to maintain access to a widely used abortion drug. This sets the court on a track to make a major nationwide
ruling on whether or not the drug can be used.
Just ahead on CONNECT THE WORLD, a rift between two staunch allies is spilling into public view. What that could mean for the Middle East as well
as Washington.
And two Asian nations promising a new era of cooperation after decades of mistrust and tensions at sea. We will be right back.
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GIOKOS (voice-over): Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Eleni Giokos. Your headlines this hour.
A historic climate deal in Dubai, nearly 200 countries have forged an agreement that includes an unprecedented call to transition away from
fossil fuels. But several loose ends remained. The deal reached earlier today at the COP28 summit fall short of requiring the world to phase out of
coal, oil and gas.
Nations and climate advocates have that.
The Israeli military now says that nine soldiers were killed in a single incident in northern Gaza, as the ongoing battle against Hamas expands.
Meantime Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.
Israel and the U.S. were two of only 10 votes against 153 nations who voted in favor of the nonbinding resolution.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking Europe for more urgent military aid to help fight Russia. And yesterday in the U.S., President
Biden again urged Congress to free up $61 billion for Ukraine. He promised the U.S. would continue to help Kyiv, quote, "as long as we can."
[10:30:00]
GIOKOS: U.S. officials telling CNN that President Biden plans to meet very soon with the families of Americans believed to have been abducted by
Hamas. As we watch for this event at the White House, which could come this hour, we are also seeing tensions between the U.S. president and Israeli
prime minister growing more public.
As you will know from watching this program, the Biden administration's tone on Israel appears to be shifting. Mr. Biden warning that Israel is
losing international support for its campaign against Hamas. Arlette Saenz is standing by for us at the White House.
Arlette, it is a significant shift in terms of what we have been seeing. The words that were used, "indiscriminate bombing," is very notable. And
this, of course, being said in public. One wonders what happens behind those doors.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really represents this remarkable shift in the position between the United States and Israel. We
have seen President Biden in the past, standing shoulder to shoulder with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they are waging this campaign
to root out Hamas in Gaza.
But over the course of the past few days, we have seen these breaks in that unity emerge. President Biden making these very stark and pointed comments
in an offcamera, closed-door fundraiser.
Those are areas where Biden tends to speak a bit more freely. He told donors there that Israel is beginning to lose its support from the
international community due to its indiscriminate bombing.
That is a very notable way that the president has described what Israel is doing in Gaza at this moment. We know that, publicly and privately, Biden
has urged Netanyahu to take greater care, to try to protect civilian lives in Gaza as they are waging this campaign.
But there has been a lot of frustration from the international community about how Israel has proceeded. You start to see more countries, most
recently Canada, breaking from the U.S. and publicly calling for a full cease-fire at this moment.
And you also had some pretty pointed comments from Biden about Netanyahu and his hardline government. He said that Netanyahu has to change but he is
limited by the conservative government that is currently in place at this moment.
There are also these very public disagreements about the path forward for what happens the day after this campaign against Hamas ends. Netanyahu
saying that he disagrees with the U.S. suggestions about the Palestinian Authority coming back in a revitalized way.
The U.S. noting that Netanyahu's current government does not support a two- state solution. So these are all areas that both the U.S. and Israel are publicly now having to navigate as that rift is now occurring.
Now I will also note that, in just a short while, we expect President Biden to meet for the first time face to face with the families of those eight
American hostages, still being held by Hamas.
Some will be here in person, some joining virtually. And it comes at a time when sources say that Hamas so far has been unresponsive in trying to get
those hostage negotiations back on track. Qatar has tried reaching out, offering some ideas of potential releases.
But so far, there has been no response. So that is also another angle that President Biden is trying to navigate as he is trying to assure these
families that they are still working and doing all that they can forget their loved ones back home.
GIOKOS: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you.
Let's get you up to speed on some of the stories that are on our radar right now.
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GIOKOS (voice-over): Venezuela's president says he will attend a meeting Thursday with Guyana's president over a territorial dispute. The meeting is
set to take place in the Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Since 2018, the International Court of Justice has been reviewing the dispute, which involves an oil rich region and will hold a trial in the
spring.
British lawmakers have advance the government's controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing. And that is despite
widespread division among conservative lawmakers.
The draft bill passed its first parliamentary hurdle on Tuesday and more than 2 dozen right-wing Tory MPs abstained over objections as the bill is
marked tough enough.
And Hollywood is mourning the loss of actor Andre Braugher, who died on Monday at the age of 61 after a brief illness. Braugher made a name for
himself playing a soldier in the 1989 Civil War film, "Glory." He also had an extensive television career, winning two Emmys.
Well, Vietnam's leader is calling a visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping a new historic milestone. The two nations have struck dozens of deals for
cooperation during Mr. Xi's two-day visit to Hanoi. As Marc Stewart reports, some of those agreements could ease tensions in the South China
Sea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If you look at Vietnam and China, they are certainly neighbors. They are both Communist nations.
[10:35:01]
STEWART: They have also had rivalry but as Chinese state media has put it, there is a new positioning of relations.
STEWART (voice-over): This was Xi Jinping's first visit in six years and it was full of optics: a 21 gun salute, children waved flags on the
streets as well as a serenade by a military band.
On Wednesday, president Xi met with Vietnam's president and prime minister. The South China Sea has been a source of contention between the two
nations. But according to media reports, they have agreed to build trust and cooperation, including through maritime patrols in the Gulf of Tonkin,
according to state media.
Also a hotline will be set up to handle incidents from fishing. Other agreements were signed and there was further discussion of economic
cooperation between the two nations.
As far as the timing of this, it was in September U.S. President Joe Biden visited Vietnam, a mission that in part led to a stronger relationship
between the two nations at a time when tensions remain high between China and the United States -- Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: And still to come, Argentina is taking emergency action against a struggling economy just days after the country's new president steps into
his new role.
And we have got a new key piece of inflation data in the United States.
Which direction are manufacturers' prices going?
We will explain after this.
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GIOKOS: Argentina is set to devalue the peso by more than 50 percent as part of emergency reforms to fight hyperinflation, as well as boosting its
struggling economy. The government also plans to make cuts to public works projects and energy subsidies.
The sweeping reforms come just days into the term of the new president, Javier Milei. He campaigned on a pledge to get rid of the peso and replace
it with the U.S. dollar.
All right, Patrick Oppmann with -- we do not have Patrick Oppmann. We will bring you analysis on the story --
(CROSSTALK)
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you do.
GIOKOS: -- in just a little bit.
All right, we do. Oh, we have you.
(LAUGHTER)
GIOKOS: Confusion in the control room, Patrick. Listen, I was just looking at what the peso did this morning, down by over 50 percent in open trade.
[10:40:02]
GIOKOS: It is pretty phenomenal. And also, I had to do a double take when I saw what the benchmark interest rate is sitting at 133 percent. You
cannot make this stuff up. This is hyperinflationary. I want you to take me through the numbers right now and what Javier Milei is trying to achieve.
OPPMANN: Well, Javier Milei is keeping his promise to bring some really tough medicine to the Argentine economy. And, of course, medicine that we
all knew was going to taste bitter but perhaps not quite this bitter.
Because, of course, it hits people's pocketbooks. But really, this is acknowledging the reality. The Argentine peso officially was at a little
bit less than 400 to the dollar. On the black market, it's closer to 1,000.
So this is essentially bringing the peso closer to what everyone knows is the reality, the actual exchange rate that the people have been using.
That hasn't taken the sting away for people that are barely getting by. Argentina is a country that, over the years, people there have compared
themselves and their economy to European countries, not the rest of Latin America.
Now it is a country where there is a 40 percent poverty rate, is really studying how quickly Argentina has fallen. Of course this is a crisis that
has been going on for years. But really in the last several years with hyperinflation has just gotten so much worse.
So these are the really tough steps that the new president, Javier Milei, says his country has to take, devaluing the peso to this degree. He has
talked about adopting the U.S. dollar. But the country does not have enough U.S. dollars to do that, at least for the moment.
So in the meantime, they're cutting public works spending. They will be reducing the number of government ministries. There will be a lot less
government spending, which traditionally has provided a lot of people with a lot of jobs, has kept the economy afloat.
And Javier Milei, you know, when he took office, he said the era of decadence is over. The country cannot afford to keep running up these kinds
of deficits. His economy minister said that there is no money left.
And essentially this new administration has been left with no money from the previous administration and, in their words, there's never been an
incoming administration that has had so little money to work with.
Javier Milei, like all new presidents, has enjoyed somewhat of a honeymoon. But it seems that the honeymoon is not going to last very long. These are
tough economic measures that are going to feel -- many people will be feeling the pain very soon.
GIOKOS: Yes, very tough. You have to really embark on a hardcore structural reform in order to try to make the books balance, especially
when you've been printing money to try to avoid a default. Patrick Oppmann, great to see you, thank you for that story.
A stunning recall today from Tesla. Elon Musk's automaker is recalling almost every car it has produced, some 2 million vehicles, so that it can
fix a problem with the autopilot. U.S. regulators say that Tesla needs to ensure that drivers still pay attention while the autopilot is in use.
They say that mistakes by the Tesla autopilot have resulted in nearly 1,000 crashes in U.S., including multiple deaths.
Data just out in the United States showing inflation slowed on an annual basis last month when it came to wholesale prices. The producer price index
rose at a rate of 0.9 percent annually in November. And that is a smaller rise than anticipated.
The cost of making goods is an important number to watch as economists and the Federal Reserve try to gauge where the country stands in its fight
against inflation. Vanessa Yurkevich with us from New York to break down the numbers.
And I was just looking at that graph, it's really going in the right direction. It's going much lower. And when you see prices at the factory
gates, it is important to see this downward projection, because it also is reflecting the cost of producing goods, which includes anything to do with
fossil fuels.
Is it enough though to try and stop the Federal Reserve in its tracks in terms of what it could do with interest rates?
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It's looking like it. This was a very, very good economic report, essentially beating
expectations, coming in lower than most analysts were projecting and really cooling.
And that cooling effect that we want to keep seeing. So month over months, change for producers and what businesses pay from October to November,
unchanged, 0 percent. You can see that graph, there. And that's on an annual basis.
So on an annual basis, coming in at 0.9 percent, those are really good numbers. That is actually better than some of the numbers that we saw pre-
pandemic.
[10:45:02]
YURKEVICH: Those cooling effects were led by changes in energy. So energy prices cooling off, gas prices here in the U.S., people are paying less at
the pump. This is important because, ultimately, producers and businesses, Eleni, pass these costs down to the consumer.
And so it is very encouraging to see producers paying less and ultimately, hopefully, that will trickle down to the consumer.
GIOKOS: Look, the big question is, is the Fed likely to hold steady with better than expected economic numbers, specifically on the inflation front?
Jobs is another question. But we always know an increase in interest rates takes a while to really kick in and reflect in the real economy.
What are we expecting by the Fed?
YURKEVICH: We are expecting to hear that the Fed is pausing rates. As you said, they want to see the previous 11 rate hikes work their way through
the economy. Presumably they have liked what they have seen on a lot of these key inflation reports.
Inflation has been cooling. But I think the most entertaining part of what we are going to see today is at 2:30, when Jerome Powell takes questions
from reporters. Reporters are really going to try to get into the mind of Jerome Powell and the Fed to understand why they made the decision that
they made today.
What do they think about inflation and the economy?
Ultimately, when will they cut rates?
You can see the markets there are up, really responding to what they believe the Fed is going to do, which is pause rates. People want to know
about rate cuts. When you start to cut rates, you start to bring down mortgage rates for Americans.
You start to bring down the interest on student loans, car loans. These are things that people pay every single month.
But Jerome Powell holds his cards close to his vest. He has also indicated that prices are still too high here in the U.S. and that there is still
work yet to do. The consensus today is we are going to hear about a pause. This is the last meeting of the year, a pause this year. We will see what
happens next year. He has left nothing off of the table.
GIOKOS: I know. There is so much global uncertainty as well. I'm sure he is looking at that very closely. When to unwind the 11 rate hikes and how,
that is always a question. Vanessa Yurkevich, great to see you. Thank you.
Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD, football matches in Turkiye are set to resume after a brutal attack on a referee. The shocking detail on who hit
him right after this.
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GIOKOS: We are back. Football in Turkiye is set to resume next Tuesday. The Turkish Football Federation indefinitely postponed matches across the
country after a referee was attacked following a game on Monday.
The man who punched him was the president of a top Turkish football club. He was arrested and stepped down following the attack. You can see the
images right there. We want to go straight to Istanbul and bring in CNN's Scott McLean with the latest details.
We know things can get fiery between coaches and referees but this is really extraordinary to see this playing out. Give us a sense of how this
is now affecting football in Turkiye.
[10:50:00]
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the moment, Eleni, it is actually suspended. It was indefinite. Now we know the players will go back
to the pitch next week.
Today the Turkish Football Federation did not give a precise rationale on why they had decided that. But they did say that when matches resume across
the country, there will be added security. There will also be beefed-up sanctions, beefed-up penalties for any disciplinary issues that come up.
As for the referee himself, he was released from hospital. His doctors say he is in good spirits, in good shape, beyond the swelling in his eye.
Frankly, he is not the only thing or the only person to be damaged by this. Plenty of people say this whole incident is a real black mark on Turkish
football.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCLEAN (voice-over): A moment of rage from a top tier club boss becomes a moment of shame for Turkish football after his Ankaragucu club concedes a
goal late in the match on Monday, Faruk Koca storms onto the pitch and punches the referee in the face.
Two others kick him while he is down. Afterwards, the referee emerges from the scrum with a very noticeable black eye. The ref is escorted off the
field under police protection. The club president needs none as he waves to the crowd.
On Tuesday, Koca was arrested and charged with injuring a public official. He told Turkish state news agency that his violent outburst was because of
the referee's decisions during the match. A day later he stepped down.
The incident has attracted nationwide condemnation. Even the Turkish president called the referee in his hospital bed. His doctor explained the
prognosis.
"There is a small crack," he said. "But what makes us happy is there was no brain damage."
The Turkish Football Federation has suspended all professional matches until next week. But in Istanbul, some fans are more shocked by that
decision than the violence itself. Several pointed to this incident in 2015. Shots were fired at a team bus after a match, injuring the driver.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ball club very much his car was literally shot by firearms. And the league wasn't suspended. Now it is suspended just because
one referee is attacked?
I do not support it. I think it is very wrong.
MCLEAN (voice-over): The referee association called it a black mark on Turkish football and the culmination of an increasing level of abuse
directed their way.
"We hope that this incident, to which the entire public should react and condemn, will become a turning point," it said in a statement.
While fans in Turkiye widely condemned the violence, some also insist that there is another serious problem.
MCLEAN: Do you think the problem is the referees are not very good?
"They are not trained very well," he says.
It is not just Turkiye's soul searching. The incident has sparked a wider debate across Europe about respect for referees.
DARREN LEWIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a criminal act within a sporting occasion. But I do not think any country in European football is blameless
in terms of the lack of respect for the people who officiate our games.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCLEAN: Interestingly, the Turkish Football Federation also promised to take steps to improve the level of officiating in this country. We will
also know more from the federation about what type of disciplinary action it is planning to take against Koca.
It is completely separate from the criminal charges against him. One other thing to mention, we heard from the chair of the FIFA Referees Committee
today, who called images that we saw on Monday night horrific.
He also points out that it is just as horrific how many thousands of referees, working at lower levels and enduring all kinds of physical and
verbal abuse on a regular basis. Obviously, those cases do not get near as much attention.
GIOKOS: Yes. All right, Scott McLean, thank you so much.
In tonight's parting shots, we focus on transport in the COP28 host city. Anyone who has attended the summit here in the U.S. will have noticed the
traffic. Like all big cities, Dubai is full of people, trying to get from point A to point B, mostly in cars but there are green alternatives. CNN
Academy participant, Nigel Tucura (ph), looks at one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIGEL TUCURA (PH), CNN ACADEMY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the midst of the carbon chaos, an eco-friendly resident has joined multitudes of
escooter users running through the streets in dedicated lanes, emission free.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before I lived in Dubai, I actually used scooters as well. I was happy that they were in Dubai. You don't feel like there are
any emissions at all. So you feel like you are helping the environment.
For me, going from station to station, metro station, is very important. I use them all the time.
[10:55:00]
TUCURA (PH) (voice-over): After a highly successful trial phase in 2020, the Roads and Transport Authority permitted rental scooters with designated
lanes at a 20 kilometer an hour speed limit from April 2022.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At most it is like a 5 minute walk to a scooter. They around every station basically. I have apps so I can see a map where the
scooters are and plan that way, plan accordingly. It can be a little intimidating with the cars. That's the only thing. But people are generally
pretty understanding. There is not that much conflict.
TUCURA (PH) (voice-over): E-scooters are a major victory for the city of Dubai's net zero emissions by 2050 target.
Could they be the answer to dropping emissions in the megacity?
If more residents park their cars and use scooters, over time, the answer to that question will be yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: That is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi. Stay with CNN. "STATE OF THE RACE WITH KASIE HUNT" is up next.
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