Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

CNN's Clarissa Ward Witnesses Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza; Biden Administration Staffers Call for Ceasefire at Vigil; EU Leaders Meet on Ukraine Funding, Accession Talks; Bank of England Expects Rates to Drop of Slightly in 2024; Red Bull's F1 Team Attempts Pitch Black Pit Stop. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired December 14, 2023 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It is 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I am Eleni Giokos and this is "Connect the World". Coming up this hour,

startling new U.S. Intel saying nearly half of all bombs dropped on Gaza are so called dumb bombs. This as CNN gets rare access to Southern Gaza. We

have a special report coming up.

Russian President Putin gives his much anticipated end of your press conference. Moscow says Russians submitted more than 2 million questions.

And a new trial shows an experimental vaccine having success against certain types of cancer.

Israel's military says its forces are battling Hamas militants in close quarters combat in locations across Gaza. That says hospitals inside the

besieged territory report high numbers of civilian casualties. Concerns for civilians in the crossfire being pushed even higher by U.S. intelligence

assessment that nearly half of the Israeli munitions dropped on Gaza are in precise so called dumb bombs.

Our Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward is with me now to bring us her reporting from inside of Gaza, great to see you, Clarissa.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Great to be really with you.

GIOKOS: You've got incredible reporting for us. You were able to get inside of Gaza. You went to one of the field hospitals by the UAE. And you've seen

incredible things that give you sort of a glimpse and insight into what we've been hearing from humanitarian agencies.

WARD: And it really was just a glimpse. We've been trying for weeks and weeks and weeks now to get into Southern Gaza. It hasn't been possible for

international journalists to get in. We have been relying on the extraordinary heroic and incredibly brave work of journalists inside Gaza

who have paid an unbelievably high price for the work that they have been doing.

It's one of the deadliest conflicts for journalists, more than 60 journalists killed inside Gaza. But we were able to get in finally on

Tuesday with volunteers, medical volunteers who are working in this field hospital that has been set up by the Emiratis by the UAE.

And of course, we were just quite close to the border in the Southern part of Gaza. But the south now is the focus of Israel's military operations.

And so you're seeing an exacerbation of an already dire humanitarian catastrophe. And also of course, record numbers of civilian casualties as

we saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (voice-over): You don't have to search for tragedy in Gaza. It finds you on every street, strewn with trash and stagnant water, desolate and

foreboding.

WARD: So we've just crossed the border into Southern Gaza. This is the first time we've actually been able to get into Gaza since October 7th, and

we are now driving to a field hospital that has been set up by the UAE.

WARD (voice-over): Up until now Israel and Egypt have made access for international journalists next to impossible and you can see why.

WARD: Since October 7 the Israeli military says that has hit Gaza with more than 22,000 strikes. That by far surpasses anything we've seen in modern

warfare in terms of intensity and ferocity, and we really honestly are just getting a glimpse of it here.

WARD (voice-over): Despite Israel's heavy bombardment, there are people out on the streets, the crowd outside a bakery. Where else can they go? Nowhere

is safe in Gaza.

DR. ABDULLAH AL-NAQBI, UAE FIELD HOSPITAL: Used to be a stadium.

WARD (voice-over): Arriving at the Emirati field hospital, we meet Dr. Abdullah Al-Naqbi. No sooner does our tour begin when.

WARD: And this is what you hear all the time now?

DR. AL-NAQBI: Yes at least 20 times a day.

WARD: At least 20 times a day.

DR. AL-NAQBI: Maybe more sometimes. I think we're used to it.

WARD (voice-over): One thing none of the doctors here have gotten used to is the number of children they are treating. The U.N. estimates that some

two-thirds of those killed in this round of the conflict have been women and children. 8-old-year Jinan (ph) was lucky enough to survive a strike on

her family home that crushed her femur but spared her immediate family.

She says she's not in pain. So that's cool. Her mother Hiba (ph) was out when it happened. I went to the hospital to look for her, she says. And I

came here and I found her here. The doctors told me what happened with her and I made sure that she's OK, thank God.

[09:05:00]

They bombed the house in front of us and then our home, Jinan tells us, I was sitting next to my grandfather. And my grandfather held me and my uncle

was fine. So he is the one who took us out. But Dr. Ahmed Almazrouei says it is hard not to.

DR. AHMED ALMAZROUEI, UAE FIELD HOSPITAL: I work with all people, like adults, but the children, something touching your heart.

WARD (voice-over): Touches your heart and tests your faith in humanity. As we leave Jinan, Dr. Al-Naqbi comes back with the news of casualties

arriving from the strike just 10 minutes earlier.

DR. AL-NAQBI: So we just got a -- right now, two un-mutated young male from just bomb --

WARD: From the -- we just heard, from the bomb we just heard?

DR. AL-NAQBI: That is my understanding.

WARD: OK.

DR. AL-NAQBI: They will arrive to our --

WARD (voice-over): A man and a 13-year-old boy are wheeled in both missing limbs, both in a perilous state. What's your name? What's your name, the

doctor asks. The notes provided by the paramedics are smeared with blood. Tunicae (ph) improvised with a bandage. Since the field hospital opened

less than two weeks ago, it's been inundated with patients, 130 of their 150 beds are already full.

WARD: So let me understand this. You are now basically the only hospital around that still has some beds.

DR. AL-NAQBI: I guess, yes. Or maybe I'm very sure of that. But they are telling me one of the hospitals with a capacity of 200, they are

accommodating 1000 right now. And the next door hospital I'm not very sure. He said like 50 to 100 have maybe 400 to 500 patients. So at one occasion

he called me, he said they have three patients in each bed. Please take them. I said, send as many as you can.

WARD: I mean we've been here 15 minutes; this is already what we're seeing.

DR. AL-NAQBI: This is -- you heard it. You see it.

WARD (voice-over): In every bed another gut punch, less than two-years-old Amir (ph) still doesn't know that his parents and siblings were killed on

the strike that disfigured him. Yesterday he saw a nurse that looked like his -- he kept screaming, "Dad, Dad, Dad". Amir is still too young to

comprehend the horror all around him.

But 20-year-old Lama (ph) understands it all too well. 10 weeks ago, she was studying engineering at university, helping to plan her sister's

wedding. Today she is recovering from the amputation of her right leg. Her family followed Israeli military orders and fled from the north to the

south. But the house where they were seeking shelter was hit in a strike.

The world isn't listening to us, she says. Nobody cares about us. We had been dying for over 60 days dying from the bombing. And nobody did

anything. Words of condemnation delivered in a thin rasp. But does anyone hear them. Like Ghazni, Aleppo and Mariupol, Gaza will go down as one of

the great horrors of modern warfare.

It's getting dark, time for us to leave, a privilege the vast majority of Gazans do not have. Our brief glimpse from a window on to hell is ending,

as a new chapter in this ugly conflict unfolds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WARD (on camera): So the civilian death toll now has been all too high of the roughly 18,000 people who have been killed, approximately two thirds of

them are civilians. That is about 11,800. And just to give you some sort of sense of perspective, Eleni.

If you look at the first year of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and that whole period in 2003, U.S. forces according to independent researchers

killed about 7700 civilians. Indeed in the whole 20 years of war in Afghanistan the U.S. is estimated to have killed 12,000 civilians.

[09:10:00]

So already in just 2.5 months, you're talking about 11,800 civilians, it is truly astonishing and deeply disturbing, Eleni.

GIOKOS: It is absolutely. I mean, we know that humanitarian agencies have called it a graveyard for children. We know the numbers of killed children

is far greater than what we've seen in conflicts all around the world every single year since 2019. This is extraordinary.

And also just listening to you knows, eight-year-old Jinan, you know, listening to her story, and then the little boy, almost two-years-old. It's

really heartbreaking just to see the overall impact on their life.

WARD: And you have to wonder as well, what happens to these children? What kind of future do they have? What kind of hopes or dreams can they have? I

mean, it's an impossible situation. They're trapped. They're being bombarded. There's not enough food. There's not enough water. There's not

enough of anything.

And of course, the real danger and I've seen this time and time again covering conflict for all of these years. The more you bomb and starve

people, the more you are likely in the long run to radicalize them. And I'm afraid honestly and candidly that that is inevitable fallout that we are

going to see from the brutality of this war.

GIOKOS: Look, you've been a very powerful voice covering so many different conflicts. And I remember your words, when you said you'd never seen

anything on the scale of Aleppo before. And you know it really reminds me of what we've been hearing from humanitarian agencies that they're saying

they have never seen anything on the scale of this before on the humanitarian fronts.

And they've been you know they are experts at dealing with conflicts. How would you describe what you saw in those -- here in Gaza?

WARD: I think what is so striking is just what a contained area this is and basically hermetically sealed, nowhere for people to move to. They were in

the north. They were told they had to go to the south. The north was being bombarded. They moved to the south. Then they found as in the case of Lama

that they were being bombed in the south. Then they were told, tried to go to the center.

Meanwhile, there's not enough fuel to power cars. You don't see any cars on the street. You see people with Donkey carts. And it's not safe to move

around anyway. And it's getting cold and it's raining and there's no proper medical care. The doctors are telling us extraordinary stories.

People dying of sepsis, for wounds that should be relatively easy to treat, but because the healthcare system has collapsed people are sadly paying a

very high price for injuries and illnesses that normally would be treatable.

GIOKOS: Only 11 hospitals are currently operationalized over the 34 in Gaza. You know look, we've just also heard from that intelligence reports

of half of the bombs going into Gaza are dumb bombs, so called dumb bombs. We had met into Palestinians in Egypt and they said they listened to the

IDF initially you know when they were told to move south and that they were bombed in Khan Yunis. You're hearing this report now of indiscriminate

bombing, as well.

Well, you were there you heard a strike and then you saw injured people coming in immediately almost after that strike as well. What is your then

assessment of what we'll be seeing in the next few weeks as international calls for a ceasefire seems to be amplified?

WARD: I do think that there's growing pressure on Israel coming diplomatically from all sides. We're seeing a definite shift in the

rhetoric coming out of the White House as well, which is notable because the U.S. has been such a staunch supporter of Israel throughout this. And

so the question becomes whether Israel will listen to the pressure that is mounting.

We'll look at reports like this one and the ones that have been put out by these brave journalists inside Gaza. And we'll try to do more to ensure

that more aid gets in that fewer civilians are killed. But I would just say based on the rhetoric that we've heard coming from Israel's leaders that

does not appear to be close to happening.

GIOKOS: Well, Clarissa Ward, thank you very much for your reporting. And we'll speak to you next hour again, thank you so much. Clarissa Ward with

us in studio here in Abu Dhabi. Well, you can head to cnn.com and you can read Clarissa and her team's story looking into the eyes of an orphan in

Gaza.

It's a rare glimpse inside the besieged enclave. It is tough to watch and it is also very difficult to read but incredibly important to see and our

thanks to Clarissa and her team for bringing us this very important story. Do head to the website to find out more of their reporting.

And meantime in Washington, dozens of Biden Administration staffers, including appointees and civil servants held a vigil in front of the White

House on Wednesday calling on President Biden to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Frustration is growing among staffers over how the President has responded to the war. One person speaking on behalf of the group said "The temporary

ceasefire ended 13 days ago, and we have been horrified to see the full resumption of killings, displacement and bombardment of Palestinian

civilians in Gaza. A temporary pause to this violence was never enough."

[09:15:00]

Meantime, Turkey's government is one of many around the world calling for a ceasefire. It's also warning of serious consequences if Israel targets

Hamas members inside Turkey. For more on this, let's bring in CNN's Scott McLean in Istanbul. And he's been speaking with the Turkish President's Top

Foreign Policy and Security Adviser about the Israel Hamas war,

Scott, great to see you, look Turkey has made no apologies for its ties to Hamas. Give me a sense of that has changed at all since the war began and

where we stand right now in terms of that relationship?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So Eleni, if that relationship has changed at all it certainly has not been broadcast publicly. Of course,

since the war began Turkey has been one of the most outspoken Middle Eastern countries when it comes to Israel. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

has called Israel a terrorist state, called the Prime Minister a war criminal but when it comes to Hamas, the tone is noticeably different.

And when I spoke to Erdogan's Chief Advisor for Security and Foreign Policy Akif Cagatay Kilic, he went out of his way to stress that look, Turkey does

not support in any way the killing of innocent people on either side of the conflict. But beyond that, there was no direct criticism of Hamas. Turkey

does not consider Hamas a terror group.

It has a permanent presence in Turkey. And there are even unconfirmed reports that suggest that the Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh may have been in

this country on October 7th when the attack began. I asked Kilic much about that. But one of my most pressing questions was the one that you alluded to

Eleni.

And that is what Israel has said and the Domestic Security Chief, and his vow to take out Hamas wherever they are, whether that's in Lebanon, Qatar

or right here in this country?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN: The Turkish officials had previously warned of serious consequences if Israel should carry out assassinations of Hamas members on Turkish soil.

I'm wondering if you can clarify what exactly serious consequences would be.

AKIF CAGATAY KILIC, CHIEF ADVISOR TO THE TURKISH PRESIDENT ON FOREIGN POLICY, SECURITY: I mean, I think it's pretty obvious what it means. I

mean, my President has made it very clear that any activity by any third country, including Israel by their intelligence services or any other

government agencies being conducted without any authorization or blessing from the host country in this case Turkey, would mean serious consequences.

And there could be political consequences, economic consequences. There could be also consequences regarding relationships that we have with

certain industrial issues. I mean, it's pretty far reaching what has been said from the Israeli side, that they would be basically assassinating

people in other countries I mean, this is basically a no go and unacceptable on any terms.

So I think the question should be rather, not what we are going to do or not to do, the question should be why Israel is in any way referring to

anything like this. And they should be stopped and refrained from referring to this thing.

MCLEAN: A lot of people in the West will wonder why Turkey has agreed to host Hamas members at all.

KILIC: Well, you see, they are asking that question today. But the issue is we have been trying to resolve the Palestinian Israeli conflict for a long

time now. And whether people like it or not, the fact is that Qatar (ph) and Hamas are part of this. They are part of the Palestinian people, and

they are part of this process.

MCLEAN: Was Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh in Turkey on October 7th?

KILIC: Well, I'm not totally aware of where he -- his whereabouts in the world. So I cannot answer on that.

MCLEAN: Is it possible that he was here?

KILIC: He might have been.

MCLEAN: And that wouldn't be an issue for Turkey?

KILIC: Like I said, they have been -- I mean we're talking on the issue in the light of today's events. But the reality is that in the past for

example, the Israeli government itself had asked us. And I'm referring to more than 10 years ago, to engage with Hamas to work with them.

Even Former Prime Ministers, as we see from our records, state records, have been asked by even Netanyahu to engage with Hamas. So we were trying

and we are still trying to bring about peace. We're doing whatever it takes to achieve that.

MCLEAN: But is Hamas just as welcome in Turkey today as they were on October 6th?

KILIC: Well you know, it depends on what you're trying to achieve or what you're trying to --

MCLEAN: Based on what you're trying to achieve.

KILIC: You're trying -- what we're trying is that, of course is a ceasefire in Gaza and also in Palestine. And if that needs to be done in Turkey, if

we have to provide a platform to do it, of course we will do that.

[09:20:00]

But I think the issue is not rather than where they are or what it is, at what time? The issue is how can we resolve the conflict that we're having

the war that we're having now?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCLEAN (on camera): Now Turkey has made clear it wants to see Israel prosecuted international courts for what it views as war crimes. But when I

asked Kilic whether he would also like to see Hamas held account for what it did on October 7th and beyond, he repeatedly deflected the question.

And he referenced a quote by the U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, when he said that the attacks by Hamas on October 7th did not happen in a

vacuum. And you heard him there also, Eleni just stressing that what Israel hopes to do in all of this is be a useful broker in any kind of a long term

peace arrangement.

GIOKOS: Scott McLean, thank you so much. Well, the freebies are ending for Ukraine. That is according to Vladimir Putin, who in his year end news

conference insists that Russia is not changing course in its invasion almost two years on, we'll explain right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country's goals in Ukraine remain the same in his year end news conference.

Putin defended the nearly two year war despite U.S. Intel reports that Moscow is hemorrhaging troops as well as equipment.

He again called for the "Demilitarization and de-nazification of Ukraine". Putin said Russian forces are advancing on almost all fronts. And he warned

Ukraine's time is running out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Today, Ukraine produces almost nothing. They're trying to preserve some thing, but they produced almost nothing.

They get everything excuse the bad manners for free. But this freebie may end someday and apparently it is ending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Indeed Ukraine desperately needs an influx of cash to keep the fight going. EU Leaders today are holding a critical meeting. And they're

weighing whether to free up to $50 billion in new military aid for Ukraine. Kyiv is also hoping for the green lights for talks on joining the EU.

CNN's Bianca Nobilo is in Brussels for us for that high stakes meeting. Bianca really good to see you. We've just heard Vladimir Putin's end-of-

year conference. We also know the West, especially the United States, very distracted with what's happening in Israel. In the meantime, President

Zelenskyy you know really has been talking about how much Ukraine needs to keep the war going. Is he going to get what he needs?

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps he'll get some of what he needs. But the mood music at the moment for this summit is not particularly

optimistic for President Zelenskyy. Just to give you some idea of how this is going? The summit was supposed to start this morning at 9 am and finish

Friday afternoon, that's tomorrow.

[09:25:00]

At the moment people are whispering about it possibly going into Sunday because there's that much discussion and disagreement over two key

elements. The first is a $50 billion sorry, 50 billion euro package of economic aid to Ukraine. And there's also a lethal aid discussion for

Ukraine.

And on top of all that, it's whether or not to formally green light Ukraine's path of a session towards the European Union. Most outspoken on

opposing that has been Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, Putin's closest EU ally, take a listen to what he said when he was entering the

building behind me this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIKTOR ORBAN, HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER: Enlargement is not a theoretical issue. Enlargement is a merit based, legally detailed process which have

preconditions. We have set up seven preconditions. And even by the evaluation of the commission, three out of the seven is not fulfilled. So

there is no reason to negotiate membership of Ukraine out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBILO: Now Eleni, politicians and diplomats sometimes privately, sometimes publicly have been noting how it might be a little rich for Viktor Orban to

have these specific issues with Ukraine. Particularly around corruption and rule of law when of course, Hungary has been sanctioned on those fronts by

the European Union.

And in a very -- in a simultaneous development last night, so that would be Wednesday night, there was 10 billion euros worth of EU funds unfrozen from

Hungary out of 30 billion euros that had been frozen because of concerns over rule of law.

Now, some have criticized that saying it's a sign of bribery or bargaining with Hungary because they need Hungary on side. They need that unanimity.

They want to pass that 50 billion euro package for Ukraine. Or if Ukraine is to begin that journey towards European Union membership to send a

message to Russia to send a message of European Unity, Orban is the one who gets to decide that at this summit it seems Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right, Bianca Nobilo, good to see you. Thank you. Well, in order for the U.S. to pass aid for Ukraine, Democrats are having to embrace

restrictive immigration policies. U.S. President Joe Biden has wrestled with migrants surges along the Mexico border.

The Trump Administration tried to severely curtail asylum and expand deportations. While Democrats criticized Trump's actions in the past, many

will now have to consider supporting similar policies under the Biden Administration.

Here to talk about those restrictive immigration policies, CNN's Lauren Fox, and she joins us now live from Capitol Hill. Take us through some of

these new policies, these restrictive policies that Joe Biden will have to be considering or implementing in order to assist in helping release more

aid for Ukraine.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, this is a very interesting and complicated moment for Democrats and for the Biden

Administration, specifically in part because they are now facing a moment in which in order to get Ukraine aid, in order to unlock additional funding

they are going to need to agree to some robust policy changes along the southern border.

And as part of those discussions, they are talking about doing things like raising the credible fear standard when migrants are seeking asylum in the

United States. They're talking about potentially increasing the number of expedited removals from the United States and taking up the number of

deportations in the U.S.

And those are all issues where the details really matter. But also they're starting to get a lot of pushback from those on the left from the

progressive end of the Democratic Party. People who are arguing these are policies that we fought against during the Trump Administration.

And here the Democrats are in these negotiations, potentially talking about bringing some of these things back. Or at least increasing the restrictions

at a time when the Biden Administration argues that yes, there are a number of apprehensions that are up along the U.S./Mexico border.

So there's a complicated moment for the Biden Administration. It's a complicated moment for Democrats. But it's also important to point out that

this is coming at a time when the Biden Administration wants to ensure that more funding is unlocked for Ukraine. And also, they're looking at the next

election cycle realizing that this could have an impact on the President as well.

GIOKOS: Lauren Fox, thank you so much. Well, two drug giants are taking on skin cancer with an experimental new treatment. It involves an mRNA vaccine

from a donor, how high risk patients are reacting, that is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". Now two major announcements today from Central Banks,

the Bank of England has maintained its interest rates at 5.25 percent. And the European Central Bank has also kept its three key rates unchanged.

Crucially, neither bank hinted at further rate rises, although pushback against significant cuts.

Now the decisions follow the U.S. Federal Reserve saying yesterday had forecasted lower rates in 2024, as well as beyond markets are reacting to

the news possessively. In fact as well, as you can see European markets are all in the green the FTSE 100 up 1.5 percent. The DOW Jones from what I can

see as well, it's just jumped more than 100 points to fresh records, as well.

It's all looking good, Anna Stewart. A lot of excitement it seems. For a change when it comes to what invasion could be doing. Listen, the U.S. has

signaled the Federal Reserve is signaling that we could see rate cuts next year. That's really good news.

The ECB and BOE are little bit more tempered in their approach and to what we'll be seeing. But listen, this is perhaps pointing in the right

direction. Could we see an unwinding of these higher interest rates next year?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, we probably will. But what's so interesting is the difference in language we've had on both sides of the

pond because yesterday, Jay Powell pretty much almost declared victory on a soft landing for the U.S., which at one stage was looking completely

impossible, I would say.

Now looking at rate cuts, but it's certainly not being discussed either here in the UK or in the Eurozone either. In fact both decisions today and

what is known as Super Thursday, actually a lot of European Central Bank action actually kicked off with Norway, which actually raised rates, so a

complete change of tack really from the Fed.

In terms of the Bank of England, there's really no change in terms of restrictive language at all. In fact, quite a cautious tone from the Bank

of England Governor, he said rates will be sufficiently restrictive for sufficiently long, there is still some way to go. I think there are fears

that the UK is dancing with recession at the moment.

And then you come to the ECB. Now both the Eurozone and the UK are facing sticky wage growth issues which of course feeds into inflation and that was

definitely a core message from both Andrew Bailey in the Bank of England and Christine Lagarde from the Fed. Interesting with Christine Lagarde, she

was very clear about whether there was any discussion on rate cuts. Poor thing is, recovering from COVID, so she has a croaky voice, but take a

listen.

[09:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE LAGARDE, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK PRESIDENT: We did not. We did not discuss rate cuts at all. No discussion, no debate on this issue. And I

think everybody in the room takes the view that between hike and cut, there's a whole plateau, whole beach of hold. You know it's like -- I don't

know solid liquid gas. You don't go from solid to gas without going through the liquid phase. This was just not discussed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: We are in the liquid phase. So don't expect any moves on rates according to Christine Lagarde, despite the fact that they have revised

down inflation particularly for next year, coming in at 2.7 percent is the expectation and actually under target now for 2026. I have to say Eleni,

despite all of the caution from both of the Governors of the Central Banks, markets are pricing in multiple cuts next year.

GIOKOS: I love that a whole beach of hold. Yeah. I love Christine Lagarde and how she explains that anything to do with the kind of economics and of

course, interest rates. Anna Stewart, great to see you, thank you so much.

All right, an experimental skin cancer regimen is showing promise in fighting melanoma. The treatment combines new mRNA vaccine with

immunotherapy. The latest results from a study of high risk patients showed reduced chances of skin cancer would spread or return after it was removed.

This is fantastic news. We've got CNN's Meg Tirrell joining us now. Meg, tell us about this experimental vaccine and what it found and how effective

it is, the efficacy, very exciting.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, it really is. We think of Moderna of course, is the Maker of the COVID mRNA vaccine. And

this is a really similar idea. You're essentially delivering genetic instructions to the body to train the immune system to better fight off an

enemy.

In this case, it's individually tailored to each patient's cancer. They actually take a sample of the cancer. They sequence it. They decide using

artificial intelligence what the best combination of mRNA signatures should be.

And then they give the individualized treatment to the patient. They train their immune system to better fight the cancer. And they're doing this on

top of very powerful immunotherapy drug that's already approved called KEYTRUDA. And what they found at this three year follow up is that that

combination reduced the risk of the cancer coming back or patients dying by almost half.

And this is really important that we have three year data now because it's showing that this treatment actually is durable. Previously, we only saw a

two year follow up. Now in terms of the side effects here, they're actually pretty similar in terms of the most common ones to what you get with the

COVID vaccine fatigue, injection site pain and chills.

And I was talking with Moderna CEO this morning, Stephane Bancel, and he was saying the company is preparing potentially for this to be available as

soon as 2025. They're building a new manufacturing plant here in the United States in Massachusetts to be ready, potentially that soon.

And melanoma isn't the only thing they're pursuing here. They're also starting late stage trials in a certain kind of lung cancer as well. So

there's a hope of course, this really opens up better ways of fighting cancer really on a personalized level.

GIOKOS: Absolutely, indeed. Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

GIOKOS: Well, how does the best car racing team in the World challenge itself to accomplish new feats? Well, what about turning off the lights,

stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

GIOKOS: Welcome back. And NASA engineers are trying to solve a software glitch from 15 billion miles away. It is happening on the Voyager 1

Spacecraft which is exploring the outer reaches of our solar system.

Now Voyager's flight data system appears to be stuck on auto repeat, meaning the spacecraft is sending the same information back to Earth over

and over again. Voyager can still receive commands from the mission controls. And NASA is still trying to figure out what caused the problem

before deciding what to do next.

Red Bull, Formula One's best team in recent years is trying to push the boundaries again, this time with a pit stop in pitch black darkness. We've

got Amanda Davies with us who's going to explain how this is going to work and why they're going completely dark?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, why not Eleni? You know that phrase you know, you bet you can do it with your eyes closed. Well, this is

eyes closed and pitch black as you said. You know Red Bull until a couple of months ago held the world record for pit stop, which was 1.82 seconds.

McLaren did beat them in Qatar is now 1.80. But this is 22 individuals and just an indication of how incredible they are as a team. They practice

firstly with tape over their visors. They then had 10 attempts, 22 individuals working together from 10 seconds which was where they started.

They managed to nail it in 2.84.

A lot of teams and a lot of races we'd be more than happy with that in a race situation with the lights on. But I guess you know if you're winning

and you're breaking new records, how do you find ways of keeping it interesting? You do this but yeah, absolutely incredible to see.

GIOKOS: Yeah. I wonder who came up with this idea, but it seems to be working, very exciting times. Amanda, you've got more sports for us after

the short break and I'll be back at the top of the hour. See you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

END