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IDF: Three Palestinian Men Killed in Raid were Linked to Hamas & Islamic Jihad; Biden Facing Growing Pressure to Respond to Drone Attack; Pakistan's Former Prime Minister Jailed for 10 Years; Farmers Block Key Routes Outside Paris for Second Day; Messi & Suarez Re-untie in Friendly in Saudi Arabia. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired January 30, 2024 - 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)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, this is the view of the outskirts of the French Capital farmers blocking major highways. It is 3 pm

in Paris as protests there, mounts. It's 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. This is "Connect the World".

Also happening this hour, undercover Israeli forces infiltrate a hospital in the West Bank and kill three militants more on that coming up. Hamas

studying a new proposal for a truce in Gaza but says its position on a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza has not changed. And new

details on the three American service members killed in a drone strike on a U.S. base in Jordan.

Well, we start with what the official Palestinian news agency calls an assassination inside a hospital in the occupied West Bank. The video that

you are watching now shows undercover Israeli forces infiltrating the hidden center hospital disguised as medical staff and Palestinian

civilians, including as women.

Israel's far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shared this clip on social media congratulating the forces on a quote, impressive

operation against what he called terrorists. Well, officials on both sides confirm that the IDF killed three young Palestinian men.

Hamas said the men were Jenin Brigades Fighters an Umbrella Group of armed Palestinian factions within the Israel occupied City of Jenin. And that one

was a member of Hamas's military wing. Hospital officials there say the men were sleeping at the time of the attack. CNN's Senior International

Correspondent Ben Wedeman was inside that very hospital just a few months ago. Ben, what do you make of what we've seen?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well certainly, this is a fairly brazen attack. It happened between 5 and 6 am. About a dozen

Israeli soldiers, as you said, disguised as medical personnel, women, they had a wheelchair with them. One of them was carrying a baby's car seat.

They got up to the third floor of the hotel rather the hospital, excuse me. And headed to a room where there were three young men. Now the Israeli

military says that the target in this case was Muhammad Jalbani (ph), who they say was involved in previous attacks on Israeli forces, which have

gone into the Jenin Refugee Camp, which is just a few minutes' walk away from that -- hospital and has been the scene of dozens and dozens of

Israeli incursions into the camp.

They shot him and two other men. One of the men Basil Ghazawi was in the hospital. He was actually injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Jenin

Refugee Camp back in October, an airstrike that killed four Palestinian youths including a 15-year-old boy.

Now, as a result of that airstrike, he was partially paralyzed in his lower body and what we understand from hospital staff is that he was lying in his

bed with his head on the pillow when the Israeli hit squad came in, shot him at point blank range, while his head was still on the pillow. Now this

isn't the first time Israeli Special Forces have used disguises to go into Palestinian towns and institutions.

Just a few years ago, an Israeli squad went into the Beer Zayed University outside of Ramallah, disguised as Palestinian crew of journalists and

grabbed a Palestinian student leader. Now, since the beginning of the war in Gaza on the 7th of October, Israelis have dramatically escalated their

operations in the West Bank killing I think more than 200 people at this point.

Now, the Hamas itself did acknowledge that the three men were members of the Jenin Brigades, which is an Umbrella Group, operating mostly the Jenin

Refugee Camp that includes members of Hamas Islamic Jihad and other Israeli factions who have been very active trying to resist Israeli forces as they

as they've made, as I said, dozens of raids on the camp in Jenin, Becky.

[09:05:00]

ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman out of Beirut in Lebanon today. Ben, good to have you. Thank you. Well, Hamas says it is and I quote them here studying a new

proposal for a truce with Israel. But in a new statement, the group makes clear its position has not changed. It wants nothing less than a complete

withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Now, this new framework for a possible truce along with three more hostages and Palestinian prisoners came out of international meetings in Paris this

weekend. Here's what the Qatari Prime Minister, who was at those meetings had to say before this proposal was sent to Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER: We have I think yesterday was good progress made to get things back in shape, and to at

least to lay a foundation for the way forward. We cannot say that this will make us you know, in better shape very soon. But we are hoping actually to

relay this proposal to Hamas and to get them to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: So now that the proposal has been relayed to and received by the terror group, what can we expect? Well, Alex Marquardt on following

developments from Washington for us. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv. Alex, let's start with you. Let's -- just walk us through what we understand to

be the framework of this potential deal.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, and it is important that I think we do continue to call this a framework. These are

broad ideas of what could be implemented and everybody from the Qatari Prime Minister to the U.S. Secretary of State and others have cautioned

that there is still a lot to figure out in terms of the details.

But broadly speaking, what we have learned this would look like according to a source who is familiar with these discussions is that once

implemented, there would be a pause in the fighting initially for around six weeks, and Becky during that time, that is when the remaining civilian

hostages would be released by Hamas and the other groups who hold them.

There are more than 100 Israeli hostages and other nationalities still being held. But initially, the focus would be on those civilians at the

same time, three Palestinian prisoners for every civilian hostage would be released that same three to one ratio that we saw in the first hostage

release.

And then we would start to see second and third rounds of releases. The IDF soldiers both the men and the women, who would then be exchanged. There

would be a longer pause in the fighting. We believe that Hamas would then demand a higher ratio more prisoners are being released in exchange for

those soldiers.

Israel also looking to get back the bodies of hostages who have been killed, either on October 7th, or since then, during the war during these

four months of fighting. But Becky you're absolutely right, the Qatari Prime Minister, the Israelis, the Secretary of State Antony Blinken,

they're all talking about progress that was made in Paris.

I asked Secretary Blinken about this yesterday, he called it a strong and compelling proposal. He said that there's some real hope going forward. But

Becky, so many questions remaining. The biggest sticking point is whether this would mean an end to the war Hamas demanding an end to the war, while

Israel is not committing to that.

There are also questions about Palestinian government -- governance about security, about aid. But there is in the words of the source who briefed me

on this deal, a real sense of optimism. But there's still a lot of work to be done, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, good stuff. Thank you, Alex. Let's get to Jeremy. We know that the U.S. putting a lot of pressure on Israel, at this point, not

calling for a permanent ceasefire ahead of Israel conceding to one and we know that Hamas is looking for that.

But we've understood there from Alex, we do have the he parameters of this deal as we understand it now. So what are we hearing from the Israelis

themselves?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly seems like this summit on Sunday in Paris was intended to try and get Israel, Egypt,

Qatar as well as the United States to have at least those parties on the same page before they go back to Hamas with this latest, broad framework to

try and get to a deal. But it is also clear that significant gaps still remain. That is one of the points that the Israeli government has made in

recent days.

[09:10:00]

They are also pushing back on some of the details that are being reported as part of this framework saying that some of these details include

conditions that they say are not acceptable to Israel vowing to quote continue until complete victory inside the Gaza Strip.

But as it relates to Hamas which at this point, that is the most important thing to find out is whether or not these terms this broad framework is

going to be acceptable to Hamas? They say that they are studying this proposal. But they are once again, putting it in the context of an effort

to try and end this war all together, saying that they will study this framework and give their response.

They say, on the basis that quote, the priority is to stop this aggression, the brutal attack on Gaza, and to seek the quote, complete withdrawal of

Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. So they are very much signaling that that is still their end goal. That is, of course, a position that would be

untenable to the Israelis.

We understand that Ismail Haniah, the Head of Hamas' Political Bureau has been invited to Cairo to review this latest proposal with Egyptian

officials. That will of course be a key meeting to see whether or not Hamas can get on board with this? And whether or not the optimism coming out of

this summit on Sunday is indeed warranted, Becky?

ANDERSON: And of course, the Egyptian is another mediator. And what are these ultimately, are these indirect talks, of course, or between Israel

and Hamas? All right, thank you for that. And let's just be quite clear viewers.

You've heard about the parameters of the deal with regard hostages, Palestinian prisoners and a potential ceasefire down the road. These phases

also include opening up those borders to ensure that more critical aid and we've been talking about this now for more than 100 days critical aid gets

into Gaza for those who need it most.

Well, the European Union says it will continue funding the UN agency in Gaza responsible for Palestinian refugees. That is despite serious

allegations that some of its staff members took part in those October 7th attacks on Israel. While the EU says that future funding decisions will be

made pending an investigation into the allegations.

Well, several U.S. states including France, Italy, Germany, Romania and the Netherlands have all temporarily suspended their individual funding to

UNWRA as its known and those funding cuts won't just affect refugees in Gaza. Nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees receive support from the UN

across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon that could put a lot more pressure on those countries already facing a number of crises

internally.

Well, there are new details today about the drone attack that killed three U.S. troops and wounded dozens more in Jordan. Two U.S. officials tell CNN

the drone approached the U.S. military outposts around the same time that an American drone was returning to that base causing confusion and a

delayed U.S. response.

U.S. President Joe Biden blames Iranian-backed militant groups for the attack and he is vowing retaliation. Iran itself denies any involvement.

Natasha Bertrand connecting us from the Pentagon, what are you hearing there?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECUIRTY REPORTER: Well, there are significant discussions underway about how to respond to this drone attack

on tower 22 that U.S. military outpost in Northeast Jordan that killed three Americans and wounded over 40 other U.S. service members.

A number of options on the table, including striking these groups in Iraq and Syria as the U.S. have done before. But one option that is very

unlikely at this point is striking inside Iran directly. The U.S. does not want to start a war with Iran and if anything wants to de-escalate tensions

in the region. Secretary of State Antony Blinken though he said that the U.S. response is likely to be multileveled common stages and will be

sustained over time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERTRAND (voice over): A powerful response from President Biden is expected after a drone attack in Jordan killed three U.S. service members and

injured dozens more.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East. I would argue that we've not seen a situation as

dangerous as the one we're facing now across the region since at least 1973.

BERTRAND (voice over): U.S. officials tell CNN that Biden is under increasing pressure to respond more forcefully to stop the targeted attacks

by the Iran-backed militia groups against U.S. and coalition forces in region.

SABRINA SINGH, PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: We know these groups are supported by Iran and therefore they do have their fingerprints on this.

[09:15:00]

BERTRAND (voice over): The attack happened Sunday at Tower 22 in Jordan, a military outpost near the borders of Iraq and Syria. The enemy drone

approached around the same time that an American drone was returning to the base, causing uncertainty and delaying the military's response.

U.S. officials are now trying to determine if the drone followed the American drone or if the timing was a coincidence. According to the

Pentagon since October 17th, Iran-backed militia groups have targeted U.S. military personnel and bases over 160 times, despite a number of

retaliatory attacks by the United States targeting their munition supplies in Iraq and Syria and killing a militia leader in Baghdad.

The Defense Department has now identified the three soldiers killed as Sergeant William Rivers, Specialist Kennedy Sanders and Specialist Breonna

Moffitt. 24-year-old Specialist Kennedy Sanders' parents wished for their daughter service to her country to be remembered.

ONEIDA OLIVER-SANDERS, MOTHER OF SPCIALIST KENNEDY SANDERS, U.S. SOLDIER KILLED IN IRA: Well, she was definitely a free spirit. She was -- her

personality was contagious. So I just want people to remember that, you know, even though her time was short on Earth, she lived her life to the

fullest and she enjoyed her life.

BERTRAND (voice over): 23-year-old Specialist Breonna Moffitt's mother describes how she was waiting for her daughter to call her back when she

was killed?

FRANCINE MOFFETT, MOTHER OF SPECIALIST BREONNA MOFFETT, U.S. SOLDIER KILLED IN JORDAN: We were held on to that phone call as long as possible. Makes

sure we'd love -- we'd never wanted her to feel alone. It will always be right there by herself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERTRAND (on camera): Now in terms of the 40 Plus American service members who were injured in this drone attack, we are told that eight of them had

to be medically evacuated because of their injuries from Jordan they went to Baghdad. And three of them are now scheduled to be transported even

further on to Germany to launch the Regional Medical Center there. One of them we are told sustained critical injuries and the rest of them are

expected to recover there in the coming days and weeks Becky.

ANDERSON: Natasha at the Pentagon for you in Washington. Natasha, thank you. And you can follow this story on the website, including analysis from

CNN, Stephen Collins, and he writes it is indisputable that the United States is again embroiled in a war in the wider Middle East.

It is also clear that the Biden Administration's effort to prevent an escalation is not working that story part of Stephens "Meanwhile in America

Newsletter" it's a jolly good read, you can subscribe to that @cnn.com to get the newsletter email to your inbox. You can also access it through the

CNN app on your smartphone. And Stephen will be joining us next hour on "Connect the World".

Well still to come this hour, farmers in France are maintaining roadblocks outside of Paris. A look at what's fueling their anger and how the

government is trying to respond, that is coming up in a live report from Paris for you. And just over a week before Pakistan holds elections Former

Prime Minister Imran Khan is sentenced to jail we'll discuss that and more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching "Connect the World". I'm Becky Anderson. This is broadcast out of this being "Connect the World", a

broadcast out of the UAE where the time is 20 past six in the evening. Let's get you to where to Pakistan where the Former Prime Minister Imran

Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking state secrets.

That is according to his political party, which is known as PTI. The case was heard in special court established under the Official Secrets Act.

Well, the Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also got 10 years. The sentencing comes just over a week before parliamentary elections. PTI

is calling the case a sham and says it will challenge the sentences in a higher court.

Let's bring in CNN's Sophia Saifi. She joins us from Islamabad in Pakistan. Sophia, they may be calling this a sham. I do not believe this was

unexpected, something that I think the PTI could have expected at this point. Just walk us through what we understand to be the situation at this

point.

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Becky, like you said there's only about a week left for the elections and the PTI really Imran Khan's party has been

sidelined ever since. He was initially arrested on May 9th of last year. He's been behind jail or behind bars since August last year. This is his

second conviction in less than a year; he was previously convicted for three years on charges of corruption.

Now this specific case had to do with a diplomatic cable, which has -- the jury has said that it is because that he has mishandled the secret cables

that Imran Khan and his party has said that this was a cable that was sent to Washington D.C. and that the political and military establishment with

Washington had collided had gotten together to get rid of him and ousted him back at April 22.

Obviously, that has been rejected by the government and by D.C. by the United States. Now, this is not unexpected. He has been behind bars for

quite a while and there have been many cases pending against him. But again, this just seems to be another part of the cycle when it comes to the

current scenario here. And Pakistan is leading up to the elections and the clamp down on Khan's party, Becky?

ANDERSON: What are we hearing from the party itself? What is Imran Khan himself saying; he is not averse to, to using the media to get his message

out?

SAIFI: Yes and I think that is one of the major concerns because the media really doesn't have access to Imran Khan. There are a very limited number

of media personnel who are allowed into this closed court which has taken place. It's a special court, which was set up in the Adiala Jail in

Rawalpindi, an infamous jail where Imran Khan is being kept.

So his party has said that there wasn't they weren't able to cross question any witnesses, they're calling it a sham. They're saying that the writing

was on the wall when it came to this verdict and they said they are -- that they are going to take it to a higher court and get it suspended.

However, Imran Khan has had other cases suspended, but there are always new cases that somehow appear almost like a whack-a-mole situation. And Imran

Khan remains behind bars. So he is not able to -- he's barred from contesting in the current elections. However, his party which has also lost

its iconic cricket bat symbol, over the past couple of weeks is kind of clamoring to make sure that they can campaign.

Just a few hours ago, actually just a few like about half an hour ago, there was an attack and a PTI rally in the South of Pakistan in

Balochistan. So this is something that is steaming up in the lead up to this election. It's been an election that has already been delayed. Imran

Khan previously when he could still contest in this election had been calling for these polls to take place. There is a lot of disillusionment

amongst the people of Pakistan at the moment.

[09:25:00]

But we're just going to have to wait and see whether things will heat up further when it comes to February 8th when the general election takes

place, or whether there will be some sort of political normalization in about a week or so. But it's looking unlikely at the moment. Becky?

ANDERSON: Fascinating, Sophia, good to have, thank you. The clouds over the global economy are beginning to part. That is the latest from the IMF at

least, the International Monetary Fund as it upgrades its growth forecast for the year. Now the IMF is pointing to what it calls a surprisingly

resilient recovery from the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

But there is a warning too, the IMF saying this forecast could be jeopardized by attacks on container ships in the Red Sea. Of course, that

conflict comes after a series of so-called black swan events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia, Ukraine war.

Investors have written those waves and some are welcoming 2024. One of those is Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the Chief of Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Sovereign

Wealth Fund, one of the largest in the world. I spoke with him at the World Economic Forum in Davos a couple of weeks ago, have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALDOON AL MUBARAK, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MUBADALA: As we look at the last five years, the level of unpredictability, globally, geopolitics

on the macro side has been increasing, quite exponential from COVID to the multiple geopolitical wars that are happening right left and front, and of

course, the economic recovery post COVID. So it's been quite a challenging period of time to predict and it continues to be the case.

But from my perspective, as -- we always look, we take a 10 year horizon, we take a long term horizon in everything we do. There's as you said, major

elections in the United States, India, UK and others and others and others. But at the end of the day, you go back growth, demand, trajectory sectors,

that's what we focus on.

The political, you know, cycle is a political cycle, you deal with it. And I think, now, let's go back to 2024. I think 24 is going to be OK. Do you

think 24 is going to be OK?

ANDERSON: I'm not going to watch you, you know, in the U.S.; it's very likely we're going to have a Joe Biden and Donald Trump match up, a rematch

as it were of 2020. They take very different positions when it comes to, for example, the clean energy transition and the world of tech. Does it

bother you? Who wins that election? I'm asking you, as an investor, who invest heavily invested in the U.S.

MUBARAK: As an investor, it doesn't. It doesn't end and it doesn't in most places. And you have to learn to understand the market.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: On the 2024 U.S. election, isn't far from the mind of the European Central Bank Chief Christine Lagarde, she sat down with my

colleague Richard Quest in an exclusive interview. And explained how she would like Europe to prepare for what could be another Trump presidency if

indeed, that came about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE LAGARDE, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: I think that being constantly politically, correctly, and, and perfect in that respect, is a

risk of not seeing the reality and preparing for it.

And I think that if you look at what those years were, when Trump -- when Mr. Trump was President of the United States, looking at his program now

shouldn't prevent you from understanding that there could be threats. And there could be issues for which the Europeans should be prepared. And I

think there is no better way to prepare than to actually anticipate what the reality will be.

RICHARD QUEST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS ANCHOR: What happened four years ago or during the last Trump Administration, with the question of tariffs with the

saber rattling? I mean, you are really saying if I understand you, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong. Don't be surprised if it happens again,

certainly not. No, we've been warned.

LAGARDE: That's correct. And therefore, let us prepare for that. Let us prepare for potential tariffs for potential harsh decisions that would be

unexpected. So let us be strong at home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: A European perspective and you can watch that full interview later on CNN with "Quest Means Business" 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Well, it's just about 9.30 Eastern Standard Time as we speak. Just ahead on "Connect the World" French farmers keeping up what they call their siege of

Paris in a standoff with the government, we will be live from one of the blockades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. Just after half past six in the evening here in Abu Dhabi, I'm Becky Anderson. You're watching "Connect the World". Investors

are studying that new economic outlook from the IMF as we've been reporting it is somewhat more upbeat forecast and those that we were getting a couple

of weeks ago. But the IMF also says there is a risk from Red Sea shipping attacks.

As you can see, these U.S. markets at least are off but not significantly. The European markets up, but not necessarily significantly apart from

Madrid -- seems to be doing its own thing today. Europe's economy struggles to maintain any momentum going into 2020 for the content -- the continent

narrowly avoiding ending 2023 in recession.

Gross domestic product or GDP in the Eurozone stagnated in the final quarter of the year, while Germany's GDP shrank three tenths of 1 percent.

That's according to euros that data released earlier on today. Market shrugging it off to a certain extent, sell on the rumor, buy on the fact as

it were, I don't think those numbers are necessarily shocking anybody.

In fact, the fact that Europe avoided a recession is a good thing. These markets up potentially on the back of that. Well, you are looking at

farmers in France using convoys of tractors to block key routes outside Paris for a second day in a row. They're trying to put pressure on the

government to ease taxes and regulations which they say are negatively impacting their livelihoods. Farmers across France have been protesting for

more than a week.

Let's bring in CNN's Melissa Bell joining us from Villabe in France, just south of Paris, where as I understand it, Melissa, a blockade has been set

up. What are people there protesting, demanding and telling you?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me just show you this. You're actually standing on a motorway. These are the lanes

into Paris. And as you can see, they've set themselves up with the intention Becky, since yesterday of staying --.

Over here they're listening even now to the announcements being made by the French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal who's speaking to the French assembly

in the hope of assuaging some of their anger.

[09:35:00]

We expect announcements to be made further than the concessions that have already been announced. Essentially, what they've been protesting for more

than a week now are a number of different issues. They have to do with European regulations; they have to do with environmental taxes. Initially,

the -- spark tool, this was a hike in the tax on the fuel that they use, that the farmers use on their farms.

That they say combined with the European regulations that have only gotten tougher. The competition they're fighting from cheap imports, the European

Union have all simply become too much. And so these kinds of blockades, the tractors that line the streets, the motorways blocked off, actually --

we've been seeing all over the country for more than a week now.

Now what they're doing is they base themselves around Paris, this is one of the main arteries into Paris, as you see completely impossible. Now, this

they say is the siege of the French capital, one of them telling them one of our affiliates earlier that their aim in the long term is to starve

Parisians. So the idea is to draw attention to their cause and to make life sufficiently difficult inside the French capital that the government will

have to buckle.

Some concessions already, in fact, that scrapping of the hike on the diesel tax was announced last Friday. Now Gabriel Attal making other announcements

that he hopes will come some of their anger. It is though, Becky, on Thursday in Europe when European leaders meet that we're likely to hear

much more about what can be done at a European level.

Because these sorts of protests, the ones you've seen in France, they have a very specific quantity. But there is also something European wide, which

is also why they've been protesting from Poland to Germany to the Netherlands. It is about issues to do with the European farm subsidy

program. Its red tape, its bureaucracy and they say its unfairness. And the fact that cheap exports from Ukraine but also from Latin America, making it

hard they say for them to earn a living, Becky.

ANDERSON: As long as you and I have been around, we have had farming at the heart of the European issue. And it continues once again, raising its head

not just in Frances Melissa, thank you, Melissa. As Melissa rightly pointed out there, but across the continent, let's wait to see what happens

certainly later on this week.

This is a really important issue and as I say at the heart of European politics. Saudi Arabia has asked its oil company Aramco to lower its mass

and maximum capacity. Now the target stands at 12 million barrels per day. That's 1 million below a target that was announced in 2020. The world's

largest oil exporter is currently pumping at around 9 million and it recently cut output to balance markets amid lower forecasts for oil demand

worldwide.

Well, this is the way that that is perhaps playing into these markets today. You can see oil prices, Brent crude off but only marginally WTI

crude there or thereabouts at 77. So we're seeing this oil prices sort of capping out at around 80, late 70s, around 80 on the barrel. Interesting to

see what might may or may not push these markets higher at some point.

Well ahead in sports, two of footballs biggest stars now teammates on the pitch in Saudi Arabia. What Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez did in this

friendly that is sure to happen again and again, and again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Starpower on the pitch in Saudi Arabia. The Lionel Messi's Inter Miami squad faced off in a friendly against Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal.

Messi is reuniting with former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez and they each scored a goal, but was it enough? Was it enough? Andy Scholes is here,

Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, well Becky, Inter Miami they're just in there. They're just in preseason form right now in Al-Hilal. You know,

they're in midseason form. So that you know that the result really didn't matter. But it's so fun watching Suarez and Messi back together. They're in

Miami.

It's like a Barsa reunion now on that team. And Thursday it will be the interesting one, because you know, Becky, we don't know how many more

opportunities we're going to get to see Messi and Ronaldo on the same pitch. They're scheduled to play each other as of right now. We'll see if

Ronaldo is fit enough to play in that game, but it will certainly be fun if we get one more iconic matchup between the two.

ANDERSON: Excellent stuff. It is at the end of the day all about entertainment, isn't it? Andy, good to have you "World Sports" up next with

Mr. Scholes, I'll be back top of the hour for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

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