Return to Transcripts main page
Connect the World
Gaza Officials: Latest Israeli Strikes Kill at least 59; Trump Escalates Fight with Judge Over Deportation Fights; Greenpeace Ordered to Pay $660M Plus Over Pipeline Protests; Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rates Steady, Projects Slow Growth & Rising Inflation; Zimbabwean Woman in the Running to Lead the IOC. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired March 20, 2025 - 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: Fuse into Gaza, the border on the right, Khan Yunis on the left your screen after Israel launched its
first ground offensive since the collapse of the ceasefire with Hamas. It is 03:00 p.m. there in Gaza, it is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi.
You're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson live from our Middle East programming headquarters. Also coming up, the Ukrainian
President says Russia is still striking Ukraine, despite the Kremlin's quote propaganda. And the U.S. border czar says a court ruling against
President Trump's deportation policy has not stopped the administration.
Stock market in your open about 30 minutes from now on. The futures market, indicating a lower start to Thursday's session, while the fed kept U.S.
rates on hold, it cut its growth forecast and raised its inflation projections for 2025 citing Trump's tariff wars, is playing a quote, good
part in their thinking.
Back to New York at half past this hour, half past 9 local time. We start with a third straight day of deadly attacks on Gaza as Israel's military
launches its first ground offensive since the collapse of the ceasefire with Hamas. The images that you will soon see disturbing.
The latest strikes killed almost 60 people across both southern and northern Gaza, according to health officials, there hundreds of people have
been killed in Gaza this week. Civilians, yet again, dying in a war that they are not fighting and cannot escape. Israel's Defense Minister says if
Hamas does not release the remaining hostages, these renewed attacks are only the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISRAEL KATZ, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: Residents of Gaza, this is the last warning. The airstrike against Hamas terrorists was only the first step.
What is coming will be more difficult, and you will pay the price.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, the -- for the first time since the collapse of the ceasefire, Hamas fired rockets at Israel, claiming it bombed Tel Aviv.
Israel's military says one rocket was intercepted. Two others fell in an open area. Let's get you caught up. Jeremy Diamond, connecting us from Tel
Aviv.
And I want to start with those strong words from Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, what's the implication here, Jeremy?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the implication, I think, is quite clear, that Israel is going to continue to ramp up its
attacks on Gaza, and that what we have seen over these last two very deadly days in Gaza is really just the harbinger of much worse things to come for
not only Hamas, but for the civilian population of Gaza, if Hamas does not release additional hostages, and if Israel continues to escalate its
military operations there.
And of course, this language that we are hearing from Israel Katz speaks exactly to the kind of criticism from the international community, from
human rights organizations, that Israel is not distinguishing between civilians and between Hamas, and it makes it much harder to believe the
Israeli military's claims of distinguishing between those two groups when you have the Defense Minister of Israel addressing not Hamas, but quote
residents of Gaza.
And effectively threatening to totally obliterate he says the total destruction and ruin is the alternative if Gazan residents do not return
the hostages and remove Hamas. Even though, obviously, many civilians in Gaza have no bearing on whether or not Hamas is in power, have no bearing
on whether or not Hamas releases the hostages.
What is also clear, I think, is that, as we saw the Israeli military yesterday launch this limited ground offensive to retake half of that
Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Gaza Strip, that is just a limited part of what a full ground operation from
Israel will actually look like.
We understand that Israel is preparing to carry out a much wider ground operation in Gaza, one that would likely involve tens of thousands of
Israeli troops back into combat in the Gaza Strip. And so, of course, Israel will continue to ramp up, unless there's some kind of a deal with
Hamas before that.
ANDERSON: Well as the death toll in Gaza mounts, Jeremy, Hamas firing rockets at Israel for the first time since the ceasefire collapsed. What do
we know?
[09:05:00]
DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right. Three rockets were fired by Hamas from the southern part of the Gaza Strip here towards Central Israel, setting off
sirens in Tel Aviv and across this region, one of those rockets was indeed intercepted. The other two fell into open areas, according to the Israeli
military, but there were no injuries stemming from that.
Hamas, of course, over the last couple of days, had held back its fire, resisting firing back as Israel carried out these strikes in Gaza, but
finally making the decision to indeed carry out those strikes, and warning that much more will come if Israel keeps up its attacks on Gaza.
We do know that there are negotiations behind the scenes, frantic efforts by the Qatari and Egyptian mediators to try and find a way back to a
ceasefire, back to a deal that would see Hamas release additional hostages, but in the meantime, both sides very clearly likely to continue to
escalate.
ANDERSON: And Houthi rebels in Yemen also targeting Israel, Jeremy.
DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right, overnight at about 04:00 a.m. you know, many people here in Israel, including myself, were woken up by the sound of the
sirens going off as the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel. The first time that they have done so since before this latest ceasefire went
into effect.
They had, in fact, paused their attacks against Israel amid that ceasefire, because of that ceasefire. But now, with that ceasefire having broken down,
and also with the United States now carrying out multiple days of heavy strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, in recent days, the Houthis resuming
their ballistic missile attacks against Israel.
That missile was indeed intercepted by the Israeli military outside of Israeli airspace. But nonetheless, those sirens went off because of the
possibility of falling debris from that interception. And that seems like another front that is not looking to calm down anytime soon.
But rather the Houthis vowing to continue to keep up these attacks as long as Israel continues to resume its attacks on the Gaza Strip, as we see that
they have and as they have promised to continue to ramp up, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, six minutes past three in the afternoon there in Tel Aviv in Israel. Thank you, Jeremy. This shattering of the ceasefire a big
setback for Egyptian negotiators who have played an integral role in brokering phase one of this truce, alongside the categories.
Earlier today, I talked to Tamim Khallaf, who is spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, asking him for Egypt's reaction and if his
government had any inkling that Israel was going to resume attacking Gaza. Here is part of our conversation.
TAMIM KHALLAF, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: We have always spoken very clearly and very honestly about the necessity that we have to
follow through with the ceasefire agreement and the implementation of the second phase and the third phase, we have expressed our serious concerns
and reservations of any developments that would impact the ceasefire agreement.
Palestinians have endured an unspeakable humanitarian tragedy. Over the course of 16 months, we've had 2.2 million Palestinians internally
displaced. 150,000 Palestinians killed and the infrastructure completely destroyed in schools and hospitals, and therefore we do not want to see the
recurrence of war coming back again.
It is not good for the region. It's not good for any of the parties, and we are exerting all of our efforts in order to ensure that we are de-
escalating and that we do not engage in any more form of escalation of this conflict.
ANDERSON: With respect, you hosted a negotiating team, you know, just last week from Israel, were you given any indication that Israel was preparing
for a full-scale attack, both from the air and on the ground?
KHALLAF: No, we have not been receiving these indications. We were engaged in ceasefire talks in order to move forward with phase two and phase three.
And as I had just mentioned previously, we believe that this is of utmost importance in order to ensure that the Israeli hostages and Palestinian
detainees would be released.
As for the exact details of the negotiations, I would have to say that it would be unwise of me to -- form of the nature of the negotiations. I think
it would be better to be left to discrete in order to have ensure the success of negotiations.
ANDERSON: Well, you can hear more of my interview with Tamim Khallaf in the next hour of "Connect the World". Do you stay with us for that? Well,
Ukraine's President says Russia is still striking Ukraine despite its quote, propaganda claims. Moscow and Kyiv both accuse each other of new
attacks overnight, including on residential buildings in Ukraine and an airfield in Russia.
Those strikes coming hours after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart by phone on Wednesday.
[09:10:00]
Meanwhile, the Kremlin says talks between the U.S. and Russia to work out the details of a limited pause in fighting are expected to continue in
Saudi Arabia in the coming days, with a meeting -- a possible meeting early next week. CNN's Clare Sebastian has been following developments for --
She joins us now. Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff brought up the Black Sea grain deal as a logical next step. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: What people colloquially refer to as the Black Sea, maritime aspect of a ceasefire. I
think both of those are now agreed to by the Russians. I am certainly hopeful that the Ukrainians will agree to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So, I think, Clare, it's important that we just work out or lay out for our viewers. Where are we at? What do we understand as far as sort
of agreements to date and what happens next?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far, Becky, I think it's really worth emphasizing that nothing has changed on the ground. Attacks
have not stopped of any kind, and we still have some confusion over what exactly was agreed between President Trump and President Putin in their
conversation on Tuesday.
Whether it was energy infrastructure attacks that were to be halted, or energy and infrastructure, as the White House readout suggested. It is
clear that they are both in some agreement that the next step, as you say, could involve some kind of talks around the Black Sea.
We know that so far in this conflict, really, there have only been two areas where diplomacy has worked. One is prisoner swaps, which, of course,
we saw a large one yesterday. And the second was the Black Sea Grain Initiative, where export corridors brokered by the U.N. and Turkey were
opened up, essentially to allow Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea.
That happened in July of 2022 and it lasted a full year until Russia basically pulled out of the deal, claiming that it was struggling with its
own food exports that have been trying all along to get sanctions lifted as part of that deal. And then it proceeded to ramp up attacks on Ukrainian
port infrastructure, and, of course, target as well some ships in the Black Sea.
So, I think, look, if this was revived, it would be clearly -- it would clearly need to be something quite different. President said he has held it
up in recent comments as a sign of what happens when you reach an agreement with Russia without appropriate security guarantees.
And I think on the flip side, Russia will very likely also want to attach conditions on anything surrounding the Black Sea, not least because it's
strategically important for Russia, and also because it competes with Ukraine in those all-important grain markets, Becky. So, another very
complicated issue, but clearly one they plan to tackle.
ANDERSON: Yeah, Clare and a readout from the Trump, Zelenskyy call the Trump Administration floating the idea that the U.S. take ownership of
Ukrainian power plants. So again, what do we understand that to mean? What's the significance of this? I mean, significantly, of course, a
Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is part of this narrative?
SEBASTIAN: Yeah, Becky, it's hard to know exactly where that idea came from. It's the first that we've heard of. It in the U.S. readout of that
call, President Zelenskyy later clarified that they were talking specifically about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, not the other
three functioning nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Now, obviously the key point about Zaporizhzhia is one that it's Europe's largest nuclear power plant. And secondly, that it has been held by Russia
since the very first weeks of the war, and it is not this point functioning in any way. It has not been producing electricity for the best part of the
last three years.
We know there are concerns on the Ukrainian side and at the International Atomic Energy Agency, which runs a permanent monitoring mission at that
nuclear plant that it is not being perfectly looked after and is still very close to the front line. So obviously the major question, before you even
get to the issue of who owns it, is what about the territory that it sits on.
And obviously that is the biggest issue when it comes to these negotiations. So, it's a little previous to say the least, I think.
ANDERSON: Thank you, Clare. We're going to be back after this quick break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00]
ANDERSON: Well, the Trump Administration's battle with the U.S. Federal Judge over deportation flights to sell El Salvador not yet over. Judge
James Boasberg has given the Department of Justice yet another extension to turn over information about the flights that left the U.S. on Saturday
despite his order for them to stay grounded.
Well, President Donald Trump has pressed for Boasberg's impeachment has branded him a radical left lunatic and troublemaker. Let's bring in CNN's
Katelyn Polantz. She's in Washington. Katelyn, the Justice Department has until noon Eastern Time to respond to this judge's questions, and as we've
been reporting. This is not the first deadline in this case, just get us up to speed here.
KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, the Justice Department has been trying to hold back giving Judge James Boasberg
the facts here about these flights specifically saying or not saying they haven't said yet. How many people were removed on those first two flights
while he was having his hearing that were being removed from the country.
Specifically, because of the presidential proclamation that was being challenged and that Judge Boasberg then said, may be illegal and could not
be used to remove people from the country on those flights. So that's the detail that he wants. What's happening now is a deadline at noon.
The Justice Department is supposed to either give him answers, or they can give him a legal reason that they need to protect the information for
national security purposes. They can say that it's a state secret, they can say it's classified. He's given them that option if they choose it. But
what we're really watching for here, Becky, it's not just a filing that we may not even ever see if it's under seal.
What we're really watching for is whether the Justice Department and the Trump Administration want to keep escalating this situation as a fight
between the Trump Administration, the executive branch, the presidency, and a judge the federal courts, you hear that language in the political sphere,
Trump and others from the White House attacking the judge and his authority in court.
They haven't blatantly defied him, even meeting a simple task as filings. They have done that so far. They haven't said, no, we're just not following
your orders at this point in time. But everyone in Washington is watching is the Trump Administration willing to defy a judge's order, blatantly on
its face, and take ownership of that? That's what we're watching for here, Becky.
ANDERSON: And if the Justice Department doesn't comply with the judge?
POLANTZ: Well, there are options for the judge, but it really would be a signal that, that may be how we're going to see the Trump Administration
approach the next several years, because in many different cases, they are saying the President Donald Trump should have more and more power.
He should not have to be listening to the courts. The courts should step out on the things that Trump is doing. So, the signals here is really what
we're watching for. There isn't a huge amount of recourse that Judge Boasberg has, but he could sanction attorneys that are signing briefs on
the case.
Although the Attorney General herself is signing some of these court papers that are going in on this particular case about the migrants, with Judge
Boasberg. He also could publicly take other options. He could say that the administration is fined for being in contempt. He could have other
mechanisms, as he sees fit.
[09:20:00]
Judges can get creative, but it's a very, very tense situation, given that it does appear to be a standoff between the judicial branch and the
presidency, the balance of powers.
ANDERSON: Yeah, remarkable. Katelyn, always a pleasure. Thank you very much indeed. President Donald Trump's immigration policies are just one of the
many issues sparking angers at town halls held by lawmakers across the United States while Republican members of Congress have faced strong
backlash at home over his actions.
Some Democratic lawmakers also fielding frustration from their constituents. CNN's Brian Todd reports from Washington for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to see hell now.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey got a bracing reminder that these days, in a town hall, even a
friendly crowd can turn on you quickly.
REP. GLENN IVEY (D-MD): We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that. We want you to show some of the backbone and
strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
IVEY: We want you to show fight, and you are not fighting.
TODD (voice-over): I asked Ivey about the accusation that he and other Democrats aren't fighting hard enough.
IVEY: We got to fight to win. And you know, I don't know that expressing anger necessarily is the way to do that per se, especially if you're trying
to win over persuadable voters.
TODD (voice-over): That angry brush back in Forestville, Maryland, one of many similar scenes playing out in town halls across the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can go at themselves, is how I feel about it.
TODD (voice-over): In New York State, where Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko got an earful over President Trump's deportations.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have -- to El Salvadorian -- have we reached the red line, sir? Have we reached --
HANS NICHOLS, CO-AUTHOR OF AXIOS HILL LEADERS: There's a lot of anger. There's a lot of stray voltage. And some of that stray voltage is getting
released at these town halls.
TODD (voice-over): And not just with Democrats at a Republican town hall in Nebraska, some pent-up outrage pops in North Carolina Republican
Congressman Chuck Edwards hears it over President Trump's global ambitions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you support the annexation of Canada and or Greenland? And this is a yes or no question. I don't want you to wander off
into the woods. I don't want to hear about your latest week in your office.
TODD (voice-over): In Arizona, Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego is berated by a constituent about his party's leadership.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to go back and talk with Senate Democrats and get a new leader.
TODD (voice-over): That's a common complaint, a sentiment that Democrats were sold out by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who recently voted
in favor of the Republican led spending bill. Schumer himself hasn't held any recent town halls and says he has rescheduled some book tour events
over security concerns so voters simply vent.
TODD: Hasn't he become a lightning rod for the idea that the Democrats aren't fighting hard enough?
NICHOLS: Oh, sure, he's absolutely a lightning rod for that. That's like he feels that every day, but Chuck Schumer is in power, at least he's in
charge of his caucus right now.
TODD (voice-over): Still, Glenn Ivey felt significant pressure regarding Schumer.
IVEY: He's done a lot of great things, but I'm afraid that it may be time for the Senate Democrats to pick new leadership as we move forward.
TODD: What might it take to tamp down some of this anger among voters at town halls. Analyst Hans Nichols says he doesn't really see it tamping down
anytime soon. In his words, it's not like you can take voters and put them on a naughty step and have them take a time out.
The only thing he thinks might calm things down is some other national crisis that might distract voters. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has
attacked the Trump Administration's deportation of hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, describing the move as a kidnapping.
Maduro said they were not given the right of due process, and he wants them returned to Venezuela on the weekend, the U.S. deported more than 200
Venezuelans who claim were part of a criminal gang, despite a court ordering but the deportation be stopped.
Witnesses have started testifying in the wrongful death trial of Argentine Football great Diego Maradona, the first police officers who found him
after he died, took the stand earlier this week. Maradona died a cardiac arrest five years ago at the age of 62, weeks after surgery for bleeding
near his brain.
Prosecutors say seven members of his medical team are responsible. And Greenpeace has been ordered to pay more than $660 million in damages Over
protests against a North Dakota Access oil pipeline nearly a decade ago. The plaintiffs accused the environmental group of defamation, as well as
paying protesters and sending them blockade supplies. Greenpeace argues it had little involvement in the protests, and it plans to appeal.
[09:25:00]
Coming up despite weeks of Wall Street worries the U.S. Federal Reserve hits the pause button again on interest rates. We're going to take a look
and see how markets are responding to that another sentiment with the opening bell just moments away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. Time here just before half past 5. You are watching "Connect the World". These are your
headlines. Health officials in Gaza report nearly 60 people were killed in a third straight day of Israeli attacks. Hundreds of Palestinians have been
killed since Israel shattered the ceasefire.
Ukraine's President says Russia is still striking Ukraine despite what he describes as Moscow's propaganda. Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of
staging new attacks overnight, hours after President Trump spoke with Mr. Zelenskyy by phone. And we are moments away from the opening bell.
Wall Street investors seem to be wary still over President Trump's aggressive economic policies and growing trade wars. All three indices have
tumbled since January the 20th this year, when Mr. Trump took office for the second time. Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve took a more wait and
see approach as expected, leaving a key interest rate unchanged.
CNN's Matt Egan asked the Fed Chair, whether what's happening with the markets weighed on that decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Are you concerned at all about some of the market volatility having a real economic impact in terms of hurting business
spending or consumer spending, especially among higher income households?
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: So financial conditions matter to us, because, you know, financial conditions are the main channel
to the real economy through which our policy has its effects. So, they're important. But what matters from a fed standpoint, for the macro economy is
material changes to overall financial conditions that are persistent.
Would just point you to the bigger picture again, you know the real economy that the hard data are still in reasonably good shape. It's the soft data.
It's the surveys that are showing, you know, significant concerns, downside risks and those kinds of things. We don't dismiss that. We're watching it
carefully, but, you know, we don't want to get ahead of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:30:00]
ANDERSON: Bell -- more than reading about today and we will see if -- what has been a downward trend from the futures markets continues this Thursday
into the regular trading session, U.S. market then is open. And shares looking mixed. I think we need to let those settle somewhat to get a real
sense of what the direction is.
Couple of not bad sessions, of course, in the past couple of days, but overall, it's been a miserable start to the year for those hoping that
these markets will go higher. Matt Egan, joining us now, live from Washington. It's good to have you. Powell, refusing then to be ruffled by
what's happening on Wall Street. But what about this soft data that he's talking about? Cause for concern moving forward, Matt?
EGAN: Well, it could be Becky. I think the big question, and this is Powell's point. The big question is whether or not some of these soft data
indicators. Some of these surveys that indicate that consumers are growing more alarmed about the economy and worried about inflation.
Does that translate into an actual slowdown in spending, right? Because that's where the real trouble would be for the economy. And so, Powell is
basically saying, we're not going to overreact to any one bad survey, to any market drop. They're waiting to see if this shows up in the hard data,
which, to his point, remains pretty solid at this point, so they're not going to overreact to that.
But they're also, he's saying not going to overreact to the inflation situation. So, these new projections that were put out yesterday, really,
across the board, the fed was dimming its outlook, right? They're expecting weaker 2025 GDP growth, higher unemployment and significantly higher
inflation.
But Powell said that they're willing to look through a short-term tariff driven increase in the inflation rate, if they believe that it's going to
be short lived. He even brought back the dreaded T word transitory, saying that at times it's appropriate for fed officials to look through
inflationary trends if they don't think that it's going to last.
Of course, Becky, the last few years showed us how hard it is to know in real time, how temporary any inflationary trend can be? And that job is
being made even more difficult right now by the fog of the trade war, where there's just so much uncertainty and chaos and really tariffs can change
almost by the hour, Becky.
ANDERSON: So Matt, one line that struck you and I know by its absence from yesterday's report was this from January, and I quote here, the committee
judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance. You asked him about that emission. I just want to -- I
want our viewers to hear that exchange too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EGAN: Can you explain the decision to remove that line? Does it mean that you're now more concerned about inflation or about employment?
POWELL: Actually, does not mean either of those things. I actually would say that the more important thing now about risks. Participants widely
raised their estimate of the risks to our uncertainty, but also of the risks to growth and our employment and inflation mandates, that's a more
salient point now than whether they're in balance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Explain what he means by that risk to growth?
EGAN: Yeah. Well, why was one of the big themes yesterday is that again and again, Powell stressed, that fed officials have very low visibility right
now. They don't know how all of these proposed policy changes out of Washington are going to impact the economy.
They don't know how it's going to impact the economy individually, or more importantly, in some, right? So, we're talking about, obviously, tariffs,
but taxes and immigration, federal spending cuts. There's a lot happening, and it's all happening at once, and so again and again, Powell said that
this is a very uncertain time.
He said uncertainty is high. He said it's considerable. He said there's unusually elevated uncertainty, and he said it's really high right now. So,
I think the point here is, that not even the fed knows how this is going to end, right? So, it's sort of like a driver who gets stuck in really heavy
fog.
You're probably going to just sort of stay where you are and wait until you have better visibility before you decide what your next step is.
[09:35:00]
And so that's where the fed is right now. They're firmly in wait and see mode. They're not in a rush to cut interest rates in response to recession
fears, and they're not in a rush to overreact to any tariff driven increase to inflation, but they're clearly watching all of these trends.
And so, what happens next in the real economy is going to be very important in deciding whether or not the fed is able to go back to cutting interest
rates, or if they have to stay on hold for a while, or Becky, even perhaps have to reverse course and increase interest rates, if this transitory
inflation rise turns out to not be so transitory.
ANDERSON: Yeah, and a mixed picture. I'm just having a look at the oil market, so let's bring those up, a mixed picture, really, on those oil
markets all, of course, a driver for price indices. But we're looking at a pretty mixed, frankly flat picture today.
Does that surprise you given where we are at, we have seen these markets push higher in the wake of, at least short term, in the wake of, you know,
some instability in the region that I'm in, U.S. attacks on Houthi military infrastructure, an escalation once again in Gaza. The U.S. President is
going to want to see these prices come off somewhat, because ultimately that will feed through to gas prices. Are they doing what he wants them to
do at this point?
EGAN: Well, Becky, I think big picture, oil prices are pretty team right now. I mean, $67 oil. Don't forget, we had $100 oil a few years ago. So,
this is something the administration is very, very focused on, is making sure that oil prices stay under control, because we learned in the last few
years how sensitive Americans are and consumers around the world are to higher gasoline prices.
But there's a lot of conflicting forces right now, when you think about it, on the energy market, first there's the increased tensions again in the
Middle East, right? So that's something that could drive off oil prices. But then you have this potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
I mean, the Russia-Ukraine war. That was the reason why we had $100 oil in the first place. Then you have the administration pushing very hard to have
increased domestic production in part by de-regulating, and yet they're trying to speed up the economy, and that's something that would increase
demand.
So, there's a lot of conflicting forces all at once, but big picture, prices right now do remain relatively low, and I think that is a good thing
for consumers, and it's a good thing for central bankers who are trying to fight inflation once again, Becky.
ANDERSON: It was good to have you, Matt. Thank you very much indeed. Matt Egan's in the House for you out in New York. Still ahead and the world of
sport today is the day that we learn which of seven contenders will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in "World Sport". That up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
ANDERSON: Well, could a woman, for the first time, be the President of the International Olympic Committee? Seven finalists are in the running. Let's
get you to Amanda Davies joining me now, we will find out a little later this morning. Who has won this out?
You co penned a piece for cnn.com which is on the app, which I thought was beautifully scripted with a headline from geo political gender -- to gender
politics the challenges facing the next IOC President. Just explain, if you will.
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, not for nothing is the IOC President dubbed the most powerful role in sport, because it is a role that impacts
every single sport, governs the rules for every single sport. And of course, as we're seeing, for example, with gender eligibility issues in
sport, often they are setting the tone for society with those issues.
And this is being billed as perhaps one of the most hotly contested elections for this role. In the history of the role, only nine people have
ever been President of the International Olympic Committee. And as you rightly said, we could, for the first time, have a woman Kirsty Coventry,
the current Sports Minister of Zimbabwe, a former two-time Olympic gold medal winner.
She would also become the first African to hold this position. We could have the first Arab in Prince Faisal Al Hussein, the brother of the King of
Jordan. We have Juan Antonio Samaranch, a name that many people will be familiar with, but perhaps not because of his role, more a business leader
than a sports role, but because of his father's role leading this organization in the 1980s and onwards.
He is one of the people being talked about as the favorite so to the head of world athletics, Sebastian co another former athlete. Of course, he's
really positioned himself as something of a disrupter. But there's a lot of likenesses, parallels being drawn to a papal conclave in this, in terms of
the secrecy around this vote taking place.
109 members from the likes of members of royalty, Princess Charlene, Prince Albert of Monaco, two former athletes to heads of leaders of business and
sport. It's a secret vote that takes place. We understand getting underway in just over 20 minutes or so, and we are following it every step of the
way.
ANDERSON: Good stuff. Well, you are across that. We will get back to you as and when, for the time being, you got the show coming up. That is after
this short break, we will be back with "Connect the World" after that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
[10:00:00]
END
