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Spain, Portugal Hit By Major Power Outage; Vladimir Putin Declares Unilateral Three-Day Cease Fire In Ukraine From May 8; Donald Trump's 41 Percent Approval Rating Is A Historic Low; ICE Arrested Nearly 800 Immigrants In "Massive" Crackdown; Canadians Vote In Federal Elections Amid Tensions With U.S. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 28, 2025 - 10:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:00:31]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD live from our Middle East programming headquarters. I'm Becky
Anderson.
Breaking news this hour, huge parts of Spain and Portugal have been brought to a standstill by a massive power outage. All of the Iberian Peninsula is
impacted. You can see here how backed up the traffic is in Madrid, Spain's largest city, electricity outage causing chaos on the road. Spain's
electricity provider says that restoring power could take hours.
Well, the national railway company says its operations have been completely halted. Renfe runs more than a thousand trains a day, servicing 1.3 million
passengers.
The mayor of Madrid is calling on people to stay off the roads to make way for emergency services.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSE LUIS MARTINEZ-ALMEIDA, MADRID MAYOR (through translator): At this moment, it is necessary to keep all roads clear. Traffic lights are
currently off, but what is essential is that emergency services can move. We have also closed the tunnels on street 30, and at the same time calls to
112, please, only those that are truly urgent. And if they are not attended to, they can go to police stations and to the fire stations of the City
Council of Madrid for assistance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: So, what more do we have on how widespread this outage is, Selma and why it's happened?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let me begin with an update that I literally just received a couple of moments ago. This is from Spain's
operation. Its electricity grid operator saying, "We've now successfully restored power to substations in several areas in the north, south and west
of the Iberian Peninsula. We continue to work with all our resources to restore power as soon as possible throughout the entire Iberian Peninsula."
So important to note here that this electricity provider, again, the provider for electricity in Spain, had said it could potentially take up to
10 hours to restore services across the whole of the country, but already they are saying that some services have been restored.
And of course, it will be welcome relief for the tens of millions who quite suddenly found themselves midday without electricity. I mean, this has
absolutely brought both of these countries, Spain and Portugal, to an absolute stand still. Parts of France were very briefly affected. A very
small portion of it.
You can imagine here, trains halted completely even while people are underground, airports full of stranded passengers, schools, children
without electricity or functioning kitchens, businesses, so think shops, restaurants. How about hospitals who are now running on generator power.
So, the fact that some of this is now coming back up is very important and very key for people to continue to get that sense of relief, especially
with, Becky, communications down, because cell phone services were also impacted, making it, of course, very difficult to get an understanding of
the scope and scale of this.
Now, authorities say that they're absolutely not ruling anything out at this time when it comes to the cause of this, but initial indications are
that this may have been a technical failure rather than something untoward.
But for now, of course, the focus for the authorities is returning those services to the tens of millions that need it, and returning that sense of
safety.
I mean, you had those images that you saw on the streets of Spain where it looked dangerous to even just drive the street. You heard from the mayor of
Madrid saying, please stay off the streets. Stay at home. Don't call the emergency services unless it's an absolute emergency.
So, their priorities will absolutely be providing those services for those who need them most and most critically, and returning that sense of
security and safety to the streets that have seen absolute chaos for the last couple of hours, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. I mean, just how unprecedented is this, and for the benefit of those who may be watching and are wondering, you know, just when
services will be restored. Can we be absolutely clear about what authorities have said very specifically?
ABDELAZIZ: Yes, so on, when services can be restored, the head of Spain's electrical grid services has said that it could potentially take up to 10
hours.
But again, just moments ago, they have said that some services have been restored in parts of the Iberian Peninsula, and that they are working.
They're putting all their energy, all their resources, all their efforts, into returning and restoring those services across the rest of the country
as well.
[10:05:05]
It's important to note here that the electrical grid between Spain and Portugal is shared in some sense. So there is a need for, of course,
working across and a sense of cooperation, but that means this is going ahead, and there are some services being restored, but again, there's focus
on keeping the pressure on emergency services down right now and trying to bring those communications back up.
And when we talk about how unprecedented this is, again, tens of millions of people potentially affected, we're still getting an understand of the
scope and the scale of this, but I don't think we've seen anything like this in recent memory here, any time in the last few years.
But again, when it comes to the cause of this, which is, of course, going to be one of the key issues of confusion, what is the cause of this?
Authorities say they're absolutely not ruling anything out. They're going to look at all the options, including the potential of cyber security.
But at this time, it looks more likely that this was a technical failure, and again, the focus right now on bringing those services up and then
following with investigations later, Becky.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, Selma, thank you for that and more as we get it.
More breaking news this hour, Russia's president has unilaterally declared a three day cease fire in Ukraine from May 8th. Vladimir is calling on Kyiv
to do the same. This truce marks the 80th anniversary of what is known as Victory Day and the defeat of Nazi Germany. Then comes on the heels of
President Trump's expressions of frustration with Vladimir Putin, the ceasefire announced a short time ago by the Kremlin falls short of the 30
day unconditional ceasefire which President Trump has called for and which Ukraine has agreed to.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in Moscow for you this hour. And many questions at this point, not least how this came about,
and what are Vladimir Putin's calculations at this point? Fred, is it clear?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not totally clear what the calculations are, but it is clear how all this came about.
In fact, it was announced earlier today by the Kremlin in a statement attributed to Vladimir Putin, where he sit on humanitarian grounds for the
time of those celebrations, around the 80th anniversary of May 9th of the end of World War II, that there would be this humanitarian cease fire, as
the Russians put it, and that the Russians are calling on the Ukrainians to also put in place a cease fire for that time as well.
And of course, these celebrations are extremely important, Becky, here in Moscow, I can show you I'm standing actually pretty close to the Kremlin
right now, you can see that there's already signs being put up. This one says pobeda, or victory, which is, of course, even more important now that
it's the 80th anniversary of that.
But this is a holiday, Becky, that's celebrated, of course, not just in Russia, but in Ukraine as well, where, of course, in World War II, a lot of
the fighting in the Soviet Union took place.
So, obviously, this is definitely for both the Ukrainians and the Russians, a very important holiday coming up.
At the same time, it also comes as that diplomatic initiative by the Trump administration appears to have hit somewhat of a roadblock. Donald Trump
voicing some criticism of Vladimir Putin over the weekend, saying not clearly whether or not he can trust Vladimir Putin, but also saying that he
was disappointed after some of the missile attacks on Ukrainian towns that took place last week.
So, the Trump administration potentially threatening a tougher way forward dealing with Russia, possibly even secondary sanctions, was something that
Trump mentioned as well, and it seems as though that message has been received by the Russians as part of the decree announcing the cease fire.
Vladimir Putin also saying that Russia is ready for direct talks with the Ukrainian side, and again, saying that the ball is now in Ukraine's court.
We have also heard from Kyiv on this matter already, as well, Becky, and they are saying they want an unconditional 30 day cease fire, as set out by
the Trump administration, as agreed to by the Ukrainians, they say anything that falls short of that is only the Kremlin playing games, Becky.
ANDERSON: Let's get some perspective on this. Thank you, Fred. Let's get you to Washington. And CNN's Chief National Security Correspondent Alex
Marquardt. Just set out for us, if you will, what we know about Donald Trump's thinking at this point and how he feels about both Vladimir Putin
and indeed Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there has been a real evolution, Becky, where you have always had this
frustration and anger towards President Zelenskyy. They -- he and Trump have had a really rough relationship, not just for the past few months, but
of course, going back to the first Trump administration.
But more notably, we've seen the frustration growing with President Putin over time, especially in the past few days.
Now, there were a lot of accusations from critics towards the Trump administration that the White House was giving Russia too many concessions
ahead of these really tough negotiations, and we kept hearing this insistence from Trump and his top Russia envoy, Steve Witkoff, that Russia
does want peace with Ukraine, that they do want to come to a peace deal, which, of course, is not what the Ukrainians or the Europeans or many
Americans including Republicans believe.
[10:10:20]
And what we've seen just in the past few days, the end of last week, was two very significant overnight strikes by the Russians as the U.S. was
really pushing the two sides towards some kind of truce, whether a cease fire or more permanent peace deal.
And so, it does finally appear to be registering with Donald Trump that Putin may indeed be playing for time, that a truce may not be something
that he's interested in, that he may not want to freeze, essentially, the conflict where it is, and that he wants to continue the fight against the
Ukrainians.
Now, that is almost certainly the message that President Zelenskyy hammered home yet again with President Trump when the two of them sat down in Rome
over the weekend, that remarkable meeting in St. Peter's Basilica, which shortly thereafter as President Trump was on his way home, we heard him, we
saw him posting on his social network Truth Social talking about those missile strikes by the Russians against civilians and then saying of Putin,
it makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war. He's just tapping me along and has to be dealt with differently through banking or
secondary sanctions, he asks.
Now, he's talked about sanctions in the past, but this is something that he's raising again, which could very well play into what we're hearing from
Putin today, who wants to show the Americans that they're playing ball and they are working towards a peace deal.
And we heard Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary at the White House, talking about how Trump has frustration for both leaders, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He wants to see a permanent cease fire. I understand Vladimir Putin this morning, offered a temporary
cease fire. The President has made it clear he wants to see a permanent cease fire, first, to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed.
And while he remains optimistic he can strike a deal, he's also being realistic as well, and both leaders need to come to the table to negotiate
their way out of this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARQUARDT: So, Becky, the Americans asking the very same questions that the Ukrainians are this morning. If you the Russians are willing to entertain a
cease fire, a peace deal, why not do it today? Why not let it go into effect immediately and for more than just three days, because when you look
at the track record of the Russians in the past month and a half, they have rejected the immediate cease fire that the U.S. called for last month. They
have flouted the energy infrastructure cease fire. They turned down the Black Sea maritime cease fire. They tried to say that we're going to stop
firing our weapons for for the day of Easter, but they continue the fight against the Ukrainians.
And so, this really does appear to be, as Fred was just saying, an attempt to try to get some calm around a very important day, May 9th, Victory Day
in Russia. But certainly, the Americans are going to be pushing the Russians to say, no, no, that's not good enough. We need to have a much
longer cease fire in order to negotiate this peace deal, which the Americans say is getting closer, but it's not close enough, according to
Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, Becky.
ANDERSON: That's the latest. Alex, good to have you out of Washington with the time is 12 minutes past 10:00.
Well, volatile stock prices and depressed earnings forecasts go along with what economists say are looming, widespread price increases among the major
factors leading to an historically low job approval rating for Donald Trump. New CNN polling shows 41 percent of Americans surveyed approve of
how the U.S. is -- the U.S. president is handling his job down, seven points from late February, and that is the lowest number for any American
president dating back at least seven decades.
Well, Stephen Collinson calls the Trump tariffs driving all of this economics uncertainty and extraordinary hazardous bet in his latest
analysis online, he argues that the president is actively dismantling the American led Western political system. Writing Donald Trump believes that,
"The United States, the mightiest world power, should not lead the world, but should use its strength in one on one negotiations to coerce smaller
nations into policies that benefit America and no one else."
Stephen is back with us this hour. Stephen, that poll we mentioned shows only 39 percent of those surveyed support the president's handling of the
economy. That largely has to do with these tariffs, these Trump tariffs. Any idea that this negative rating is getting through to Donald Trump at
this point? We know he is pretty obsessed with approval ratings and polling.
[10:15:02]
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think a lot of these polls are coming out around the first 100 days this week are angering the
president. He's lashed out on social media about them, calling it election interference and saying they're false. I don't think we've necessarily seen
them changes behavior.
You know, voters sent a very strong message last November that they wanted someone who is going to lower their grocery prices. They picked Trump
because they remembered with perhaps rose tinted glasses, the pre pandemic economy of his first term, paradoxically, he's adopted policies slapping
tariffs on almost everything coming into the United States that will make prices more expensive, and I think we've not yet seen the real term impact
of those tariffs on American prices.
So, you could expect that his approval rating will dip even further if he sticks to the current course. I think there is a lot of pressure on the
president to actually deliver on some of these trade deals that he says that fought, you know, foreign countries are lining up coming to the White
House and offering great terms to the U.S. I think that is, you know, a questionable statement in itself, but he does need to show, I think, some
action on the economy if his approval rating is not going to dip even further.
ANDERSON: Tariffs are inflationary, at least in the short term. That will be and is, as we know, according to the Fed chairman, affecting decision
making as far as interest rates are concerned, that isn't going to please Main Street. And perhaps what we're seeing in these approval ratings is
reflected by that.
These tariffs also frustrating Wall Street CEOs of some of the biggest U.S. companies complaining, not least, to the president himself. If he's not
going to listen to the general public, is it more likely that he is actually listening to these CEOs? He seemed to be on a sort of revolving
door at the White House at this point.
COLLINSON: Well, I think there is -- in some cases, there are signs that he's listening to these big business guys. He spoke to Tim Cook on the
phone about the impact of tariffs on China, on iPhones, and those products were then exempted.
So, there is this classic scenario you're seeing when tariffs are implied on economy is when big, powerful people who can reach the president can get
results.
But if you look at what the President been saying in recent days, for example, he's just done this interview of The Atlantic magazine in which he
said he would consider it a total victory if tariffs remain on all goods coming into the United States of up to 50 percent, that would represent
historic levels of tariffs over the last hundred years or so. It would impose huge costs, effectively, a big tax on everything Americans buy.
So, I don't believe that the president has stepped away from his belief that tariffs, which he views as the path to a golden age, are a tool that
he can use and he can get success with. And it doesn't seem often that events, even the turmoil on the markets that we've seen in the last two
months or so, really influence him that much.
So, this is 40 years' worth of Trump's sincere belief in some ways conflicting with reality.
ANDERSON: And the markets today, and we're just bringing them up, pretty mixed out there, it has to be said, and that was what we expected to see.
Futures were certainly indicating that this is not by any stretch of the imagination, I think, a situation of calm on the markets, a pause for
breath, perhaps as investors consider what might happen next and waiting on some big earnings that has to be said out of some of the tech giants this
week as well.
Always good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Becky Anderson.
Still to come, elections underway right now in Canada, voters deciding who they want in the driver's seat to face threats from the U.S. president.
And details of what U.S. immigration officials are calling a first of its kind operation to arrest hundreds of immigrants in Florida.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:21:52]
ANDERSON: The U.S. president responding to criticism over his administration's crackdown on immigration ban, specifically what could
happen if someone is mistakenly deported.
In the new interview in the Atlantic, Donald Trump says, and I quote, nothing will ever be perfect in these -- in this world. Those comments
coming as U.S. Immigration officials worked with Florida law enforcement for what is described as the first of its kind operation to arrest nearly
800 immigrants.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live in Washington with the very latest on that. What are we learning?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, as the White House marks 100 days of the Trump administration, they are touting today
their progress on border security specifically, and the driving down of crossings over the last couple months.
Now, it is true that the numbers have dropped drastically, though they had been declining over the last several months, including the concluding
months of the Biden administration.
But White House border czar touting that over the last 24 hours, there were only around 178 encounters. Now it's remarkable when you compare it to
previous years, when that was in the thousands.
But the administration is touting all of this against the backdrop of what we are learning in new court filings about three U.S. citizen children who
were removed from the United States with their mothers who were in the United States illegally.
Now, according to the attorneys in both of these cases were mothers who were going to their routine check ins with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement when they were detained and now removed to Honduras.
Now, according to the attorneys, there was a lack of due process, and they're raising alarm about that. And one of the cases the attorneys had
tried to file petitions, but they were already -- they, the family, was already removed by the time they were doing that.
Now, when I asked the White House border czar about this, he said that it was ultimately the mother's decision. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: If you choose to have U.S. citizen child knowing you're in this country legally, you put yourself in that
position. You put your family in that position.
What we did is remove children with their mothers who requested the children depart with them. This is a parental decision. Parental one oh --
parenting 101, the mothers made that choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now, I also asked the White House border czar how many deportations there have been under the Trump administration, and there have
been, according to him, 139,000.
Now, when you compare to the same time last year, that is slightly lower, but at the time under the Biden administration, there were far more border
crossers, which are easier to repatriate. And that was also a point that was made by the border czar, but certainly it reflects the challenges of
the administration still faces to get to its mass deportations and why they are taking some of the measures that they have been, including the evoking
of a century's old law, Becky.
ANDERSON: You are up to date. Priscilla, thank you.
Just before a half past 10:00 in Washington, or 24 minutes past 10:00 there, Donald Trump's tariffs and his threats to annex Canada are top of
mind for a lot of Canadian voters today. They are heading to the polls, of course, a federal election to decide who will lead the country through what
are these uncertain times.
An anti-Trump sentiment is very likely to play a big role also overshadowing this election, of course, Saturday's crowd ramming in
Vancouver that left at least 11 people dead. A 30-year-old man is now facing murder charges for that attack.
[10:25:13]
CNN's Paula Newton following the voting and weekend news for us from the Canadian capital of charges for that attack Sean is Paula Newton following
the voting and weekend news for us from the Canadian capital of Ottawa.
Let's start with these elections. They are crucial. This is a difficult time for Canada, especially within the context of Donald Trump's tariffs
and his threats on Canada. How is that playing out? We've talked a lot about this over the past weeks. We are at that point now, campaigning is
over.
How big a role did Donald Trump and the U.S. play in campaigning, and how likely is it that ultimately people will be voting on that as much as, if
not more than anything else?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Becky, I would say that Donald Trump has been a defining presence in this election, and that continues right to this hour.
Donald Trump posting on Truth Social, he decided that he wanted to weigh in on the Canadian election. And he says, good luck to the great people of
Canada, almost insinuating himself, saying, elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half. And he goes on with a
litany.
I will say, Becky, that in terms of this, it is likely another troll against Canada, saying that it would be much better off as the 51st state.
And I note the language here that he is saying, look how beautiful this land mass would be, as if Canada is some kind of commodity. And that is
that very thing that Canadians in this election voted on, Becky, and continue to vote on.
There was a record turnout for advanced polls, a lot of people. Saying that there was a lot at stake, an existential threat from Donald Trump, not just
because of tariffs, Becky, but because of this threat for Canada to be the 51st state.
I will note, Mark Carney, the prime minister did say a few days ago that he does not expect that the president would try and do that in a military
sense, but certainly in an economic sense, to try and cripple Canada.
The Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre shooting back at Donald Trump this morning, saying, Stay out of our election.
Becky, I think it's safe to say that the majority of -- majority of Canadians would have liked to see him post that in all caps, they are
emphatic here that they will decide the future.
And while they may see the United States as continuing to be a close ally, they do not see Donald Trump and Vance as funny in any way, shape or form.
And this election is about that threat from the president, Becky.
ANDERSON: Which is probably why he was better off not posting that in all caps, because that's very Donald Trump like, isn't it?
Look, diverting a little bit. But of course, staying in Canada, Vancouver Police have arrested a 30-year-old suspect as part of their investigation.
And what was that terrible car ramming attack over the weekend that killed at least 11 people. What more do we know at this point?
NEWTON: You know, this event has been absolutely shattering, because in Vancouver, all of Canada, in fact, many cities around the world could see
themselves in that same position. In fact, many cities have been in that same position.
Vancouver officials calling it the darkest day in the city's history. And remember this, according to officials, allegedly was a man 30 years old,
who had had many interactions with police because he was having a mental health crisis. He is now charged with eight counts.
But Becky, I mean, think about it, we've got at least 11 people who are dead right now, ages between five and 65, two dozen people who remain in
hospital.
In terms of the way this impacted the campaign, you know, many leaders were, in fact, emotional, uncommonly so on the campaign, really
understanding how sobering this was for Canada as it continues to try and grapple with all those policy issues, not the least of which is how to take
care of those who are in a mental health crisis.
I do want you to listen now, though, to an eyewitness and someone who was trying to give support to the community. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH POTSKIN, EYE WITNESS: We have resilience, we have heart, and we have compassion for one another, and I think that's -- I think that's
what's really important right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: You know that common thread of solidarity, certainly running right from Vancouver throughout the country today, but also through this election
campaign.
In many ways, it really does mirror what Canadians want. They want strength, they want unity, they want purpose, and they want to try in this
election to be able to capture that, perhaps in a way that they never have before, and everyone now saying that there is so much more at stake, Becky.
[10:30:02]
ANDERSON: Yes. Thank you, Paula.
Paula Newton is in Ottawa, in Canada, for you.
All right. Still to come, we are a cross reaction after President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declares a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine for next
month.
Plus, we'll look at where fragile efforts towards a Gaza ceasefire stand, while Donald Trump tells the Israeli prime minister, "We've got to be good
to Gaza."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Welcome back. You're watching CONNECT WORLD with me, Becky Anderson. Here are your headlines this hour.
A power outage across huge parts of Spain and Portugal has snarled traffic and disrupted train and air travel. Portuguese national carrier TAP Air
Portugal has advised people to avoid heading to the airport until further notice.
Spain's electricity provider estimates fully restoring power could take between six and 10 hours.
Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin has unilaterally declared a three- day ceasefire in Ukraine from May the 8th to May the 11th. He's called on Ukraine to do the same.
The dates coincide with World War II commemorations. Russia previously rejected the U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire that was agreed to by
Ukraine.
Well, Canadians are voting in federal elections today. They are deciding if they should give Justin Trudeau successor, Mark Carney a full mandate, or
if they give conservatives a turn. Donald Trump's trade war and annexation threats have become a major issue in the run up to that vote.
Well, in Yemen, Houthi rebels say a U.S. air strike has killed dozens of detained African migrants. Houthi officials say around 115 migrants were
being held at the prison that was hit. The United States military has yet to comment on the incident.
Well, back to those major power outages in Spain and Portugal. For more, let's bring in energy and climate policy expert, Georg Zachman.
And Georg, any closer at this point to understanding exactly what happened.
GEORG ZACHMAN, SENIOR FELLOW, BRUEGEL: At that point, we don't know. It's still very much unclear what happened. What we know is that by about 12:30
local time, all Spanish coal, gas, and nuclear plants stopped feeding into the grid. Also, a nuclear plant in France, in the -- in the south of France
went off the grid, and the assumption is that it has to do something with an automatic decoupling based on some oscillations in the -- in the any
grid.
[10:35:04]
So, oscillations in the grid is if some event -- a bigger event happens, then, the frequency and the power system changes, which means that all
generators jump in, in order to try to get the frequency in the -- in the right level again. Then, it might jump in the other direction.
It's a bit like people on a boat, if they both chills in one direction, everybody goes on one side, then the boat tilts in the other direction, and
everybody moves back. And at some moment, the boat either stabilizes, or they are -- or you get into trouble, as we now have seen in this -- in this
case.
ANDERSON: That's a very good analogy, and thank you for that. It leaves a, you know, it leaves a decent image for our viewers to get their heads
around.
How is Southern Europe interconnected with regard its grids and energy supplies? Let's just explain that.
ZACHMAN: So, Spain and Portugal form one market. They are very well interconnected. Spain and France are relatively weakly interconnected. It
has been a long discussion in Europe about increasing the interconnection between Spain and France, so that -- hence, the problem also got largely
isolated now on the Iberian Peninsula, and didn't spill over much into continental Europe so far.
ANDERSON: We're talking about some 50 million between Spain and Portugal. We've also talked about small outages, certainly in southwest of France. If
this is, a some sort of technical issue, and as you've described it, which is sort of cascaded through the system, as it were, authorities certainly
say it could take at least sort of six to 10 hours to restore power. Does that sound reasonable to you?
ZACHMAN: Yes, that sounds reasonable to me. The challenge is that you have to really step by step, build the system back up. So, you currently are
quite at ground zero. Now, you have to bring in, in tandem, generation and consumption.
If you put in more generation into the system, then you have consumption. You immediately get, again, a frequency problem. So, you have to make sure
that as soon as you switch on some consumers, you also have the power to do so, and that you can only do step by step, in order not to put challenges
on the only stability of the -- of the system.
What helps here is very much the interconnectors that we just spoke about. So, France is able to provide electricity to Spain in order to relatively
smoothly address consumption that is being brought back into the -- into the Spanish system. So, here the interconnected European market is really
upheld for the country in trouble to recover their system faster.
ANDERSON: The Spanish grid operator put out this graphic showing when the outage hits. We were talking around midday, sort of local time. This is now
circulating on social media.
The yellow line, as I understand it, appearing to show a precipitous drop in output. Dropping down to 10 gigawatts, down from 26 pre-outage. Can you
just explain what it is that we are looking at here and how significant that is for Spain's national grid. I'm trying to get some sense of sort of
how unprecedented an event like this is.
ZACHMAN: I mean, as I said earlier, the challenge is a bit that the -- that in the grid, all the parts need to work together. And the big issue in
electricity is that you need to make sure that consumption and production at every moment in time, at every second are almost exactly the same.
That they don't produce more than you consume, that you don't consume more than you -- than you produce. And there's very narrow boundaries in which
that -- in which there might be a difference between production and consumption.
And my hypothesis at that stage would be that, because of some shocking event, and we don't know what this event has been yet, maybe one
transmission line got an issue. Maybe one big generator -- one big substation had an issue.
Maybe, all of a sudden, all the heat pumps in Spain started to produce and increase consumption. We don't know yet what the -- what the shock was be.
But because of this one shock, the ship started to tilt, or the boat tilted in one direction.
And then, the system automatically tries to repair that by going in the other direction and putting in a lot of generators and then taking out a
lot of generators.
[10:40:07]
And if we start to behave outside of these boundaries, then, the installations that are connected to the grid are all starting to disconnect
in order to protect these installations to not get technical issues because of the dysfunction in grid.
So, you essentially get into a cascading issue, and that happens extremely quickly. So, what you see here on the -- on the graph is that the -- that
essentially, then, all of a sudden, nuclear, coal, and gas generator. So, all those generators that the -- that the industry can control are being
automatically switched off.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you, and I'll just close out this interview with this. Just in to CNN, the power outage that left millions without
electricity across the Iberian Peninsula, lightly originated in Spain, according to the Portuguese prime minister. He said the government did not
yet know what has caused the cut, but that it quote -- and I'm quoting here, "did not originate in Portugal, and everything indicates that the
problem originated in Spain. He said, we have our intelligence services also trying to get to the bottom of what may have been at the root of this
incident.
When asked if it could have been a cyber-attack, the prime minister said, nothing. "Nothing is off the table," but said there was no indication
pointing in that direction.
Not a lot more clarity there, but certainly some information that is important to add into the mix for the time being.
Georg, thank you very much indeed for joining us. Your analysis incredibly important. Thank you.
I want to return now to one of our top stories this hour. Russian President Vladimir Putin has unilaterally declared a three-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
He says that will begin on May the 8th, in response to a Ukrainian official -- in response, sorry. Ukrainian official said, "The ceasefire must be
unconditional, because everything else is just Putin's tactical games."
Well, Putin also unilaterally declared a 30-hour truce around Easter, which Kyiv met with skepticism, but did agree to both sides later accused each
other of violating that truce.
Well, joining us now live, global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw. He is the former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. It's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us.
What is, firstly, your response to the news? Optimistic or somewhat cynical though?
MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, SENIOR FELLOW, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Good to be with you. Becky.
Well, what interesting as we live in, isn't it? On one side of The Atlantic here, we have the self-declared master of the art of the deal, Donald
Trump, and on the other we have the seemingly master of the art of the gimmick, Vladimir Putin.
I think, what this is, is basically a two-prong gimmick. On the one hand, Mr. Putin trying to placate Mr. Trump, saying, see, we're not the barrier
to peace Ukraine is. But I think this also reflects Becky a lot of paranoia on the Russian side.
They had reported huge losses yesterday, but let's not forget, just a few days ago, there was a very, very brazen assassination of a top Russian
general. The fingers been pointed at Ukraine, and with these Victory Day celebrations coming up, where a lot of things are going to be outdoors. We
can assume Mr. Putin is very nervous, very paranoid, because there could be Ukrainian special forces within Moscow launching these assassinations,
access to fiber optic drones, that sort of thing.
So, very interesting timing indeed. But yes, one can help but be cynical.
ANDERSON: You spoke to an extraordinary image of President Trump and the Ukrainian leader in Rome just a couple of days ago. This is, of course, was
their first meeting since that very disastrous Oval Office meeting some weeks ago.
And it does seem as if we may be seeing a slight softening in Donald Trump's tone towards Zelenskyy. We've also heard from the White House
spokeswoman today that Donald Trump is increasingly frustrated with both sides --
(CROSSTALK)
BOCIURKIW: Yes.
ANDERSON: With both Putin and Zelenskyy. So, at this point, to your mind, and you are talking about this weekend -- sorry, this May the 8th
ceasefire, three-day truce has been somewhat of a -- of a gimmick on the part of Vladimir Putin.
How much closer to a peace deal are we? Closer to all?
BOCIURKIW: Yes.
ANDERSON: At this point?
[10:45:00]
BOCIURKIW: Well, Becky, in normal times -- in normal times, I would say, yes. I mean that very interesting image of the two leaders meeting in the
Basilica was encouraging to a lot of Ukrainians here in the diaspora, I can tell you.
But on the other hand, this is a president, President Trump, with a very well-known short attention span.
My friend, Paula Newton just told you about Mr. Trump now, you know, threatening Canada again. So, his eye is not on the ball solely on what's
happening in Ukraine and Russia. And also, the Ukrainians reading what's coming out of the Russian Foreign Ministry that we want the max. We want
five different districts of Ukraine. We want Ukraine to step away from NATO. They are not backing down. And they are also, on top of all of that,
striking Ukraine very, very hard with missiles and drones.
So, is that respect being paid to Mr. Trump's desire for more peace? Doesn't look like it.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. It is a quarter to 7:00 here, quarter to 11:00 in Washington. What's going
on at the White House today? We will be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas are dragging along somewhat. Egyptian mediators invited Israel to Cairo today off the back of
the Egyptians' meeting with a senior Hamas delegation. It is unclear if Israel has actually accepted that invitation.
Meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu about the dire situation in Gaza. Have a
listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Gaza came up, and I said, you know, got to -- got to be good to Gaza. Those people are -- those people
are suffering. We got to be good to Gaza. Well, we're going to take care of that.
There is a very big need for medicine, food and medicine. We'll taking care of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Lebanon saw the latest test of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend. Their strike by Israel, hitting
southern Beirut shortly after the IDF issued an evacuation warning for the area.
Israel says it was targeting a weapons storage facility used by Hezbollah, The CNN's tourism correspondent, Jeremy Diamond, joining me this hour. And
Jeremy, let's just start with these Gaza ceasefire talks. Donald Trump suggesting that he said to the Israeli prime minister, we have to be good
to Gaza.
I mean, I'm not sure what people are taking from that. Is there a change in the U.S. position? Of course, they are still involved in mediating these
talks. What's the sense, as we understand it, behind the scenes? Are we -- should we feel optimistic, or is this Groundhog Day?
[10:49:59]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's clear is that there are still ongoing negotiations, ongoing conversations about a
potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. And that, in and of itself, is at least a somewhat positive signal after we, you know heard Hamas' top
negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, you know, rejecting the latest Israeli proposal just over a week ago now.
But the fact that they are still talking indicates that there is at least a possibility, and certainly, a willingness on behalf of the parties to
continue engaging in talks to try and reach an agreement.
Whether or not that means that they are any closer to doing so is another question altogether. We know that a Hamas delegation was in Egypt and left
Cairo. Late Saturday, there has been, you know, an offer for the Israelis to engage further with Egyptian officials.
We also understand that one of the proposals on the table, beyond this kind of limited deals that we have been looking at for, you know, 10 hostages or
so in exchange for a 45, 50-day truce between Israel and Hamas are more comprehensive agreements, including, for example, proposal for a five-year
truce in exchange for the release of all of the hostages and in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as well.
But a senior Israeli official in Israeli media is quoted as saying that there is, no chance that Israel will agree to a five-year ceasefire, and
that has prompted quite an angry reaction from the hostages forum, which says that, that kind of a comment proves that is --the Israeli government
has, "no plan for securing the release of the hostages," and that they are focused, it seems, on saying what Israel will not do to -- is not willing
to do to secure the release of the hostages, and less on presenting a plan for the way to actually achieve that.
Now, as these negotiations continue to languish, we know that there are 59 hostages, as many as 24 still believed to be alive, being held inside the
Gaza Strip. And humanitarian conditions there are quickly, quickly degrading.
This Friday will be the two-month mark since Israel has not allowed any food, any water, any aid into Gaza whatsoever. The longest siege that it
has ever carried out on the Gaza Strip. And as we are seeing that the warehouses of humanitarian aid organizations inside of Gaza have now
emptied out, and we are just weeks away from the Strip running out of food altogether, according to humanitarian aid officials, with no real plan
right now for aid to get in, for Israel to lift this blockade. Becky.
ANDERSON: Yes. Jeremy, it's good to have you. Thank you. Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv in Israel.
Today, or one week after the death of Pope Francis, cardinals have chosen a day to begin choosing his successor. The Vatican announced a short time ago
that the conclave will start on May the 7th. The decision was made today as cardinals held their first daily congregation since the pontiff died.
135 are eligible to participate. There is no set timetable for the papal election, but the last two popes were chosen within two days.
Well, coming up, it is official. Liverpool wins another English Premier League title -- their second in five years. I want to take a moment to look
back on my time covering one player who has played an oversized role in this victory.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:55:14]
ANDERSON: Right. Well, in tonight's parting shots, a tribute to the Egyptian king of Liverpool. Now, this pains me somewhat to say, because
over the weekend, Liverpool clinched their 20th Premier League title by thrashing my very own Tottenham 5-1 in front of what was an ecstatic crowd
at Anfield.
And of course, it wouldn't have been a Liverpool classic without the involvement of one Mohamed Salah. A couple of years ago, I spent some time
with Mo in Liverpool and talked to him about the pressures of winning. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMED SALAH, FORWARD, PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB LIVERPOOL: Keep working hard. And if you want to win another thing, you have to work harder than maybe
the last season, and you have to really be humble and OK, Champions League is over. It was last year. So, forget it. Fight for the new trophies again
this season.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Mo Salah. Congratulations to him and all those who support Liverpool.
Well, that is it for CONNECT WORLD. Stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
