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Connect the World

Hegseth to Brief "Gang of 8" on Boat Strike Operations; Trump Blasts European Nations as "Decaying" and "Weak"; Ukrainian President in Italy as He Gathers European Support; European Leaders Rally Around Zelenskyy Amid Peace Talks; Israeli Authorities Raid UNRWA Compound in East Jerusalem. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired December 09, 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: Well, a live look at Sydney Harbor today, where the world's first social media ban for under 16s has

just gone into effect. The ground breaking legislative move by Australia designed to protect kids and young teens.

It's 01:00 a.m. in Sydney. It is 06:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. You're watching "Connect the World" from our Middle East

programming headquarters. Also happening today, Pete Hegseth heads to Capitol Hill to tell his side of the story about the boat strike in the

Caribbean.

And Pope Leo meets President Zelenskyy and calls for a just peace in Ukraine, while the U.S. President criticizes European allies as weak. Stock

mark in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. It's a mixed picture so far as futures are concerned, investors, it seems cautious ahead of the

Federal Reserve decision on rates.

More on that as we get it. We're looking for a compromise. That is how Ukraine's President is describing the U.S. position in the midst of

whirlwind talks that have taken Volodymyr Zelenskyy from London to Paris and then on to Italy. He meets this hour with Italy's Prime Minister in

Rome, and says Ukraine is set to provide U.S. officials details of a revised plan to end Russia's war.

President Zelenskyy earlier held what the Vatican describes as cordial talks with Pope Leo, the pope expressing hope that current diplomatic

efforts will bring peace. Well, that seems highly uncertain at this point, after Mr. Zelenskyy reiterated in meetings with the Europeans that Ukraine

is not willing to cede territory to Russia.

Well as President Zelenskyy try to cement European Union, he is facing another complicating factor, continued criticism of Europe's leaders from

the U.S. President Donald Trump blasting them in an interview with POLITICO. Let's just have a listen to some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Most European nations, they're decaying. They're decaying. But Europe, they want to be

politically correct, and it makes them weak. That's what makes them weak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Ben Wedeman, connecting us this hour from Rome. Donald Trump, seemingly not being about the bush. Look, it is on the Europeans.

Ben, it is hard to tell with Trump is this somehow a negotiating position, or is this how he really feels about the Europeans.

At this point, the key sort of story here is Zelenskyy in Italy trying to shore up support from these European leaders, with this as a sort of

backdrop going in, what is Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister taking. Just explain what's her position as you understand it. And how are her relations

when it comes to sort of balancing between European leaders and Donald Trump.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Giorgia Meloni is sort of the Trump whisperer among European leaders. She has very far

right origins in her politics. And she has consistently been able to soothe the ruffled feathers of the over sensitive American President in terms of

trying to smooth out relations between Europe and the United States.

But at this point, certainly after the United States issued this national security strategy that seems should really have a subtitle to the effect of

how to lose friends and alienate people. It certainly, is basically an insult to the decades old transatlantic alliance that underscores the NATO

and a variety of other security arrangements that have kept the world order in the somewhat frayed situation it is now.

But certainly, it has European leaders worried. And of course, no one more worried than Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is on this whirlwind tour of Europe,

meeting at the 10 Downing Street with the leaders of the UK, France and Germany. He was in Paris, and this morning he met with Pope Leo.

[09:05:00]

And what was interesting there is the wording of the statement that came out of the Vatican, saying that Pope Leo urgently desires a just and

lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine. Just and lasting, because those are two elements to the peace agreement that rather the peace proposal that

is being rather aggressively pushed by President Trump, seems to lack that it's not really just or it could be lasting.

It really involves the amputation of a large part of eastern Ukraine that the Ukrainians have fought long and hard at a very high cost to stop from

falling into Russian hands. And certainly, what we heard in this POLITICO interview with their correspondent was that this is a president who just

doesn't seem very sympathetic to European concerns or Ukrainian concerns.

ANDERSON: So, I guess it begs the question, this costs a lot of doubt, it seems, on the entire peace process and the possibility of a compromise.

What do you see as Meloni's role at this point on that very far, the focus is Ukraine today in Rome?

WEDEMAN: Well, perhaps she'll be able to help Zelenskyy sort of recast or modify the American proposal to the point where it might be acceptable to

President Trump. That's a tall order, to be quite frank, Becky, because, as I said this now 20-point plan. It was 28 it's been pared down to 20 points

has elements that certainly look to lean in the direction of Russia, far more than it seems to be taking the position of Ukraine.

And this is what has people so worried now, as I said, Meloni has been very good until now, charming, the over sensitive American President, keeping

him sort of on Europe's side. But what we heard from the national -- what we saw the National Security strategy, and these statements from President

Trump is that he seems to be falling out of love, so to speak, with Europe and looking in another direction, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, Ben. Ben is in Rome for you today. Thank you. Well, Israeli authorities have raided the compound of the U.N. Agency for

Palestinian refugees in occupied East Jerusalem, a major escalation in what is a long simmering tension between Israel and the agency known as UNRWA.

The head of the agency says Israeli police, quote, forcibly entered with trucks and forklifts, replaced the U.N. flag with an Israeli flag and cut

all communications. Israel says the raid was part of a standard debt collection procedure, but U.N. is pushing back on the claims of unpaid

taxes, saying it is exempt under international law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: The Secretary General urges Israel to immediately take all necessary steps to help restore, preserve and on

uphold the inviolability of UNRWA premises and refrain from taking any further action with regard to UNRWA premises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live in Jerusalem. That's the U.N. position. What else have we learned about this raid, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was quite startling to see the images on just yesterday of this U.N. flag being taken down from

this compound in East Jerusalem and an Israeli flag being raised in its place, especially when you consider the fact that this is the premises, the

headquarters, in fact, of UNRWA.

But a U.N. premises international, you know, should enjoy the protections of international law from a police raid being carried out in coordination

with the Jerusalem municipality. But that's exactly what happened. Israeli police and Jerusalem municipal officials raided this compound, which serves

as the headquarters of UNRWA, that key agency for Palestinian refugees.

According to U.N. officials, they seized IT equipment, furniture and other property over the course of this raid. Israeli officials for their part,

say that this was part of a debt collection procedure, claiming that UNRWA owes more than $3 million in back property taxes.

But obviously this is a lot more than just a feud about property taxes between Israel and UNRWA.

[09:10:00]

This is a much broader feud. One that has that's been going on for decades, really, in a certain sense, but that really picked up last year when the

Israeli parliament passed a law banning UNRWA from operating on Israeli territory. And so, it was after that law went into effect, at the beginning

of this year, that Jerusalem municipal officials began trying to collect property taxes from UNRWA, effectively making the case that the U.N. is no

longer exempt from those property taxes.

U.N. officials obviously very much disagree. And what's also important to note is that this U.N. compound has been vacant as well since January, when

U.N. staffers were forced to vacate the premises when that law came into effect. But the U.N. says that, that doesn't change the protected status of

this compound, which they say is still very much a U.N. premises.

One top U.N. official, the Head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, saying that this amounts to Israel's, quote, blatant disregard for its responsibilities

under international law and as critically a U.N. member state, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you sir. Thank you. Jeremy Diamond is in Jerusalem for you. The sources tell CNN, U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth,

Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Dan Caine and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, all slated to brief the so-called "Gang of 8" lawmakers in the

coming hours.

Now, these lawmakers are a bipartisan group of top congressional leaders who hold ranking positions on committees relating to foreign policy issues.

The White House is under pressure from Congress to provide more information on its actions in and on Latin America, particularly in regard to boat

strikes that have killed more than 80 people.

CNN Senior U.S. Security and National Security Correspondent Zach Cohen, is in Washington. Zach, the particular concern is this double tap strike on

September the second, our viewers can see the first strike on the vessel that day. This is video released by the Department of Defense.

Lawmakers want the full video. What more are you hearing from your sources at this point about this?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Becky, a rare moment of bipartisanship as both Republicans and Democrats are calling on

the Trump Administration to release that unedited video, which we know from lawmakers who have seen it, that shows that second strike, that double tap

strike.

That was carried out and allegedly or is raising concerns about a potential war crime, as two survivors were killed following the first strike on this

drug but that you can see in front of you now. This is certainly going to be a question for Pete Hegseth when he goes to Capitol Hill today, when he

embraces the "Gang of 8".

Donald Trump initially saying that he would support the release of whatever the Pentagon has related to this strike, but later has walked that back,

seeming to continue to try to distance himself from what took place on September 2nd, and is now effectively said the decision is up to Hegseth

the Defense Secretary, who really could release it at any time, but was really non-committal when asked over the weekend if you plan to do so.

So, he's sure to face more questions about that today from members of the "Gang of 8". He'll brief lawmakers, alongside CIA Director John Ratcliffe,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and, of course, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine. And this is the same group of lawmakers who were given

an opportunity to also review that unedited video last week.

I mean it's and emerged, really, with a consensus that it should be released so the American public and the world can see it and judge it for

itself. It remains to be seen, though, if that will ultimately happen. And interestingly too, in a new interview with POLITICO Donald Trump, was asked

if Pete Hegseth should have to testify publicly about his role in that September strike in this ongoing military operation more broadly. Take a

listen to what Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defense secretary, should he testify Pete Hegseth under oath before Congress about that controversial second strike on the

alleged drug boat October --

TRUMP: I don't care -- he can if he wants. I don't care --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think he should?

TRUMP: I don't care. I would say, do it if you want. He's doing a great job --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you watched the video?

TRUMP: -- stopping. I watched everything. Yeah, I watch everything. I see a lot of things. It's --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And do you believe that, that second strike was necessary?

TRUMP: Well, it looked like they were trying to turn back over the boat, but I don't get involved in that. That's up to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, in addition to this unedited video and whether or not it will be released, a big question in all of this has been what was Defense Secretary

Pete Hegseth's role in that September 2nd strike. He has also tried to distance himself from the decision-making process, but Trump raising the

prospect of potentially him testifying before Congress. So have to wait and see if he ultimately does that.

ANDERSON: More on that as we get it today. Thank you, sir.

[09:15:00]

Right. You're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. Still ahead, Sudan's largest oil field falls to paramilitary forces as fighting

rages in the south. We're going to hear from the U.N. on the growing humanitarian crisis there. More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Sudan's largest oil field has fallen to the Rapid Support Forces. Parliamentary group claims to have seized the Heglig facility in South

Kordofan. Sources tell writers production there is shut down and workers have been evacuated now this comes as fighting intensifies in the south and

after a drone strike on a kindergarten hospital killed more than 100 people last week.

The U.N. warns the conflict is pushing Sudan towards a deeper humanitarian disaster. Well, earlier, I spoke to Filippo Grandi, the U.N.'s High

Commissioner for Refugees. He joined me from Port Sudan.

FILIPPO GRANDI, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: The worst was meeting displaced people fleeing El Fasher in the north of Sudan. I was there a

couple of days ago. And you know, we've heard these stories before, but they simply don't stop murder, rape, robbery, separation of families, all

sorts of abuse, in this case, perpetrated by the militias that took over El Fasher after RSF took the city.

These people keep coming to displaced sites around the country. And it shows that, in spite of all efforts, this war continues and continues to

have an impact on civilians, especially on civilian.

ANDERSON: Who are these militia that you speak of and who is supporting them?

GRANDI: As you know, the country is divided into two, basically a part controlled by the Sudanese armed forces that run the government and the

part controlled by this RSF and militia.

Both have supporters in the in the region and beyond. Now, these supporters, actually, a few -- a couple of months ago, got together U.S.,

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE got together in a format that they call quad and issued a very good statement. We were all hopeful at that point.

They said, end the war, ceasefire, and move to a peace process. And I do hope that, as the Secretary General said yesterday, commenting on some of

the worst atrocities of the last few days, that this shift from supporting one or the other to really using influence to push the parties to the

negotiating table. Let's hope that, that comes to fruition.

[09:20:00]

But I have to tell you what we heard from the displaced in Al Dabbah that's the name of the site I was. Was really atrocity perpetrated in this case,

by the RSF militias and the militias affiliated to them.

ANDERSON: Let's talk about this ceasefire proposal by the quad, the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The RSF has embraced it. The army chief has

rejected it, and he calls the quad effectively a dishonest broker, or certainly elements of the quad. Can you understand why it is that the army

would look at that plan and knock it back and call it biased?

GRANDI: It is very clear that there are tensions, particularly between Sudan, the Sudanese government, and the UAE that is seen as supporting the

RSF, but I think that the time has come to overcome that, is especially by the say by the quad countries. Now, you know, it may not work immediately,

but peace doesn't work in one minute.

You know peace is a long, laborious, sometimes boring work to convince the parties to come to the table.

ANDERSON: Can you just describe the access that yours and other humanitarian agencies have got or the lack thereof. I really want to

understand what is going on, on the ground.

GRANDI: First, the war itself. There are areas where it's simply too dangerous to go. You must have seen that a couple of days ago. Once again,

a World Food Program convoy was attacked. So, you know, it shows how risky it is to work in some of the areas where people are most in need, in

particular in Darfur, now increasingly in Kordofan, another big chunk of the country that is being engulfed by the war.

So that's one thing. The second thing is that, particularly in areas controlled by the government, this is where we have more access. We've made

progress. I was myself moving around some of those areas in the past few days. I was in Khartoum for a couple of days.

I have told the government that it is important that also the residual constraints, you cannot do this. It is dangerous to do that. You cannot

access this population because of security concern that all of this is lifted, because it is still quite cumbersome for us to navigate that.

And then we have a third constraint, and this is a very broad one. We don't have enough money. The donors are not giving us enough funding. There's a

lot of talk about stepping up by major donors. I hope it works, because at the moment, we cannot address all the multiple challenges of this.

This is the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, and we simply have very little, too little resources to address it.

ANDERSON: Filippo Grandi, who I spoke to earlier, we had a wide-ranging discussion included Syria, and I want you to hear what he said on Syria in

the hour to come. But the longer version of this interview with Filippo, who leaves his position at the end of the year, will be published on CNN

and broadcast on this show in the days to come.

It was fascinating to hear Filippo Grandi's view on humanitarian issues, on refugees, very specifically, which is his file at the agency. He's been in

the business of humanitarian help for 42 years, and as he moves on, it is important that we get his perspective more, as they say, as we publish

that.

Well, a short time ago, kids under the age of 16 in Australia started being forced off major social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

Australia's new ban for young users is going into effect across the country at midnight local time on Wednesday. Making it the first country to set a

minimum age for legal access to 10 popular platforms.

CNN's Angus Watson is in Sydney following reaction and a lawsuit challenging this massive cultural shift for Australia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Teenagers, Noah and Macy are taking their government to court in a fight to stay on social media.

NOAH JONES, PLAINTIFF: Taking away how we communicate to the world. This is how we do it. It's modern day. It's social media.

WATSON (voice-over): From Wednesday, Australia will enforce a world first law banning children under 16 from many of the biggest platforms. Supported

by a freedom advocacy group, Macy and Noah's case asserts a right to political communication. The High Court has agreed to hear it next year.

WATSON: So, what will you lose when social media is taken away from you?

[09:25:00]

MACY NEYLAND, PLAINTIFF: Well, we will lose connections, but we will lose our democracy. This law is saying that democracy begins at 16, which is

condescending and it's incorrect.

JONES: Listen, there are definitely negatives on social media. I'm not denying that. I completely agree. We're saying that getting rid of the kids

is not the solution. We didn't do anything wrong.

WATSON (voice-over): The government says it has acted to protect children from potentially harmful content, harmful people and addictive algorithms.

JULIE INMAN GRANT, AUSTRALIAN E-SAFETY COMMISSIONER: And there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless

to fight against, like autoplay and endless scroll and snap streets. So, what chance do our children have?

WATSON (voice-over): Under the new law, young social media users won't be punished for being on age restricted apps, nor will their parents. Instead,

Australia is requiring tech companies to take reasonable steps to keep under sixteens off their platforms and threatening fines in the tens of

millions of dollars.

Tech companies say they are already building safer systems. AI face detectors will likely be employed to verify age with tools provided by

third party companies like VerifyMy. Users may also be asked to upload their identity documents.

ANDY LULHAM, VERIFYMY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Australia is certainly leading the way when it comes to requiring an age check for every user to

determine that they are over 16 or not.

WATSON: The government's ban is a catch all. If you're under the age of 16, you're off social media. But children are all different. They've engaged

with social media differently, and they feel differently about the ban.

WATSON (voice-over): The students at All Saints Anglican School on Australia's Gold Coast are learning from cyber safety advocate Kirra

Pendergast about how to best avoid danger on social media.

KIRRA PENDERGAST, CTRL+SHIFT CHIEF DIGITAL STRATEGIST: Because it is a delay. It's not a flat out ban. They're not banning the internet, and we're

not trying to boil the ocean. It's literally just to delay age. And so, they've got time to catch up, to become more resilient and think more

critically about that how they use apps.

WATSON (voice-over): In their final year, Nicholas (ph) and Ruby wonder if maybe their school career would have been easier without the distraction of

social media.

RUBY PETTY, ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN SCHOOL CAPTAIN: Nick (ph) and I were talking before about how, if we could, we would delete Snapchat today. But

it's more the fact that, because there's now so much reliability and connection based off one app, you don't want to delete it.

WATSON (voice-over): Perhaps for young Australians, the fear of missing out won't be so bad if everyone is forced to miss out together. Angus Watson,

CNN, Sydney, Australia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well still to come, Bill Gates among donors who are jointly contributing $1.9 billion to help eradicate polio. My interview with him

about what is this remarkable effort, is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Right, just getting set to ring the opening bell on Wall Street, big calling company, Twenty One. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu

Dhabi, and that is the opening bell on Wall Street. We'll let those markets settle and check numbers in a moment.

First up though, the headlines this hour, Ukraine's President is in Rome meeting with Italy's Prime Minister, Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier met with

Pope Leo, and he is trying to cement support across Europe as Ukraine prepares to share a revised plan with U.S. officials to end Russia's war.

Israeli authorities have raided the compound of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees in the occupied East of Jerusalem. The Head of UNRWA

says Israeli police forcibly entered the trucks and forklifts and cut all communications. Israel, for its part, says the operation was a standard

debt collection process.

The U.N. though is pushing back on claims it has not paid its taxes. Well sources tell CNN U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, will brief the

so-called "Gang of 8" later today. The group of bipartisan lawmakers holding high ranking positions on foreign policy and intelligence

committees make up that group of 8.

All right, let's have a look at how the DOW is opening. And actually, in positive territory, we had said that this would be a relatively mixed days,

as investors do seemingly want to sit out the remaining hours, as it were, before we get a fed decision on rates. So, keep an eye on these markets,

but the expectations certainly were for a mixed open and that is how things look as we speak.

Or to a monumental effort now to protect millions of kids across the globe from polio. A number of countries, international health organizations and

philanthropists, including the Gates Foundation, are pledging $1.9 billion to advance polio eradication. Now the pledging event was hosted by the

Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for humanity here in Abu Dhabi.

The fundraising drive aims to cover upcoming funding gaps for what is known as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a private-public partnership. I

had the opportunity to interview Bill Gates and Reem bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, who is UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, about

this new funding pledge. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL GATES, U.S. BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST: The final 1 percent has turned out to be very difficult. And of course, that's going to be true in

an eradication, the toughest place on earth or where you're going to end up. And here we have Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then parts of Africa

where it spread back, even though we did get to zero there.

So, you know, we have to keep vaccinating the kids. The disease goes away when you vaccinate 90 percent of the kids. The vaccine is incredible. In

fact, we recently improved it, right around the time of the COVID pandemic, was one of the first new vaccines approved during that time period.

So, you know, it's a few years more than we hope for, but now we've got the resources to take the time to drive the new approaches we're taking and,

you know, bring it to a final end.

ANDERSON: Just to remind us all, vaccines do work, right?

GATES: Nothing has saved as many lives as vaccines. You know, when we say that we've gone from that 10 million a year down to 5 million. The biggest

reason for that is that we got new vaccines out for diarrhea, pneumonia. We got bed nets out for malaria. But the biggest thing is the vaccines.

And the price of those vaccines was brought down very dramatically. Saudi NISTA who runs GAVIS here tonight, another you know, unbelievable

organization that deserves strong support.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Right, note to Washington, everybody, vaccines work. Reem, the UAE has been one of the most consistent backers of polio eradication,

often in the hardest hit communities. It has to be said. Why does this mission remain so central to your international work?

REEM BINT EBRAHIM AL HASHIMY, UAE MINISTER OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: Thank you, Becky. Well, we started with Bill, almost 16 years

ago, and at that time we there were more than just Afghanistan and Pakistan and some pockets in Sub Saharan Africa.

[09:35:00]

We had four countries, including Nigeria and India, that were also places of contamination. It's important for the very reason why we're here today,

because it is possible to actually eradicate polio. There are a strong conviction and belief in the UAE that we're in it for the very, very long

run.

And we knew then, when we started the discussion, that this was not going to be a three-year, four-year, five-year program. At one point, we were

confident that 2020 would be the year. But of course, we all know what happened in 2020 and now we're at the very, very last mile where.

Inshallah, in the next two years or so, we may actually be able to reconvene once more as a community, as a global community that says,

through partnership, through persistence, through conviction and through a desire to never, ever, ever give up, with the help of innovation, as we

heard from Ramesh (ph) as well, we'll actually be able to get there.

And it will be one of those human achievements that really touch the human story touches families in countries all over the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: The goal to finally eradicate polio, that discussion between Bill Gates and Reem Al Hashimy. Well, if Liverpool's form wasn't trouble enough,

Arne Slot now has a most salad sized headache to deal with. More on that is after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Imagine being able to look at something and information about it appears right before your eyes. Well, that is the goal of Google's new

smart glasses. CNN's Lisa Eadicicco got the chance to try out a prototype. Have a look at this.

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: I had the chance to try out some prototype smart glasses from Google that will be launching next year. The

company is working with partners like Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to design the glasses.

And Google has shown this prototype before, but what's new is the software that it was running on. I got an early look at some apps like Google Maps

and Uber. That gives us a closer look at what the glasses will be like when consumers are able to buy them.

And the idea behind these glasses isn't necessarily to replace your phone, but to make certain things easier, so that you don't have to reach for your

phone as often.

[09:40:00]

And after using these glasses, I can kind of get a sense of what that's like. For example, when using Google Maps, I was able to look ahead to see

turn by turn directions and then glance down to see the map. That's just one example. Glasses like these are also really useful for live language

translation.

In my demo, I had someone speak to me in Chinese and have the glasses show and also recite translations in English in real time. Now this isn't

Google's first time trying this. They released Google Glass roughly a decade ago, but those glasses largely failed to catch on with consumers for

a few reasons.

They were expensive, they weren't very functional, they didn't look like a pair of glasses, but Google and other companies that are in the smart

glasses race like Meta, especially and snap believe that things will be different this time around, because of AI, which allows you to do things

like look at books on a shelf and ask for details about it.

And, you know, really process information about the world around you and get answers in real time without having to take out your phone.

ANDERSON: A new world. Liverpool has a big game in the Champions League later on Tuesday. And they will have to navigate it without Mohamed Salah

after he was not selected in the traveling squad. Oh, dear. Amanda Davies joining me now. Look our live -- Are we talking football at all today?

Are we just talking Mo Salah and what he's been talking about his football club, because it seems that's the only game in town at the moment?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. And I think it's fair to say, talk of the actual match, Liverpool against Inter Milan is very, very far down the

agenda.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

DAVIES: And Mo Salah is doing everything he can to keep this going. His team have gone off to Italy without him. He's been left behind after those

explosives I think it's fair to say comments on Saturday. So, what has he done today? He's posted a photo on social media of himself all alone in the

gym back at Liverpool's training ground, no words, no comments, but letting everybody else fill in the blanks.

And of course, it's very much keeping it going. And the conversation is, are we going to see him back in a Liverpool shirt again, or is he going to

go off to the African Cup of Nations and then move elsewhere? What was his motivation? Is he beef with the manager Arne Slot?

Is he trying to change things at the club so he can stay and carry on this new long term contract? Or is he trying to force this move elsewhere? It's

fascinating, isn't it? How it's playing out and how it's being dealt with by Liverpool. And we're going to be talking a whole lot about it in the

next edition of "World Sport" and without doubt for the next few days to come.

ANDERSON: I wouldn't expect anything less. Good stuff. All right. Amanda is back with "World Sport" after this short break. We will be back with, in 15

minutes with more "Connect the World". Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END