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Connect the World

Iranian Photojournalist Facing 15 Years in Prison Speaks to CNN; Scott Bessent Urges China to "Get with the Program" on Iran; Reliance on Migrant Workers Polarizes Opinions in Spain; Dozens of Wallets May Have Traded on Military Secrets; Champions Arsenal Kick Off New Season Against Coventry City. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired August 21, 2026 - 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)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: You're looking at live pictures of the White House after President Trump's surprising and wide-

ranging interview with his former fixer turned enemy Michael Cohen. More details on that soon. It is 09:00 a.m. in Washington, and it's 02:00 p.m.

here in London. Great to have you with us. I'm Christina Macfarlane, and this is "Connect the World".

Also coming up, North Korea is boosting its support for Russia's war effort with a new drone unit, according to Ukraine. And CNN went inside a migrant

settlement in Southern Spain after the crisis in Ceuta put immigration politics back on the map. And the New York Stock Exchange opens in about 30

minutes' time, and futures are rising today, trying to recover from a sharp market sell-off on Thursday. We've got more on that at the bottom of the

hour.

But we start with a new warning coming out of Ukraine about North Korea's involvement in Russia's war. A senior Ukrainian official says Vladimir

Putin may ask North Korea's Kim Jong-Un for up to 50,000 more troops to boost the Russia war effort, that's on top of the 8,500 already in Russia.

The official says the current deployment includes a drone unit that could play a role in attacks inside Ukraine.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has been following the story for us. So, Nick, just break down why this is so significant. You know, given the fact that we

spent most of the week talking about Donald Trump's friendliness towards North Korea's Leader.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a sign of North Korea's increasing comfort when it comes

to flexing kind of their global might, and also possibly too, the growing relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Remind everybody, this all began back in October 2024 when North Korea, not acknowledging it, sent about 10,000 troops to assist Russia because of the

Ukrainian invasion of Kursk, the first since the Nazis. But that relationship has continued to grow.

And we now understand that there has been about 25,000 rotated through since that initial deployment. Remember that first deployment suffered

horrific casualties. Some suggesting about 4,000 of the 10,000 came back dead or injured. But they taught other North Koreans what they learned

about drone warfare, about the very different front lines in Ukraine.

Now more have since been. They are still on Russian territory, this senior Ukrainian intelligence official told me they're not heading into Ukraine,

but the interesting difference are the capabilities that these troops now have with them. 400 of these 7,500 troops that have gone in the latest

deployment are part of a drone unit that have learned from the previous guys and may well be using recon drones and possibly attack drones over

Ukrainian territory.

That's interesting because it suggests that they're perhaps getting involved in attacks on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, too, I should

point out the current understanding by Ukrainian intelligence is these North Korean troops will stay on Russian territory, but there are also

thought to be about 90 launch personnel from North Korea who've gone to a unit in Voronezh in Russia to help launch ballistic missiles at Ukraine.

Now that's particularly important because Ukraine has a massive lack of air defenses. Now these KN23 and 24 missiles are part of the launches we see

against Ukraine. There was an incident in Dnipro region in July where four children from the same family were killed by what Ukraine says was North

Korean missiles.

So, a sign here of expanding North Korean assistance to Russia at a time when ultimately Ukraine seems to be suffering from that lack of air

defenses, Christina.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, absolutely. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much. Now, I want to turn now to Iran and an extraordinary interview from my colleague

Jim Sciutto. He spoke with an Iranian photojournalist who spent more than two decades documenting life under the Islamic regime before herself

becoming a target.

Last month, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison. And though she hopes to appeal, she shared this powerful plea, don't forget me. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YALDA MOAIERY, IRANIAN PHOTOJOURNALIST: It's not about one year or two years. It's like 26 years of work. It's like a way that I passed for 26

years, and they know that I'm not going to stop, and I know that they are not going to stop.

[09:05:00]

Unfortunately, they cannot tolerate any kinds of journalists, even me as a person that I'm anti-war person. I'm always trying to support peace and

everything, but they cannot tolerate a person like me, even though you know. So, this is what happened these days.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as I listen to you here, I am amazed at your strength and your courage frankly. How do you manage with the prospect of

going to prison, perhaps for many years, 15 years?

MOAIERY: Thank you so much first of all, Jim, you were always -- you're always very kind to me. This is really kind of you. But I'm trying to, you

know, I had an appeal, I had a request for appeal, but I have another court on Sunday, which my lawyer thinks that everything's going to approve again.

So, I'm trying to get ready for maybe 15 years in jail, I don't know. But I prefer to be jail, to be free and work as a propaganda of the Islamic

Republic because there is no any third way. You have to be this side or that side. So, I prefer to be in my side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Brave woman, brave interview. Now let's turn to the latest on President Trump's threat of economic warfare against Iran. Mr. Trump also

warned other countries not to do business with Tehran or face potential consequences. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is doubling down,

urging China, a major trading partner of Iran, to get with the program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: If you insist on doing business with them, either transferring money, buying their oil, they are doing

seaborne ship transfers, then the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. government they will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: By far, Iran's biggest trading partner, accounting for the bulk of Iran's oil exports, and it hasn't shown willingness to change that.

Responding to the Trump Administration's latest threat by saying pressure tactics are not the solution and don't fit the interests of any party.

Well, all of this comes as the troubled USS Abraham Lincoln is on its way home, according to a source. That's after the USS George Washington arrived

in the Middle East to relief the carrier. The Lincoln has been at sea for an extended deployment during the Iran war, with reports of low morale and

worsening conditions on board.

Its journey back to San Diego is expected to take up to a month. Well CNN's Alayna Treene is covering all of these developments and joins us from the

White House. So, Alayna, can you just break down for us the latest thinking we're hearing from the Trump Administration here, increasing its efforts,

you know, of economic pressure on Iran as it shifts its carrier groups around in the Middle East.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think what we've seen really from the president this week. I know it's something he had been

talking about this new strategy of trying to inflict as much economic pain on Iran as possible. It's something that he had been discussing privately

for some time.

But he really, I think, tried to broadcast that strategy this week, and you saw it in the form of a lengthy Truth Social post, essentially saying that

he wants there to be an economic D-Day for Iran and calling on allies of the United States to assist in isolating them and really choking them off

financially.

What I find so interesting as well is that we know that, of course, throughout this entire war, but particularly in recent months, several

people in the president's administration, his envoys like Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, they have kept up their communications with the Iranians,

sometimes direct, but also indirect through, of course, many of the mediators who have been talking to Iran as well.

And what the president told his advisers earlier this week was, I want you to stop talking to them. I want you to cease communications with Iran until

I give you a green light to resume them. And I think what that shows, and this is backed up in the conversations I'm having with people in the

building behind me, is that he really wants this wait and see approach.

He wants to see how much damage can be inflicted on Iran. The main avenue of that, of course, is the U.S. naval blockade on the Strait on Iranian

ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and to see how much pain they can take until they feel like they are forced to succumb and go back to the negotiating

table.

[09:10:00]

I will tell you, Christina, though the problem with that, and there are some voices inside the administration who have raised this to the

president, is that Iran has gone through these types of economic hardships in the past, and there is a fear that perhaps this new strategy could

really harden their position and also harden many Iranians in the public sphere harden their position against the U.S. as well.

So, we'll have to see what that does. I also think there's a part of this that reflects where the timing, I guess, of where things are at this point

in the war. Obviously, it has gone on far longer. It's extended past six months than the president had initially said it would, and what he had

hoped for.

And now we're approaching very fast the November midterm elections, and that is an immediate problem that this White House has. And I do think

they're hoping that by not having this back and forth with Iran, and particularly having it be transmitted every day in the media, that perhaps

attention shifts elsewhere for the time being, even if the war is still ongoing, which of course was against a promise that Trump had made.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, no doubt all playing into this sort of new approach we're seeing on the economy. And Alayna, we also need to talk about President

Trump's interview on Michael Cohen's radio show. I mean, it's quite remarkable, really, to see this rapprochement after Cohen testified against

Mr. Trump in his hush money trial and said at the time that he should go to prison. Let's just have a quick listen to a bit of the interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They weaponized you like nobody's ever been weaponized, like few have been.

MICHAEL COHEN, RADIO SHOW HOST: Well, maybe just you and I, sir.

TRUMP: And you, yeah, me too. But I don't consider mine. You know, mine was -- mine was at a level that nobody's ever seen before, but they weaponized

you. They weaponized a lot of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: So, Alayna, what was the inside story here? How did these two go from being sort of you know falling out in a very big way to having a

sort of friendly conversation now?

TREENE: It is so remarkable, Christina, to see how this played out yesterday, and to even see that the president had agreed to this interview

in the first place. I'd remind you; Trump had previously called Cohen a rat and a liar, and there's many people who are close to the president who

still have a lot of animosity toward Cohen, particularly for him being the star witness in testifying against Trump back in that 2024 Manhattan trial.

Look, how did it get here? You know, we really saw this reconciliation begin after Trump had taken office again for the second time. You know,

Cohen argued, and he explained this in an interview with Tapper, Jake Tapper, our colleague, yesterday. This idea that someone in the White House

space had reached out to him to see if they could reconcile the two ultimately ended up having a brief meeting at the president's Bedminster

Golf Club at one point, and it's gone from there.

And Cohen actually told Tapper that he believes the current state of their relationship is that it is being resuscitated. We'll see. I will say

though, one thing I would keep in mind is at least on the president's side you know he is actively appealing that 2024 conviction on 34 counts of

falsifying business records as it relates to payments made to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star.

And there are some people, I won't say many, but there are some who are in the president's orbit who believe that in smoothing out his relationship

with Cohen, it could potentially help that appeal process. And we have heard Michael Cohen say, and he's told this to Trump directly, this idea

that he believes he was coerced in some ways into giving that testimony by different prosecutors in New York.

So that's one side of this. The other side, of course, is Cohen has made clear that he is seeking a pardon, he said he didn't ask Trump directly for

one, but that he has submitted an application for one to the Trump Administration. So, there might be some olitory motives to this

reconciliation as well.

MACFARLANE: OK, it's interesting context, Alayna Treene from the White House there, thanks very much. And you are watching "Connect the World".

Still to come this hour, inside trading could once again be exposing U.S. national security flaws. With a new report finding dozens of online wallets

made bets using military intelligence, we'll have the details.

And as Spain aims to house migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in camps, CNN travels to Spain to talk to the migrants who help boost the

economy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:00]

MACFARLANE: Spanish police are helping to move hundreds of migrants into temporary shelters from a makeshift camp on the beach in the tiny North

African territory of Ceuta. The government-provided accommodation is meant to offer better living conditions to hundreds of people who've been

sleeping outdoors.

This comes three weeks after tens of thousands of migrants surged across the border from Morocco into the Spanish territory. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh

traveled to Southern Spain to meet some of the migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos and utter human despair at Spain's doors, scenes that fast became fuel for the far right

and growing anti-immigration voices on both sides of the Atlantic. But behind these images lies a more complex reality, as we found on our journey

to try to understand Europe's immigration debate and what drives so many to risk everything to get here.

KARADSHEH: We are in the middle of a sea of plastic so vast it's visible from space. Greenhouses everywhere you look. This is Almeria in Southern

Spain. It is often described as Europe's vegetable garden because of this concentration of greenhouses. It produces millions of tons of fresh fruit

and vegetables every year, enough to feed half a billion people.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): In the shadow of one of Europe's agricultural heartlands exists a darker side, rarely seen, slums like this one that have

been around for years, home to part of the massive African workforce helping feed this continent. In a scene of squalor in modern-day Europe, we

find migrants from North and West Africa.

In his previous life, Amoateng Foster was a math teacher in Ghana. Two years ago, he left it all behind, saying he paid smugglers about $2,300 for

a perilous journey through Libya and across the Mediterranean, eventually making it to Spain.

AMOATENG FOSTER, GHANAIAN MIGRANT WORKER: Then I'm not going to recommend anybody to do so. Very dangerous.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): He shows us around this rundown shack he shares with another worker.

FOSTER: So, this man, please.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Amoateng's story is that of so many parents enduring these subhuman conditions, all for the future of his kids he says

to save enough to put them through college.

KARADSHEH: A lot of people are saying we don't want any migrants. Close the borders. I mean, how does it make you feel?

FOSTER: It becomes a little bit worried. Everything that they are doing here is funny, and the workers that they are using is all of us. We are

immigrants. These white people, they can't do it. The governor has saw the need that we are helping them. They are also helping us. It's a mutual

benefit.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The Spanish economy relies on migrant workers so heavily that the government announced an amnesty in April, offering legal

status to hundreds of thousands already in the country. Amoateng hopes being here legally would bring him rights and respect.

FOSTER: If you are outside the fence, you may think that it's rosary here. It's not rosary here. Look at environment that we live in. But when you are

outside, you may think that oh, Europe is Europe. No, no, no, no. There's no resistance here because you suffer before you can get a scent.

Do you know how much they are giving us? How much they give us here to work in this farm for one hour? They give you five euro. This hot environment

like this, you kneel down like this. Work continuously just like that and they give you five euro.

[09:20:00]

KARADSHEH (voice-over): We get a glimpse into that grueling reality Amoateng described inside one of the countless greenhouses. These men spend

hours delicately planting tomatoes. Their hard labor will soon fill the shelves of European supermarkets. In the sweltering summer heat,

temperatures must remain constant in here.

KARADSHEH: We've been here for a few minutes, and this heat is intense. I'm sweating, and I can't begin to imagine what it's like for these guys

working in these conditions in this heat. Apparently, it hit 44 degrees or 111 Fahrenheit earlier today. And they have to do this for hours and hours.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The owner of this greenhouse told us he only hires documented workers and pays the legal minimum wage. But across Almeria, you

find so many who are undocumented, vulnerable to exploitation. Some of it happening in plain sight, at roundabouts and street corners, they wait to

be picked up for off-the-book jobs that pay well below the minimum wage.

Off-camera, business owners told us they pay what they can afford to still make a profit. The arrival of foreign labor helped revive a region that was

once in decline. All around here, you find thriving migrant communities that have left their mark on this place, and the far right has seized on

that.

In suburbs like La Canada, that overwhelmingly voted for the populist radical right party VOX in the last election, we find pensioners echoing

the rhetoric of these parties. If they can work and have papers, great. The rest is an invasion they tell us. They are people who don't want to

integrate.

It's a narrative that's been gaining traction across Europe. Fears of demographic change in migrants being blamed for the rise in the cost of

living. Scattered graffiti hints at brewing tensions. This one read, no Muslims, no NGOs. Perhaps a message for the groups on the front line of

this crisis, like the Mercedarian Sisters of Charity.

The calls for help to this Catholic NGO helping migrants get back on their feet seem nonstop during our visit. Sister Francisca turned 80 this month,

but there's no rest for this woman on a mission.

KARADSHEH: So, they come saying we're hungry. We want a sandwich.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

KARADSHEH (voice-over): At the food distribution center, the hungry queue for donations from local supermarkets. Amal tells us she hasn't eaten

today. Sometimes she doesn't have money to buy water and bread. She had to leave her six and four-year-old children in Morocco she tells us, and came

here on a contract to pick strawberries.

After a dispute with her employer, she found herself on the street begging for any work. It was poverty that brought me here, she says. If I had

something back home, I wouldn't have come. Sister Francisca remembers a time when there were no migrants here. Then the greenhouses came.

The road to a better life has led so many to this miserable place. It is in this land of plastic and shattered dreams where Europe's paradox is laid

bare. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Almeria, Spain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Prince Harry, Elton John, and five other public figures must pay "The Daily Mail's" massive legal costs after losing their privacy

lawsuit against the publisher. A high court judge just ruled that they must make an initial payment of $13 million in the coming days.

This comes after a judge threw out the claimant's joint lawsuit. He said they had failed to prove allegations that the mail's reporters had hacked

their phones and used other unlawful methods to get information. CNN's Max Foster has been following the story. Max, what more are you hearing about

the case?

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a high figure. It's only an initial figure because actually the ANL, which runs "The Daily Mail" that

won this case, are actually asking for something like $50 million in damages. So, this is the first 13 million. We'll wait to hear what more the

judge awards.

This 13 million will be covered by insurance that the claimants, including Prince Harry, took out. But depending on how much more that they will have

to pay. They would have to pay that themselves, which would be a huge sum.

[09:25:00]

Not necessarily for Elton John or even Prince Harry, but for some of the other claimants like Doreen Lawrence, who doesn't have that sort of

resource. So, we'll wait for the next tranche of payment. But initially, they had offered 8 million pounds ANL had asked for 9.9 million pounds.

They got 9.5 million pounds.

So, the judge is falling on the side of ANL Associated Newspapers on this one. So, it's looking pretty damaging against the claimants here, who lost

on all their counts. They had accused this newspaper group of illegal news gathering, and they didn't win on any of the cases. There were more than 50

counts, effectively in this case because they were using 50 news stories, or so, to try to hinge this whole case on.

And Prince Harry and that whole team lost that. They did actually call this a whitewash after we got the judgment, initial judgment. I'm not expecting

a comment from Prince Harry today, but we may hear something from the legal team today, or possibly when they hear about the rest of the payment.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and the timing of this is pretty unfortunate in many ways, Max, because it comes just a day after we had that bombshell

announcement yesterday that Meghan & Harry would be relocating and moving back to the UK.

I mean, I know there's a lot of privacy and you know secrecy around how and when this might be happening. But are you hearing anything new or anything

more yet on that move?

FOSTER: Well, their team is very much now concerned that the story is out, that the children will be protected. So, they've written to British

Newspaper Editors asking for them not to name the school that the children will be attending. They've also asked them not to locate the house where

they'll be living in.

So, this does all sort of tie together because one of the pressures that Harry and Meghan felt in the UK was from the British media, an unfair

treatment from them. That's partly why Prince Harry took the tabloids to the courts. He's lost that case, but he is appealing to the British media

more generally for around their return to the UK to respect their privacy.

And they're very much pinning this on the children who are out of any sort of controversy or tension between the British media and the couple. And

they should have their childhood protected, their safety protected, and asking the British media not to name where they live or indeed where they

go to school.

We'll wait to see what comes out of that, because if something leaks, it's a big question for the newspaper editors about whether or not they decide

to locate the family. Because this isn't so much about the parents for the newspapers, but they will have concerns about the welfare of the children.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, all right, Max, with the latest there. Thanks very much. Now, more than 150 wallets on the online trading platform Polymarket, may

have traded on U.S. military secrets. That's according to research from the Anti-Corruption Data Collective. The report is raising concerns that

trading markets could be broadcasting signals foreign adversaries could exploit.

CNN's Marshall Cohen has been across this in Washington. So, Marshall, tell us more about what the reports unveiled here? And why bets of this nature

are so dangerous to U.S. national security.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: You know, Christina, this insider trading stuff just keeps coming up over and over. So, just to give you the

context here, war markets like these are actually illegal in the U.S. So, all the trades you mentioned occurred on Polymarket's international site.

That site runs on Blockchain, so all the trades are actually public and trackable. And even though it does not tell us who is doing the trading,

the data is still incredibly valuable. And the folks at the nonpartisan anti-corruption data collective did a deep dive. They identified, like you

said, more than 150 accounts that showed signs of potential insider trading on war markets, including markets about Iran.

They said many of these accounts placed huge long shot bets and had a stunning win rate. You can see it on your screen, 97 percent. And

altogether, those accounts profited more than $8 million. Now, to be clear, Polymarket is not accused of any wrongdoing. I spoke with a senior

Polymarket official about these findings.

They said they have already referred dozens of those accounts to the Justice Department, and that criminal investigations are underway. CNN has

reached out to the DOJ for comment on that. Now, Polymarket says also that it is investing quite heavily on internal surveillance tools to prevent

insider trading, just like this.

And the company's Founder and CEO Shayne Coplan brought that up yesterday at an event right here in Washington DC with the federal regulators that

oversee prediction markets. Listen to this.

[09:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAYNE COPLAN, CEO AND FOUNDER, POLYMARKET: We have someone here right now who is ex FBI, who works full time at Polymarket, has built custom

proprietary surveillance software on chain. I know this is live stream, so people are going to be upset to hear that.

But you know, we talk with our partners, Palantir, Chainalysis, and they're like, damn, you guys have this in house. This is serious. You know, and

we're grateful to have that. We can continue to invest more in it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Christina, looking at the big picture here, it's situations like these exactly the reason why so many policy makers here in the U.S. are

very alarmed about the explosive growth of prediction markets. 44 of the 45 state attorney generals are in agreement and pushing hard for more

regulation of this industry.

And there's also an increasing number of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill who want to rein this in, Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right, we'll wait to see if Polymarket takes those steps. Thank you very much for breaking it down for us.

COHEN: You bet. Thanks.

MACFARLANE: And you are watching "Connect the World". Still to come, U.S. bond yield declined to a high that hasn't been seen in nearly two decades.

We'll have the details on how the U.S. Treasury plans to step in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. And you are watching "Connect the World". Now, bond yield showed a slight but temporary

reprieve after the U.S. Treasury said it would double it's repurchased of long-term treasuries. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN the

government could go even further to clear out older long-term bonds the Treasury would issue short-term bills.

Managing Director at JP Morgan likened the move to paying a mortgage with your credit card, essentially kicking the can down the road. Our Senior

Business Reporter David Goldman has been following this story joins us from New York.

So, I mean, were JP Morgan right here. What more details can you tell us about this latest announcement to double the size of buybacks?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: It's a great analogy. It's like you know, pouring a little bit of water in the ocean. I mean, you

know, there are so many problems with what the Treasury is trying to do. It's you know, it's trying to get these yields down.

But it's using an action that it uses all the time, and I think that might be confusing the market. I mean, we're seeing these yields creep up to 19-

month highs. This one is close to a 19-year high, and that isn't going to help anyone. We'll get to why that's important. We're now starting to see

stock markets react after a bad day yesterday.

[09:35:00]

We're bouncing back a little bit. That is certainly some good news. But I think it's worth looking at what is causing this in the first place. Why

are yields so high? It's a combination of things. First of all, the U.S. government just said that it is borrowing $40 trillion now. It is that's

the debt load that it has, and it's not just out there putting its treasuries and saying come and buy them.

Now it's competing with another market, and that's AI. Remember, all those data centers are going to cost those AI companies a trillion dollars this

year alone. That's a lot of borrowing that's competing with the government's borrowing and also inflation, right?

Bond yields are higher when bond investors say, hey, listen, if I'm going to loan the government money for an extended period of time, I'm going to

want a little bit more back if the inflation rate is higher, and we've seen those oil prices cause that for sure.

As I mentioned, these are some pretty extraordinary rates, 19-month high for the 10-year yield, 19-year high for the 30-yield. Certainly, this is an

extraordinary moment in time. Even higher, by the way, than Liberation Day when we had that bond scare in April of 2025 because of tariffs.

All of this borrowing means that it's going to cost a lot to finance that. It is going to cost the government this year alone $1.2 trillion. That is

19 percent of the federal budget just to pay the bonds back, so it can do all of the spending that it wants to do. And this affects people in a

number of different ways.

Obviously, mortgage rates 6.65 percent now. That's approaching 7 percent. That's not going to help anyone. Social services, if you need to make cuts

to those to pay for all of that borrowing, that hurts people, and then taxes might need to go up. We've already seen that in the form of tariffs.

So, the action that they've taken is to double the amount that they're buying back in a recent action to $4 billion, but there might be more on

the way. As you mentioned, Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, says we have a big tool kit to use.

The problem is, as we said before, and I love this quote, it's like paying your mortgage with a credit card according to James Sullivan from JP

Morgan, eventually it catches up with you, and right now the market is skeptical that this is going to work, Christina.

MACFARLANE: All right. David, I don't think anything could be worse than Liberation Day, but you know, here we are.

GOLDMAN: Here we are.

MACFARLANE: Thank you very much. And on that note, let's here we are. Let's take a quick look at the markets that opened not long ago. I think we can

see all three indices there all up in the green, rebounding somewhat, given all of those efforts David has just outlined there.

Now, I want to turn to news into CNN. Several people have been wounded in Sweden in a sword attack at a school. This happened in Central Sweden,

about 170 kilometers from Stockholm. We will bring you, of course, more news and more information of this as it comes in. We will be right back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The new Premier League season is finally upon us. And it kicks off with defending champions Arsenal against the newly

promoted Coventry City tonight. And Amanda Davies is here. And Amanda, I think with all the football I've seen, we've seen over the summer, I wasn't

quite prepared for the start of the season, but here it is.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Here it is. And I have to say, excitement levels are high. There's so much to talk about. Not only what impact that

World Cup, being so close to the start of the season, is going to have. But nine new managers in the Premier League.

You know, with some of the really big top teams, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea. What impact are they going to have, or does it clear

the way for Arsenal to do something they've never done before, which is win back-to-back Premier League titles?

They've got a fascinating opening game against Coventry City and Frank Lampard from the newly promoted teams, but we're looking ahead to that and

everything else to come over the next 10 months of football, Chrissy in just a couple of minutes in World Sport.

MACFARLANE: It's back to business, isn't it? Look forward to that. Thanks, Amanda. World Sport is up after the break, and I'll be back with more

"Connect the World" in 15 minutes.

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