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Israel's Gas Boom; New Report Says Clinton Broke Rules With Private Email Server; Tech Billionaire Admits to Funding Hogan's Lawsuit Against Gawker; ISIS's Attempts to Exploit Libya's Human Smuggling Rings; Remade Top Gear Set to Premier; The History Behind Indy 500's Milk Tradition. Aired 11-12p ET
Aired May 26, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:00:19] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About two weeks ago a boat left the ISIS stronghold Sirte. Among them were 40 ISIS. They were heading to
Europe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN MANN, HOST: This hour, CNN gives you an exclusive look into how ISIS is using the same routes as desperate migrants to try to sneak
operatives from Libya into the heart of Europe.
Also...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, 2016 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The truth is, everything is did was permitted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Not so fast: could a rough new report from the U.S. State Department itself hurt former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's chances
of getting into the White House?
Then, a billionaire, a wrestler and a blog. We'll dive into the details behind a very dramatic unfolding legal drama here in the U.S.
We'll have more on those stories in a moment. But first you're looking at live pictures coming to us from Paris. This is I believe the
Place de la Republique, but at the very least it is another sign of the labor turmoil that
has engulfed much of France on this day.
Workers in several industries are out on strike protesting against labor reforms being introduced by the government and what we're seeing is
just the latest sign of their anger.
The workers do not want reforms in the labor code that the government is pressing on them. There's some signs of well flexibility from the
government, but there's a lot of sign of muscle from the workers.
Today in France, it's a little bit harder to catch a train, it's a lot harder to harder to find petrol at a gasoline station and nuclear energy,
which supplies much of France's needs, is being squeezed as nuclear workers go on strike
to protest the labor reforms as well.
A group of about 100 people who broke away from a demonstration against the government's labor reforms are the ones we're looking at now.
And as you can see, live pictures from Paris as riot police take position. We can already see the tear gas in the air, but riot police are taking
positions around the demonstrators.
This, once again, is Paris. These strikes, these -- well, the turmoil is really nationwide on this day. By some accounts, it is still possible
to get a train to get around France, but maybe only six in ten are running. That's one estimate I saw.
It's tougher to get -- to fill up your car if you're in Paris today. Many of the gas stations that normally fuel motorists in the City of Light
are closed down, and once again, nuclear energy, which is really the bulk of the energy that France generates for itself, is being squeezed. At last
word, five or six percent less power available to the people of France because of this strike.
On the one hand, the government has said the labor forms will continue. On the other hand, some ministers have suggested there may be a
certain flexibility.
Part of the issue is that the labor reforms were not introduced through the national assembly, not introduced through the legislative
process, but applied or proposed to be applied administratively. And so there was a certain navigation that the French government is being blamed
for by workers in more than one union. There's some competition between the unions as well. All of that is fueling the scene that we're seeing
today.
Our Jim Bittermann is in Paris and one of the questions I'm curious about asking him is whether this is turning into an annoyance because there
have been strikes and labor walkouts and interruptions in public services for weeks now, but
things seem to have come to a head on this day because of the sheer number of strikers who have gone out.
Some of the protests that we've seen in recent weeks, well, they've been rotating protests and they have been diminishing in their size, but
today, this is not a rotating walk -- a rotating march, this is a walkout by workers in a number of areas in a number of crucial public services such
as transport, such as energy. And the government is really, well, powerless to stop it for the time being.
There's some suggestion they may give in a bit on the reforms, but that remains to be seen.
What you're looking at live pictures from Paris. Is thought this was Place de la Republique, but I'm to be honest I'm not sure what we're
looking at exactly, although it is in Paris. And we're basically seeing one scene of the kind of turmoil that the French are putting up with today.
Can't get gasoline as easily if you're in Paris, can't get out of the city as easily if you're trying to take trains, and basically the strike,
the one day strike, is testing the government's resolve to try and get these labor reforms adopted.
Let's turn to another story we're watching very closely, a horrific scene
at sea. Migrants fighting the waves after their ship capsized clinging to whatever they can to stay afloat desperately waiting for help to arrive.
The Italian coast guard is racing to save lives after yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean. At least 88 people have been rescued so far.
Have a look at dramatic pictures showing a similar operation just yesterday off the Libyan coast. Hundreds of people were saved.
You can see rescuers tossing life vests into the water for them.
And here, you can see actually see the crowded ship overturn plunging men and women and children into the sea.
Look at this. It's -- it's awful to watch. The lawlessness in Libya is allowing smugglers to take advantage of migrants desperate to reach
Europe and this is the result.
But this is not the only result. Our Nick Paton Walsh found out how ISIS is trying to infiltrate migrant boats, ISIS, in on those boats in this
CNN exclusive.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment when desperate dreams come to an end. We're with the Libyan immigration
police inside a warehouse of migrant hopefuls they just raided right on the Tripoli beachfront.
As Turkey and Greece close their shores, the Libyan route to Europe has exploded again. Here, among the squalor that a lifetime's savings buys,
is when fantasies of a future in Europe fall apart.
Where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nigeria.
WALSH: Bejim (ph) fled ISIS-loyal Boko Haram in Nigeria, whose bombs killed his father and brother. And he survived the desert trek until here.
EUGENE, NIGERIAN REFUGEE (TRANSLATED): Today bomb blast, tomorrow bomb blast. We are not safe. After the death miff father and my brother let me
go out, let me travel out. Every time I talk about them I feel sad. I feel sad. I feel sad.
WALSH: We leave quickly as this is the smugglers' neighborhood. But there is a new threat here. Smugglers and police telling us that ISIS have
hidden fighters among other groups of migrants bound for Europe. This trade in human souls is awful enough until you think that perhaps
ISIS are using this passage of human life into Europe to try to infiltrate the continent with sleeper cells.
Police tell us off camera they've caught different other migrants with ISIS links and a top Libyan intelligence official warns us the threat is
real.
ISMAIL AL-SHUKRI, MISRATA POLICE COMMANDER (TRANSLATED): ISIS can be among the illegal immigrants on the boats. They travel with their families,
without weapons, as normal illegal immigrants. They will wear American dress and have English language papers so they cause no suspicion.
WALSH: It is a huge and unpatronable coastline where smugglers rule. We talked to one disguised for his safety who says in the past two months
ferrying ISIS has become part of the trade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About two weeks ago, a boat left the ISIS stronghold serge. Among them were about 40 ISIS.
They were heading to Europe but bad weather turned them back. Ten days later they tried again. I don't know if they got there. About a month ago,
I got a call from a devout guy I knew was ISIS. He wanted a small boat for 25 people and was willing to pay about $40,000. I didn't take the deal.
WALSH: Do you and other smugglers feel comfortable moving people who you know may be ISIS toward Europe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smugglers are only interested in smuggling. ISIS, anyone. They don't care. Melon or watermelon. Only money matters.
WALSH: The Libyan state is torn apart by infighting. Its coast guard struggling to even find boats. Fighting the migrant trade across this, the
whole coastline of the Libyan capital Tripoli, are just six boats like this, none of which are in particularly good service.
You simply can't imagine how under resourced things are here so close to Europe. These are the desperate scenes as they try to rescue some
African migrants whose dinghy collapsed late last year.
Smugglers now prefer these dinghies, vulnerable to the slightest weather change. A trait born of human misery. Some fleeing ISIS themselves.
Only to find ISIS now seek to hijack their deadly journey to spread more suffering.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: And Nick Paton Walsh joins us live with more. He is in Beirut. And Nick, let me ask you does anyone know about the scale of this, how many
ISIS sleepers may be finding their way into Europe?
WALSH: In all truth no, Jonathan, to be honest. What we do know is that in the last two months there have been increased incidence of police
and you may have heard there from a military intelligence officer and a smuggler we spoke to as well finding ISIS trying to put people on to these
boats or coming across within the companies of migrants they arrest people with clear ISIS sympathies.
Now, of course we don't know some of these boats are the successful or some are not. We don't know the numbers who may turn up in Europe to try
to become part of sleeper cells. That is very much something that sadly may get known over time if these cells are found or even more horrifyingly
if they perhaps get involved in attacks on the continent.
But the problem really is, a counterterrorism official said to me, that the whole issue of migrants in Europe has been extraordinarily
sensitive, that there was a security ramification potentially of that.
ISIS have threatened to flood southern Europe with their own militants for well over a year now, one propagandist made that threat loosely in
social media. But it was only really since the Paris attacks at Bataclan this counterterrorism official told me that it was possible because some of
the attackers had perhaps used the migrant route through Greece and Turkey. (inaudible) discuss more openly the potential and infiltrate the
routes.
You've seen the horrifying scenes of people losing their lives in this very desperate, difficult journey, just more tragic and terrifying to think
perhaps there could be another threat hidden in that -- Jonathan.
MANN: Nick Paton Walsh live in Beirut thanks very much.
Lets get the latest now on the rescue efforts at sea after yet another migrant ship capsized off the Libyan coast. Ben Wedeman is following that
from Rome.
Ben, what's going on out there?
[11:11:32] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing, Jonathan, is what you see at this time of year, the weather
improves, the seas become calmer, and more people seem to cross. According to the Italian interior ministry since the beginning of this week, 7,570
migrants and refugees have been picked up by the Italians coast guard and Navy.
But it's important to keep in mind that even though the numbers are up in the short-term, in the long term, in fact, rather since the beginning of
this year if you compare it to last year the numbers are actually down.
Last year according to the numbers we have from the Italian government, until this time last year, 41,485 refugees and migrants arrived
in Italy. This year the number is down at 36,193.
But of course what we've seen is in March this agreement between the EU and Turkey to stop the flow of migrants and refugees across the Aegean
sea into Greece and on into Europe, that has blocked that route and now, of course, there's more attention.
There is more anticipation that there will be an uptick in the number of people making this dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean from
Libya to Italy. I mean, you saw those dramatic pictures from yesterday's capsizing. It's even though some people are calling it a disaster,
Italians are calling it a miracle that somebody was there to pick them up, the Italian navy.
There were 562 people rescued in that particular incident. There are five known cases of passengers dying.
Of course, the worry is that in particular ship that capsized, there were others caught in the hold of the ship and wentdown with it --
Jonathan.
MANN: This terrible loss of lives at sea, it still doesn't end despite the best efforts and maybe not even the best efforts, I don't know
what you want to call it, but the EU deal with Turkey was hoped to address some the problem,
but the signals we're seeing are that the deal may be coming apart.
What can you tell us about that?
WEDEMAN: Well, there have been many critics of the deal to start with, because it doesn't deal with the fundamental problems behind this
wave of refugees and migrants, the war in Syria, the was in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, corruption in Africa, but according to that agreement, of
course, for every refugee or migrant turned back from Greece and sent back to Turkey, Europe, the EU, would take one migrant or rather Syrian refugee
and settle them in Europe.
But what we've seen that until now, only 177 Syrian refugees have been settled in five EU countries. And that is just not even a drop, not even a
fraction of a drop in the bucket. I mean, for instance, there are according to statistics 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, a total of
3.1 million refugees and migrants in Turkey, and if you're just going to be taking 177 over a period of,
what, a month and a half, two months, it will take an eternity to relieve Turkey of this horrendous burden of so many people that it simply is
struggling to accommodate -- Jonathan.
HAYES: Ben Wedeman in Rome, thanks very much.
U.S. President Barack Obama is wading into the race for the White House from the G7 summit in Japan.
He says it's fair to say that many world leaders are, in his words, rattled by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump and he says that's for good
reason.
London's new mayor is playing the same tune on Trump. Sadiq Khan repeating past comments telling CNN that Trump's views on Islam are, quote,
ignorant. The mayor says if Trump in his words came to London he would see the best of the west
and the best of Islam as well.
Khan gave his first policy speech today. Not surprisingly it focused on the issue of a Brexit.
Phil Black joins us from London city hall. And Phil, Brexit was the topic but Trump seems to come up a lot. The mayor in particular really
seems to want to make a point.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Jonathan, we spoke to Sadiq Khan about Donald Trump today, specifically about an invitation he
extended recently to Donald Trump to come to London and spend time with him and his family to get in the mayor's words a true sense of what it is to be
a mainstream Muslim in London and just how compatible that is with a western liberal democratic city
like this one.
I asked him if he had any response to that and he laughed a lot. When he stopped laughing again he used very strong language to describe Donald
Trump's attitude to Muslims, in particular, this is all based on that stated policy of Trump's which is to ban all Muslims from entering the
United States for at least a period of time.
Again, Sadiq Khan made clear he believes that is ignorant and dangerous because it is playing into the hands of extremists and alienating
mainstream Muslims, leading them to believe that they can't be accepted in a modern democratic society -- Jonathan.
MANN: OK, so let's talk about Brexit. What did he have to say?
BLACK: So, make no mistake, the new mayor is very much pro-EU. The EU flag flies from city hall for the first time. That's never happened
before. He wants Britain to stay in. He made a speech today that is very much based, he said, on
values, tradition and culture; not the economic one, although he believes that. He believes that there will be an economic price to pay if Britain
leaves.
He said for Londoners, well, they should see the city built that has been built and influenced by Europe at every stage, that this The city in
particular has a great tradition of being outward looking, welcoming, seeing the best of Europe, making it its own and then building this great
city in the process.
And he believes that selling this message to Londoners is important because in a race that's as tight as this the vote in London could be very
divisive in terms of the overall national result.
I spoke to him about that. This what is he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: Well, the national polls are very close, I think they're too close to call. What's clear from polls in London is
the majority of Londoners want to remain in the European Union.
I'm worried, though, about low turnout. I'm worried about the campaign being negative, putting people off, taking part in the referendum
vote. So, I want a high turnout in London particularly amongst young Londoners who see the benefits of cultural exchanges, student exchanges.
Fashion in London, that's been between now and June 23rd I will be trying to persuade Londoners why it's in our interest to remain in the European
Union.
(END VIDEO clip)
BLACK: So, an appeal to Londoners but young Londoners in particular. There is a very strong feeling in the remain camp that among young people
in the country you will find a great deal of support to stay with the European Union, but getting them out to vote on the day might be harder.
Their turnout is expected to be lower.
So, from Sadiq Khan and other leading figures in the remain campaign, we are hearing an appeal for young Londoners to get involved, register to
vote and turn out on the day to have their say on this big important decision, Jonathan.
MANN: Phil Black in London, thanks very much.
Still to come, Hillary Clinton back on the defensive over her emails. A report says she broke the rules. What could that mean for her White
House run? We're live in Washington next.
And later, protests flare up in France over controversial reforms. You can see the impact in the streets. Details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:21:47] MANN: Welcome back. 55,000 pages of emails, one tough report. It could pile on the pressure for Hillary Clinton's presidential
campaign, that's after a State Department audit slammed her use of private email server while she was U.S. secretary of state.
A department watchdog says the Democratic frontrunner broke federal record keeping rules as Sunlen Serfaty reports, Donald Trump was quick to
react to the news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is back on the defensive. In a scathing, 83-page report, the State
Department's inspector general determined that Clinton violated federal rules. It scolded the secretary of state for setting up and using her
private e-mail server to conduct State Department business. The report reads in part, quote, "At a minimum, Secretary Clinton should have
surrendered all e-mails dealing with department business before leaving government service."
Clinton has pushed back on questions over her e-mails many times in the past, telling CNN's Brianna Keilar last July...
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: The truth is everything I did was permitted and I went above and
beyond what anybody could have expected in making sure that if the State Department didn't capture something, I made a real effort to get it to
them.
SERFATY: But the report says, quote, "Sending e-mails from a personal account to other employees at their department accounts is not an
appropriate method of preserve any such e-mails."
Clinton has maintained that she had permission to use personal e-mail.
CLINTON: I opted for convenience to use my personal e-mail account, which was allowed by the State Department, because I thought it would be
easier to carry just one device for my work and for my personal e- mails, instead of two.
SERFATY: But not so, says the report. The inspectors-generals found that no one at the Clinton office contacted anyone at State before she
decided to use her private server.
The Clinton campaign trying to downplay the significance. Clinton spokesman, Brian Fallon, saying in a statement, quote, "The inspector
general documents just how consistent her e-mail practices were with those of other secretaries and senior officials at the State Department who also
used personal e-mail."
The report does call out past secretaries of state for their use of e- mails, but notes the rules were updated the year Clinton took office.
TRUMP: Look, the e-mails, that's bad judgment.
SERFATY: The e-mail controversy has been a constant target for Donald Trump.
TRUMP: She had a little bad news today. Some reports came down, weren't so good. But, not so good. The inspector general's report, not
good.
SERFATY: And the new findings are likely to hand him even more ammunition to bring to the general election fight ahead.
TRUMP: For her to be able to continue to run is an absolute disgrace, in my opinion, to this country.
SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Cathedral City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: So, what could it all mean for Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the Oval Office? Jason Carroll is live from New York. And Jason,
let me get to the bottom line on this. Did she make rules or did she break laws? How serious is this?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, how serious it is we will have to wait and see about that. In terms of rules versus laws, she
didn't break any laws but she did break rules. I mean it's very clear she has said time and time again that everything that she did was permitted,
that's actually not true according to the State Department Office of the Inspector General. And in their
report, they made it very clear that it was not permitted, that she basically had violated department rules.
The question is, Jonathan, going forward what does this all mean? I mean, is this really going to end up having a detrimental effect on her
campaign? And that remains to be seen. And here's the reason why, this is a story that's been
out many, many times in the past. Voters in the United States know about this.
What voters in the United States seem to be keying in on, on this -- at this point are jobs, national security, the economy. These are the
things that are really driving the debate.
I'm not sure how much more this email controversy is going to hold on.
MANN: OK, let me ask you about something else. And I don't know what this amounts to but it's intriguing. The U.S. is accustomed -- people
around the world are accustomed to presidential debates, the nominees for the two parties taking each other on. There isn't a nominee yet for either
party officially and yet people are talking about a debate between Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
CARROLL: Right.
MANN: Where is this coming from?
CARROLL: Well, it's clear that Trump is presumptive nominee. I mean, look, that's just what's going to happen here. Yeah, you know, I think a
lot are wondering if this was late night talk more than anything else.
At the end of the day, here's what's happening here, Jonathan. I mean Bernie Sanders is a thorn in Hillary Clinton's side and Trump is loving
every minute of it. He's going to take advantage of that. He has said several times
during his rallies, rallies that I've attended where he said I feel as though the delegate system is rigged against me I also feel as though it's
rigged against Bernie Sanders.
It's the sort of love/hate relationship with this man, because he says yes, they're kindred spirits in terms of the delegate system being rigged
against them, but also in the same breath you have Trump calling him crazy Bernie.
So at the end of the day, Bernie Sanders is another tool that Trump is using to wedge and get at Hillary Clinton.
MANN: Jason Carroll in New York thanks very much.
And from the White House to his own house, whoever wins the election, President Obama will need a new place to live next year.
CNN confirms that home sweet home will be a nine bedroom beauty in Washington with room for the family and the Secret Service.
The latest world news headlines just ahead, plus how Israel could shake up the energy market. We'll take you deep into a desert that holds
lots of untapped oil.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:31:10] MANN: Protests in France against controversial labor reforms have turned violent. Just moments ago, we brought you these
pictures said to be Place de la Nation in Paris. And I stand corrected, gratefully so.
Police fired tear gas after clashes with the protesters.
At the heart is a labor reform bill to makes it easier for companies to hire and fire employees.
Let's go to CNN's senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann who is in
Paris. Jim, I guess it's a tough day to be making your way around France, but is this an annoyance or a serious, serious disruption?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's somewhere between crisis and high anxiety, Jonathan. Basically a lot of
people have been bothered by this. It is -- there are still cars on the street, but you see lot of this. But what we're seeing here, which is to
say, service stations under assault by motorists.
It's almost a self-fulfilling prophesy here, because a couple of days ago it appeared that the strike for the CGT, which is the main union here
that used to be linked to the Communist Party a couple days ago, it appeared that strike was making supplies from refineries and depots across
the country making supplies tight and motorists are as a consequence have taken these service stations -- have laid siege these service stations in
order to make sure they get their tanks filled up.
And as a consequence, the fuel people tell us that between three and five times as much fuel is being sold as would normally be the case and
stations are basically going out of business.
This place was closed yesterday for most of the day. It's open again now because they got a delivery this morning and they're just about to run
out of fuel. They just ran one kind of diesel fuel, they may run out of others in the next few hours and they're not sure they're going to get
another resupply truck in.
So, it's a real dodgey situation for motorists and they're frustrated and you
see every once in a while what are almost fights breaking out between the motorists, so it's a situation that has a lot of people on edge, Jonathan.
MANN: OK. Motorists unhappy, people trying to get around by train are unhappy. The nuclear power stations have been affected. What's the
government going to do?
BITTERMANN: Well at the moment the government is holding firm. Basically the prime minister here was before the senate just a few hours
ago talking about this proposed law. It's already been passed by force through the lower house
here and it has to be passed through the senate before it becomes law.
But basically the government's attempt to reform the way labor is handled in this country and one particular provision of it would, in fact,
perhaps diminish the power of this communist historically communist union the CGT and of course they're the ones that are leading the strike. So, it's actually one
union that's behind the legislation that the government has proposed saying they're in favor of it because it actually helps workers.
So it's a mixed bag here. And what we're seeing is a mixed bag in terms of the results. There are some parts of France where life is going
on perfectly normally, but there are other parts as we in Place de la Nation a little earlier where, in fact, there's demonstrations and tear gas
and a lot of conflict going on -- Jonathan.
MANN: Jim Bittermann live in Paris, thanks very much.
Oil prices have risen above the $50 level for the first time this year. Both the international benchmark, Brent crude, and U.S. crude are
down slightly at the moment but hovering near $50. That's the gain of nearly 80 percent for
Brent since its low point back in January.
Let's go to CNN Money's emerging markets editor John Defterios in Abu Dhabi.
John, we're back from the very depths. What's going on?
[11:35:11] JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it's interesting, Jonathan. Supply and demand is starting to come back into
balance here. And we could suggest that the fight for market share by the Middle
East producers, particularly here in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait is starting to work, perhaps some are suggesting the recovery is
coming too fast.
This is a look at the recovery since the third week of January when we hit that low -- a 12-year low of $27 a barrel, quite extraordinary because
back then, Saudi Arabia said we could live with low oil prices for a long, long time.
Now let's fast forward to today, $50, Jonathan. It's not bad. It's not $115 a barrel that we saw back in June in 2014, but we've seen a better
than 80 percent recovery.
Big question is why. We see that inventories, or the excess supply in the United States is starting to drop rather fast, 4 million barrels last
week alone. We had two reports in two days and we see the price spiking higher.
Now, the big question is, what happens to U.S. production going forward. It's down for 11 weeks in a row. Daily output is 8.7 million
barrels a day. Again, that sounds very high. But the U.S. was producing 9.6 millions a day at its peak.
So, the U.S. shale production is falling rapidly. Then we had that Nigerian production getting hit by the strikes there, French production
that you were talking about with Jim Bittermann and even those wildfires in Canada knocking off production from the oil sands there all coming together
almost like a perfect storm, Jonathan, and knocking out the production. That's why we saw this spike up in the last two weeks in particular.
MANN: OK, production is down, prices are up, that's got to be good news where you are?
DEFTERIOS: Not really. That's an interesting point, Jonathan. The major Gulf producers that we're talking about here, want to fight for the
long haul. They're fighting for customers if you will, particularly in China and India, South Korea and Japan.
With that fight, they don't want to have more production on the market. They think that this fight against U.S. shale producers, deepwater
production in Africa and Latin America is not complete yet. In fact, one CEO of a company in
the last couple weeks the recovery is happening too fast for them.
But what does it mean for next week? There's a big OPEC meeting taking place in Vienna. The talk of a freeze that we had in Doha a month
ago is off the table, that was confirmed by a Gulf source today.
But what we're looking for now are the two major producers in this region can they get along going forward. We have a new oil minister in
Saudi Arabia, Khalid al-Falih (ph). You see pictures from him. Bijan Zangine (ph) is the Iranian oil minister. They're determined to get output
up to 4 million barrels a day by the end of the year.
Could we have a regional tug of war for market share that brings down prices in the second half of 2016? That is possible. Even this rise to
$50 a barrel, Jonathan, might be difficult to hold because it happened so quickly. Many thought we would hit that target by the end of the year, not
by the end of the first half of 2016.
MANN: Now this isn't happening entirely by accident. The fires in Canada, obviously, were no one's plan. But there was a Saudi strategy and
you know more about this than I do to try to keep prices down and force other competitors out of the market, people who basically couldn't make a
profit at those low prices.
I'm just wondering if we're seeing the contradiction here, the price down, the competitors drop out and then supply drys up and price goes up
again.
Is the Saudi strategy just bound to fail even as it succeeds in forcing others from the market?
DEFTERIOS: Well, it's kind of the Goldilocks scenario, not too hot, not too
cold, Jonathan, is what the Saudi leaders were telling me. In fact, I was just in the country two weeks ago.
They're a bit concerned that this recovery again is happening too quickly for their liking. But there's been a lot of dislocation even in
the low cost producers.
Let's not forget the major Gulf producers, even Iran and Iraq produce oil for $2 to maybe $10 a barrel at the maximum right now. So, they can
fight this game at $40 to $50 a barrel.
They're very worried. If you get to $55 to $65 a barrel that million barrels a day of production that was knocked out of the U.S. market and
some of the deepwater production we see in the Gulf of Mexico, in Nigeria and Brazil, will be tempted to come back into the market.
That means that their fight to keep more oil off the market is not complete yet. So, they would rather see this drag out for another 18 to 24
months so they can secure more of the market share, particularly in Asia, which is the real battle ground right now.
MANN: John Defterios in Abu Dhabi, thanks very much.
There could be another major player soon in the crowded field of energy producers in the Middle East. Oren Liebermann takes a tour of
several areas in Israel that potentially offer massive untapped resources.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're 15 miles off the coast of Israel flying towards the heart of the country's energy revolution: the
Tamar natural gas platform. Gas is fed to this platform from the Tamar gas fields some 50 miles away and a mile under water.
Natural gas already produces 40 percent of Israel's electricity needs, the rest comes from imported coal. But an even bigger natural gas field
called leviathan could make Israel what it never was before: energy independent.
Israel used to import natural gas from Egypt, until repeated attacks shut
down the Sinai gas pipeline.
With leviathan, expert say Israel is poised to export gas to its energy hungry neighbors Egypt and Turkey, even Cyprus and Jordan. Natural
gas could drive Israel's improving relations in the region.
YOSSI ABU: Leviathan could bring Israel to be an exporter of natural gas and bring Israel to a slow independency in terms of the ability
to consume only natural gas to generate electricity.
LIEBERMANN: Natural gas may be hiding in even bigger prize deep below the Mediterranean Sea: oil.
But it's not worth exploring now with oil prices so low.
EYAL SHUKER, CEO, ISRAEL OPPORTUNITY: In the licenses, offshore, the potential of oil, not natural gas, is the lowest strata, geological strata
that is potentially billion of barrels of oil offshore Israel, oil, oil.
LIEBERMANN: Oil isn't a new discovery for Israel, it's a forgotten one.
Israel is already pumping oil in the Negev Desert in very small amounts. This well produces about 100 barrels a day.
People have known there's been oil in this area for decades, if not longer, that was never the question. The problem is the reservoirs that
were found, were broken or fractured in some way and weren't commercially viable.
Now, the big difference is that they found in these mountains right here in this area, a large commercially viable reservoir of oil ready for
development.
This area, called Khatoulim (ph) has some 7 million barrels of oil, maybe more, near the Dead Sea.
You believe Israel can be self-sufficient with oil. How is that?
RAMI KREMIEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GULIVER TRAVEL: Well, the Khatoulim (ph) area, which is on our left side is only the tip of the iceberg. We
will find and make a discovery which will exactly like it did the gas will change the oil, it will be a game changer.
LIEBERMANN: Israel's newfound energy resources have been described as a dream and will remain just a dream without development, high-tech economy
looking at the natural resources it never knew it had.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Negev Desert.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: Live from CNN center this is Connect the World. Coming up, a billionaire entrepreneur confirms he's behind Hulk Hogan's war on Gawker.
How Peter Thiel is renewing the debate in privacy and freedom of speech next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:34:03] MANN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Jonathan Mann.
A billionaire tech entrepreneur has confirmed suspicions that he has been secretly bank-rolling a wrestler's lawsuit against Gawker media.
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook and told The New York Times he spent about $10 million helping wrestler
Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, sue Gawker Media.
Bollea became famous as a professional wrestler in the 1980s and 90s. He sued Gawker for invasion of privacy after it published a sex tape. He
was recently awarded $140 million by a Florida jury and a judge denied Gawker's motion for a new trial.
The judge also declined to reduce the judgment against the media company whose motto is Today's Gossip is tomorrow's news.
Let's bring in senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.
And Brian, this has been going on for months. We knew about Hulk Hogan and this tawdry sex tape that Gawker insisted on publishing. And it
insisted it had a right to publish. It went to court. But now we know why Hogan had the money to take it to court.
Tell us about that.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
Gawker said that the portion of the sex tape it showed was news worthy. Hulk Hogan disagreed. But now we know in some ways that was a
side show and the real show happening behind the scenes was involving Peter Thiel, this billionaire
tech entrepreneur famous in Silicon Valley and also known to have a grudge against Gawker Media.
In 2009, he described one of its blogs, Valley Wag, as the Silicon Valley equivalent of al Qaeda. He said the reporters act like terrorists,
and not just in his own life, but also if his friends' lives.
But Peter Thiel in particular was written about by Valley Wag in 2007. We're talking almost a decade ago. The website wrote about his sexuality,
described him as gay, which was something that was published on the internet by news outlets.
So, Thiel felt that Valley Wag outed him. Although, he told The New York Times this is not about revenge so much as it's about deterrence. He
believes Gawker bullies people, not just he and his friends, but lots of people and that's why he's stepping up to pay for lawsuits against the
company.
MANN: Well, it's kind of like a Trojan horse for the tech world. We knew about the trial, but Thiel kept his involvement a secret until now?
STELTER: That's right, and not only in this case. So we learned this week that he is financing the Hulk Hogan case via reporting from Forbes
magazine confirmed by The New York Times, but he is also funding other cases.
And we don't know exactly how many. Thiel told Andrew Ross Sorkin of The
New York Times that he is involved in at least one other case. But I have got to tell you my sources at Gawker believe that Thiel has been involved
in other cases as well including some settlements, ones that have not been publicly revealed.
The attorney that represents Hulk Hogan in the case against Gawker is also representing two other clients in cases against Gawker that are
completely unrelated. So, that might be a place for us to start as we dig further looking into how many cases there are that Thiel might be involved
in.
MANN: Gawker has been ordered to pay $140 million. It doesn't have that money. It says it will be destroyed. Is that Thiel's point? And will
he succeed do you think?
STELTER: Well, The Wall Street Journal reporting just this hour that Gawker is once again looking at a possibility of a sale, exploring a sale
of the company, one of many options. Basically the company has to come up with a number of options in case it is forced to pay this incredible $140
million figure.
It's a very steep price for an invasion of privacy case, but a jury in Florida wanted to send a strong message by putting such a steep price tag
on this.
And Gawker is appealing and the company believes it will succeed on appeal but this is the sort of the stakes that are affecting the media
company.
You know, reality is, a lot of people dislike Gawker. The company publishing things that a lot of people disagree with, but it does act like
a news outlet. It has been protected by a news outlet by other courts.
And so the idea that anybody, any billionaire, any multi-millionaire could be using lawsuits secretly in order to try to take down a news
company does make journalists wary.
You have to wonder, does it have a chilling effect in the future or if other
wealthy men and women might look at what Thiel is doing and say I'm going to try that as well.
MANN: OK, well, we're learning something about billionaires getting involved
in the world of litigation against journalists. Are we learning something about
the journalists of the new media?
Think about Gawker having certainly growing pains. Vice, which has been just an explosive success, now shedding some jobs. Are we seeing
basically the other side of all of these new upstart incredibly successful organizations?
STELTER: That is definitely the back story as we talk about this specific case with Gawker.
There's a much larger story going on involving digital media companies like Gawker and that's Vice and Buzzfeed and many others like it.
There are growing pains throughout the industry right now as a sort of reality check about how big these sites can become and what the business
model really is.
A lot of these companies, except for Gawker -- Vice, for example, Vox media Buzzfeed, they've taken on lots and lots of money from outside
venture capitalists who believe these sites can become the future CNNs and BBCs and al Jazeeras et cetera and some of them have reached widescale,
very largescale, reaching many, many millions of people. But the business model is not there yet. And so there's been a retrenchment we've seen
recently including a number of layoffs at Vice news this week.
I think definitely this is a year where it's a reality check for these new
digital media upstarts.
[11:50:26] MANN: Brian Stelter, thanks very much.
STELTER: Thanks.
MANN: Live from CNN Center, you're watching Connect the World. Coming up it is one of the most celebrated auto races in the world and the
winner of the Indy 500 celebrates with a glass of milk and a shampoo.
We'll explain the custom in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World. I'm Jonathan Man. Welcome back.
Top Gear fans, rejoice. The popular BBC series returns this Sunday with a new lineup and also some new controversy as well. Here's CNN's Phil
Black.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The world is about to find out what the BBC has done to one of the planet's most watched programs
-- Top Gear is back. This is just a taste.
It looks the same: fast cars, silly stunts, all beautifully shot. But the faces are new.
If you're one of you're one of the show's 350 million viewers, or even if you're not, you probably know why the lineup change was necessary.
Last year, presenter Jeremy Clarkson got a little punchy with a producer after a long day
at work. So the BBC sacked him.
Co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond decided to walk away too. And ever since, the BBC has been working to save one of its most lucrative
brands.
MATT LEBLANC, CO-HOST, TOP GEAR: No. No. It's like car Tinder. She's hot.
BLACK: They made a big international hire, Matt Leblanc, the former Friend star and self-confessed petrol head..
LEBLANC: How far is Glasgow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not that far.
BLACK: LeBlanc and British broadcaster, Chris Evans, with co-host. There's a new wide team of presenters, too, and the Stig is, well, still
the Stig.
CHRIS EVANS, HOST, TOP GEAR: We know that within 72 of the first show being broadast it will have been seen in 83 countries on six continents.
So, it's a pretty big audition for us. We're going to have to wait and see.
BLACK: Chris Evans has become a regular target for Britain's tabloid press since signging on to the show. Reports have accused him of bullying,
ranting and other unstable behavior forcing out senior staff and feuding with LeBlanc. Evans, LeBlanc, the show, the BBC say that's all nonsense.
And Evans says he has a lot of respect for LeBlanc's car cred.
EVANS: He loves cars. You know, he can fix a car. He can put a car -- he can strip a car engine and put it back together almost blindfolded
and he's a brilliant driver.
BLACK: Meanwhile, Clarkson, May and Hammond are beavering away on their new project for streaming service Amazon Prime. Their few promotions
so far have focused on the search for the show's name.
JEREMY CLARKSON, FORMER PRESENTER, TOP GEAR: The show, I think, will sit
on the internet like -- and this is what I'm suggesting for the name -- a small puddle of excellence.
[11:55:01] BLACK: They eventually settled on The Grand Tour.
Its premier is still months away, long before then, Top Gear fans will have declared judgment on
whether the new version of their beloved show is firing on all cylinders.
Phil Black, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: In tonight's Parting Shots, normally if you win a prestigious race you'd expect a bottle or two of champagne, but at the Indy 500 you get
a different kind of beverage. Don Riddell explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: when you've been racing hard for hours on end you're going to want a drink. And if you've just won the Indy 500
you're going to want to celebrate. But they don't give you an adult beverage like a bottle of champagne to mark the occasion at Indianapolis.
No, they're full on dairy. In victory lane you are going to be handled a bottle of milk.
GRAHAM RAHAL, INDYCAR DRIVER: I think it started with Louis Meyer (ph) way, way back in the day and he won the race and it was just like in
his head all he wanted was a big glass of milk. And so he gets in victory lane and he chugs the milk.
RIDDELL: That was in 1933. And when Meyer drank it again three years later, a tradition was born.
Tehre are some dos and don'ts when it comes to victory lane. First, make sure you have some kind of actual milk and something that looks like
milk, too.
RAHAL: I actually kind of joked at them once and said I will take chocolate milk if I win, because I'm a chocolate milk addict and they
didn't find that too funny.
RIDDELL: It certainly wasn't funny in 1993 when Emerson (inaudible) completely broke with tradition and drank orange juice instead. he was
promoting the Brazilian citrus tradition.
And if you are sticking with tradition, you might want to think twice about pouring all over your head.
RYAN HUNTER-REAY, 2014 INDY 500 WINNER: After the race, it's media interview after media interview, satellite media tour. You know, you're
sitting in a chair doing interviews with a camera until about 9:00 p.m. at night. And the race is over at 2:00 p.m.
So, you know, the milk is sitting on there a good, six, seven hours.
RIDDELL: So, at Indianapolis, it's not always the sweet smell of success, it's oftentimes a little sour with the winning drivers wouldn't
have it any other way.
Don Riddle, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: That's funny, boy. I didn't know about that last little fact.
Well the Connect the World team is always looking to learn more than we can fit into the show. Check out other things we're following. Head
over to our Facebook page, that's at Facebook.com/CNNConnect and you can also get in touch with me directly on Twitter. Tweet me @jonathanmancnn.
I am Jonathan Mann, you've been watching Connect the World. Thanks for joining us.
END
