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Connect the World

Israel: Initial Signs of Progress for Hostage Deal; Ukraine says it Hit Russian Troops' Training Ground; U.N.: Sudan War is "Destroying a Country"; Tokyo's NIKKEI Closes at a Record High; U.S. Set to Land Spacecraft on the Moon. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired February 22, 2024 - 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: Tens of thousands of AT&T customers across multiple American cities are reporting a massive outage.

It's 9 am in New York and in Atlanta, it's 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, I'm Becky Anderson, you are watching "Connect the World" also

happening this hour, an investigation underway after a deadly highway shooting in the West Bank.

Israel's War Cabinet Minister Reports signs of progress in hostage talks. Ukraine claims to hit a Russian training ground in occupied territory.

Well, the U.S. stock markets open at the bottom of this hour and it could be a big day on Wall Street futures pointing to a higher opening a

significantly higher opening off the back of NVIDIA's blockbuster earnings report last night.

Tech stocks fueling gains around the world. As you see we expect those gains to continue in New York in about 30 minutes time. And of course, we

are keeping a close eye on that mobile service outage in the United States much more on that in a moment. Want to begin this hour though in the Middle

East.

Israel's National Emergency and Medical Service say a man in his 20s has been killed in a highway shooting in the West Bank. Now authorities say it

happened at a traffic jam near and Israeli settlement outside Jerusalem. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have praised the shooting but neither claim

responsibility.

Now this comes as tensions saw in the West Bank, which has seen an increasing number of raids by Israeli forces over the past few weeks. Nic

Robertson is on the ground and has the very latest.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This is the vehicle the police say the attackers arrived in there were three of them. The traffic

was all stopped in a traffic jam as people were coming up this main highway here into Jerusalem early in the morning.

Three people, three attackers got out of this vehicle according to the police, they dispersed into the traffic and started shooting. And if we

come up here, you can just see one of the vehicles that was shot at loaded up here and being ready to be taken away. The rear windscreen shot out

there are bullet casings on the floor over here.

From where I'm standing, you can see blood on the ground where some of the victims were injured. This main highway would have been really busy in the

early hours of the day when the attack took place. At least one person killed so far according to medical authorities, another woman seriously

injured.

As far as we know, in the early part of the day, 5 people total shot according to medical officials, and they say other people in a state of

shock somebody else got heavy bruising as they were trying to escape the scene.

But what makes this particular attack different from some of the recent shootings, we've seen is that there were three attackers arriving together

and then assaulting people as they were stuck stationary in their vehicles trying to get to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv beyond to go to work. Nic Robertson,

CNN in the occupied West Bank.

ANDERSON: Israel says it is seeing initial signs of progress towards a new hostage deal with Hamas no Israeli war Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz says

there is potential for a deal to be moving forward. Gantz also said that without progress on freeing those hostages being held in Gaza, Israel's

operation in Rafah would continue into Ramadan.

And the threat is a real one, because the actual ground assault that Israel had been threatening on Rafah hasn't yet begun. There is no evidence for

that, but it is threatened by around March the 10th beginning of Ramadan, should these hostages not be released.

Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv on the story for us and CIA Director Bill Burns now expected in Paris tomorrow to meet as we understand it with

Qatari and Egyptian officials. We know that Hamas as being or certainly representatives of Hamas have been in Cairo of late.

[09:05:00]

It is unclear as of yet, what sort of progress will be delivered at that meeting. But there are reports that Hamas has abandoned its demand for a

permanent ceasefire, in the first instance, suggesting that it may concede to a temporary truce with a view to negotiating a ceasefire going forward.

And that will be a significant change. Jeremy, were that to be the case. Just explain for our viewer's sake, what we understand to be going on at

this point?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, there, that certainly would be a significant change. But really, you know, the reason

that one of the reasons why we know that we are at once again, a significant inflection point is because we're seeing the CIA Director

traveling to yet another European capital to meet with his Egyptian, Qatari and Israeli counterparts tomorrow in Paris.

And that's because every time that we have seen Bill Burns traveled to one of these capitals before these meetings, it's because there was a sense

that there might be a breakthrough or that there might be some kind of inflection point in the making. He has been a key negotiator not only

during this latest round of negotiations.

But also of course, in the negotiations that ultimately led to that week long pause in the fighting in late November and the release of dozens of

hostages and his trip follows Brett McGurk, a top adviser to President Biden, also traveling in the region. He was in Cairo yesterday. He is in

Israel today.

We expect that he is meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister today and all of this amid signs that there could potentially be progress in the offing.

And that's because we heard yesterday from Benny Gantz, a key member of the Israeli war cabinet who said that there are "initial signs" that indicate

the possibility of progress, and making clear that the Israeli government is committed to all avenues of trying to secure the release of the

hostages.

But at the same time, looming in the background is this potential offensive in Rafah and Gantz also made clear that should there not be a deal that

Israel will indeed proceed with that major military offensive in Gaza southernmost city where about 1.5 million people are currently sheltering.

And Israel has said, of course, that it will put plans in place to move civilians out of the way before proceeding with that offensive. But so far,

we haven't heard any details of those plans. And really, we have just a little over two weeks until Ramadan. So time is certainly of the essence in

the clock is running down and we will see whether or not tomorrow's meeting in Paris proves critical to securing progress, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, thank you, Jeremy. And folks, look, you would be forgiven for thinking that we've been here before. And that's, you know, I mean --

Jeremy alluding to that, because we have been here before, to a certain extent. We keep reporting on these hostage windows of opportunity when they

happen.

But it is this Ramadan deadline now, which has provided for the first time really a sort of schedule around which it does feel like there is a

concerted effort to try and get something achieved hostages for Palestinian prisoners and a temporary truce. Jeremy thanks for joining us.

Well, the International Court of Justice is hearing public arguments this week on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestinian

Territories particularly relevant given our top story that violence that we saw on the highway outside Jerusalem. China, Island, Jordan and Iran, all

presenting their views on Israel's practices today.

This is the fourth day of hearings at The Hague, the Iranian Representative called on the world court to issue a ruling in support of the Palestinian

right to self-determination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REZA NAJAFI, IRANIAN DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER: It is hoped that this court will once more make history by giving a landmark advisory opinion in

support of the right to self-determination of Palestinian people, which may finally help seize the illegal prolonged occupation of Palestine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates told the court that Israel's occupation is illegal and cannot remain without consequence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANA NUSSEIBEH, UAE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: Whether the illegality of Israel's occupation is determined under General International Law, or under the

Charter, the conclusion is the same. It is illegal. Israel's illegal acts cannot remain without consequence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ANDERSON: Well the United States defended Israel say its security needs to be taken into account.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD VISEK, LEGAL ADVISER AT U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: Under the established framework, any movement towards Israel, withdrawal from the

West Bank and Gaza requires consideration of Israel's very real security needs. Regrettably, those needs have been ignored by many of the

participants in asserting how the court should consider the questions before it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, more than 50 countries a five zero are making their case at the World Court this week. And we continue to follow that news. Tens of

thousands of cell phone users across the United States are reporting outages today is a map and you can see where those outages are happening.

Across the country multiple carriers' impacted AT&T customers appear to be experiencing the most trouble though and the company is acknowledging the

problem. The outages are impacting 911 emergency services in a number of cities. CNN's Technology Reporter, Brian Fung is following this from CNN's

Washington bureau. What have you got, Brian?

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Yeah, Becky, this is an extremely widespread outage affecting tens of thousands of customers, at least those

that have reported themselves on the website downdetector.com. That's not a comprehensive figure. It's likely the number of affected customers is

probably much more than that.

It appears to be limited however, to AT&T customers and Verizon and T- Mobile. The two other major U.S. networks say their networks are largely unaffected by this and to the extent that, you know, folks who are on

Verizon or T-Mobile are having issues connecting to the network, it's likely because they're trying to call AT&T customers.

Nevertheless, you know, as you pointed out, there is some outage and disruption to 911 services and that's likely because AT&T operates a

dedicated special network just for public first responders, known as FirstNet. And you know this is a pretty broad issue AT&T says it's working

on it.

Another source from Verizon as spokesman says that they believe the issue with AT&T is close to being resolved. But of course this has been going on

now since about 3 am Eastern Time, and it's unclear when exactly it will be resolved, Becky.

ANDERSON: Brian, thank you. Okay, keep you bang up to date on that as we get more you will get first here on CNN well as Russia fights to keep up

momentum in Eastern Ukraine. Kyiv's forces are claiming a win, saying that they hit a training ground for Russian troops beside the Dnipro River.

In this video, which Ukraine says shows the attack about two dozen people can be seen fleeing after an explosion. For contexts, CNN was able to geo

locate the footage and it does appear to be in the Kherson region about 20 kilometers from the disputed village of Krynky.

Ukraine says its forte is holding their position there despite Russia claiming it has captured the village. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is live in

Berlin. And as you speed we are looking at this video. What do you make of it, Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What, yeah, I think there's certainly several questions that the Russians probably should

be asking themselves. First of all, you're absolutely right, are folks geo located that area and it seems to be about 21 kilometers, as you said,

below the town of Krynky, which the Russians yesterday claimed that they had taken that area back from the Ukrainians vows to the Ukrainians from

there.

That is of course, an area on the left bank of the Dnipro River where the Ukrainians managed to establish a bridgehead have been trying to hold and

expand that bridgehead and the Russians have been trying to oust them. Now, one of the big questions to ask as far as that training area that got hit

is concerned is why the Russians would have a training area that close to the front lines.

20 kilometers is definitely or 21 kilometers is definitely well within the range of many weapons. And even if the Ukrainians were to have fired,

whatever the weapon was, that hit that training area, and those Russian soldiers who appear to be completely out in the open, could be a HIMARS

multiple rocket launching system.

They could have done that from the other bank of the Dnipro River as well, which is an area that they control. Now Moscow, of course, has not

commented on any of this, but you're absolutely right. The Russians did say or did claim that they had ousted the Ukrainians from that area. The

Ukrainian President even Volodymyr Zelenskyy was saying that that is absolutely not true.

[09:15:00]

The Ukrainians holding on to that bridgehead in fact trying to expand that bridge and they have said that they have fended off a lot of Russian

attacks. And it seems as though what the Ukrainians appear to now have been able to do is to hit the Russians in an area behind the front lines where

apparently they may have been training for an assault on Ukrainian forces there, will have been amassing forces for some sort of assault on the

Ukrainians there.

In any case, it could spill a bit of reprieve for the Ukrainians who have that bridgehead there on the whole though the Russians continue to say that

they are making progress on the battlefield. In fact, in the east of the country near that town that we've been speaking about so much the sort of

Avdiivka and Marinka area, the Russians saying they captured a small village there called Pobeda.

As they say that they are increasing or improving their situation on the ground, thanks to the fact that they have taken Avdiivka, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you, thank you sir. The boyfriend of a dual U.S.- Russian citizen charged with treason in Russia has spoken CNN about the last time that he talked to her have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS VAN HEERDEN, BOYFRIEND OF KSENIA KARELINA: She said Babe, it's all good. I spoke to them and they said I can come and get my phone and it's

all good. And I remember the last hour before all of this happened was she was so excited and relieved that nothing is wrong and she can go home.

And it was a Friday morning in Russia, which means it was Thursday night here. I went to bed and I woke up the next morning. And I never heard back

from her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, according to Van Heerden, Ksenia Karelina was in Russia visiting her elderly grandparents when she was detained by authorities. She

was initially released but not given access to her phone. Weeks later, she was arrested again just before she was due to leave the country this time

on treason charges.

Her U.S. employer told CNN that Karelina is accused of donating just $51 to a Ukrainian charity. It felt guilty she could serve up to 20 years in jail.

Well the Kremlin is responding today to U.S. President Joe Biden calling Vladimir Putin "a crazy S.O.B." during a fundraising event.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov calls the comments directed at the Russian President rude and a huge disgrace for the United States. He says Putin has

never made one offensive statement towards Mr. Biden. The rise of AI stock is off the back of AI, which is absolutely affecting the markets, will this

last that is just ahead.

And an American spacecraft poised to do something that hasn't happened in more than half a century while today's plan Moon Landing is far from a

guarantee. That's coming up.

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[09:20:00]

ANDERSON: Sources tell CNN that U.S. President Joe Biden is considering using executive action to restrict asylum at the country's border with

Mexico. Now, immigration is a huge high profile campaign issue in the U.S. in what is this election year. And the situation of the U.S.-Mexico border

has dogged Mr. Biden throughout his presidency.

The prospect of executive action comes after Republicans in the U.S. House tanked a bipartisan measure passed in the Senate that included stricter

standards to seek asylum. Priscilla Alvarez is connecting us from Washington.

And I think it's important for us to underscore just how important this issue of immigration is and the issue of the border with Mexico in what is

this election year? This does seem like a clear indication that the White House is planning to get more aggressive on the border issue ahead of the

election, correct?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden is essentially taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook here to try to seize on an issue

that as you mentioned, the White House has grappled with four years and ahead of a heated election cycle that is going to have immigration at the

front and center of it.

Now this is an extraordinary move that the White House is considering what sources tell me is that they're looking at an authority that already exists

in immigration law and essentially allows the President to decide who is eligible to come into the United States. In this context, what it would

allow the President to do is limit or restricts migrant's ability to seek asylum if they crossed the border unlawfully meaning crossing between those

ports of entry.

Now, this is a move that is reminiscent of the Trump era Former President Donald Trump tried to do this in 2018. He was later blocked by the courts.

And I'm told that lawyers are reviewing this possible executive action to see if it would be legally viable. But an administration official tells me

this is one of multiple options that the White House is evaluating.

And no final decision has been made. A White House spokesperson telling me, "No executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant

policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected. We continue to call on Speaker Johnson and House

Republicans to pass the bipartisan deal to secure the border."

Of course, what the White House is referring to there is that Senate border bill that included some of the toughest border security measures in recent

memory, including extraordinary powers for the Homeland Security Secretary to shut down the border if certain triggers were met.

Now, at the time of these negotiations, President Biden embrace that toughness, saying that he would shut down the border if given the authority

what is being considered here appears to be an extension of that though, of course, we have not seen the text and again, no final decision has been

made. But all of this coming to a head as President has into an election cycle that will be front and center on immigration.

ANDERSON: Superb! Thank you for that. Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar folks. And state media in China say

five people were killed after a cargo ship slammed into a bridge near Guangzhou in Southern China. The crash broke this bridge in half.

As you can see officials say five vehicles fell from that bridge some straight into the river and others on to what is that damaged cargo ship.

Well, these are images near a deadly gold mine collapse in Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro says at least 15 people died after this mine

collapsed on Tuesday.

Search and rescue efforts are underway for others who could be trapped. Mr. Maduro says the mine was operating illegally. Dire words of warning coming

from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees about a conflict, which many fear is slipping from the world's gaze. I'm talking about the deadly war in

Sudan.

Filippo Grandi told CNN yesterday, "This war is destroying a country, 8 million people displaced since the beginning of this conflict. What more

needs to happen, he said to attract the attention of the world?" CNN's Larry Madowo report on the toll this war is taking on Sudan's very

youngest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sudanese Armed Forces celebrate as they advance in Omdurman, the twin city of the Capital

Khartoum.

[09:25:00]

The army releasing these videos last week is seeing it as a win in this war against paramilitary rapid support forces. In North Darfur, the agony of

Sudan's children is the youngest victims of a war that has raged for 10 months. This small clinic run by the aid group Doctors Without Borders in

the Zamzam camp is the only one for miles. A child dies every two hours here, the agency says, as a war has led to catastrophic cases of

malnutrition.

CHEICK TRAORE, EMERGENCY COORDINATOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: We have over 200 patients every day waiting for treatment. And they are not coming only

within the camp; they are coming also from the surrounding area, seeking looking for health care.

MADOWO (voice-over): They are overwhelmed that these mothers and their children have nowhere else to go.

ASHIA ABUBAKER ADAM, DISPLACED SUDANESE MOTHER: We are out of everything, even wheat. Now we just get insignificant amounts of food to make it

through the day. I have five children apart from this one.

MADOWO (voice-over): Sudan has the world's largest displacement crisis, the U.N. says as 15 percent of the population has fled their homes.

Humanitarian workers say it is not getting enough funding or attention.

MARY LOUISE EAGLETON, UNICEF SUDAN DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE: And feels like the country has really been abandoned and the children and the country's

children have really been abandoned. What this means for families and children is that they're facing a lethal combination of displacement,

hunger and disease outbreaks.

TOBY HARWARD, U.N. DEPUTY HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR SUDAN (DARFUR): It is arguably the biggest humanitarian crisis today. It is bigger than the

other crisis that gets a lot more attention.

MADOWO (voice-over): Everything is in short supply in Sudan, and a ceasefire appears unlikely. Those caught in the middle of another war worry

and the wait. Larry Madowo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, you are watching "Connect the World" with me Becky Anderson. We're live out of Abu Dhabi for you. After this break, we'll take

you to New York for the opening bell on what promises to be a very busy day on "Wall Street". We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

ANDERSON: Well, markets are -- this is the beginning of the trading day. Markets are about to open in New York, there's the opening bell. And on the

podium for that bell, John Southard, President of Innovator ETFS or ETFs, welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You are watching "Connect

the World". And it is a big day on "Wall Street". Investors feeling somewhat bullish off the back of chipmaker NVIDIA's mammoth earnings report

yesterday.

These markets have been significantly higher on the futures. And they are beginning to tick higher, once again, particularly that S&P 500 full of

technology stocks, of course, and the NASDAQ up in positive territory, some more than 2 percent higher again, lots of tech stocks in there. The Dow

Jones is also up by more than half of 1 percent.

Let's have a look at the NVIDIA shares then earlier, it was up some 13 percent in premarket trade, opening just around 10 percent higher there.

And if I told you the share price of that stock back in November was around about 400, 400 odd, I wouldn't be lying for context. That price today is up

more than 220 percent in the past year. And that earnings report showed profits are up; get this 580 percent from last year.

You heard that right. This is an extraordinary stock. Chipmaker NVIDIA produces what are known as GPUs, Graphic Processing Units needed to power

artificial intelligence models. Last year, of course, you'll be aware was a breakout year for AI but no one has reaped the benefits quite like NVIDIA.

Well, following the results CEO Jensen Huang put out a statement saying quote, accelerated computing and generative AI have hit the tipping point.

Anna Stewart is connecting us from London. You and I were together in Dubai a week or so ago when Jensen Huang was live at the World Government Summit

in Dubai. And it was fascinating to listen to what he was talking about there. Walk us through this latest report and this market reaction we are

seeing.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And last week, I think we saw global leaders, business leaders all sort of sucking in every word the man could

say, this is the man of the hour and certainly the business. And actually Goldman Sachs has called this the most important stock on planet Earth. And

that's just simply due to the incredible market share and lead that this company has in artificial intelligence.

And the top lines of the earnings report are frankly astonishing. You mentioned profits are up 580 percent versus last year. Fourth quarter

revenue came in at $22 billion, in fact slightly over that. And that's all because NVIDIA accounts for around 70 percent of AI chips around the

market. They have this incredible lead supply cannot keep up with demand at this stage.

So of course they have huge pricing power as well. So this is why we saw not only NVIDIA's stock going up, but actually the results from after the

bell last night, I actually pulled up stock indices across multiple sectors all over the world.

Because the outlook for AI from NVIDIA feeds in not just to the big tech giants, but also all the other sectors the impact for healthcare, the

impact for automotive. So we have seen a huge lift from this stock and as you saw the stock rising around 11 percent on the open, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, you can't have ChatGPT without data centers, new kind of data centers without GPUs. And pretty much NVIDIA as you rightly point out

sort of owning the market in these GPUs. I think the company will admit that won't go on forever. And the AI sort of story is just emerging.

Accelerated computing is really, as Jensen pointed out at a tipping point at this point, but boy, is it on a clip. It's an amazing story.

A strong rally, thank you, driven by chip stocks rippled all the way through Asian stock markets to all showing green at the close. The Nikkei

Stock Exchange in Tokyo hit a record high on Thursday, breaking the record set back in 1989 up by 2.2 percent closing above 39,000 for the first time.

[09:35:00]

And that really is remarkable. I mean, I'm old enough to remember the last time that we are talking more than 30 years ago now that Japan was looking

at this sort of rip, you can hear some happy traders in Tokyo earlier. After decades of economic stagnation, Japan's stock market climbing back

because of stronger corporate earnings and a weaker yen of course that helped Japanese exporters and a rush of foreign investors.

As your business news folks, ahead on "Connect the World", the United States just hours away from landing a spacecraft on the moon we're going to

take a look at why achieving a successful landing is so challenging, that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: In just hours, the United States is set to attempt an historic Moon Landing. Now the lunar lander Odysseus will take on a challenge no

vehicle launched from the United States has attempted in more than 50 years. And this is part of NASA's commercial initiative. But success is not

guaranteed. CNN's Kristin Fisher shows us what we should expect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just days after lifting off from Florida, Odysseus is now barreling towards the moon

sending back spectacular pictures of Earth along the way, and is now hours away from the most perilous test yet for the Robotic Lunar Lander, a soft

or controlled landing on the surface of the Moon.

Intuitive Machines is trying to pull off something no private company has done. And if successful, it will be the first time in American made

spacecraft has done it since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

STEVE ALTEMUS, CEO, INTUITIVE MACHINES: And we are steely eyed rocket scientists, but deep down this is quite an emotional feeling to be here at

this position.

FISHER (voice-over): Just last month, a Pennsylvania company, Astrobotic technology had its first lunar landing mission end in failure. And last

year, the Japanese company Eyespace and the government of Russia both crashed landers into the moon. So why is it so tough to repeat a feat that

was first accomplished within half a century ago?

The biggest reason is also the most frustratingly terrestrial one, money. NASA's budget at the peak of the Apollo program was more than 4 percent of

all U.S. government spending. Today NASA's budget is one tenth the size, just 0.4 percent even as NASA attempts to return astronauts to the moon

under the Artemis program.

In an effort to save money, NASA is outsourcing robotic lunar landings to companies like Intuitive Machines for a fraction of what it cost in the

1960s and 70s.

[09:40:00]

ALTEMUS: Do it for $100 million. When in the past, it's been billions of dollars.

FISHER (voice-over): Then there's the purely technical challenge of landing a spacecraft in a specific spot, roughly a quarter of a million miles away.

DR. SCOTT PACE, SPACE POLICY INSTITUTE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Some people have likened it to, you know, hitting a golf ball in New York and

having it go into a particular hole and one in LA.

FISHER (voice-over): The distance means there's also a time delay roughly three seconds for signals from mission control rooms on earth, to get to

the moon and back.

DR. PACE: Walk and go wrong in that time. So when the vehicle is actually landing, it pretty much is on its own.

FISHER (voice-over): Finally, there's the experience factor, the loss of the Apollo era expertise that no amount of new technology can make up for.

DR. SPACE: Simply because somebody else did it in an earlier age doesn't mean that this generation or this organization can do it. These are people

doing it for the first time. And there's no, there's no substitute for that experience.

ALTEMUS: We all collectively have to be resilient to failures. And we all have to be helping each other lift up and break down these barriers so that

we can begin a lunar economy. That's what this is a beginning of an emerging economy around the moon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Wow. A major League Soccer back down on Earth is back for a new season in the United States. And so is the league's biggest star Lionel

Messi's Inter Miami squad opening the season with a victory that featured some familiar Messi magic. Amanda Davies joins me now. There was nothing

Messi with a why about this performance, I can tell you.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: No.

ANDERSON: Explain.

DAVIES: Back down on earth, but people very much hoping Messi is the man to help Inter Miami reach new heights. And you know, 36 years of age, he may

have suffered a few injuries in the preseason tour that were well documented, weren't they. But in this opening match of the season for Inter

Miami against Real Salt Lake, of course, Messi's first full season in the MLS.

He certainly puts on a show. I think we're showing a little bit of typical Messi skill dinking over the player on the floor, well worth watching it

again and again. He didn't manage to get himself is incredible. He didn't manage to get himself on the score sheet, but he was integral to Inter

Miami's first couple of goals. And we've got more on that. And what's to come in the season ahead in just a couple of minutes.

ANDERSON: Fantastic, I don't know about you, but I must have watched five or six times now. And it doesn't fail to impress amazing, good stuff.

"World Sport" is up after this, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

END