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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Ukraine: At Least Six Killed Amid Heavy Shelling In Sloviansk; Inflation In Turkey Hits Highest Level In 24 Years; Ukraine Withdraws Troops From Eastern City Of Lysychansk; Thousands Of Flights Delayed, Canceled Over Holiday Weekend; China Sends Extra Police To Location Of Brutal Attack; Using Artificial Intelligence To Protect Bees. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 04, 2022 - 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)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Live from New York. I'm Alison Kosik. I'm in for Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE. Happy Fourth of

July! The U.S. stock markets are closed today for the Independence Day holiday.

In Europe stocks are gaining today after sliding last week of a recession fears. Major European indexes are all in the green at the moment. In Asia

stocks closed mixed. Japan's NIKKEI gained almost 1 percent but the HANG SENG finished a touch lower after a long weekend to commemorate the 25th

anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is praising his country's military after it took full control of the Luhansk region in Eastern Ukraine. That was

after Ukrainian forces withdrew from the City of Lysychansk over the weekend. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was defiant when he spoke to the

nation on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Ukraine does not give anything up. And when someone over there in Moscow report something about the

Luhansk region, let them remember their reports and promises before February 24th.

In the first days of this invasion in the spring, and now, let them really evaluate what they got over this time, and how much they paid for it

because their current reports will turn into dust as the previous ones. We are gradually moving forward in the Kharkiv region, even the Kherson region

and at - is a good example of this. There will be a day when we will say the same about Donbas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And Scott McLean joins us live now from Kyiv. Scott, great to see you! You know, listening to the Zelenskyy there, he's really positive. But

what's the reality here? How big of a military setback is the loss of Lysychansk for Ukraine?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really depends on who you ask here Alison? If you ask the Russian President Vladimir Putin he says that his

troops ought to be rewarded for their bravery.

Because he says that they killed thousands of Ukrainians over the last two weeks in the process of taking Lysychansk last major city in the Luhansk

region and Sievierodonetsk which was taken before that he says that those troops deserve arrest.

And frankly, the Ukrainian tends to agree the local governor of the Luhansk area says that, look, the Russians have sustained heavy losses, insane

losses in his words. And so they will need to regroup get some fresh bodies in before moving on to the next part of the Donbas region.

The Ukrainian say that look, the Russians had to fight and claw for every square inch of territory that they managed to take they moved westward,

slowly, but surely. And they say that the Russians also sustained some very heavy losses.

But the big difference they say is in artillery capabilities that they say they just could not match. And so President Zelenskyy says that, look, the

Ukrainians will be back but they're not going to go back until they have the proper weapons, they have enough artillery.

They have enough capability to actually compete with the Russians until then they're going to have trouble. The calculation is that look, they

could have stayed to fight. The local governor says they would have lasted maybe two weeks or so.

But they would have taken losses, they would have also risked being completely surrounded completely cut off by the Russian. So their

calculation was, look, let's pull the troops back at least they can live to fight another day. And we can get some new fresher weapons in there as

well.

Another thing that went into this fight is the fighters themselves. The Ukrainian says that the ones who the Russians who are fighting in this

particular area were some of the most prepared all along the front line Alison, because these are the same troops they say who have been fighting

for this region for the past eight years. And they say that they also know the area much better, which made a big difference.

So things that the Ukrainians have done in other areas like removing the street signs to try to confuse and disorient really didn't work that well

in this case. So the next thing for the Russians is going to be to move on to the Donetsk region to the west.

They are already showing signs that they want to do that very quickly. There has been heavy shelling in Sloviansk one of the main cities in that

area, there has been missile strikes in Kramatorsk and now we're also seeing signs that Russian troops are trying to move down and take some of

the villages to the North in Donetsk, and try to do that sooner rather than later.

KOSIK: And what more headlines coming out of the war here we're getting reports of a school being hit in Kharkiv. What are you hearing about that?

[09:05:00]

MCLEAN: Yes, so thankfully school is not in right now. We can also be thankful that even if it was this strike took place at four o'clock in the

morning, but the pictures here are absolutely horrifying. I mean, there's a massive crater in Kharkiv.

At this high school, the gymnasium was apparently hit in this missile strike. Even though there are no reports of any casualties, any injuries,

anything like that there are still some pretty haunting images of school or, student's shoes underneath of a desk.

Look, this comes the same day that the Russians also have accused the Ukrainians of targeting specifically civilian sites inside of Russia over

the weekend. They say that look, these strikes these explosions in the Belgorod region of Russia were meant to provoke the Russians toward

retaliating and hitting civilian strike areas inside of Ukraine.

Now, the Ukrainians have never actually owned up to any of these strikes on Russian territory, though, just the other day an advisor to the President

and advisor to the President said that evil have consequences and you always have to pay the bills, Alison.

KOSIK: Alright, Scott McLean thanks for joining us live from Kyiv! Ukraine wants more support from NATO and it needs the help of big business too, the

Virgin Founder and Chairman Sir Richard Branson told Richard Quest about his recent visit to the war torn country and his meeting with President

Zelenskyy, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD BRANSON, FOUNDER, VIRGIN GROUP: I wasn't surprised by what I saw on the ground and horrific though it was I mean, seeing, you know, children's

playgrounds being blown up and blocks of flats, being destroyed only three days before I arrived. And I wasn't surprised by the resilience of the

people.

I mean, just extraordinary. I think what surprised and worried me the most was the conversations I had with the Foreign Secretary and, and President

Zelenskyy. And, and what that told me was that Russia are going to win this war unless the West really pull their finger out.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have some strong views now on the role that business can play on this as well. And that, I mean, which has

to, I think, go beyond, it can't be business as usual. It's got to be a proactive part that business plays. But what is that proactive part?

BRANSON: Look, I think there's lots of things that can business can do to help. I mean, you know, I think there is business people who can speak out,

which often hasn't happened in the past and in conflicts, people have literally just left it to the politicians.

There are businesses that have pulled out of Russia, like, say, Starbucks, who could move in and open up in Ukraine because - and start creating jobs.

There are business leaders who can help advice to Zelenskyy in the rebuilding of Ukraine.

I mean he's asked, asked if I would, as a business leader would join him on an organization called United 24 to rebuild Ukraine. But all of that is a

waste of time if we can't just get the NATO team to assume that Ukraine is their own country.

What we've got to do is get the mindset that in Britain, in America, in Germany, we are being attacked, and if we were being attacked, would we be

moving as quickly as we are today? And I think the answer is no, I think we could move quicker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: High gas prices aren't stopping Americans from hitting the road this holiday weekend. AAA estimates a record 42 million travelers will get

behind the wheel. Lucky for them filling up the tank will sting a bit less than it did last week. Rahel Solomon joins us now with more! Rahel, great

to see you and glad to hear that gas prices are heading lower. Is this a trend that we can expect to continue?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, some say yes. I talked to one industry consultant who said that he actually predicts prices will be at

about 470 a gallon in two weeks that forecast coming from Andy Lipeh.

Let's take a look at what gas prices have been doing. So right now in the U.S. we're at about 480 per gallon if you compare that to a week ago, 489.

So some slight declines there compared to a month ago about the same but Alison compared to a year ago.

You can understand why high gas prices are on the minds of so many here in Americans it is proving to be uncomfortably high for many. So let's think

about some of the things that have happened since a year ago.

Of course, we have had very strong demand for gas that supply has not been able to keep up with or has not kept up with. And then you also of course

had the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

[09:10:00]

SOLOMON: It would be like Alison, if you already had a broken angle, and then you fall and you break your leg, the war in Ukraine only exacerbated

the tightness in the oil market already. But it was it was already tight before that.

KOSIK: Alright, so where I'm seeing some drama on Twitter, President Biden tweeting that gas stations should, you know, just lower their gas prices.

And then we've got the Founder of Amazon, you know, hitting back at the President, Jeff Bezos taking issue with this tweet.

I also saw a tweet from the U.S. Oil and Gas Association saying Biden's demands. They said that it came from an intern and they said that intern

should go ahead and take ECON 101 in the fall. I'm paraphrasing here. Who's right?

SOLOMON: So this is not the first time that Biden and Bezos have gotten into a Twitter spat. So let's just go through exactly what was said. And

then we can talk about the kernels of truth, I think, and both sides of this argument.

So President Biden sent out a tweet over the weekend, that you could just see on your screen there that my message to the company is running gas

stations and setting prices at the pump is simple. This is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging.

Jeff Bezos in response tweeted out inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this, essentially saying

that this is either misdirection or deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics.

And as you pointed out, the U.S. Oil and Gas Association saying that we're working on it, Mr. President, but in the meantime, have the White House

intern who posted this tweet register for ECON 101. So let's talk about the kernels of truth to both of this.

As we already just discussed, Alison, the market was already tight before this because demand wore back faster than many expected for gas for oil.

And supply was not able to keep up. Oil producers here in the U.S. for sure say that they are trying, but that it is not a faucet that you just turn on

overnight that it will take time, experts say the same. That said there is an old adage in the gas industry that oil prices at the pump go up like a

rocket and come down like a feather.

So there is some truth that the prices haven't come down as much as perhaps some would like the reason and the thinking behind that is that these small

businesses that are setting prices at the pump, oil prices can be volatile. So they're concerned that if they perhaps move prices back too quickly to

keep up with crude prices?

Well, do we have to turn the backup if oil prices go back up again? So it's a very complicated issue. The truth is, there's a little bit of truth to

both sides. The reality is in the middle Alison.

KOSIK: And somebody that can't be easily solved over Twitter, Rahel Solomon, thanks so much! Meanwhile, in Turkey inflation hitting the highest

level in 24 years, the annual rates soared to almost 80 percent in June, this after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instructed the central bank to

continue to cut interest rates. Anna Stewart has the details on this, you know, it just it's this really makes you just say, ah, you know, President

Erdogan?

Can't you just acknowledge these alternative central bank policies, they're contributing to inflation? Are we seeing any acknowledgement of this?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely not at this stage. But I mean, those extraordinary inflation figures could actually be worse, the expectation

was for them to be even higher for the last month, which I think is absolutely extraordinary.

Now, Turkey is no stranger to double digit inflation. It has been experiencing this phenomenon now, for years and years and years. And as you

said, most of this comes down to what we could term very alternative central bank policy from the central bank, and of course, from President

Erdogan himself.

So while the rest of the world the U.S. Federal Reserve, Europe's ECB, the UK's Bank of England are all raising rates to try and cool inflation.

Turkey has continually cut there. There's also some pressure, of course on the central bank from President Erdogan. He has fired several central bank

governors and finance ministers before so it certainly raises the question of how independent central bank is at this stage.

Some policies were introduced this year to try and prop up the Turkish Lira. Let's show you how it has been trading against the dollar because it

certainly hasn't been able to stave off a very sharp decline in the currency there.

And all of this of course, at a time when global inflation is now a huge problem as well and the breakdown of the inflation figures from Turkey

today just go to show that energy and food prices have really skyrocketed. So that's really compounding this issue Alison.

KOSIK: Certainly is. So you know what happens next here? Erdogan keeps jacking up wages. So inflation is only heading higher, at least in the

medium or short term?

STEWART: Yes, this is possibly the part of the story that concerned me the most; even maybe more than the whole interest rate debacle is the fact that

on Friday, Turkey's government announced that they're actually going to raise the minimum wage by 30 percent.

Having already done that to 50 percent earlier this year, so huge increases in minimum wage, you can understand why the cost of living crisis must be

absolutely brutal for people in Turkey. Important to remember there is a Turkish election coming up around the corner next year so I'm sure there's

a lot of thought going into that policy there. But the issue is we all know if you push up wages you push up inflation even further and it can spiral

out of control.

[09:15:00]

STEWART: And when we look at the picture, particularly in Europe with so many strikes, people desperate for higher wages. Of course, businesses are

reluctant to do that. But also governments because of the issue of a wage price spiral, and I think that is exactly what you're seeing here in

Turkey, Alison.

KOISK: All right. Anna Stewart thanks so much. These are the stories making headlines around the world. Police in Denmark say there is no indication a

deadly mall shooting on Sunday was an act of terror. They say the 22-year- old suspect was known to psychiatric professionals and will be charged with murder. He's accused of killing at least three people and leaving four

wounded in Copenhagen where gun violence is relatively rare.

CNN's Sam Kiley joins us now from Copenhagen. Sam, good to see you! Are you learning anything more about this suspect? And what are you hearing about

the victims?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So Alison, we know that first victims, there was one Russian national in his late 40s, who's a

resident here, and two Danish teenagers murdered.

The charge is now being made against this 22-year-old Danish of a homicide the courts, local media reporting from the courts where he's been charged

as saying that the judge has ordered that he'd be held in a psychiatric facility for 24 days.

But the police will now really be focusing very heavily on how it was possible for him to obtain the hunting weapon that he used in this

shooting? He shot dead, three people wounded, at least four others and of course - relatively large number of other people were slightly injured in

the stampede that followed people trying to get out the mall. That's just behind me here on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

And the reason for that is it's extremely difficult to obtain a weapon in this country, you have to pass the test, and you have to have a license.

There are - this is not a culture, like the United States where guy guns are widely available.

He did not have a gun license and also was already known to the medical authorities through his psychiatric treatment. Now, we don't know the

details on his previous mental health state.

But clearly, the court decision to detainment in a psychiatric facility while he is undergoing scrutiny, there is an indication that they certainly

believe that there was some kind of mental illness that came into play here.

The police also saying that they do not believe that this was an act of terror it wasn't an act of hate crime. It wasn't gender based or racial. It

was random. But it is the randomness that is really deeply affecting people in this country that is not in any way used Alison to the levels of

violence that have been seen in the United States or even elsewhere in Europe following terrorist attacks, Alison,

KOSIK: Yes, stricter gun policies could be the reason for this surprise there. Sam Kiley in Copenhagen thanks so much! Rescue crews are searching

for survivors in the Italian Alps after a chunk of glacier ice crashed into a group of hikers.

At least six people were killed on Sunday and a dozen are still missing according to CNN Affiliate, Sky TG 24. It comes as a record breaking heat

wave sweeps parts of Europe.

Stay with CNN just ahead I'm joined by a Ukrainian CEO turned military commander. We'll discuss the latest developments in the war and later,

saving the bees. The insects are key to our survival, but they're disappearing at an alarming rate to tech innovation that could save them.

(COMEMRCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back, I'm Alison Kosik. And back to our one of our top stories, Russian President Vladimir Putin is praising his military victory

in Luhansk. Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces withdrew from the last contested city in the region. There are now concerns in Ukraine that

Russian forces will soon push into the neighboring Donetsk region. On top of this, fears are growing of a major hunger crisis as the war decimates

Ukraine's ability to export grain. For more on this, I'm joined by Vsevolod Kozhemyako. He's the CEO of Agrotrade.

It's one of Ukraine's largest grain exporting companies. But he's currently on leave to serve in Ukrainian military. Welcome from Ukraine.

VSEVOLOD KOZHEMYAKO, CEO OF AGROTRADE: Hello.

KOSIK: Hi there. I want to talk about what brought you to join the fight. But first, I want to ask you about a headline that we talked about earlier

in this show about Ukraine losing Lysychansk, it's now under Russian control.

And I want to get your opinion about the significance of this loss. Is this just a battle loss? Or is there bigger symbolism here about how the war is

actually going for Ukraine?

KOZHEMYAKO: I think that this battle last and this is quite tactical. For troops, it's important to save lives of the people. And we all are actually

waiting for more Western weapon to fight back.

KOSIK: How do you think it's going for Ukraine though?

KOZHEMYAKO: Look, if we come back for months, everybody was expecting probably in the world, that's going to be like five or seven days war, but

now we forget and Ukraine is actually defending.

Ukrainians are defending the country for more than four months already and do it quite successful. Of course, Ukrainian army is much smaller and the

country is much smaller than Russia.

But with the help of our, of our partners from the West, we were acting, we are looking quite good, I think.

KOSIK: Let's talk about you, you know, many billionaires they you know, spend their money on fancy sports cars and clothes and luxury vacations not

to say you don't you probably do on your off time.

But you went ahead and bought your own weapons here. You trained others to create your own fully funded volunteer battalion here. Talk me through why

you gave up time in your company. You left four kids behind.

Why do this why is it important for you to you know, fund and train this battalion after Russian forces invaded Ukraine?

KOZHEMYAKO: I just tried to, I just try to do my best in all the areas where I can help my country starting from Putin's, I was supporting the

army and the National Guard in --.

So I have wide net protection recognize me as kind of a leader. So as soon as the war started, actually I was - and people just joined me and we

started as a team we started to move forward to proceed in this creating of the unit.

[09:25:00]

KOZHEMYAKO: It's funded by me and some other business. But we have the ambition to make the unit which will be fully organized and ruled according

to NATO standards. And we hope that people who are in the units - will be very effective.

KOSIK: We are having a little trouble with your audio. I'm so sorry. We're going to have to come out of the interview. But I want to thank you for

your time and for your service here. Vsevolod Kozhemyako, thank you so much for coming on the show.

KOZHEMYAKO: Yes, no problem.

KOSIK: CEO of Agrotrade, and now a military commander on the frontlines in Ukraine. Ukrainian troops fighting on the front lines no, there's always

someone who has their back with groups of civilian volunteers helping deliver crucial supplies.

And along the way, they also give a helping hand to some of man's best friends, Ben Wedeman has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Yulia and her friends are loading up their armored van, food, medicine and water for

frontline villages that the protective gear for the troops. Before the war, Yulia was a model and worked in local government.

Now, she's a volunteer. I didn't consider leaving as an option, she says, of course, I'm staying in my country to help as much as possible. During

the drive back from the front in May, Yulia was badly injured when her truck crashed under shelling. She spent two restless months in hospital.

They were holding me in hospital and I told them I have work to do, she recalls. I was coordinating deliveries on the phone. I had no right to sit

on my hands. First stop on this day, a military position by the road.

All of this has been donated by people in Ukraine. Here the troops offer a quick appraisal of world leaders the next stop, a village perilously close

to the fighting.

WEDEMAN (on camera): They have to hand out the aid as quickly as possible because they don't want people to get together because we're just a few

kilometers from Russian lines.

WEDEMAN (voice over): Spirits here still buoyant. I stayed because of the animals Natasha tells me; I'm responsible for all the abandoned animals on

this street, more than 50 cats and around 20 dogs.

At our final stop, they drop off more supplies for the soldiers and feed stray dogs. They'd plan to evacuate a family fleeing from behind Russian

lines, but they didn't show up.

The soldiers here say overnight there was heavy shelling, Russian drones often on the prowl, overhead. My mind tells me I shouldn't be afraid, says

Yulia. But we can't leave them behind. Then are a dog and two litters of puppies born in the trenches.

One of the mother dogs was killed by Russian artillery, the little ones, all things. Once loaded, we're off to the city of Zaporizhzhia. We're out

of the danger zone. Once we get to the city they'll take the mother who has been injured in a blast to a vet. They found homes for some of these

puppies, but not all Ben Wedeman, CNN, Zaporizhzhia, Southern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: And stay with us, more coming after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back. I'm Alison Kosik. While its Independence Day here in the United States, many airline passengers are feeling anything but

independent. That's because they're at the mercy of overwhelmed airlines.

More than 1500 flights were canceled between Friday and Sunday, as well as rampant staffing shortages, bad weather that's added to the problems as

well. Storms in the U.S. northeast have delayed thousands of flights.

CNN's Nadia Romero is live for us at Atlanta's Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. I tell you what, I hear about flights canceled,

passengers stranded the highest travel numbers we've seen in years, my head is starting to pound and I'm not even traveling Nadia.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and it's unfortunate because when we arrived right in early this morning, up on the second level, we saw people

curled up under their coats and their sweaters or whatever they had with them in their bags, because they had to spend the night here likely because

their flight was delayed or canceled.

Things are moving, though, rather smoothly. If you do still have your flight, this is the TSA checkpoint area behind me. And there are three

different areas for travelers to come in.

And you can see that they're making a nice little stroll as they head up towards the check encounter. But they do still have to go through many of

the roads with there are plenty of staff members here that are wearing very festive hats trying to keep a smile on their face and encouraging people to

go through the line quickly.

Because as you mentioned, Alison, there are a lot of people who haven't traveled since before the pandemic and they may not remember exactly what

to do is and you have a lot of people with families. And so there have been a lot of people with questions.

Let's take a look at the numbers from the TSA releasing what their travel numbers have been. So Thursday, we saw about 2.4 million passengers make

their way through Friday, though, two and a half million.

That's the highest point since before the pandemic since February 2020. Then that number went down Saturday to 2.2 million and then down again

yesterday on Sunday to 2.1 million travelers.

And we would expect that number to go down a little bit more today. Just judging what we've seen here and what is the busiest airport and the fact

that a lot of people don't like to travel on to the actual holiday.

But we spoke with a woman who had spent 10 days in London had a fabulous trip and she was just trying to get back to Cincinnati. And then this

happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I flew in last night from London. I waited an hour to drop off my bag another hour and security. My flight from Orlando was

still Twice I ended up having to spend the night for free obviously in Atlanta when I'm trying to get him to Cincinnati.

[09:35:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I spent 22 hours traveling to have two delayed flights and stay where my final destination is not, so I fly pretty

frequently. And I've never seen it so crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: So that was Meghan there, she is a school teacher here in the U.S. And she says she knows how to wake up bright and early put a smile on her

face. So she's trying to remember that she just had a fabulous trip in London.

Despite all of her travel delays, she was able to get a free hotel from the airport because of her delays. So she spent the night here in Atlanta, up

bright and early again this morning hoping to get back to Cincinnati and have some sort of holiday with her family here.

But Alison, everyone who's traveling is going to be doing so by pulling more money out of their pocket books. Let's look at the travel costs to go

this holiday weekend compared to just last year.

Airfare is up 14 percent, hotels, that's going to cost you an extra 23 percent compared to last year. And then gas prices. Yes, remember that 52

percent more expensive this year than it was last July 4 weekend.

But all the travelers I spoke to said to me two things. One, they wanted to just get out and enjoy to have a break from work and just enjoy the holiday

weekend. Or there are people who just haven't traveled because of the pandemic.

And now many cities, many places are back to normal. And they wanted to experience that again with their family and friends go out in crowds watch

fireworks, and just have a nice time, Alison.

KOSIK: Yes, first of all, I love that woman, you interviewed her positivity and I get it that there's a lot of pent up demand. So we're seeing a huge

demand for travel, any sign of that abating at all, especially as we see ticket prices rising not just ticket prices, but hotels and everything else

along the way when you take a vacation.

ROMERO: Yes, everything is up, the only thing that's down a little bit is car rental. So it's down compared to last year, your daily rate, but it's

still up compared to 2019. So if you haven't traveled the past couple of years or you're renting a car, you're going to notice that difference.

We still expect you talk to travel experts that tomorrow, Tuesday will be a pretty hectic day here at the airport because that's when people are going

to be coming back; the majority though of people are going to be in their cars.

So maybe they were trying to avoid that increase that we've seen in airfare by hopping in their car. Most Americans about 88 percent of Americans who

are going to travel will travel by car 42 million are expected to travel 50 miles or more.

So they're trying to avoid getting on a flight, but it's not going to cost you any less than it did last year. It's going to cost you a lot more

because of gas prices because of car rental prices.

And when you get somewhere and you want to get something to eat while inflation I mean the cost to get anything to eat at a grocery store or to

go to the restaurant that's up as well.

But people are just trying to roll with the punches because no one wants to go back to lock down. No one wants to go back to that. So if it means they

have to dig a little bit deeper in their pockets, they're willing to do that. Alison?

KOSIK: Yes, they are. Nadia Romero thanks so much great reporting.

And be sure to catch CNN special coverage of the fourth in America. It begins at 4 pm in Los Angeles 7 pm in Washington and New York. That's 12

a.m. Tuesday in London.

Australian authorities are working on a rescue plan for a stranded cargo ship off Australia's eastern coast, the 21 person crew lost power amid

torrential rains around New South Wales.

Officials say they're looking to evacuate them by helicopter. Meanwhile, at least one person has died and thousands are being urged to evacuate in

Sydney from those heavy rains. CNN's Michael Holmes has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A life threatening emergency that's how one official in New South Wales describes the rising

floodwaters in parts of Australia's biggest city.

STEPH COOKE, NEW SOUTH WALES EMERGENCY SERVICES MINISTER: We are now facing dangers on multiple fronts, flash flooding, riverine flooding, and coastal

erosion.

HOLMES (voice over): Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate parts of Sydney where heavy rain is already hitting with more expected to come in

the next few days.

Authorities say the situation is rapidly evolving and urge people to stay off the roads. The State Emergency Service says it has responded to more

than 3000 emergency requests already and dozens of rescue squads have been dispatched.

CARLENE YORK, NEW SOUTH WALES EMERGENCY SERVICE COMMISSIONER: The level of the dams there's no room for the water to remain in the dams they are

starting to spill. The rivers are flowing very fast and very dangerous.

HOLMES (voice over): New South Wales gearing up for the deteriorating conditions, the state asking the federal government to send helicopters and

troops to help with rescue efforts and sandbagging.

Weather experts warn landslides could happen, the landscape already vulnerable because of previous floods in the region. In some areas

emergency crews are even fairing livestock to drier grounds the bigger animals like these ponies and additional challenge for rescue workers.

CHRIS NELSON, DEPUTY UNIT COMMANDER, CANTERBURY SEES: Feels really good to be able to achieve a rescue and bring everyone back to land safely.

HOLMES (voice over): With some parts of Sydney experiencing downpours of more than 200 millimeters with some places up to 350 millimeters missions

like this for animals and humans alike could become more critical in the hours ahead. Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:40:00]

KOSIK: And we'll be back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Hong Kong lawmaker photographed dear Chinese President Xi Jinping has tested positive for COVID-19. President Xi visited the city last week

during the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China.

It was his first trip outside the mainland since the start of the pandemic; he joined lawmakers for photos commemorating the event. The person who

tested positive says his test was negative on Thursday when the photos were taken.

New fallout from the vicious attack on women caught on camera last month in China. The beating set off a firestorm of reaction. CNN's Selina Wang

reports on the stepped up police response and we want to warn you the following video contains some disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This brutal attack on women at a restaurant in northern China last month triggered nationwide rage and

despair. And this is how the government is reacting to the incident in tungsten city, amassing an army of police to crack down on crime, sending

brigades of armed police to patrol the streets at night going into bars, restaurants, outdoor food markets.

Interrupting groups eating outside with loudspeakers telling men no fighting, no beating especially of women. SWAT teams hovering over women

without male companions.

Women on Chinese social media mocked the excessive show of force. One wrote, this is just for show it doesn't solve any real problems. Another

said we don't need men's protection. What we need is a safer and fairer society.

The graphic surveillance video from last month shows the man making an unwanted advance towards a woman. After she pushes him away, the assault

escalates into shocking brutality with multiple men kicking and beating the women with bottles and chairs.

This is believed to be an image of one of the two women who was hospitalized after the attack. Authorities claimed the two women are still

in the hospital recovering from "minor injuries" denying rumors that some of the women died.

[09:45:00]

WANG (voice over): Police arrested all nine people involved in the attack. Several of them had criminal histories. Victims of criminal activity and

tungsten seize the moment to flood the local police station.

This man says he's 86 years old and has been waiting in line for hours. This man says it's been seven years since he reported his case, but still

no progress. They hope the national attention will pressure police to solve their long ignored cases. Online people rushed to do the same, holding up

their ID cards to prove the authenticity of their claims and call out their perpetrators names. This man says friends on the internet, please uphold

justice for me.

Another woman shared footage of her boyfriend violently attacking her when she was seven months pregnant, pinning her down and an attempt she says to

kill her baby.

Another says gang members broke into his bakery a year ago. He shows surveillance footage of them destroying his shop. He says the criminals

have been harassing him and his family ever since.

This woman a bar singer says in May, gang members beat her and her colleagues and locked them in a cage for 16 hours. Police say they are

investigating all three of those cases.

State media says gangsters and drunken men are to blame for the restaurant attack, while reports linking the case to sexism or systemic violence

against women have been swiftly censored.

LIANG XIAOWEN, CHINESE FEMINIST ACTIVIST: By framing this incident as a single incident, that's merely Dan violence. The government avoided the

problems within their system. This is the tip of the iceberg. There are so many other incidents that are happening every day. The Chinese woman is

actually demanding a systemic change.

WANG (voice over): In recent years authorities have tried to stamp out feminist voices seem to less threat to social stability. As police parade

across the country to show they're taking crime seriously, the government squashes outrage over sexual harassment and gender based violence. Selina

Wang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: After the break, it's a beehive but not as we know it without these furry friends, the world's food supply is jeopardized. Now one startup is

building them high tech homes to combat dwindling numbers. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Imagine a world without coffee, avocados, berries and apples. So much of the global food supply relies on one species, the Bee. Back in 2019

The Earthwatch Institute declared the bee to be the most important living thing on earth.

[09:50:00]

KOSIK: And the Science Time says 70 percent of the world's agriculture depends exclusively on bees. And yet, the uncontrolled use of pesticides

deforestation and a lack of flowers mean the bee population has declined by 90 percent in the last few years.

My next guest is at Israeli startup called Beewise, which is trying to save those that remain using modern AI technology to build beehives in a way

that helps their population thrive. Saar Safra is the CEO, welcome to the show.

SAAR SAFRA, CEO, BEEWISE: Hi, thank you for having me.

KOSIK: You know, the first thing that came to mind was, aren't you playing with Mother Nature here? Why do the bees need help? Talk with me how this

robotic beehive works to save the bees with their hives.

SAFRA: Unfortunately, we are playing with Mother Nature, we humans, I mean; climate change is something we can take full credit for. And so the bee's

populations are collapsing, they haven't been in the last 40 years.

What is sometimes referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder, we see a 35 percent colony collapse of all bees around the globe every year, year over

year. So this is real, this is happening.

It's happening now, not in 50 or 100 years. And so something has to be done. So if we're talking about, you know, manipulating Mother Nature,

humans are already doing it. So we have to respond in some way.

And the way we were responding is by providing the bees think of it as a toolset to cope with modern stressors. What we essentially did is we

rebuilt the modern hive. Now the hive, you seen the fields today, those wooden boxes, you know, they're a) they're 150 years old, and b) they're

not the natural habitat of the bees, they're also manmade.

So we're not really changing anything that mother nature created, all we're doing is taking those 150 year old wooden boxes, and we're providing a

better boxes, smarter box, a beehive that can actually respond to all the stressors that the bees are experiencing, and allow them not only to

survive, but to thrive.

KOSIK: And we talked about this, at the beginning, before we introduce you about how important bees are to our global food supply. And not just make

honey. I mean, these are fascinating creatures, these honey bees, you know, they've got five eyes, two stomachs, and they're responsible for a whole

lot more than just honey.

SAFRA: You know it's pretty simple, right? If you take two flowers, the male pollen has to get to the female pollen. So that there's - it results

in a fruit or vegetable, it's a pretty similar thing like we humans do.

And the bee is Mother Nature's response to move that pollen from the female flower to the male flower. It's a pretty simple mechanism. It's very

complex. But just intuitively, it's simple.

And there's no other way to do it. So if you don't have that mule, that entity that moves the pollen, you're not going to have fruit and

vegetables, essentially 70 percent of all the fruit and vegetables on this planet are pollinated by bees.

The honey is a byproduct, if you will, it's important and we value it but the strategic component of the bees is our global food supply.

KOSIK: Yes, I mean, these hives, I would imagine help to increase productivity for these bees and increase their likelihood that they're

going to stay alive.

SAFRA: It's a pretty simple equation. If you don't lose the bees as much, you're much more productive, so in our eyes, instead of seeing 35 percent

colony collapse, which is what we see in the fields, again, from China to the U.S. and everything in between, it's a global pandemic, if you will.

In our hives, you see less than 8 percent, we experienced less than 8 percent colony collapse, which means there's about 25 plus percent of

colonies, which are families of bees that don't collapse don't die.

And so they do what they do best they pollinate and they produce honey. So just by the sheer fact of keeping bees alive, aside from the impact on our

planet, it also provides a much more productive ecosystem and a much healthier biodiversity because there's just more bees that can actually go

out there --quality.

KOSIK: Who is using these robotic beehives, companies, farmers, are they available globally? What's the man's like for these devices?

SAFRA: The man is incredible because again, think about it until today. There was actually no technology on the planet that was specifically geared

towards saving bees.

I mean, there were a lot of trials and a lot of experiments but nothing was actually nothing resulted in a scalable solution because we have a robotic

beehive. It doesn't involve humans.

So all you have to do is basically just print them out right manufacture as many as you can throw them in the field and have the bees live in them.

[09:55:00]

SAFRA: And so our customers today are global farmers beekeepers are AG companies that care about their crops, small, medium and large. And the

demand is incredible today where actually a constraint because of global supply chain issues is, we can't actually deliver enough devices.

And you asked a very smart question, because it's not about what the device does. It's about how quickly can you scale to actually we're in a race who

gets to the point of no return first.

If we can get there before the bees die out, we'll be safe, if we don't do that fast enough, we're in a bind.

KOSIK: All right. Saar Safra, CEO of this great company that is helping bees, which many people just have a love hate relationship with. You know,

we hate the way they stain but we need their food. Thanks so much for your time.

SAFRA: Thank you for having me.

KOSIK: And that's it for the show. I'm Alison Kosik. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @alisonkosik. Thanks for joining us. "CONNECT THE WORLD" with

Becky Anderson is next. I'll see you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END