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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Musk Says He's Found A New CEO For Twitter; Russia Acknowledges Losses North Of Bakhmut; Ukraine: Troops Are Making Progress In Fight For Bakhmut; South Africa Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Russian Arms Claim; Former Prime Minister Imran Khan To Be Released On Bail; More Israeli Airstrikes On Gaza Strip; U.S. Homeland Security Chief: Our Borders Are Not Open; Close Up Look At The Journey Aboard The "Train Of Death; How Turkey's Struggling Economy Is Influencing Voters; Venus Aerospace: Stargazer Will Reach Mach 9; CNN Visits Lab Working To Revolutionize Power Generation. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired May 12, 2023 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:00:12]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A warm welcome to First Move. Fantastic to have you with us this Friday. Almost the end of another busy
week, but not quite yet.
Still ahead and coming up this hour, a new Twitter CEO Chief Twitt Elon Musk saying he has hired a woman who will lead the social media company. I
think there's been a sigh of relief for Tesla investors on this news. That stock higher.
Plus, secret support for Russia? A U.S. envoy accusing South Africa of providing weapons to Moscow. Our live report just ahead.
And forget Concord. It's all about hypersonic travel. We'll talk to the designers of a plane that can travel at nine times the speed of sound. That
means you can fly from Tokyo to New York in just 1 hour. Wowzers.
But first, fly by Wall Street. U.S. features in the green ahead of Mother's Day in the United States this weekend. Regional Bank PacWest up pre-market
after losing more than 20 percent during Thursday's session.
Over in Asia, stocks closed mostly lower. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul all ended the week in negative territory. As you can see there. This after a
series of weak economic data from China, including shrinking import growth and slower export growth.
And lots to get to this hour. But we do begin today with the latest from Ukraine and new developments in the fight for Bakhmut. Russia acknowledging
its forces have pulled back on the north side of the city, saying they've moved to more advantageous positions.
The Ukrainians say they've pushed Russian forces back by around 2 kilometers. It comes as the leader of the Wagner Russian mercenary group
invites Russia's Defense Minister to come and see the situation on the ground. His forces are on the front lines in Bakhmut and he repeatedly
complained in public that they're not getting enough ammunition and support.
Sam Kiley joins once again this time from Dnipro. Sam, great to have you with us. Perhaps an unavoidable admission from the Russians here.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, completely unavoidable, I think is exactly the right words there because, of course,
there is video evidence applied to CNN from May the 8th showing the results of the Ukrainian attack on Russian positions of the 72nd Brigade. That's
part of the regular army and indeed of Wagner.
Now, a commander on the ground there has told our own Nic Robertson and his team that the dead that they had routed, the forces that they had driven
from that location were indeed Wagner mercenaries. And then it was the 72nd Brigade from the Russian Armed Forces that stood and fought.
Now, this is significant in the context of Prigozhin's ongoing, very public, very aggressive spat with the Kremlin and indeed the Russian
Ministry of Defense, because what it demonstrates is fractions and fractiousness within the Russian Armed Forces. That bode very well for the
Ukrainians if that's the way that the Russians are going to be doing business on the battlefield.
If they are having infighting, if they are blaming different units for military tactical failures, then they are vulnerable to collapse. And it is
collapsing the Russian Armed Forces breaking their will to fight, ultimately, which is going to be the objective of the summer offensive when
it gets underway, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, that was going to be my next question, actually. In light of Prigozhin's ongoing criticisms of the Defense Ministry and the lack of
ammunition and support, how much do the Russians and the Kremlin actually need the Wagner group? And can withstand the sort of constant barrage of
criticism that they're directing in the Kremlin's direction?
KILEY: It's very difficult to assess the military necessity of what Wagner has been doing. They have been the main tip of the spear, if you like, in
the fighting for and around Bakhmut now for months. They have absorbed a lot of the Ukrainian military energy and they aren't part of the Russian
Armed Forces. So the Russians, frankly, politically, just don't need to care and haven't cared about them.
They've been used in these human wave attacks, often poorly armed. I've spoken to soldiers who've personally killed upwards of 20 and 30 Wagner
fighters in a day during the fighting for Bakhmut. So in that context, they've been useful cannon fodder, whether or not they are useful in the
wider defense is difficult to assess ultimately.
But they have also -- I think it's also untrue, certainly, as far as the Ukrainians are concerned, that they've been starved of ammunition because
the Ukrainians are saying the artillery bombardments around Bakhmut are continuing apace and indeed recently have actually increased.
So I think what you're seeing there is that sort of ongoing soap opera effectively between Prigozhin and the rest of the military establishment in
Russia. Very much part of his agenda, whatever that may be.
[09:05:03]
And let's not forget here, this is an organization that is being designated almost on a daily basis by different countries as a terrorist organization.
It's responsible for atrocities in Africa. It's certainly responsible for atrocities here in Ukraine. And pretty soon, I think it's going to be seen
as a liability even by the standards of the Russian Armed Forces.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, feels like a PR campaign or at least a blame game management situation perhaps.
Sam Kiley, brilliant context. Thank you for joining us as always.
OK, South Africa has summoned the U.S. ambassador over his accusation that a sanctioned Russian ship was loaded with arms and ammunition while in Cape
Town late last year. The South African presidency said there's no evidence to back up the claim. The U.S. ambassador, meanwhile, said he would bet his
life, quote, that it did happen.
David McKenzie is in Johannesburg for us now. David, I have a couple of questions on this. Has the U.S. ambassador provided any proof of his own of
what is explosive accusations and perhaps even more importantly for me at this moment, why now? Why go public with this accusation now?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there's two possible explanations for why they went public now, Julia, and
I think they're both potentially quite important. To answer your first question now, there hasn't been any direct evidence shared with the public.
It's kind of unclear whether it's been shared with some aspects of the South African government.
The government spokesman, the presidential spokesman told me that the U.S. would only -- said they would only share it with an independent inquiry if
that was set up. And they say they're going to do that. Why now? Well, I think, in part, it's the fact that the U.S. government has, over time,
grown more frustrated with the South African government saying that they are neutral when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But acting at least in the eyes of the U.S. government, not quite neutral in terms of hosting naval exercises with the Russians and the Chinese,
making multiple statements that are seen by many as pro-Russian, and now this allegation that the South Africans or someone in South Africa supplied
arms and ammunition in a covert operation, it seems, overnight, in the nighttime hours in December of this sanctioned Russian vessel. So it could
be one of those things. Julia?
CHATTERLEY: David, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that.
David McKenzie there in Johannesburg.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is due to be released on bail following his dramatic arrest on corruption charges. Khan was at court
earlier to hear a judge order that he'd be freed. It follows a ruling by the Supreme Court that his arrest on Tuesday was unlawful. However, there
are now fears that he will be quickly rearrested after release.
Will Ripley has been following the story and joins us now. Will, what's specific about what charges perhaps he may be facing once again, if indeed
he is arrested, because he also suggested that the head of the military was behind the arrest on Tuesday?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So the situation, Julia, basically boils down to the fact that the military has a great
relationship with the party that is currently in power. And the current prime minister accused the party that's now out of power, the PTI, of
pushing the country towards destruction.
That is a view that is also shared by top military brass, which is why Imran Khan and his supporters believe that there is now going to be a
systematic roundup and dismantlement essentially of the PTI, political party, of Imran Khan, the political and sports icon of Pakistan, one of the
most popular figures in the country, who came to power on a platform of anti-corruption and rule of law, which is the irony in all of this.
Now that he is the one accused of corruption, something that he and his supporters say are simply trumped up charges. And that's why we see the
vehement anger on the streets. Now this two weeks bail that he was granted by Islamabad's High Court, this is certainly a promising development in
that he's able to get out. He has limited ability to communicate with his supporters the way that his party usually does, which is social media,
because mobile data in the country has been switched off for days now.
So people can only use, you know, WhatsApp, Instagram, any other social media apps when they're at home and connected to Wi-Fi. The mobile data is
not working. And that is an attempt to try to prevent protesters from organizing in groups.
These protesters are being confronted by very hardened soldiers. These are soldiers who've been fighting for more than 20 years, you know, terrorists,
essentially, this war on terror that began after 9/11. These soldiers are battle hardened and they're dealing with supporters of Imran Khan who tend
to be younger, who tend to be extremely passionate.
Perhaps in some instances, as I've seen, young protesters in places like Hong Kong, you know, really stepping up things in terms of they're pushing
back against the military forces. And so the real concern is that in the coming days, there could be some horrible violence on the streets when you
have these soldiers, these hardened fighters dealing with these young and passionate and angry supporters.
[09:10:16]
And then you also have this systematic roundup of the senior leaders of Imran Khan's party, the PTI. Their spokeswoman, Shireen Mazari, who was on
CNN on Tuesday, she was arrested last night. And so this roundup is expected to continue. Khan, as you said, is blaming the army chief for his
arrest, General Syed Asim Munir.
He said that, you know, earlier today, local time, Julia. And what the PTI, the party itself is calling for are nationwide peaceful protests. They're
getting some criticism for that, for calling for protests at all, given that they are up against some very, very serious fighters. Julia?
CHATTERLEY: We'll watch it very closely. Will Ripley in Taipei there, thank you.
Islamic Jihad says it's fired rockets towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the last few hours. CNN's team in southern Israel saw some of those rockets
pass over, but most were intercepted by Israeli air defenses across the border. Israel says it's carried out more than -- more airstrikes targeting
Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Ben Wedeman joins us now on this. The first time Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have been targeted directly, Ben, in the latest stone conflict. I know
you're, I believe, very clear and close to the border. What have you seen? What are you showing us?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually what you see in front of us -- and I'm just off camera, so you can see better --
is within just the last two or three minutes, there's been an Israeli airstrike in the Sheikh Zayed area of northern Gaza. We don't know the
target -- the targets, but certainly this isn't the first that we've seen today.
In fact, we've seen a variety of strikes. Some of these strikes are what are called knock -- preceded by what's called a knock on the roof, whereby
a small bomb is dropped above the building to warn the inhabitants to leave. In other instances, somebody from the Israeli military actually
calls people in the house to tell them to leave.
And what we've seen today is a pretty steady Israeli strikes, not constant, but steady on the Gaza Strip, not only the northern part, but also in the
south, in the Rafah area as well. Just a few hours ago, we saw two large barrages of missiles fired out of Gaza. They were intercepted right above
our heads.
No targets were struck, we understand, in those strikes. But yes, those previous strikes that were targeted in the direction of Jerusalem, that's
the first time that that has happened since 2021. And that certainly raises the temperature of this now four-day-old conflict that's going on.
Now what's -- another interesting thing is, in previous conflicts between Gaza and Israel, Israel always said that they hold Hamas, which essentially
rules Gaza to be responsible for anything that happens in Gaza, certainly in terms of missiles being fired out of it.
In this round, which we have not heard that, Israel says that they're going after Islamic Jihad, they have not struck any Hamas targets. There are
reports in the Arabic media, however, that there is pressure growing within Israel on the Israeli military to strike some sort of Hamas affiliated
targets, to put pressure on that organization to bring an end to these strikes by Islamic Jihad.
Now, in other news, there was a press conference in Gaza today where it was said that the power plant that provides power to the more than 2 million
people in the Gaza Strip may run out of fuel within the next 72 hours.
Keep in mind that the economy in Gaza has come to a complete standstill. There is nothing being exported, nothing being imported. All the crossings
are closed. Also, significantly, under normal circumstances, thousands of workers from Gaza have permits to go to Israel, that's come to an end as
well. So what we're seeing is that if this goes on much longer, the humanitarian situation inside Gaza is going to become increasingly
difficult. Julia?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, particularly, if we're talking about potential power cuts or shortages within, what, 72 hours and beyond.
Ben, great to have you with us. Thank you. Ben Wedeman there.
OK, straight ahead, setting the stage for a migration rush. American border towns on edge as pandemic era migration restrictions expire. We'll have the
latest.
Plus, fly around the world and be home in time for dinner. The rocket fueled startup trying to turn science fiction into science fact. Stay with
us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:17:40]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. At the stroke of midnight, a landmark change in the immigration rules swept across the United States. A
border restriction policy known as Title 42 is now gone after three years. A Trump era public health order, Title 42, allowed U.S. authorities to turn
away migrants at U.S. borders to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Thousands of migrants seeking asylum made their way to the southern border ahead of the deadline. And authorities have detained a record number of
migrants just in the past few days.
Nick Valencia joins us now from Texas. Nick, and I believe you've been speaking to some of them. What have they been telling you?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Julia, we're outside the bus station here where migrants are waiting to gather enough money to get on to
their next destination. And with the end of Title 42, there was concern among Biden administration officials that cities like Brownsville could see
even more migrants on their streets.
This morning, though, we're just not seeing that uptick. Title 42 had been in effect for three years, and it ended last night at 11:59 p.m. with it,
though, ushering in new concerns of potential overcrowding and what that could mean to cities like Brownsville.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to
remain will be promptly processed and removed.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas issuing a stern warning to those who cross into the United States
unlawfully, as Title 42 comes to an end.
MAYORKAS: We prepared for this moment for almost two years, and our plan will deliver results.
VALENCIA (voice-over): The U.S. is now back to using the decades old Title 8. And while that policy allows for migrants to claim asylum, those
apprehended under Title 8 for crossing unlawfully could face a more, quote, severe deportation process, a ban on reentry for at least five years and
can face criminal prosecution if they attempt to cross again.
MAYORKAS: We have surged 24,000 border patrol agents and officers, thousands of troops, contractors, and over 1,000 asylum officers and judges
to see this through.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Hundreds of miles away from the border, cities have been struggling to house and feed migrants. In Chicago, one building owner
says he took in 70 migrants this week.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Children already waiting for over a week for a location, for a shelter. It was just inhumane what we were witnessing.
[09:20:06]
VALENCIA (voice-over): And in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams signed an executive order suspending parts of the city's right to shelter law, citing
the expected influx of migrants.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY: This is a difficult decision for me. Our desire is to manage a humanitarian crisis.
MAYOR OSCAR LEESER, EL PASO: There is no end game.
VALENCIA (voice-over): Back in Texas, the El Paso mayor calling out an apparent lack of a long-term solution to the border problem.
LEESER: We all know that the immigration process is broken and it needs to be fixed. I can't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: Nick, a fascinating read and sort of insight into what might happen here, but I just wanted to pick up on what you said at the
beginning. Do you think it's a case of sort of people waiting, testing the water to see what the sort of new rules will mean? Or do you think actually
the government's promoted the message that, look, the border is not open and the deterrent effect here of what might happen if you try it has been
sort of potent?
VALENCIA: You know, it's interesting because we do ask these migrants if they've heard of Title 42 and some say they claim to have no idea about it.
And those that do have an idea have the wrong idea about it. They were under the impression that Title 42 ending meant that the border would be
shutdown entirely, so they rushed to get here.
Of course, there are those migrants that are well aware of the policy, rather, and made the trip because of the Title 42 ending. But, you know, it
really remains to be seen whether or not this chaos that the U.S. President has predicted will show up on the streets here in Brownsville.
Over the last two weeks, migrant detention, or migrant facilities, I should say, nonprofit facilities, have been at capacity, processing between 800
and 1,000 migrants per day. Julia?
CHATTERLEY: Yes, fascinating. Some of the confusion between whether it means the border is effectively open or closed.
Nick, great to get your insights. Thank you. Nick Valencia there, joining us from Texas.
VALENCIA: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Many migrants fleeing Central and South America end up on a freight train. Some call the train of death. The journey to the U.S. border
is fought with danger, despair, and somehow lots of faith, too.
CNN's David Culver filed this report near the U.S.-Mexico border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): We're just outside Ciudad Juarez, and this is the last train stop for this freight train that's
eventually going to head into the city. And you can see already dozens of migrants in several of these cars. On top of them, all about they're asking
us if we have water, we have food.
(voice-over): We climb on. The train slowly starts up again heading north. We meet migrants from all over.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
CULVER (on-camera): He says he's from Honduras originally and wants to go to the U.S.
(voice-over): Filipe (ph) and Marcella (ph) from Colombia, also hoping to enter the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): I asked her why the U.S.? She said, to have a better future.
(voice-over): Omar from Venezuela.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baltimore.
CULVER (on-camera): He's trying to get to Baltimore, Maryland.
(voice-over): We rode for an hour. They've been on here for days. Twelve days for Roberto and his family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): He's with his dad and his sister.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): He says they've been attacked, they've been robbed. Describes a really treacherous track.
(voice-over): Part of the train journey north for some is on what's called La Bestia, The Beast. It's also known as the "train of death" and often
controlled by cartels.
Roberto wears a face mask to not infect the others. Tells me he got sick early on in his travels.
(on-camera): There's a lot of them have been sick. And over the journey, he had to leave his two kids, young ones.
(voice-over): He tells me his two toddlers nearly died. So he sent them back with family in Honduras as he continues on. They stand, sit and sleep
on metal construction beams, covered in plastic. Dirty clothes and cardboard used to make it as comfortable as possible.
The heat and sun brutal. At night, it's the cold and wind. The smells arrange, sewage at times and burning trash as we drove past what appears to
be an incinerator. Their souls worn down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): He says it's very dangerous for women, too. And they said food is just really scarce right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (voice-over): Omar spent four days on board already. Food is run out. He showed us the little water he has left and the documents he clings
to keeping secured in plastic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
[09:25:02]
CULVER (on-camera): He's reading through all the different situations that would allow you to enter the U.S. So he's got it printed out in Spanish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): And he's got the address of his friend in Baltimore that he hopes to get to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (on-camera): Four days on the train for him. He said the first day, he was got really sick because the sun was just so strong. And now he's
making sure to keep cover as much as possible. He wants to go to New York.
(voice-over): For Omar, it's a familiar journey. He left Venezuela six months ago, already expelled once from the U.S. for trying to cross. He'll
try again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (voice-over): Legally or illegally, he will cross, he tells me. I ask him if he's hopeful.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
CULVER (voice-over): I've got a lot of faith, he tells me.
(on-camera): Ultimately, he hopes to get money to get back to his two kids in Venezuela.
(voice-over): As we pull into Ciudad Juarez, about 25 miles still from the border wall with El Paso, we and the others climb out.
(on-camera): And that's it. You can see most everyone now getting off. It's basically the last stop.
(voice-over): Omar among the last off, carrying his only belongings and somehow a smile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language).
CULVER (voice-over): Planning to cross immediately.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER: And most of those migrants we met had the same destination, this place right behind me, the border wall. That's technically U.S. territory
from Mexico looking on towards Texas, and you can see it's been barricaded off by Texas National Guard and Texas State troopers.
We've also noticed that the migrants have been split into various groups, including single men, families, and unaccompanied minors to begin
processing their claims for asylum.
David Cover, CNN, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
CHATTERLEY: OK. Stay with CNN.
Coming up, with just days to go until the Turkish people pick their president, we'll look at how an ailing economy is impacting both the
campaign and the voters. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:40]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE with a first look at how the U.S. stock markets are opening on the final day of trade this week. And we're
around a quarter of a percent higher. Investors clearly keeping an eye on that many things and concerns the debt ceiling situation.
First and foremost, I think as you can see now two tenths of a percent higher to at least begin the final session of the week. President Biden's
next scheduled meeting on that debt ceiling negotiation with congressional leaders was postponed until next week. It's going to go down to the wire.
Meanwhile, regional bank stocks stabilizing for now. As you can see a bounce back in PacWest, up some 1.8 percent at this moment. Ooh. Yes, but
it's volatile. That stock plunged more than 20 percent on Thursday.
And let's take a look at Tesla's stock too. That, at least however now, on news that Twitter is getting a new CEO Chief Twit, self-called, Elon Musk
tweeting, quote, "Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for Twitter. She will be starting in approximately six weeks. My role will
transition to being exec chair and CTO, overseeing products, software, and sysops," system operations.
Now reports suggest it could be Linda Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's head of advertising. And as if like magic, NBCUniversal has just announced that
she has left the company. Well, that would certainly send a clear message that he hopes to rebuild trust with big advertisers.
But from my perspective, one of the questions I would be asking and what's long been Facebook or Meta as it's known now. Their superpower has been
smaller businesses. The advertising from small businesses that rely on these kind of platforms to help promote and sell their products.
It remains to be seen how she would tackle that.
OK. Let's tackle now. Turkey now and the presidential hopefuls that are hoping and holding their final rallies before the country heads to the
polls on Sunday. Incumbent President Erdogan faces his most powerful challenger in years in Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
The latest opinion polls showing it will be a tight race to the finish. And among the top challenges for the next president how to address a deepening
cost of living crisis worsened by interest rate cuts in the face of soaring inflation.
CNN's Eleni Giokos takes a look at some of the solutions perhaps on offer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): He's the self-proclaimed enemy of interest rates. Now, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's unorthodox
monetary policy could be coming home to roost.
The president believes that high inflation is caused by higher interest rates, the exact opposite of mainstream economic thinking.
SELVA DEMIRALP, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, KOC UNIVERSITY: Increased interest rate, increased the cost of borrowing, reduced demand and this way you
reduce inflationary pressures. So in the unorthodox view adopted in Turkey, the idea was that because interest rate is an important cost of production,
by lowering interest rates, we can lower the cost of production.
GIOKOS: Since consolidating power in the 2017 referendum, Erdogan has pushed the central bank to aggressively cut rates. It's lead to
skyrocketing inflation officially measured around 43 percent in April, down from its peak of more than 85 percent last October.
The Lira has lost over half of its value against the U.S. dollar in the last two years. And unemployment is at 10 percent.
HAKIM EKINCI, BARBER (through translator): I used to be an AKP supporter, but I'm not thinking of voting for them anymore. I want the dollar exchange
rate to decline. I want the price of petrol and inflation to drop. I want to go back to the life I had five or six years ago.
GIOKOS: The opposition candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu has made fixing the economy a cornerstone of his campaign.
KEMAL KILICDAROGLU, TURKISH CHP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): Today, if you are poorer than yesterday, the only reason is
Erdogan.
GIOKOS: Erdogan is on the offensive to shore up support ahead of the elections. Just this week, he hiked the minimum wage by 45 percent for
700,000 public sector workers. He's also introduced cheaper housing loans and lowered retirement age requirements for some.
And last month, he opened the Istanbul financial center, a $3.4 billion development that Erdogan's party is pitching as a future financial hub for
the region.
[09:35:09]
The government claims it will attract $250 billion in foreign investment by 2036. But the reality is foreign money has been pouring out of the country.
TIMOTHY ASH, STRATEGIST, BLUEBAY ASSET MANAGEMENT: You've seen a huge outflow of foreign money because basically, they don't trust monetary
policy. They don't want to invest in a country where they don't trust the central bank. They don't think the -- you know, the central bank is able to
do the right thing -- kind of things in terms of interest rates to demand manage the economy to defend the exchange rate.
GIOKOS: But whether the economic crisis will be enough to ask Turkey, strongman is yet to be seen.
Eleni Giokos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: OK. After the break, can you imagine how the world could change if you could travel from America to Japan in just an hour and still be back
in time for dinner? Hop into there, next. The startup trying to make this happen. And, yes, it's literally rocket science. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE.
Our next guest is determined to make the world a much smaller place with a promise to fly you from San Francisco to Tokyo or Houston to London in just
an hour. U.S. startup, Venus Aerospace, is working on a rocket powered hypersonic plane called the Stargazer. It will be designed to carry 12
passengers within the Earth's atmosphere at nine times the speed of sound.
Yes, you heard me right. In other words around, 11,000 kilometers an hour in terms of speed. So to put that into perspective, the F-14 fighter
featured in Top Gun Maverick can manage around 2,400 kilometers an hour or Mach 2.3. And Concorde's top speed was around 2,200 kilometers an hour or
Mach 2.
The Mach 9 Stargazer marries hypersonic technology with routine air travel. It will take off and land at conventional airports. The company claims that
will be the first to bring the technology to market and all without damaging the environment.
Sarah Sassie Duggleby is the co-founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace. And I'm pleased to say, she's also on this year's Time Magazine's female founders
200 list or Inc. Magazine, forgive me. We'll see. Time might follow.
Sassy, great to have you on the show okay yeah so I've sort of explained the vision but give it to me in your words because I believe this was so
the brainchild of both you and your husband but how did you go from there
Great to have you on the show. OK.
[09:40:01]
SARAH SASSIE DUGGLEBY, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VENUS AEROSPACE: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: So I've sort of explained the vision, but give it to me in your words, because I believe this was -- so the brainchild of both you and your
husband, but how did you go from sort of envisaging this to saying, we can make it happen?
DUGGLEBY: Sure. So prior to starting Venus Aerospace, my husband and I actually both worked for Virgin Orbit. So we were launching rockets off the
wing of 747s. And 2018, we actually deployed to Japan. So Andrew is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserves. And we were actually living
in Japan doing ship repair for the Navy. And it was living overseas that we realized how big the world really is.
And Andrew, as a former professor, and then, you know, at Virgin Orbit, had been watching this new type of rocket engine that had been coming down the
pipelines. And he said, you know, there's this new engine that, well, we could send more things to space with it and said, I actually think we could
put it on a plane, and we could be home in an hour.
So that was really the origin of the idea. And we got back to Southern California. And at some point, this rocket engine, this new type of engine
was actually proven. And we said, all right. We've got to go commercialize this because this engine, you know, it truly changes the world.
CHATTERLEY: OK. So this is the key. It comes down to the technology and what we're talking about in terms of what would be a sort of key or crucial
advancement in flying systems.
Rotating detonation rocket engine technology. Can you -- can you put that into some kind of understandable English for us and really what it means?
DUGGLEBY: You know, our marketing team always jokes that rotating detonation rocket engine, we should probably rebrand because it doesn't
sound the safest. But at the end of the day, detonation is just -- it's supersonic combustion. So it's really high-speed combustion.
Think camp fire is a really slow burn, and a detonation is a really high speed burn. And so anytime you detonate propellant, you just get more
energy from the same amount of fuel. So at the end of the day, if you don't have to carry as much fuel -- rockets, you know, anybody that's launching a
rocket is pretty much an entire fuel tank with a tiny little payload at the top.
But this rocket engine is so much more efficient that we don't have to carry as much fuel. And so we can suddenly have wings, landing gear, safety
systems, all the things that finally make a high-speed rocket plane actually possible.
CHATTERLEY: OK. That makes simple sense. And we definitely have to drop the detonation word somehow and then come up with a different one.
What's it going to feel like? Because we showed that video purposefully from Top Gun, and we also work -- for those who watched it what Tom Cruise
went through. So even just in the mind, if you're thinking about sort of Mach 2 versus Mach 9, which is what we're talking about in terms of these
kinds of speeds, what -- what's that going to feel like? Can you make it feel like being on a normal plane or a Concorde? How does that work?
DUGGLEBY: Yes. So because our engine -- the rocket engine is so efficient, we can actually carry jet engines on our plane. So you'll actually take off
from a runway with normal jet engines, and then get up away from city center, because rockets are loud. And so then you turn on a rocket booster.
And it would be about a 10 minute boost to 170,000 feet, which is you'll actually be able to see the curvature of the earth, you'll be able to see
the stars.
And then from there, you actually become a glider. And so it's a gentle climb. We've actually had the folks at NASA Johnson Space Center, their
human factors folks look at kind of the G's [ph] that you would undergo. And it's pretty similar to what you experienced when you take off from a
jet or an airplane, you know, on the runway. And it would be about 10 minutes of that and then ultimately just become a glider, slowly bleeding
off speed, come down on the other side of the world.
And, honestly, that's what the space shuttle did. So that when the shuttle would come out of orbit, it would slow down to about, you know, Mach 10 and
then glide from Japan to the United States in like 45 minutes, so we're really just kind of repeating that path.
CHATTERLEY: So you wouldn't even -- you wouldn't feel any difference. That's the bottom line. There was something interesting that you mentioned
that though, the noise pollution potentially. But what you're saying is you probably get high enough to not worry about that before you effectively
engage the rocket power.
What about climate? What are we talking about? Because I mentioned in the introduction, you say that you can do this without damaging the
environment. Compare and contrast with an ordinary flight, technically doing it in a fraction of the time.
DUGGLEBY: Yes. So one of our huge advances in the last two years as we've been starting the company is that we've got this engine working with jet
fuel, and then liquid hydrogen peroxide. And there's actually some ways to make liquid hydrogen peroxide in a carbon negative form.
And so the amount of jet fuel we have to use is minor compared to what you would use on a normal, you know, cross global flight. And so we also have
some techniques that could use completely non-carbon propellants but, you know, that -- that's for future development.
Right now, it is working with jet fuel and liquid hydrogen peroxide, which does mean we can, you know, kind of tap into existing airport
infrastructure.
OK. I know there will be viewers yelling at the T.V. screen saying, how long do I have to wait for this? So I'm going to -- I'm going to prolong
the anticipation, because I want to talk about the testing phase. You're currently testing a 20-foot drone, I believe, with the hopes of reaching
Mach 5. Talk to me about the sort of testing phase of something before we even start talking about the Stargazer.
[09:45:16]
DUGGLEBY: Yes. So we're not quite to the 20-foot drone yet. We're still -- we've flown a five foot drone, and then we're scaling up to a larger scale
about 10 foot drone. And really, you know, our development path, so far, has been, you know, building out the engine and getting the engine to work,
which, you know, we're at spaceport Houston, which we are literally testing rocket engines right outside of our hangar door.
And so it's been engine development, getting the engine to work, and then drone development. And then now the, you know, the next step is really kind
of the integration of the two to start -- to start flying Mach 1 and then Mach 3 and then Mach 5 and continuing all the way up to Mach 9.
CHATTERLEY: OK. How long? Says in your mind.
DUGGLEBY: You know, we always -- the starlings are with the right capitalization and the right financial partners will be no sooner than
2030. There's a lot of -- a lot of risks we have to go by down, but we're taking it just one step at a time, and we're continuing to make progress.
And, you know, I hope that we can come visit, you know, the Houston, the London in an hour, you know, within the next decade.
CHATTERLEY: Wow. I mean, you've raised tens of millions of dollars for investors. How are those conversations going to people's eyes just light up
and say, I want to be part of this? And have those conversations got sort of more difficult in the last year, given what we've seen with sort of tech
startups and more challenging financing environments? I think investors certainly a little more cautious how they spend their money.
DUGGLEBY: Absolutely. The fundraising environment has changed drastically from -- you know, we quit our jobs in the middle of COVID. And my husband
and I were fundraising from our house, you know, our kids were home from school. It was, you know, quite a different experience of what it's been
now.
But we've got incredible partners that have seen the consistent development that we've been able to do. We've been able to hire really great folks
that, you know, have flown rockets, flown planes. And so we've got a great amount of capital partners that have invested in us.
But I can't tell you the fundraising. We've spent the last six months fundraising and it has been drastically different than the first, you know,
two years of the company in terms of what the market was look like -- was looking like and how, you know, how willing the investors were to jump in.
But at the end of the day, we're opening up. You know, the high-speed global travel market is estimated to be up to 200 billion per year. So
that's what -- at the end of the day, that's what really gets investors super excited is, you know, how can you change the world with this type of
technology?
CHATTERLEY: I mean, the cost saving for this, the productivity increases, it's sort of mind-blowing. It's just the process of getting there at this
stage. And what we've also seen in recent months is the bankruptcy of Virgin Orbit, which is you mentioned that sort of where you guys began and
were working for.
Do you think that's impacted sentiment too? And I just wondered sort of the experiences that you took from that, and said, look, we can apply this in
terms of the business model, and perhaps what you left behind and said that, that doesn't work.
DUGGLEBY: Yes. You know, I am so thankful for, you know, all this rocket companies that have come before us, because they've really -- they've
really taught a whole group -- a whole new generation how to do rocket science, how to be willing to kind of build test and then -- and fly and
learn, you know, if you build test, learn a little and keep doing that iteration instead of trying to get it perfect the first time.
And so, you know, the people, the processes, the things that I learned at Virgin Orbit, I am eternally grateful for. And I think -- you know, I think
we all have that entire ecosystem to think for the pushes in technology, and where the world is actually going with new space. And, you know,
satellites and all the things that, you know, are finally happening here in the world.
So I've got nothing but great things to say about my experience at Virgin Orbit. I still wish all of those folks the best of luck.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. A good -- a good point to make and a difficult time for them and then the people involved certainly.
Final question on this. Do you think this could one day become mainstream? Or is it going to be a case of, you know, you can go for dinner for a
couple of $100 in Tokyo if you're -- if you're lucky, but it's going to cost $25 million to take the hypersonic flight to get there? Will it be
mainstream or --
DUGGLEBY: Yes. So our --
CHATTERLEY: -- would it be this be very specialist?
DUGGLEBY: Our goal is to have the original prices near first-class ticket prices, you know, so it's not going to be the $100 across the globe flight
right now as, you know, hopefully, as we can get a plane bigger and do, you know, more development, maybe we can get that price down.
But early on, it will be, you know, similar to a first-class ticket price. But, you know, at the end of the day, what's your time worth, right? You
know, and there's times that, you know, while Zoom is great, and there's times that that face-to-face conversation just needs to happen. And so I
think there's a place for a vehicle like this in the ecosystem.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. I mean, it wouldn't be cheap, but I think you'd be overwhelmed with demand at that price. Just couldn't make the economics of
the business work.
[09:50:04]
Sarah, great to have you on.
DUGGLEBY: Absolutely.
CHATTERLEY: Very exciting. Sussie Duggleby there.
DUGGLEBY: Yes, thanks for having me.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you. Co-founder and CEO of Venus Aerospace.
And now from hypersonic rocket travel to building a star here on planet Earth. Coming up with a special report on the people who hope to
revolutionize our energy supply with nuclear fusion. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE.
What if we could harness the power of the sun right here on earth? Well, one laboratory in California, that's the goal. And they've had some major
breakthroughs as CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Inside this building, some very smart people built a star on Earth. Not the Hollywood
kind, that's easy. No, the burning ball of gas in the sky kind. One of the hardest things humans have ever tried.
TAMMY MA, LEAD, INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY INITIATIVE: I was at the airport when my boss called me and I burst into tears.
WEIR: Tammy Ma is among the scientists who have been chasing nuclear fusion for generations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Countdown for shot on my mark, three, two, one, mark.
WEIR: And in the middle of a December night, they didn't.
And you only need a tiny little bit of fuel.
MA: That's right, yes. Because our little pellet that sits right in the middle, you can't even see it on this target. It's just two millimeters in
diameter.
WEIR: That target includes an abundant isotope found in seawater, and goes into a chamber about the size of a beach ball in the '60, but it's now a
round room 30 feet across with 192 massive lasers aimed at the center.
MA: They're big laser beams about 40 by 40 centimeters.
WEIR: Wow.
MA: Each one alone is one of the most energetic in the world. Every time we do a shot, it's a thousand times the power of the entire U.S. electrical
grid.
But your lights don't flicker at home when we take a shot. So what we're doing is taking a huge amount of energy and compressing it down and just
into nanoseconds.
WEIR: Right.
MA: So it's about $14 of electricity.
WEIR: The National Ignition Facility then amplifies all that concentrated energy on the target. And if they get it just right, more energy comes out
than went in with no risk of nuclear meltdown or radioactive waste.
MA: In a fusion power plant, you would shoot the same target over and over at about 10 times a second, dropping a targeted and shooting it with laser.
WEIR: So you'd need a target loader like a machine gun or something, right?
MA: We need a target loader. Exactly.
So there's still many, many technology jumps that we need to make. But that's what makes it so exciting, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of people were saying, you've invested all this money, it's time to pull the plug because you guys haven't achieved
ignition.
WEIR: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's called the National Ignition Facility, right?
WEIR: At some point, you better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At some point you better ignite. Yes.
WEIR: You ignite something.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's really hard to replicate the process that's happening on the sun on Earth. It's just really hard. And so when
that happened in December, what it said is that this is actually possible. So it's no longer a question of whether, it's just a question of when that
fusion is actually possible. Now, let's get to work.
[09:55:14]
WEIR: Well, conventional wisdom and the International Energy Agency tells us it'll be decades before anybody's really plugging anything into fusion
electricity. There was a startup called Helion [ph], which says they have a reactor that can fire plasma rings at a million miles an hour, and will
demonstrate electricity by next year.
And in fact, in a first of a kind, power purchase agreement, Microsoft has already bought fusion electricity from Helion for the year 2028. The future
is coming fast.
Bill Weir, CNN, in Northern California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And finally on FIRST MOVE, we now know which 26 acts will represent the nations in the Eurovision Song Contest grand final this
weekend. Liverpool in the U.K. is hosting the event on behalf of last year's winner, Ukraine.
Eurovision fans have already gathered for the semi-finals ahead of the big night on Saturday. The city has been transformed with Ukrainian displays in
the streets and Ukrainian themed dishes on offer in restaurants. Good luck to all involved.
And that's it for the show. I'll be right back with "CONNECT THE WORLD." I'll see you shortly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
