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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Iranian Consulate Strike; Iran Claims Two Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed; Israeli Forces Leave Al-Shifa in Ruins; Thousands Protest Against Israeli Government; Hackers Tell CNN They've Stolen Information On Russian Prisoners; Trump Media's Stock Tumbling; OpenAI's "Voice Engine"; North Korea Fires At Least One Ballistic Missile; "Oppenheimer" Shown In Japan; Battery Switching Can Tackle Charging Anxiety; EV Battery Swap Tech; Elite Eight Showdown. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired April 01, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:30]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 7:00 a.m. in Tokyo, 11:00 p.m. in London, and 6:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Julia Chatterley. And
wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
Welcome to "First Move" as always. And here's today's need to know. Iran claims two Revolutionary Guard Commanders were killed in a strike on its
consulate in Syria, while Israel says the building was a military facility.
A group of hackers telling CNN they've stolen hundreds of their information on thousands of Russian prisoners in response to the death of Alexei
Navalny.
The truth can hurt. Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social tumbling after disclosing steep losses.
And a swift swap. We speak to the firm hoping their battery switching technology will tackle charging, anxiety and electrify EV sales. That
conversation and more coming up.
But first, an alarming new escalation in the Middle East. The Iranian ambassador to Syria is vowing to respond as he blames Israel for a deadly
air strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Iranian authorities say at least seven members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in
the strike, including two senior commanders.
CNN cannot independently verify the details, though IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari told my colleague Jim Sciutto that Israel believes the building was
in fact an Iranian military facility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESPERSON, IDF: To make sure that according to our intelligence, this is no consulate and this is no embassy. I repeat,
this is no consulate and this is no embassy. This is a military building of Quds Forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson joins us now on this. Interesting comments there from IDF Spokesperson Daniel
Hagari, tied perhaps what we're hearing in terms of who, in fact, was perhaps targeted in this and certainly who's alleged to have been killed.
Nic, what can you tell us about the seniority of these IRC officials?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDTIRO: Yes, one of them was a very senior member of the IRGC, a veteran, had been former commander of
their land forces, a former commander of their air force, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
So, somebody who would have been a potentially high value target. The Israelis, of course, although they're saying that this wasn't a consular
office, this was a military building, they're also saying they're not going to comment on the strike, which is often what they say about Iranian
targets that they allegedly hit in Syria.
Over time, details tend to come out and indicate that indeed this was, in fact, Israel. We don't have that information at this stage. But the killing
of this particular leader would be hugely significant, because he would be the most senior IRGC figure to be killed since the Quds Force commander,
Qasem Soleimani, was killed by the United States at the beginning of 2020. And back then, Iran's response was to fire missiles at U.S. troops in Iraqi
bases.
Now, it's unlikely that Iran is about to start firing missiles at Israel, because it would spark a huge and massive war, and there will be --
Israel's calculation would be Iran would suffer huge damage.
But it does indicate that when Iran threatens a decisive response, there will be a response and the place one looks at at the moment for where that
increase in tensions might show would be along Israel's northern border, where Iran's proxy Hezbollah has been really ratcheting up attacks -- tit
for tat strikes across the border with Israel since the Hamas attacks on October 7th. That's the place where the escalation could happen.
' CHATTERLEY: And it certainly feels like a challenge to both Hezbollah and Iran at this moment in particular, too. In that same conversation between
Jim and Daniel Hagari, they talked about the prospects of the long-awaited Rafah operation and the response from Daniel was, look, the intention is
still to carry out that operation Rafah, though with protections for civilians.
[18:05:00]
I wonder if those talks today between U.S. and Israeli officials on "a better alternative" as CNN is hearing certainly from the U.S. side, perhaps
changes something, Nic.
ROBERTSON: Yes, it's interesting because you're alluding to there in terms of Hezbollah, the fact that there are political and military groups within
Israel that would want to trigger a much bigger war with Hezbollah for military reasons.
And when you look at this particular case that you're talking about now, there is a similar feeling within the military that they have to go into
Rafah, because that's where the leaders of Hamas are. And I think this is why, when we heard from the White House today, they said they didn't expect
the White House engagement with Israeli officials over the type of military operation that Israel will undertake in Rafah. They didn't expect it to
reach any quick conclusions. And there's a sense that the Hawks really just sort of want to run down the clock, either on the Biden administration or
the effectiveness of the Biden administration.
So, there's a -- there is, you know, a feeling that those military elements that want to push for essentially a military escalation are not fully
engaging in the process of trying to reach an accommodation of the type the United States wants around Rafah, and I think that speaks to the concerns
of the White House has at the moment that where they say they don't really have any new details about how Israel is going to conduct the Rafah
operation and keep the civilians safe.
The IDF has not been able to do that so far. That's why the casualty toll has been so high across Gaza because they cannot get civilians safely out
of the way. And we don't know how it's going to be different if and when they go into Rafah.
CHATTERLEY: And at the very least, so important to have the conversation and talk about those "better alternatives," if there are them. Nic, good to
get your perspective. Thank you. Nic Robertson there.
Now, it was Gaza's largest hospital. It now lies in ruins. A local journalist working for CNN says the scene at the Al-Shifa Hospital is like
something from a horror movie following the Israeli military withdrawal.
Gaza's civil defense says, "Atrocious crimes were committed during the two- week siege and that even getting to the hospital is now almost impossible."
Israel says Hamas and Islamic jihad have been using Al-Shifa as a base and say it conducted What it calls a precise mission to eliminate them. Nada
Bashir has more on the siege of Al-Shifa. And we warn, you her report does contain disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice over): As dawn breaks over Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, the full extent of this latest nightmare becomes clear. Building
scorched, some still ablaze, others riddled with bullet holes or completely destroyed. Below, bodies lay crushed and decomposing. Under torchlight,
limbs are found tangled amid earth and rubble. This is the aftermath of the Israeli military's 14-day siege on what once was Gaza's largest hospital.
Please, God, enough, this woman screams.
How much more can Gaza's civilians be forced to endure? Medical crews tell CNN they arrived on Monday morning to find hundreds of bodies scattered
around the complex. Others have been left wounded, starving and desperate for help.
We spent days without food or water until the military gave us a few food cans, but they were not enough to feed all the patients, Jena (ph) says.
They would give each patient just a quarter of a water bottle each day. The bombardment and shooting was constant.
The scale of the destruction wrought by the Israeli military here seems impossible to quantify. In the surrounding area, entire families were
trapped in their homes for two weeks under near-constant bombardment.
Upon the Israeli military's withdrawal, Arafat Al-Lulu (ph) was finally able to return home, only to find that his wife and seven children had been
killed. The Israeli military has described the siege on Al-Shifa as a precise operation targeting Hamas militants, some 200 of which they say
were killed, though CNN is unable to verify this figure.
Weapons and intelligence documents are also said to have been found on the complex which had been housing hundreds of civilians when the siege began.
The IDF maintains that soldiers distinguish between militants and civilians. But such claims stand in stark contrast to the troubling
testimonies and videos CNN has received from countless civilians and medical staff who are trapped in and around the hospital.
[18:10:00]
We can't estimate the number of medical staff who were targeted in what we can only call their executions, this medical official says.
In earlier testimonies shared with CNN, civilians described being stripped, bound, and blindfolded in the cold before facing interrogations by Israeli
soldiers.
Reports of beatings are also widespread. For days, medical staff within the hospital told CNN they couldn't even move between buildings on the complex
for fear of being targeted by Israeli snipers.
Every day a patient would die, Nurse Musa (ph) says. The occupation soldiers used us as human shields inside the hospital.
More than 300 bodies have so far been recovered, according to authorities in Gaza. But that figure will likely only rise. Warnings that Al-Shifa
could soon be turned into a graveyard, now a gut-wrenching reality.
BASHIR: CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on our report. In a statement on Monday, the director of the World Health
Organization reiterated that hospitals must be respected and protected and not used as battlefields.
The United Nations meanwhile says it is planning a mission to Al-Shifa Hospital as soon as they are able to gain access in order to provide urgent
medical support and to assess the damage caused to the medical complex.
Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And now, from Gaza to Israel, where thousands of Israelis have been taken to the streets, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
resign. These images from Jerusalem give you a sense of the level of public outrage at the government at this moment. There were also protests over the
weekend in Tel Aviv. Israelis are calling for the release of all hostages being held in Gaza, with some family members saying not enough is being
done to bring them home.
Now, to a CNN exclusive. Just hours after Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died, a computer network tied to Russia's prison system was hacked.
The so-called Hacktivists responsible stole prisoner data and posted a photo and message saying long live Alexei Navalny. Sean Lyngaas has more on
this stunning breach.
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Julia, CNN is reporting exclusively on a big breach of the Russian prisoner system in which hackers
claim to have stolen data on about 800,000 prisoners and their contacts to avenge the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Hours after Navalny's death in an Arctic Penal Colony in February, the hackers plastered Navalny's photo and anti-Kremlin slogans on the website
of a prison contractor, according to data and screenshots reviewed by CNN.
The hackers say they're hoping the data can lead to a better understanding of Navalny's death, which western leaders have condemned and held the
Russian government responsible for. Russia's war on Ukraine has been accompanied by a surge in politically motivated hacking, with both pro-
Ukraine and pro-Russian hackers looking to make a statement. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: OK. Coming up for us, the new A.I. tool from the makers of ChatGPT that could give voice to new privacy concerns. We'll explain.
And from Trump bump to Trump slump. The former U.S. president's media stock tumbling Monday as lost his pile up. We'll discuss why and what next. Stay
with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:16:30]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And we hope you're all -- our viewers are having a fantastic start to the new month and that's no April
Fool. Although, there is a bit of an April Fool's Day dismay for U.S. investors in today's "Money Move" for Dow and the S&P beginning a new week
a month and a quarter with losses.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments, if you remember, on Friday that Central Bank officials can take their time cutting interest rates, certainly a dent
to sentiment today. Now, just release numbers also showing U.S. manufacturing activity expanding in March for the first time in a year and
a half, with a rise in the price of raw materials, none of this boosting the arguments for rate cuts at this moment.
Across to Asia now and Chinese stocks rallying after positive manufacturing data there. This time good news is good news in the minds of investors, and
another sign that the Chinese economy might be turning a corner. Japanese stocks meanwhile falling after the new Tang Can Business Sentiment Survey
fell for the first time in a year.
Now, in other market news, call it perhaps a moment of truth for investors in Trump Media. The parent company of Donald Trump's Truth Social site
tumbled more than 21 percent Monday after disclosing steep losses last year, raising fresh concerns over its future.
The stock has now given back most of its gains after its NASDAQ debut on Tuesday last week. And as it falls, so does the former U.S. president's
paper net worth. Joining us now, Paul La Monica, he's senior markets analyst -- writer at Barron's.
Paul La Monica, great to have you on the show. Now, you said in this piece, which I loved --
PAUL LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Thank you, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. -- near-term, you can't separate the company from the man at the top, and I would agree with you, but at some point you have
to look at the numbers.
LA MONICA: Yes, and obviously I think some investors are looking at the numbers, Julia. This is a stock that went to nearly $80 in the post-merger
frenzy after the deal with the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., was consummated last week.
Shares have come tumbling back down because they disclose today that Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group, only had revenue
of a little more than $4 million for all 2023 and a net loss of $60 million nearly.
The net loss isn't that surprising, and for a company that's sort of in startup mode, you can almost expect that, but revenue of $4 million for a
company that is now valued in the multi-billion dollars, you're talking about a quadruple digit price to sales ratio, which defies pretty much all
investing logic.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, you put some great comparisons in this article, just one of them, before it went private X or Twitter, the share price, we all
know it well, $54.20, their revenue in the first six months of 2022, $2.4 billion.
Now, I know we're not comparing like for like, but if you had to kind of even gauge evaluation for Truth Social at this moment or the parent
company, I mean, where would you put it? Because it's nowhere near any of the other social media platforms based on these numbers that we're seeing.
[18:20:00]
LA MONICA: Yes, and I think that investors aren't really trying to even pretend that they should be valuing this like a media company, be it a
traditional media company such as "The New York Times," or a social media firm like X or Snapchat, let alone Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
I think right now, the issue is Trump owns nearly 60 percent of the stock. This is sort of a play on his reelection chances. And I think you're going
to see shares rise and fall probably with the polls going over the next few months.
But there are concerns about when that lockup period expires six months from now, will Trump look to cash in on some of his shares? And if so, will
investors be forgiven or will they not be happy about the dilution and follow the MAGA crowd and sell as well?
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Let's be clear, this is a mega MAGA meme stock. And I have to say, your article over the weekend seems prophetic. I'm just going to
show it because, look, you said, Trump's DJT stock is riding a MAGA wave. It could crash. And it's already done. There you go. Yes. Nicely done.
LA MONICA: It did today, but that doesn't really...
CHATTERLEY: I know. Prophetic. Paul La Monica, senior markets analyst -- analysis writer at Barron's. I'll get it right eventually. Thank you, Paul.
All right. Now, to the question of whether A.I. chatbots should speak or forever hold their peace. The parent company, ChatGPT, has developed a new
tool called Voice Engine. It's a way for users to generate audio that sounds like a real person's voice. What we ask could possibly go wrong.
Clare Duffy joins me now. Just a 15-second sample of someone's voice allows A.I. to replicate it. And from what I've heard, Clare, and I know what
you've heard too, it's pretty scarily good.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Julia, like many of these new A.I. tools, this voice engine from OpenAI is both really amazing and incredible
to hear, but also comes along with some pretty serious risks.
As you said there, it requires only a 15-second sample of someone speaking, and it can create a really convincing replica of their voice that can then
say anything that a user types into the tool. And I want to play for you a sample of this from OpenAI to give you a sense of just how realistic this
AI-generated voice sounds. The first clip that we're going to hear is a real human speaking. This is the clip that was used to train the tool.
Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Force is a push or pull that can make an object move, stop, or change direction. Imagine you're riding a bike down a hill. First,
the push you give off the ground is the force that gets you going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: So, that was a human's voice. And the next clip that we're going to hear is the A.I.-generated replica of that person's voice. Let's listen to
that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AI RENDERING OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE'S VOICE: Some of the most amazing habitats on Earth are found in the rainforest. A rainforest is a place with
a lot of precipitation, and it has many kinds of animals, trees, and other plants. Tropical rainforests are usually not too far from the equator and
are warm all year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: So, as you can hear there, if you didn't know any better, it might be pretty difficult to tell which of those is the human and which is the
A.I., and that's really the concern about this kind of technology. OpenAI says this tool could be used for accessibility purposes or translation, but
experts worry that it could also be used for misinformation or scams or other types of abuses.
Now, OpenAI says that for now, Voice Engine is only being used by a small group of testers who have agreed to specific safety measures, but the
company did say that there needs to be broader public awareness that this type of technology exists before it becomes more widely available from both
OpenAI and other A.I. firms that are already working on this kind of technology. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Clare, I'm sure our viewers that were listening to this will not have been able to distinguish between the two. If you'd have played
that all the way through, I wouldn't have even known that you were switching between a real person and then the A.I.-generated voice. They
have to be incredibly careful.
I can see the upsides of this, the translation tools for those people that can't speak, perhaps. Just 15 seconds of a previous recording for them
would be brilliant, but the dangers of this, I think, are very clear.
DUFFY: Yes. And OpenAI says that it is thinking about this. Some of the safety measures that it's put in place for this group of testers include
things like they have to include digital watermarks on the A.I. voice generation so that you could see where it originated, I should say, and the
fact that it is A.I.
The company also says it's not allowing those testers to create the voices of public people, of people who sound too similar to, say, a celebrity or a
politician. You can't create A.I. replica of those people's voices. The company also says that it is only allowing these testers to create A.I.-
generated voice replicas of people who have explicitly consented to having their voices used by the tools.
[18:25:00]
So, I think you get some sense of the safety measures that the company might try to put in place if it rolls this thing out more broadly. But it's
an election year, there are significant risks here. So, I would be surprised if this becomes public, you know, anytime soon, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, other companies are doing it, but these guys are so big and we know how quickly ChatGPT was downloaded. They have to be very
careful with this, and of course Microsoft will be. Clare, great to have you with us. Thank you. Clare Duffy there.
OK. Hail and potential tornadoes, even spring snowfall. April starts with severe weather for millions of people in parts of the United States. Chad
Myers joins us now. The real Chad Myers, not the A.I.-generated version.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right.
CHATTERLEY: Walk us through it.
MYERS: Well, you know what? We have spring that's trying to get up to the north and we have winter that says, hey, wait, not so fast. I want to still
be here.
It's going to be snowing across the Great Lakes and even put back in Ontario and we're going have the potential for tornadoes and also some
significant hail across parts of the Midwest. So yes, tornado watches are already in effect. That just means that conditions are favorable, that some
storms may be rotating. And we do expect them to do that today.
Also, the potential for significant hail. Hail is large as three inches, maybe the size of a grapefruit could be falling out of this guy at nearly
100 miles per hour. You need to protect yourself in this area tonight, protect the pets, the livestock, anything you can do, keep the cars inside.
And then for tomorrow, that threat moves to the east, slightly more populated into Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky. That's the area that
could see the same weather tomorrow afternoon.
So, here's where we are right now. Storms are firing. They get brighter, they get bigger, they get more severe, more hail falls out of them tonight.
Things died down around sunrise tomorrow. But we fire back up again in the afternoon with more severe weather and even the potential -- if one storm
runs on top of the same storm that just came by, could even see some flooding.
Here is the snow. I know that people are like saying, OK, enough, you know, this thought -- well, let's get some spring all over the place. But we
could see a half a meter. We could see 18 inches of snow in parts of New England and Ontario and Quebec.
Farther toward the east. Good morning to you. Some showers over here in Shanghai. Also, some showers moving over Kyushu. That would be the area
that will pick up the heaviest rainfall over the next couple of days.
The rest of China and most of Asia will be dry. We just really have that one big storm system that could put down 150, 200 millimeters of rain
without a doubt. And that's, you know, good news when you're talking about temperatures in the teens will take the rainfall.
But what we don't want, Julia, what we've been talking about now for weeks, the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. They're out and they're going to get rained
on. Let's just hope they're strong enough to hold on for just a couple more weeks.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Hold on. And even my enthusiasm for snow, which is pretty endless, is just about over. Spring please.
MYERS: Enough. Right.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Chad, thank you.
MYERS: See you.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Just in to CNN, North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile. That's according to South Korea's joint chiefs of staff
who say it was fired off North Koreas East Coast. We'll bring you more updates the moment we get them.
And after the break, "Oppenheimer" has just arrived in Japanese cinemas eight months after becoming a summer blockbuster. We'll tell you why and
what the response has been.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:31:41]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And a look at more of the international headlines this hour.
A man drove his SUV into the gates of an FBI field office in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday. The man then got out of the car and was taken into
custody, then brought to a local hospital to be evaluated. An FBI agent said the man didn't work at the facility and had been trying to follow an
employee through the front gate.
Turkey's ruling party suffered a stinging setback during Sunday's local elections. The country's opposition won 35 out of 81 municipalities,
including Istanbul and Ankara. President Erdogan's AK Party lost the popular vote for the first time since it began running for elections back
in 2002.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is again travelling to Europe, where he's expected to discuss support for Ukraine. Blinken will be first
meeting the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris before travelling to Brussels for a meeting with other NATO foreign ministers.
Cleanup has begun on the Baltimore Bridge that collapsed last week. It's a first step towards opening up a temporary channel which could help reopen
the port and restart the search for missing victims.
Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said there's a new still isn't a timeline for reopening the channel or
rebuilding the bridge.
And convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for federal financial crimes. The former South Carolina attorney
killed his wife and one of his sons in 2021. State prosecutors say the killings were an attempt to distract investigators looking into his
financial schemes.
And Japanese moviegoers are finally able to watch Oscar winner "Oppenheimer" eight months after it became a summer blockbuster. Universal
Pictures decided against showing the film in Japan last July out of concern over how it would be received in the only nation to have experienced
nuclear warfare.
Some in Japan felt particularly uncomfortable with the Barbenheimer phenomenon which promoted the film alongside the far fluffier "Barbie."
Hanako Montgomery reports from Tokyo now on how people there are reacting.
Hanako, good to have you with us. I think we have to make very clear for people in Japan this is incredibly personal, not just what happened
obviously in 1945, but in the aftermath too. It has very deep personal connotations for people. So, I understand the sensitivities. How are people
reacting?
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Julia, like you mentioned, I mean, the results of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are
still, you know, very fresh in Japanese people's minds. Even though this happened in 1945, 78 years ago, it's still a huge, huge source of pain for
much of the Japanese public.
So, when people were watching "Oppenheimer," there were several mixed reactions. Of course, there were some people who enjoyed the film, others
who didn't. Take a look to see what people were telling us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): After months of delay, the father of the atomic bombs life story finally took to the big screens in Japan, the very country
where his invention wreaked terrifying devastation.
[18:35:00]
The film, highly praised globally, was met with favorable reaction from some Japanese viewers.
KUMIKO FUKUDA, JAPANESE MOVIEGOER (through translator): I was interested in this movie because it shows the expressions and emotions hidden behind the
eyes of both America and the Japanese who saw the atomic bombs. It doesn't just show the tragic story, which I think is easier to depict.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But left others with a bitter aftertaste.
MR. KAWAL, JAPANESE MOVIEGOER (through translator): Of course, this is an amazing film which deserves to win the Academy Awards in the United States,
but the film also depicts the atomic bomb in a way that seems to praise it. And as a person with roots in Hiroshima, I found it difficult to watch. I'm
not sure this is a movie that Japanese people should make a special effort to watch.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Omitting images of the ghastly wreckage caused to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the atomic bombs, lethal weapons that killed over
200,000 people, was a conscious decision from director Christopher Nolan.
MONTGOMERY: At a New York film screening, Nolan said that he didn't include those images because Oppenheimer himself didn't fully see how his invention
incinerated whole neighborhoods and people.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): The film took eight months to release in Japan. Amid controversy over an unofficial marketing campaign that critics said
trivialized the 1945 nuclear attacks. But the criticism hasn't deterred viewers entirely.
During opening weekend in Japan, the movie grossed $2.5 million U.S. Abroad, the highly lauded film won seven Oscars this year, including the
coveted Best Picture and Best Actor Awards. Christopher Nolan, who also took home Best Director, will receive a knighthood in Britain for his
services to film.
But despite the film's global accolades, Japanese viewers tread lightly, wary of how the West remembers and depicts history from 78 years ago, a
past far from forgotten in Japan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: A fascinating report. Some of the criticism that I saw was also from people who understood that this was about depicting the run-up to the
decision to create and then, obviously, do what took place in 1945. But also, there were people saying, what about nuclear deterrence? What does
that look like in light of the conversations that are being had today about nuclear risk? And also, that there wasn't enough depiction of the horror
that followed. Have people been speaking to you about that too?
MONTGOMERY (on camera): Yes, Julia. I think some people who saw the film said that this was a conversation starter to discuss nuclear deterrence,
like you said. Of course, Japan doesn't have any nuclear weapons and relies on the United States in terms of protection, in terms of the -- you know,
the global stage.
And, you know, in terms of omitting those key images that show the aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, you know, I think that was
really a key point of contention for many Japanese viewers. Some felt that it was erasing a key part of history. And American viewers and global
viewers should see what exactly took place in 1945, how it killed people and demolished entire neighborhoods.
But others also said that actually, you know, omitting these images didn't take away from the heaviness of the film, that it still showed to many
people in Japan and abroad just exactly how painful and how dangerous these bombs are.
And, you know, even though those images weren't included in the film, some Japanese movie theaters actually included a trigger warning, cautioning
people that those images in "Oppenheimer" would still be distressing to Japanese viewers. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, eight months later. Hanako Montgomery, great to have you on. Thank you so much for that report there.
OK. Coming up on "First Move," a potential charging solution for any EV driver anywhere. It's a system that allows fast automated battery swaps.
We'll discuss next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:41:53]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." Delivering a full charge to an electric vehicle battery in less than five minutes. That's the promise of
Ample, a California-based battery swap company. Ample says the stations are cheaper to build, allowing it to deliver energy at a lower cost than gas or
petrol.
And that's not all. It says its system works with any EV, regardless of brand, by using a Lego-like modular battery. Great news for nations like
Japan, too, which plans to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles by 2035. In fact, Ample recently installed its stations in Kyoto, Japan.
And joining us now is John de Souza. He's co-founder and president of Ample. John, fantastic to have you on the show. The premise of this
tackling head-on, charge anxiety, the length of time to charge, and that being then a barrier to people buying EVs.
JOHN DE SOUZA, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, AMPLE: Greetings from Kyoto, Japan. You know, you're exactly right, and I appreciate what you said. You
said, charge anxiety, because a lot of people talk about range anxiety.
When you think about a gas car, nobody even knows exactly what the range is because you know when you run out of range, you can go in and fill up very
quickly. The problem you have with charging is when you run out of it, it could be very painful. And so, people have exactly that, it's charging
anxiety. How much time am I going to spend? Is the charger going to be working? Is there going to be a queue? This could turn into a two-hour
event.
And so, we've gone right after that and said the beauty of gas cars is that you can get your gas in it very quickly. And when we can do the same thing
for electric, people will be happy to switch. So, we allow them to come into our station, spend five minutes, swap the batteries for brand-new
batteries and leave it at full charge. It's a very similar experience to what they use right now.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, my range doesn't matter if I know I've got charging facilities somewhere close and then I'll just charge and not be
worried about it.
DE SOUZA: Exactly.
CHATTERLEY: Explain what's happening then in Kyoto. How much does it cost to go in, swap out one of these batteries? Just give us the cost
comparison.
DE SOUZA: So, what we try to target, we try the target to be about 10 to 20 percent cheaper than the price of gas per mile. That's -- there we go. We
think -- we want people to get the same experience but make it better for the environment and better for the wallet. So, that's our price point in
terms of going through and targeting it.
What we're doing here in Kyoto is, in Japan, they have very aggressive decarbonization targets, as you mentioned. They're very incredible and
innovative car companies here. So, we want to go and said, the last part we need an equation for this to work with electrification is to put in the
infrastructure to get the energy into cars.
So, in conjunction with ENEOS, they're the largest oil and gas company out here, they're very aggressive in their goals to go through and meet the
energy transition. We said, let's go through and set up an infrastructure that works for people during electrification. In particular, starting off
with the fleets. The fleets want to move a large number of cars that need infrastructure to work.
So, in Kyoto, where you have the Kyoto Protocol, we thought it'd be the perfect place to go through and start and we've launched and we initially
launched with MK Taxi, the largest taxi fleet. They were going through trying electrification, they're charging -- when you're a taxi, you want to
get the cars to have high utilization. And so, this was a perfect application.
[18:45:00]
They want to keep it moving and not spend the time at a charger. And so, we thought this would be a great application to start with.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And I think what's key as well is the footprint of this is two-car parking spaces that you could perhaps just drop in car parks. I
mean, there could be long clues, like -- long queues, like a charging station, but we are talking effectively like a car wash.
But help me understand what this means. Because, I mean, a battery can cost anywhere between, what, $6,000 and $20,000. Are you anticipating people
buying the EV without the battery so they save on that cost and then pay some kind of, I guess, subscription that allows them to keep changing up
and switching up batteries as they go?
DE SOUZA: Actually, you hit on two very good things. One in terms of the cost, that's exactly what it is. Right now, people buy, and often they buy
the biggest battery they can because they're scared of what's going to happen when they run out.
With this, you can actually choose a variable battery size. If you're just driving in the city, you may want less battery. It makes the car lighter
and more efficient, as well as cost you less. So, you don't always need to carry a 1,000-pound battery if you don't want to.
In addition, from a price perspective, when you buy it, you buy it less the cost of the battery. So, you could be saving, as you mentioned, you know,
somewhere between $6,000 and $20,000 on it, you pay a small monthly subscription on it. So, financially, it makes -- it's a lot easier for you
to go through. You also more -- you end up with a more efficient car because you don't need to carry a heavy battery.
And the last thing you're talking about in terms of the footprint, it does take only a couple parking spaces, and you can stack them up just like gas
stations. So, if you're in an area where you have a lot of people coming in, you can actually go through and put four or five of them just like you
have multiple gas stations that are placed so you can deal with the volume coming in. People come and go in five minutes, so it's easy to make sure
you don't have a queue coming in.
CHATTERLEY: How do you make money, John? Because I was looking at NIO's stats on this because, obviously, they've got, I think, around 2,000 of
them now, the Chinese EV maker across China. And they're open about it. I think less than 20 percent of them or around 20 percent of them are
breaking even. They're losing money on this.
How do you make money? How's it funded? Do you need government support? If they want more EVs, they're going to have to provide funding.
DE SOUZA: So, there are two parts. The big part in terms of getting this to be affordable is to -- one is make the stations cheap. And that includes
the cost of the station and not digging into ground. As soon as you do civil works and then it gets very expensive. We don't require that. And so,
we build the ground up in-house. So, we can keep the cost of the station low.
How long it takes you to deploy it? It costs money. It takes us three days. So, we're in and out very quickly. And then, operation, you don't want to
have people at the stations. These are fully autonomous stations that we do have remote monitoring, but that keeps the opaques (ph) down.
So, in order to get a break even is you want to keep the cost down and the cost of building it and the cost of operations. And we focus very heavily
on that piece. If you can't get it to be profitable just without subsidies, you run it. We're happy to get the subsidies. It helps to speed up, but we
don't want to rely on them to be profitable.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, you have to run as a standalone business, to your point. You've taken money from the Energy Commission, I believe, in California, or
you've got to grant. How quickly could you scale this up, John, if this were a viable option, say, in the United States?
DE SOUZA: So, we did get a grant from the CEC to go through and help with an automated factory to produce the batteries. What we want, is we wanted
to get something that would allow us to get -- literally get to over 100,000 cars in three or four years.
So, the two parts of being able to scale it very quickly, one is the battery factory, and that's where we built a fully automated battery
factory where the boxes come in, modules come out, and you can scale it very quickly.
The second part of it is going through introducing the stations. Now, the good thing is every station supports a large number of cars. You need a lot
fewer stations, but we're in the process of going and building a large factory to be able to produce those. So, those are the two components with
this.
The last is we work directly with the OEMs, and we've announced our partnerships with Daimler Trucks, Mitsubishi Fuso, as well as with
Stellantis, is to work with them. The OEMs can produce the cars, and so we work with them to get the cars directly in the hands of the customers. So,
the combination of those is what allows us to scale and get this in the hands of a lot of people.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and you've got some very impressive investors as well. Looking forward to tracking your progress, John, and speaking soon, John de
Souza, co-founder and president of Ample.
DE SOUZA: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you for joining us from Kyoto. So, good morning to you.
OK. If you've missed any of our interviews today, they will be on my X and Instagram pages. You can search for @jchatterleycnn.
Now coming up, it's game time. College basketball sensation Caitlin Clark is about to take on the LSU in the Women's Elite Eight Showdown. We've got
all the details. Don't worry, next.
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[18:52:04]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." I can tell you it's a huge night for women's basketball here in the United States. In less than 30 minutes,
the University of Iowa and its superstar, Caitlin Clark, will face Louisiana State University.
The winner will earn a spot in the final four, the semi-finals of the college basketball tournament. And the two teams met in final last year.
Brynn Gingras joins us now. Brynn, it wasn't good for Iowa last year. You know, I love Caitlin Collins. I also love watching her parents. Her dad is
not afraid of telling her to be quiet when she challenges decisions. It's quite funny.
Explain for those that don't live in the U.S. that might not understand the importance of this, what's got everyone so excited?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's the fact that these players are just standout players. We're not just talking about
Caitlyn Clark on Iowa, but also Angel Reese on LSU as well, and other players in UConn, Paige Bueckers. These women are huge, huge performers and
standouts and really bringing so much attention to women's basketball. The fans are going crazy for them.
Julia, I can tell you that you could see there's people coming into this game. It's about to tip off in about 15, 20 minutes or so. But they have
been out on that court for hours just watching these women, you know, warm up, little girls, little boys with Caitlin Clark jerseys. That's not
something that we have even seen within the last couple of years. But of course, it has been exploding watching these two teams in particular.
Now, as you mentioned, LSU and Iowa, they played last year in the national championship and it was a heated game. These two players, they like to
trash talk each other. They are extremely competitive, would play with a ton of passion. And that's what these fans love to watch.
So, there's a lot at stake. Everyone kind of thought that these teams would be the ones facing off again in national championships, but that is not the
case. How the brackets all sort of started out this year. Now, it's to get to the final four.
So, it is an exciting game. It is a rematch. Last year, 9.9 million viewers watched that game. Tonight, we will see if it breaks records. But I got to
tell you, if you are not even the slightest bit of a basketball fan, you will probably still be tuning in to watch this game.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I was about to say, and you said it perfectly. I mean, some of the criticism of female sport in general is that it just not as
exciting as the men's sport. This is not the case where these women are concerned. They are awesome.
GINGRAS: No.
CHATTERLEY: Just what are these supporters willing to pay in terms of ticket prices? Like what's the ticket cost to go and watch?
GINGRAS: You know, I will say we have found some people, Julia, that have been able to just grab these tickets actually and get to the game today. It
is sold out. So, there is some resale.
But in general, the tickets -- this is another example of how women's sports is just exploding in women basketball. The tickets for the women
final four, tickets, the cheapest are 47 percent more expensive than the men's tickets. And games have been sold out prior to the men's game selling
out. So, that just is a huge statement right there about the impact of these players on women's basketball.
[18:55:00]
And I got to tell you, when you step into the arena, like we were just in, not too long ago before we came out here, I mean, there is so much
electricity in that crowd. And it's really awesome to see -- as a former collegiate basketball player, it is awesome to see how these, you know,
teams -- these teams are inspiring younger generations. It's very cool.
CHATTERLEY: Awesome. Did you get to watch, Brynn?
GINGRAS: Yes, absolutely. I'm excited.
CHATTERLEY: Well, I'm being told. I've got to go. Brynn, enjoy, thank you.
OK. And finally, on "First Move." 40,000 people, 64,000 eggs and one time on a tradition. Easter celebrations took over the White House as President
Joe Biden hosted the Annual Easter Egg Roll.
My children have taken part in this event since the 1870s with the White House South Lawn transforming into a playground. And besides the famous egg
roll, this year's celebrations revolve around an egg-ucation theme, celebrating the power of learning. And by the way, that's their pun not
ours despite Friday's performance.
And that just about wraps up the show. Egg-cellent. Thank you for joining us. I'll see you tomorrow.
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