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First Move with Julia Chatterley
IDF Retrieves Bodies Of Three Israeli Hostages; Israel-Hamas War; U.S. Delivering Aid Via Floating Pier; Scottie Scheffler Arrested; Top Golfer Detained; 'Diddy' Shown In 2016 Video Assaulting Former Girlfriend; China Property Downturn; Reddit's A.I. Push; Reddit And OpenAI Partnership; Russia-China Relations; Putin Leaves China; Russia Expands Push Into Kharkiv; Alef Flying Cars; Elephant Communication. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired May 17, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas, star of the House Oversight Committee, melee last night, at Sunday
morning at 9:00 Eastern and, again, at noon here on CNN. You can follow the show on X or Twitter @TheLeadCNN. And if you ever miss an episode of "The
Lead," you can listen to the show whence you get your podcasts. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in "The Situation Room." I'll see you
Sunday morning.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It's 6:00 a.m. in Beijing, 11:00 p.m. here in London, and 6:00 p.m. actually here in New York. I'm Julia
Chatterley. And wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
And a warm welcome, as always, to "First Move." And here's today's need to know. Hostage heartbreak. Israel has recovered the remains of three
hostages killed on October 7th and then taken to Gaza.
CNN obtained shocking video of music producer and rapper Sean Diddy Combs attacking his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, back in 2016.
Tee off trials. The world's top golfer arrested and charged with felony assault just moments before play at the PGA Championship.
And flying without wings. We'll speak to the CEO of the startup hoping to take flying cars from fantasy to fact. That conversation and a whole lot
more coming right up.
But first, to that heartbreaking news for the families of three Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Israel's military announcing Friday it has found
their remains. The IDF says they were killed by Hamas terrorists as they tried to escape the Nova Music Festival back on October 7th.
Now, Israel believes that of the 240 people taken hostage, 125 are still in Gaza. Around 40 of whom are now believed to be dead. Jeremy Diamond shares
the stories of three more lives lost. And a warning, his report does contain distressing images.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They managed to escape Hamas' terrifying rampage at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th. But
they did not survive the day.
Hamas terrorists killed Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter 10 miles down the road from the festival, according to the Israeli military.
Their bodies taken into Gaza and held hostage.
DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: Last night, the Israel Defense Forces and ISA forces rescued the bodies of our hostages.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military now says their bodies are back on Israeli soil. Returned to families who have endured more than seven
months of uncertainty and anguish.
HAGARI: Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned. We will do everything in our power to find
our hostages and bring them home.
DIAMOND (voice-over): 23-year-old Shani Louk seen here at the Nova Festival hours before her death. This image of her body being hauled into Gaza
embodying the brutality of Hamas' attack. Her family learned in late October she had been killed.
RICARDA LOUK, MOTHER OF SHANI LOUK: We cannot do really a real funeral.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Her father now telling Israeli media they can find peace.
NISSIM LOUK, FATHER OF SHANI LOUK (through translator): This was like a present for Shabbat for us. And now, she'll be able to find her place in
the cemetery. We can put a bouquet.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For the two other families, a different type of closure. For months, the family of Amit Buskila, a 28-year-old fashion
stylist, had no information.
NATALIE AMOUYAL, AUNT OF AMIT BUSKILA (through translator): We know nothing about her. Not one person has seen her and is capable of telling us
anything about her or any of the others. Really nothing.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The Israeli military operation also confirming for the first time the death of Yitzhak Gelernter, a 58-year-old father of four
and grandfather of two.
In Israel, reaction pouring in from across the political spectrum with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the news heartbreaking,
vowing, we will return all of our hostages, the living and the deceased alike.
But there is no clear path to securing their return. With ceasefire negotiations at a standstill, the families of the remaining 125 hostages
clinging only to hope and fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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DIAMOND (on camera): Meanwhile, Julia, the first trucks of humanitarian aid have now made their way from that floating pier off the coast of the Gaza
Strip onto the Gaza shoreline. Just yesterday, the U.S. military actually successfully anchored that floating pier to the Gaza shoreline. And now,
those trucks of humanitarian aid set to be distributed by the World Food Programme, which is on the coastline.
And this is much needed aid at this moment. Humanitarian aid officials have been warning that the Israeli military operation in Rafah is going to
worsen the humanitarian conditions inside of Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of people have now been displaced from Rafah, increasing the need for aid. But
also, there is a gap to be made up.
That Rafah Border Crossing has been closed for nearly two weeks now as a result of that Israeli military operation. Ongoing negotiations between
Israeli and Egyptian officials to try and reopen that crossing so far going nowhere. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Our thanks to Jeremy Diamond there. OK. On chaotic and misunderstanding, those are the words of top golfer Scotty Scheffler
following his arrest earlier on Friday. Scheffler was detained by police in the U.S. State of Kentucky before the start of the second round of the PGA
Championship.
This video of the arrest is from an ESPN reporter who was at the scene. Scheffler was handcuffed after police say he tried to drive past an officer
into the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
Patrick Snell is at the PGA Championship with the very latest. Patrick, a tragic and pretty shocking start to the second round. In the absence of
body cam video, which is, I think, what we need to really get an understanding of what happened here, what more do we know?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Julia. Yes, you're absolutely right. It was a very, very poignant Friday here. Day two of one of the big four men's
majors. The biggest global events there are when it comes to world golf. A tragic loss of life in the 5:00 a.m. hour local time here. We now know that
that was the last event connected to the tournament, a man working in the tournament.
But Scottie Scheffler certainly generating all the headlines here. The world's top ranked golfer. He recently won a second Masters and he's trying
to win a fifth victory out of six and a third career major. So, huge focus on him.
What we do know is that this is the alleged altercation with the police officer in question. And I do want to tap into more about what Scottie
Scheffler said earlier in the day, before he even started his round two. He started the day Friday in detention, in a jail cell, that mugshot going
viral around the world, but he ended his day with some really impressive golf going right up the leaderboard to put the pressure on the leaders.
But to elaborate more on the Scheffler statement, he said, I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. He wanted to make his focus on golf
and he wanted also to pay his deepest respects, as I mentioned, to the loss of life. Though that was before he took to the field of play on the golf
course here, having been detained and then released. And then there was a frantic dash to try and make his tee time. We were all wondering, would he
actually make it in time to play? Would he be allowed to play legally speaking?
He did. The crowd gave him a terrific reception, a real show of support for him. He is very, very popular. No question about that. And he really let
his golf do the talking. He started with a birdie, then a bogey, then another birdie. But then he spoke after his round of 66. A very impressive
66. A five-under round of 66 Friday. Listen to what he had to say. The inner workings of his mind as he reflected back at those events during the
6:00 a.m. hour, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and I think that's -- perhaps that calm response to relative chaos tells you why he's a winner at this stage just by his young
age. It's interesting to hear the response that he got from the crowds there, because I was sort of trying to get a sense of who this man is and
who his character is. And I found words like upright, outstanding, upstanding, a new father. Unusual for a man like him to be involved in
something like this.
Obviously, again, we have to wait to find out in more detail from the video evidence what happened. But all evidence suggests that he's a great person
and well liked.
SNELL: The man with the Midas touch on and off the course, there's no question about that. Yes, he's devout Christian. He will often speak to
that, his faith and how basically his faith and family first, sometimes up and above the sport of golf, and that speaks volumes certainly in this day
and age.
I want to hear from Scottie Scheffler, if we can get to that sound from Scottie Scheffler, to hear what he was saying immediately after his round
on Friday. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, WORLD NUMBER 1 GOLFER AND MASTERS CHAMPION: I feel like my head's still spinning. I can't really explain what happened this
morning. I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. You know, that was part of my warm up. I was just sitting there
waiting. And, you know, I started going through my warm up. I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play.
[18:10:00]
And, so I started going through my routine. I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today. But like I said, you know, I still feel like
my head's spinning a little bit. But yes, I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Yes. So, what happens next, legally speaking, Julia? Well, there's an arraignment hearing is scheduled for Tuesday. It's unclear at this point
as to whether Scheffler will be appearing. What we can tell you, though, is Scheffler's attorney is telling CNN that he plans -- Scheffler plans to
plead not guilty to all charges as it stands. Back to you.
DIAMOND (on camera): Yes, charges and arraignments, not what I anticipated talking to you about today, Patrick. Thank you so much for that report and
we'll see what happens. Patrick Snell there at the PGA Championship in Libbyville for us.
All right. Turning now to a CNN exclusive and disturbing new video shows business mogul Sean Diddy Combs beating his then girlfriend, Cassie
Ventura, in a hotel hallway. Ventura sued Combs last year, alleging he raped and trafficked her, as well as subjecting her to years of abuse.
Now, the footage appears to match an incident outlined in Ventura's suit. The case has since been settled. Just to give you a sense of what else is
going on here, Combs is facing five other civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and other illegal activity. He's denied the allegations.
Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New surveillance footage obtained exclusively by CNN appears to corroborate
some of the allegations of abuse against music mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
The video captured on multiple cameras shows Combs wearing only a towel, assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hallway at a Los
Angeles hotel in March 2016. A lawsuit filed by Ventura in November last year and settled the next day referenced actions that seem to match those
seen in this video. There is no audio.
According to the complaint, Combs became extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye, which according to the
lawsuit, prompted Ventura to try and leave the hotel room.
The surveillance video obtained by CNN begins as she enters the hallway. The complaint says as she exited, Mr. Combs awoke and began screaming at
Ms. Ventura. He followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her. The complaint goes on to say, he grabbed her and then took glass vases
in the hallway and threw them at her.
In the surveillance video, Combs can be seen grabbing Ventura and throwing her to the ground. As Ventura lies on the ground, Combs then kicks her
twice and attempts to drag her on the floor back to the hotel room. Ventura is seen picking up a hotel phone. Combs seems to walk back to the hotel
room, then returns and appears to shove her in a corner. Moments later, he can then be seen throwing an object in her direction.
According to Ventura's now settled lawsuit, the pair began dating several years after they met in 2005. They parted ways in 2019. Combs' attorney
said the decision to settle was in no way an admission of wrongdoing. Ventura declined to comment on the video, but her attorney told CNN, the
gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that
Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.
The video hasn't been seen publicly before and comes on the heels of a series of civil lawsuits alleging Combs' involvement in sex trafficking and
sexual abuse. Allegations that Combs has repeatedly denied.
Authorities search Combs his home in Los Angeles and Miami in March as part of an ongoing federal investigation carried out by a team that specializes
in human trafficking crimes. In a December 2023 statement, Combs responded to the claims in some of the lawsuits saying, sickening allegations have
been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear, I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: As mentioned, tough to watch. OK. Straight to China now, where, as promised, Beijing unveiling $42 billion worth of new measures to support
the struggling property sector. Chinese real estate stocks soared on the news. The sector once accounted for as much as 30 percent of China's
economic activity. Just to give you a sense of the importance. Marc Stewart has more details.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Julia. Let me share with you the reaction here in China. One state newspaper is describing the measures as
heavyweight policies going on to say it marked a historic significant moment for the real estate sector.
[18:15:00]
A big focus of this rescue plan puts the burden on local governments to buy unsold homes from developers. It would also ease some of the rules on
purchases. The country's top economic officials said the government should buy the homes and convert them into affordable social housing.
As far as the financing behind this, the People's Bank of China will set up a $41.5 billion loan program. The housing crisis has been a real economic
detriment to China, but this is something the stock market has wanted. Expectations of this plan have lifted stocks. Since last month, investors
are putting their money back into Chinese shares.
And finally, these measures come as new data suggested the property woes here in China got even worse in April. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: OK. Thanks to Marc there. And straight ahead, Reddit shares are revving up on news of a partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
And one CEO's unique solution to traffic jams. Take to the skies. We'll hear from the CEO of a flying car company, Alef Aeronautics. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And a good Saturday morning, if you're waking up with us across Asia. In today's "Money Move," the Dow
closed above 40,000 for the first time in its 139-year history. The blue- chip index initially crossed the key threshold on Thursday before falling back slightly. But you can see it there, managing in the final seconds of
trade above 40,000.
Meanwhile, GameStop lost around 20 percent after the company said it would sell up to 45 million shares. Preliminary results also show a drop in its
first quarter sales. GameStop has now largely reversed that meme-fueled rally that it had earlier this week. They took advantage to try and sell
some shares. Hmm is all I'm saying.
In Europe, London, end of the day and the week slightly lower, pausing after a run of recent record highs. Frankfurt and Paris, as you can see,
also easing there during the session.
Across Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai jumped after China unveiled those new measures to support the country's struggling property sector. As we were
just discussing with Marc.
Now, shares in the social media platform Reddit also surged more than 10 percent Friday after it announced a partnership with the brand behind a
ChatGPT. That's OpenAI.
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The move gives the A.I. firm access to content from Reddit who in turn will benefit from new A.I. powered features. It comes as Reddit works to
diversify its income sources away from advertising.
And Clare Duffy is on the story for us. Clare, happy Friday. So, when I first saw this, I thought, ah, this is a similar deal that they did with
Google where they get access to the data and they can use it to train their models and help these models understand human interaction. But it's not
explicitly saying that in the deal. So, what's going on here?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, it's interesting, Julia. It seems like Reddit is trying to sort of word this in a way that users potentially
will be more comfortable with. I think that's one of the biggest challenges that they're up against in sort of fleshing out this business model of
licensing data to A.I. companies, is that users may not want to have their comments, their thoughts, their posts used and sold to A.I. companies as
training data.
But look, what we know about this deal is that it's going to provide OpenAI with Reddit data to train its models. But they've worded it in this way
that suggests that they want ChatGPT, other OpenAI products to be able to surface Reddit content when people ask them questions, which could really
benefit OpenAI because this is a whole repository of data where people are speaking in this very casual language, which is useful for training A.I.
And people are often discussing current events, which is something that A.I. models currently sort of struggle with. They're trained on older data.
And so, they're surfacing older information when you ask them questions. If they train on this Reddit data, they could potentially be surfacing more
current information, which could be helpful.
This deal also apparently will include OpenAI advertising on Reddit. So, again, sort of going to be beneficial for Reddit's core business as well as
this new line of business that it's trying to build. And this is a really significant deal for Reddit because the company has been trying to convince
shareholders that it has a path to profitability after failing to turn a profit for the first nearly two decades of its history, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, it's ridiculous to me that they're trying to assuage people that are posting their information openly for the whole wide
world to see that they then might have a problem with it being used to train A.I. models.
Very quickly, though, I'm talking of trying to make these models help and understand human interactions and needs and priorities. That's what comes
under the banner of so-called super alignment and OpenAI. And I saw that the chief has resigned of that department, saying he would "reached a
breaking point." Worrying, Clare.
DUFFY: Yes, it does sort of seem to speak to this potential rift that we're seeing within OpenAI this week. The chief scientist, who was actually a co-
founder of the company, Ilya Sutskever, resigned. And then quickly, this scientist, Jan Litke, also announced that he would be resigning. And he
posted a thread on X today, laying out his concerns that the company is prioritizing profit over safety. And it is really concerning coming from
this person whose whole job within the company was to focus on A.I. safety.
And specifically, how do we train these A.I. models to prioritize human needs, human priorities if we get to a point where we have artificial
general intelligence that is smarter than humans? He says he feels the company isn't providing enough resources towards that aim and is too
focused on this sort of more commercialized products, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the skeptic in me has their eyebrow raised. Unsurprised. Clare Duffy, thank you so much for that. It's a very important warning in
there, I think.
OK. Let's move on. Severe storms are causing havoc in the southern parts of the U.S. At least four people were killed in Houston, Texas, where winds
reached up to 100 miles an hour. So, just to give you a sense, that's around 160 kilometers per hour. Hundreds of thousands of homes and
businesses have been left without power. The storm system is now moving east.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has the very latest. Hey, Derek, give us a sense of where the path is, and do we have any sense of how long these
people are going to be without power?
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, that's the big concern, because the temperatures are about to spike in that part of Texas as well. I mean, look
at the windows that were blasted out of the high-rise buildings. Downtown Houston, creating shards of glass on the streets below. And then there's
this, power outages that happened in places all across the metropolitan. This is coming out of Costco. And you can see people just lighting up their
phones trying to light their way in front of them as the storms rolled through.
So, currently, there's still over 670,000 customers without power from Texas to Louisiana. And that's a problem because, you see this map behind
me? This is a heat risk map that's put on by the National Weather Service and NOAA. And I want you to see that color there. That is a moderate risk
for heat indices to become rather uncomfortable and if not dangerous. And that, of course, is dangerous to people who don't have access to cooling
centers that currently don't have power. That's the thought process here and that's the concern.
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Temperatures aren't all that much above average, but you factor in the humidity levels and the fact that people do not have electricity at this
moment in time and that could spell trouble.
Now, it's been very rainy across this part of Texas as well. In fact, over 20 inches of rain in the past month. That's 600 percent of normal for the
year-to-date. And the same storm system that brought the rough weather into Southeast Texas is now shifted eastward. And we have a current tornado
watch associated with this line of storms across southern portions of Alabama, Georgia, and into the Florida panhandle.
We haven't been witnessing too much severe weather as it stands, but the threat is still there. And we'll get another round of rough weather into
the day on Saturday across the deep south. In fact, you can see Storm Prediction Center has a slight risk across this area. It's extending into
the Carolinas.
So, from power outages to heat waves to now this, more severe weather, Julia, we are just extremely busy.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I'm sure you are. Very little infrastructure built with a probability of 600 percent more rain than usual at any given time as well.
VAN DAM: Right. Or 100-mile an hour winds.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Wow. Derek, thank you. Derek Van Dam, keep up the good work. We'll be right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move," with a look at more international headlines this hour. A man in France tried to set fire to a synagogue
before being shot and killed by police. The attacker threw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail into the building. The mayor of Rouen said that they
tried to stab security forces who then shot him. Jewish institutions across France have ramped up security following the October 7th attacks in Israel.
The man who attacked the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been sentenced to 30 years in prison. David DePape has said he was
motivated by far-right conspiracy theories. He broke into the couple's home back in 2022 in search of Pelosi herself. After finding she wasn't there,
he struck her husband Paul on the head with a hammer.
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Legendary musician Paul McCartney is worth a whopping 1 billion pounds. The former Beatle reached the milestone for the first time aged 81. According
to "The Sunday Times," McCartney is the U.K.'s first billionaire musician. The rock'n'roller has enjoyed a long career headlining the Glastonbury
Music Festival in 2022 and dropping a new Beatles song last November.
Now, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrapping up his state visit to China with a display of warmth for his host Xi Jinping. The two leaders embracing
as they bid one another farewell. It's a fitting end to the trip which aimed to show how close Russia and China have become. A joint statement
released Thursday saying relations between the two countries are, quote, experiencing the best period in their history.
Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group and founder of GZERO Media, and he joins us now. Ian, thank you so much for spending some
of your Friday evening with us. The Economist, I think, defined this as Putin meeting Brigg brother. There's a clear imbalance that we know in this
relationship. But when you look at other relationships that China has, perhaps this is, at this point in time, at least one of the most
straightforward,
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, EURASIA GROUP: It is improving. But you know, Julia, physically, Putin and Xi Jinping are expressing a lot more
affection for each other. But in terms of actual diplomatic relations, it's the Russian relationship with the North Koreans, the Russian relationship
with the Iranians that actually reflects strategic alliances, where there are military support that's being provided, and the Russians are providing
technology that's critical for those countries. China's not doing that.
And despite all of the very warm symbolism and very significant expansion of trade, the things that the Russians want -- most want from the Chinese,
they're not getting. They're not getting a blank check and support for fighting the war in Ukraine.
They are not getting an approval for the power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to be built to bring all of that gas that's stranded in Russia to China. The
Chinese are cutting it too hard of a deal, hasn't gotten done. And the Chinese are also not willing to cross any American sanctions in providing
financial transactions for Russian exporters.
So, you know, as much as this was a meeting that Putin really needed, Xi Jinping is not giving him close to what he actually wants.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's interesting. Although, they continue to buy energy supplies, as you said, which has been a crucial crux for the Russian
economy. Do you see any of that changing?
BREMMER: As the Indians do too, Julia, right?
CHATTERLEY: Admittedly.
BREMMER: And they're much closer to the United States. So, that's not really just a China thing.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, admittedly. Russia also in the midst of an offensive, of course, in Ukraine, recapturing formerly liberated regions in the in the
Kharkiv area. And that's, of course, before more U.S. weapons, much delayed weapons arrive.
Even once those weapons do arrive, do you see either nation in a position to adjust what's been now many months of effective stalemate? Does this
mark a change really of any kind?
BREMMER: I think there is a change, and it's not one I'm happy to talk to you about. It's that the Russians have taken more Ukrainian territory, over
100 square kilometers in the last couple weeks than they've taken in the previous six months. And they've also done more damage.
Tens of billions in all likelihood to Ukraine's critical infrastructure, especially, their electricity production capabilities, which is a real
problem when it starts getting colder in Ukraine, come winter. And it's -- I mean, thankfully the military support is getting there and the Ukrainians
have mobilized additional troops, but it is late. They are stretched. They need to train those troops. And they also don't have the air defense. And
the air defense doesn't appear to be available. It's certainly not in transit. It's not about to be approved.
And all of that means that the Russians right now, they have momentum in this war in a way that they really haven't since the beginning. And that is
making NATO allies increasingly deeply concerned, especially as the 75th anniversary of the NATO summit. The NATO alliance comes up in July in
Washington. Everyone's trying to find a way to make this a success. It doesn't feel that way right now, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think it precludes or precedes something where we see NATO troops, even if it's just training on the ground in Ukraine? Because
again, the sort of suggestion of that has been raised even this week once more.
BREMMER: It's quite something. That would have been considered a red line by pretty much any major NATO ally even a month ago. And now, you hear the
Americans, the Poles, the French, others talking about it explicitly. Now, they wouldn't be involved directly in fighting, but if they're on the
ground, that means that they can get killed by Russian drones, airstrikes and the rest.
[18:35:00]
And then what's going to happen in response? It's a very dangerous precedent to set, but it also shows a level of growing concern, and even
might I say desperation on the part of the Ukrainians.
I'm also seeing some NATO allies quietly talking about maybe providing air defense on the Polish border where they wouldn't be operating air defense
inside Ukraine, but potentially, they would be directly shooting at Russian missiles heading into Ukraine. That would be more directly being involved
in this war.
So, you know, inch by inch you continue to see what was a proxy war become a little closer to direct fighting between the Russians and NATO. On the
Russian side, Julia, I see more of that in terms of cyber-attacks by Russia on critical infrastructure in the West. That was considered a red line by
Biden back in 2021 when he met with Putin in Geneva. Well, I mean, you know, so much for that. I mean, with the war going on the way it is, the
Russians don't care so much about those red lines.
CHATTERLEY: You know, it's interesting to hear you talk about this because you gave a commencement speech at Columbia Univ. School of International
and Public Affairs where you teach a course. And I read the transcript of it. And one of the things you said in this was that this war, we need to
keep this front and center, even when perhaps and much of the attention has focused on what we've seen in Gaza. And it's not because it's white people
in Europe, it's for the loss of life, it's for the global implications of it.
We can talk about that. But first and foremost, it's a sensitive time to be doing a commencement speech at one of these U.S. universities. Just tell me
-- because there were protesters there. Just tell me how that went and what your sense of what you saw and felt there was.
BREMMER: Well, indeed, Columbia kicked this off. It was the epicenter.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
BREMMER: And I was very privileged to be invited. And of course, I wanted to, you know, sort of give my best for the student population, but I was
under no illusions that they were going to agree with everything I had to say. And there was absolutely chanting at the beginning of my speech.
And I said, look, I hear you. I'm with you. Give it a moment. And let's talk. And they gave it a moment. And they were willing to listen. And not a
single Columbia student turned their back. Not a single Columbia student left that commencement. At the end, they applauded. At the end, they all
got their diplomas. And it was as it was appropriate to be, a celebration for them.
And I think, you know, the media has made it seem if, you know, Columbia is full of Hamas supporters, and that's just ridiculous. I mean, there are a
lot of students that absolutely want the war in Gaza over and they see the Palestinians as the underdog that is -- whose civilian population is being
destroyed by a much more -- by a much stronger military power supported by the United States. But these are not people that support terrorism.
And even though I may not agree with everything they have to say, I think if you listen to them and respect them and treat them with honesty and
dignity, they will do the same with you. And I was honestly inspired and delighted to be able to show not just the Columbia community that I'm a
part of, but also people around the world that that's what's actually happening in Columbia right now, not the click bait, you know, sort of
quotes that you can take out of context from a couple of random wackos.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and actually that was an advice you gave to them in the speech as well, which was, you know, don't be afraid to change your mind
because the world's constantly changing, and listen to the other side and debate can be OK. I do recommend people read the speech because it was
really great. Ian, good to get your perspective as always.
BREMMER: Cheers. Yes.
CHATTERLEY: President and founder of Eurasia Group and founder, of course, of GZERO Media, too. Sir, we'll speak again soon. I hope. Have a great
weekend.
All right. Coming up on "First Move," how about a flight of fancy in a vehicle you can also take to the road? The CEO of Alef Aeronautics will
join us to discuss his vision for flying cars, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:42:08]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move." And back to the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR, "BACK TO THE FUTURE": Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, ACTOR, "BACK TO THE FUTURE": Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Now, just imagine a car that vertically takes off like that and then zips through the skies. Well, California-based startup Alef
Aeronautics touting its flying cars unique designs with eight propellers. The passenger compartment rotates and the sides of the car become wings as
it tilts towards forward flight. Alef says it can be the solution to congestion and even could be greener than typical electric vehicles.
Backed by venture capitalist Tim Draper, an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX, Alef says it's received 3 200 preorders for its $300,000 Model A.
with just a $150 deposit. OK. That was a lot of numbers.
Joining us now is Jim Dukhovny. He's CEO of Alef Aeronautics. Jim, fantastic to have you on the show. Do you know what stands out to me? Most
of the flying cars that we've discussed actually are sort of helicopters. This, at least in design, looks like a flying car.
JIM DUKHOVNY, CEO, ALEF AERONAUTICS: That's correct. And it's good that you showed some of the science fiction, especially the Hollywood movies,
because that was a blueprint. This is a unique product where people actually had the blueprint of their mind.
Our job was semi easy just to make it engineering. It's actually my co- founders, Constantine, Oleg and Paul, who created that, who took the blueprint from the Hollywood, from Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and created
something which looks and functions like a car and also flies exactly the same way as you expected.
CHATTERLEY: OK. So, what you have to explain is what we saw in -- and I like the way that you called it science fiction, because it does feel a
little bit like that. What we saw was the takeoff of the Model A and then it sort of turns on its side. But the cockpit swivels so that the driver is
still facing forward. I mean, this is pretty wild in terms of designs. How close are we to making this reality?
DUKHOVNY: So, we're about one and a half years ago closed. I mean, ago, not forward. So, we've been flying for some time, at least for over a year. As
you know, we've been granted FAA permission. That's the first car, like actual car, which has been granted permission to vertically take off and
fly. Not for commercial reasons, but we do fly that. So, we've been flying that for a long time now.
The tilting, what you call -- what it's called transition, the reason for it is because when you take off and you fly forward, which is, by the way,
very interesting use case when you can drive and you see some object in front of you or some problem you can vertically take off and fly over that.
But if you want to go long distance, you probably want to do the transition. The reason is if you vertically take off, your spin propeller
is so fast, you actually drain your battery, which means it's very not efficient and you're not going to have a good distance.
[18:45:00]
In order to have a good distance, you need good aeronautics, which means you need wings. When you tilt, when you do the transition, you look like a
biplane. You actually have two wings, top wing and a bottom wing, which makes it incredibly efficient, incredibly battery efficient and gives it
the long distance.
CHATTERLEY: OK. So, we're showing some video there of it meeting some kind of traffic jam or obstacle in the road and then it takes off, which I love.
Here's my problem. It's got a cruise speed, I believe, of 110 miles per hour while in the air, but only 25 to 35 miles per hour on the ground. And
it only weighs the same as a golf cart, I believe. So, I just worry about safety if it is involved in some kind of collision on the road. How do you
get around sort of all of these things? I think the practicalities, I guess I'm asking.
DUKHOVNY: Sure. So, on the ground, it's actually illegal because we don't want to crash test the car initially because you need the certification for
the car. So, it can drive much faster. It can go over 100 miles per hour. But legally, we're just limiting it to 25 to 35, right? Just because we
don't want to crash test and we're going to different classification.
Now, the safety, I love that you brought it up. Actually, so there is a flying safety and the ground safety. On the flying safety, so think about
the current airplanes. You have two engines, right? And you have wings to engines and sometimes propellers, right? In our case, we have eight
independent systems of propeller motor speed controller.
And what it does, it makes it at least four times more redundancy, four to 16 times more redundancy because we have also in their system redundancy.
And also, we have a ballistic parachutes, a full vehicle parachute, if anything like that. All the propellers and close. So, there is like level
of safety, which had never been seen before in the air.
On the ground when a car drives, it's actually also because it's a little bit longer and has like designed a little bit different. It uses incredibly
strong carbon fiber. It also is one of the safest vehicles. And when it flies, it's a longer argument for what we have time, but it's actually good
when you fly because you have more space to maneuver and more time to recover.
Think about when the collision happens, like two vehicles try to occupy the same space and usually damage happens when you hit the curb or a tree,
something where you don't have in the air and you have more time to recover, especially with redundancy on the systems and ballistic
parachutes.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, you just have to hope you don't hit the car or the tree before you try and take off because we can reconvene on that, I think on
that one in particular. I want to talk about cost, $300,000. Now, I will say I was so excited by the prospect of this that I did sign up. I'm one of
those on the list that paid the $150. I've got my certificate and everything, Jim. It's very exciting. I'm clearly hoping to be involved in
some kind of test ride at some point.
But talk to me about how -- there it is, look -- how quickly can you make these things once you get the certification? As you say, you're hoping to
make them, but, God, you're going to need a lot of money to produce these. Do you have enough money?
DUKHOVNY: Well, right now we do have enough money to start producing the first batch. I'm assuming since you signed up recently, you're not going to
be in the first batch, but we'll get -- hopefully get to you pretty soon.
So, we do have like on a first batch. Obviously when we go further, we're still fundraising. So, we'll need that. That being said, the cost being
$300,000 right now, it's because only few are produced by hand. And the production is not optimized. When the volume will increase and when
production will be optimized, we tend to go towards something under $35,000.
And the reasoning for it is very simple. The simplicity of the design, the car itself is simpler than Ford Focus or Toyota Corolla or anything like
that. But we need to get to their numbers. We need to get to their level of efficiency production, then it will be affordable. Right now, it's early
adopters like you, which is absolutely great. You would be one of the first people, hopefully in your town, maybe in your country to actually use it
and get all the benefits, but then the cost will shrink eventually. And hopefully, we'll get to people down the line.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. So, there's a priority list as well where you have to pay $1,500. And obviously, I'm going to need several years or lifetimes
actually to save the money to buy it. Anyway, Jim, but just give us a sense very quickly. To have 3,000, the wait list, to be in a position where
you've got 3,000 of these that are flying around, how long are we talking, five years, 10 years? What do you think?
DUKHOVNY: It completely depends on the amount of funding we get. It depends on the efficiency and it depends also on the legislation, and it actually
depends where you are.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
DUKHOVNY: For example, if you're in U.K., you will actually get it faster than if you're in U.S., because there's actually better legislation. For
example, Canada, U.K., Italy, and some other countries will get them faster because the legislation allows us today to actually deploy and legally
allowed to fly that. So, some countries will have advantage of other countries.
[18:50:00]
I would say I can't give exact timing, but they say you probably being maybe like in Europe or like in Canada, U.K., or Italy and anything, you
have a chance to get it pretty fast.
CHATTERLEY: Now, that's a promise. In the interim, given that I live in the United States, I'm going to frame that certificate and keep it close by.
Jim, keep us posted with development. Great to chat to you, sir. Thank you. Jim Duchovny there --
DUKHOVNY: Thank you so much, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: -- the CEO of Alef Aeronautics. Great to chat. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. Researchers are revealing more about the ways African elephants communicate. Some of them involve touch, while others,
well, let's say they rely more on smells. Lynda Kinkade has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Roaming through Zimbabwe's Jafuta Reserve, these giant grey mammals are greeting each other in more unusual
ways than one may expect, especially after they've been separated and reunite.
A recent study showed these elephants communicate with 20 types of gestures in combination with sounds, smells, touches, and even urination. These
modes of saying hello are complicated and sophisticated, according to the study in the journal Communications Biology.
Researchers watched their every move as they roamed free during the day and returned to their stables at night. They found the elephants communicate
through visual clues like flapping ears or raising a tail.
Audible clues like trumpets and roars, and even urination, defecation and secretions from a temporal gland.
DR. VESTA ELEUTERI, BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGIST: Which could be because of the excitement of seeing each other, but could also be because elephants rely
sensibly on olfaction. So, these secretions might actually convey some information to the greeting partner on who's that -- who they are, if
they're at a distance, on what's going on with them, how excited they are, or even their sexual state in the wild especially.
KINKADE (voice-over): Greetings can differ depending on their gender or if they're making eye contact. One involves the female turning away possibly
as a sign of submission. And they often use their trunks to touch the temporal gland where they gather information on one another's sexual and
emotional state. But mostly, they're happy to see each other
DR. ELEUTERI: For them, it's important to be together. And if they're not, they're super happy when they meet and they communicate that and they touch
each other. And it's a way to show that they're bonded to each other, a bit like we do with friends.
[18:55:00]
KINKADE (voice-over): With so many ways to communicate, research shows these powerful and intimidating animals can also be affectionate, gentle,
and loving.
DR. ELEUTERI: To me elephants are special because it reminds me of the better side of humans because they're so empathetic and good to each other
that they should be an example for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: We're elephant fans on this show. OK. And this just in, actor Dabney Coleman has died at the age of 92, according to his manager. He was
a prolific character actor, famous for often playing movie villains and boorish methodologists -- misogynists.
Coleman had dozens of movie and TV credits to his name. You even remember him for his iconic role as Franklin Hart, the sleazy boss in the 1980s film
"9 to 5." You can see him here alongside Dolly Parton. Or maybe in "Tootsie," seen here playing opposite Dustin Hoffman with his trademark
moustache.
His career spanned several decades, beginning in the 1960s. He even appeared in an episode of "Yellowstone" in 2019. Our thoughts with his
friends and family.
And that just wraps up the show. Thank you for joining us, and I'll see you next week. Have a wonderful weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
