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Netanyahu Fails to Form Coalition Government; China Trade Issue4sv Examined
Aired May 31, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 HOST: You know our last show of the season would land on a Friday, because it`s going to be awesome. Thank you for watching this
last day in May. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10, a 10-mintue show that gives down the middle explanations of world events.
On our April 11th program, which is in our archives at cnn10.com, we told you how Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had won a fifth-term as his
nation`s leader. That would make him the longest-serving prime minister in Israel`s history. Now, though, the nation is preparing for another round
of elections in September. What happened?
In order to be prime minister, a politician needs the support of at least 61 seats in Israel`s Knesset, its parliament. After April`s election, it
appeared that Prime Minister Netanyahu would have the support of 65 seats. But not of all these seats were in the Israeli leader`s political party.
There`s usually a coalition, a group of political parties, working together that form the Knesset majority. This time, though, that didn`t happen. A
coalition didn`t come together. There was a deadlock among Israeli party leaders. So it`ll once again be in the hands of Israel`s voters.
New elections will be held in the hopes of establishing a coalition that works together in the Knesset. What happens in Israeli is important to
nations around the world. Israel is America`s closest ally in the Middle East, and Israel`s government is crucial to peace negotiations between
Israelis and Palestinians.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, JERUSALEM: The situation in Israel now is simply unprecedented. Never before in the history of the country has a prime
minister failed to form a government after an election, but that`s exactly what happened here. Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared to have a clear path
to a right-wing coalition after the April elections, failed to put together a government, with its coalition partners deadlocked.
He had been in tough negotiations before, and he`d always found a way out, but this time, he couldn`t do it. Netanyahu essentially had two options
here: Go to the president and say he`s unable to form a government and risk someone else being given the chance perhaps of becoming prime minister, or
legislate new elections. And that`s the option he went with.
It means he remains in charge of his Likud Party in charge of the Knesset and in charge of the country`s prime minister. Those elections are
scheduled for September 17th. Israel has never had two national elections within months of each other like this, but that`s where this country is
headed.
These results, of course, go beyond internal Israeli politics. President Donald Trump`s team was ready to roll out part of its long-awaited peace
plan. This may throw those plans into turmoil. On top of that, Netanyahu faces criminal investigations are potential charges. Those aren`t going
away, with a hearing scheduled for October. All of that now hangs in the balance, with Israel heading for elections in three in a half months,
again.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Two leaders on opposite sides of a trade dispute and opposite sides of the Pacific are getting ready to meet next month at the G20. That
stands for Group of 20. It`s where the leaders of 20 of the world`s largest economies meet to discuss issues like international trade. That`s
especially significant to the United States and China. For months, they`ve been trying to reach a new trade agreement, but they haven`t so far, and
they`ve imposed back and forth tariffs, taxes, on imports of one another`s goods.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It`s being called a cold war in tech: The White House essentially blacklisting the second-
largest smart phone maker in the world, China`s crown jewel of high technology, Huawei, a symbol of the Chinese government`s strategy to
dominate high tech.
It opens a new front in President Trump`s trade war with China, barring Huawei from buying or licensing American parts, with ripple effects through
global supply chains. American chipmakers can no longer sell to the Chinese without U.S. government licenses. Google has suspended updates for
Android phones made by Huawei.
The U.S. says isolating Huawei is a matter of national security. China says it is a victim of U.S. bullying. Now the Commerce Department issued
limited exemptions for Huawei products, but the new tough strategy of confronting China remains in place overall. But the NASDAQ is still up
this year an impressive amount.
And even with tariffs and counter-tariffs, the NASDAQ is still higher than it was when the trade war began last summer, a testament to the resilience
of stocks and, at the same time, a reminder of the risk to the down side. Now President Trump wants China to play fair.
He wants China to stop stealing intellectual property from American companies and unfairly subsidizing its strategic industries. And he has
more leverage to use. The White House preparing even more tariffs, affecting American products made in China, on everything from iPhones to
sneakers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Ten Second Trivia. In the 1630s, Holland saw a market boom and bust centered on what flower: Rose, Tulip, Lotus or Poppy? Holland`s 17th
century frenzy was called tulip craze or tulip mania. Here`s how that happened. Tulips from Turkey were introduced to the Dutch in the 1500s.
They were popular and in high demand, so the price shot up. Rare color patterns of tulips drove that price even higher, so much so that people
started mortgaging their homes and estates to get bulbs that they hope to then resell at a profit. But the flower fades. In 1637, some began to
doubt that they really would make more money on tulips, and they started selling them.
Others followed. The tulip craze suddenly came crashing down. Entire fortunes were lost, and the event stands a reminder today about the risk of
speculative investments. What better place to discuss this then at the world`s largest flower action, a place not far from Amsterdam, where tens
of millions of plants are traded everyday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN: Outside the city, a floral ballet (ph) is underway. Tourists are drawn to Aalsmeer Flower Auction, the world`s biggest.
Today`s trade grew from tulip mania, the 17th century economic bubble, when tulip bulbs sold for more than a year`s wages. The Dutch fervor for
flowers hasn`t waned a bit. The master florist Florian Seyd is the co- founder of Wunderkammer. He invites me to his home to share his passion for pedals.
FLORIAN SEYD, FLORIST & CO-FOUNDER, THE WUNDERKAMMER: Tulips came from Turkey, and they were grown mostly in palaces. And then a few bulbs came
to the Netherlands, and they started to multiply. And I think that`s when the big love from the Dutch for flowers started, I guess.
QUEST: As a business journalist, I`ve always found tulip mania to be fascinating.
SEYD: It became really a trendy, trendy item, and everybody just wanted to have this. And because there were not that many, people paid crazy amounts
for one single bulb. And I guess, until now (ph), it`s - now you can`t understand it, or you can`t comprehend, that it went that way, but I guess,
in those days, it was just -
QUEST: Well, it`s now a (ph) phenomenon, isn`t it, to describe anything that gets out of control in pricing.
SEYD: The most (ph) luxurious thing you could`ve mentioned to have, I guess. And if you had that tulip in your garden, you were, like, the talk
of the town.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Most people use video games for entertainment. A Colorado high school student recently used Just Dance to devise a new method of
conducting spinal surgery. The idea is that motion tracking technology could help a computer anticipate how a spine moves during surgery.
The surgeon would then wear an augmented reality headset to see the images and do the work. This still needs testing, but it won the student $75,000
at a science fair. So the idea has backbone. Even if it`s a little mind- bending and spine-bending, it`s spellbinding. He was able to spinal tap (inaudible) vertebrae (ph) virtual reality with radiology to fuse a
radiological solution, even if he had to bend over backwards to make it work.
I`m Carl Azuz on the loose for CNN 10. Thank you for our biggest year ever with our biggest audience ever. Thank you for your e-mails, tweets,
visits, feedback and requests. Have a wonderful summer ahead, and please join us again when CNN 10 returns on August 12th.
END
