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World Headlines; Saudi Under Pressure to Explain Journalist's Death; Paul Allen Dead at 65; First Self-Driving Taxis Takes Test Run During GITEX. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 16, 2018 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00] IVAN WATSON, CNN SHOW HOST: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Welcome to "News Stream." An investigation continues in Turkey, but sources

tell CNN it's just a question of time before the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is officially announced.

Mike Pompeo is in Riyadh, the U.S. Secretary of State visits top Saudi officials as questions remain over accountability for the death.

And the world's worst famine in a century, the U.N. says the war in Yemen has brought 8 million people to the brink of starvation.

We begin with the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the missing Saudi journalist who has not been seen alive since he entered

the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sys investigators are looking into toxic and painted over

material after a none-hour search of the Saudi consulate on Monday.

And a CNN diplomatic source says Turkish investigators will extend their search to the nearby consul residence later today. Meanwhile, U.S.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Riyadh meeting with the Saudi crown prince right now. Earlier, he met with King Salman. Pompeo's visit comes as

sources tell CNN the kingdom is prepared to admit Khashoggi died in an interrogation gone wrong.

Now, we've got all the angles of this complicated story covered right now. Abby Phillip is following developments from the White House, Sam Kiley is

in Riyadh, but we're going to start with Nic Robertson who is standing by outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where Khashoggi was last seen

alive.

Now Nic, you've been monitoring the Turkish search of the Saudi consulate, which I understand continued into the early predawn hours. And now there

are these plans to go and search the Saudi consul general's residence. What is Turkey's president saying about these searches?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He seems to be indicating as that he suspects or hints at Saudi officials or those who have been inside

the consulate recently, playing some sort of cat and mouse with his investigators because he is talking about toxic substance and the

apparently, the hiding of information or evidence, the painting over of materials.

It's not quite perhaps what he had been expecting as investigators to find when the doors of the consulate here were finally opened after 13 days.

They had nine hours there overnight with one of our cameramen (inaudible) was able to see blue and purple flashing light coming from one of the

upstairs windows where the investigators were in there.

It's not clear precisely what was happening but the forensic teams that went in we were told knew where to go and had the equipment we were told to

be able to detect DNA in those buildings. So what precisely as President Erdogan alluding to here did seem and we have heard from officials here

that there is a positive mood between Turkey and Saudi Arabia at the moment over this investigation it seems.

But the investigation now set to (inaudible) set to go to the consul general's house just a few minutes drive from here. And of course the

consul general's house is one of the buildings that some of those 15 men that Turkish officials alleged came here with into Turkey for the purpose

of doing something nefarious as they say, killing Jamala Khashoggi in the consulate.

They spent some of their time that afternoon when Jamal Khashoggi disappeared. And the consul general also pretty lightly to be a person of

interest to the investigators on what he saw that day may be very pertinent to their investigation.

And of course, the one piece that the investigators haven't been able to solve yet or certainly haven't announced yet is that they don't have Jamal

Khashoggi's body yet, and that obviously a big concern for the investigators, but far more of a worry and a concern for his family, Ivan.

WATSON: Nic, what do we make of reports that cleaners were seen going into the Saudi consulate ahead of the Turkish investigators?

[08:04:58] ROBERTSON: You know, it seemed very odd at the time that quite literally, minutes after it was announced that Saudi Arabia and Turkey had

agreed to allow the Turkish investigators inside the consulate, those cleaners showed up with buckets, mops, rags and were let in at the front

door.

Today, when we hear President Erdogan talk about toxic materials and things being painted over inside it rather paints that picture of, well, perhaps

there were toxic substances inside because the cleansers have come in. It's not the way, let's say, if the Turkish authorities had controlled this

property since the minute, if it was Turkish sovereign territory which it isn't. It is Saudi sovereign territory.

If they controlled the premises from the moment that they believed it was a crime scene, which was two weeks ago today, then it would seem unlikely

they would have allowed anyone to enter the premises and tamper with an area that they would consider a crime scene. So it does seem to fly in the

face of the logic that the investigators would want to see an untampered with crime scene to further their investigation.

This investigation that the Turkish officials have been hoping for was go with the cooperation of Saudi authorities. The cleaners and the president's

talk about toxic materials and things painted over today seems to indicate it's not going that way at all, Ivan.

WATSON: All right, well Nic, you and your team, please continue to keep an eye on this investigation there in front of the Saudi consulate. I'm going

to turn now to Riyadh where our senior international Sam Kiley is standing by. Sam, what are you your sources telling you about this possible

explanation that will come from the Saudi government explaining what happened to Jamal Khashoggi?

SAM KILEY, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ivan, they've been hinting at this since the weekend but CNN's Clarissa Ward and Tim Lister

flushed out from their sources greater detail, suggesting that this could have been a rendition that went wrong and one that was unsanctioned from

the top.

Now, it is Mike Pompeo who has been sent his president is visiting Riyadh right now. He is meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, the main force of power,

the central power in the land. Having met with his father, King Salman and Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. Now, if anybody was

expecting a public declaration from the United States that they were uncomfortable with what was going on, they were going to be bitterly

disappointed.

Remember that Pompeo is the United States top diplomat and he was using very diplomatic language at the very least when he said coming out of his

meeting with the king and he said much the same thing after his meeting with the foreign minister, that the secretary thanked the king for his

commitment to supporting a thorough transparent and timely investigation of Jamal Khashoggi's disappearance, and that was it.

Now, there maybe more substantive discussions going on right now with Mohammed bin Salman and he's due to have dinner with the crown prince

tonight, Ivan. What is being said behind closed doors, nobody could really accurately guess that, except that this has been highly problematic to the

relationship between the two very close allies and very problematic for the Trump administration specifically because of the close links between the

crown prince and the president's son-in-law. Nonetheless, I think that the statement such as it is or whenever it comes out is going to be a very

difficult sell internationally if the idea is in Trump's words that some rogue killers were involved in a very complex operation inside Saudi

sovereign territory in the biggest city in a foreign nation. That is not the sort of operation that would not normally at any rate have sanction

from the very top, Ivan.

WATSON: All right, Sam Kiley, covering the Saudi side of this from Riyadh. I'm going to turn now to Abby Phillip who is at the White House right now.

From your perspective, does it look like President Trump will continue standing by his ally, Saudi Arabia?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ivan, this is moving moment by moment as we speak and I think what is going to happen over the

next 24 hours in terms of what Pompeo learns in Saudi arabia and also what the Saudis come out and say in this report is going to play a big factor.

But we did have a huge clue about where President Trump's head is. He spoke to King Salman by phone yesterday morning and then immediately came out and

talked to reporters and gave an explanation, what seemed to be to a lot of people to be a way out for the Saudis, saying that it could have been rogue

killers, that maybe the Saudi crown prince and the Saudi king had absolutely no idea that this was going on.

[08:10:00] The president seemed to want to give them an opportunity to explain this situation away. We also know based on what our sources are

telling us and what the president has said publicly, that he is reluctant to go too far in punishing the Saudis if they are in fact responsible for

Jamal Kkashoggi's killing.

And the president is concerned about economic deals that he says the Saudis have made with the United States, but he's also concerned more generally

about preserving this relationship. But it is one of those situations we're hearing in the Whit House the president's mind can change about this pretty

much at any time. It is going to be very important what Pompeo reorpts back to him as a result of these meetings.

Pompeo has the added benefit of being so close to President Trump, they have a mutual trust. That if he comes back and says we can't continue to

stand by them, I think that could be a really important factor. But it is clear President Trump is reluctant. He is not trying to be too aggressive

in this situation because I think he's concerned more about some long-term consequences for what he thinks are the economic consequences with the

United States.

WATSON: All right, and Abby, I do need to point out that just in the last two hours, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marco Rubio

has vowed that U.S.-Saudi relations will be altered by the mystery and possible death, suspected death, killing of this journalist, Jamal

Khashoggi. Thank you to all of our reporters in Washington, Istanbul and Riyadh for your updates on this important story.

Now, as Saudi Arabia has been facing criticism for leading one side of a devastating war in neighboring Yemen. The U.N. says that country is on the

brink of the worst famine the world has seen in a century, a famine that did not have to happen. Seventeen million people do not have dependable

food supplies and 8 million are on the brink of starvation.

According to the U.N. and millions more do not have access to safe drinking water, which the U.N. worries could cause a new wave of cholera, which can

be deadly. CNN's Nima Elbagir reports on the aftermath of the latest Saudi strike on a key port, and we must warn you that some of these pictures

you're about to see are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another day in Yemen's bloody war. This exclusive footage was sent to CNN by Houthi

rebel backed Ansarullah media, showing the aftermath of a direct strike by Saudi-led coalition plane on Saturday.

Local officials say 19 men, women and children were killed as they attempted to flee the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. The site of an

existential struggle between the U.S.-backed coalition and the Tehran- backed Houthi rebels. As ever in war, the victims are too often innocence caught in the crossfire.

ELBAGIR: (on -camera): As scrutiny grows around allegations of the Saudi crown prince's involvement in the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal

Khashoggi, criticism is growing around (inaudible) as he's known, other great recklessness. The three-year long war in Yemen.

(ELBAGIR) (voice-over): Today the World Food Program told CNN the number of Yemenis facing famine could rise to nearly 12 million, making it the

worse famine for a century and one that is entirely manmade. Then fighting around Hodeida's port in the incessant Saudi-like bombardment aid agency

say has created a perfect storm, one that leaves the party to the conflict and their international backers with blood on their hands.

In the U.S., the drum beat of criticism among lawmakers is growing across the political aisle.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: One of the strong things that we could do is not only stop military sales, not only put sanctions on Saudi Arabia,

but most importantly, get out of this terrible, terrible war in Yemen led by the Saudis.,

ELBAGIR: In spite of the president's avowed support for Saudi Arabia, including rather large arm sales.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESDIENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would not be in favor of stopping a country from spending $110 billion, which is an all-time record.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Here in Yemen, they are hoping all the talk will finally result in action. Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: You can take action to help the people of Yemen, just head to cnn.com /impact. That is where you can find a list of vetted charities

getting food and aid to these people on the brink of starvation.

And now I would like to take you to a CNN exclusive. We're going to go inside the demilitarized zone that's intended to protect civilians in the

besieged Syrian province of Idlib.

[08:14:58] Some rebel fighters have left the region after Russia and Turkey negotiated a buffer zone there in September. But others reportedly remain

even as Monday's deadline to withdraw passed and the situation remains tensed as Arwa Damon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite their smiles and giggles at our camera, these kids have never really known

the innocence of childhood. Sham (ph) says she still has nightmares of the day she was wounded by shrapnel. Her two cousins are orphans. Their parents

killed in an airstrike years ago. Sham's (ph) father, a rebel fighter himself says they weren't living, they were just waiting to die. But now he

says he has hope.

DAMON (on-camera): So, as you can see this is basically the demilitarized zone, the belt of pink. And within it there are only meant to be Turkish

observation posts. The Russians, the Iranians and the Syrian regime are meant to be taking up their positions well on the outside.

DAMON (voice-over): After years of cease fires and de-escalation zones that failed to hold, the Russia-Turkey negotiated demilitarized zone is

perhaps an agreement that at least in the short-term stands a chance.

The main difference between this and other agreements are Turkey's assurances. Saaif al-Raaad (ph), spokesman for one of the main rebel

groups, the National Liberation Front explains. The Turks said that they will protect this area, protect us against any threat.

Rebel fighters can keep their light weapons within the zone and we're shown what are some of the last heavy weapons, multiple grand (ph) rocket

launchers, howitzers that are being pulled out of Syria's DMZ.

DAMON (on-camera): Commanders that we have been talking to here have been very quick to emphasize that this is nearly a withdrawal of heavy weaponry.

And while everybody hopes that this agreement will hold. There is a serious reality and the fact that they have to ready themselves for the eventuality

that it does not.

DAMON (voice-over): But that, al-Raaad (ph says would result in an ocean of blood if this agreement doesn't hold. It's far from a long term solution

to Syria's tragic bloody recent history, but it's meant at the very least to allow for a respite from the bombings and violence that has torn so many

families apart, create a sense of stability and perhaps, just perhaps, allow for a viable political solution. Arwa Damon, CNN, in the

demilitarized zone, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: OK, coming up on "News Stream," as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets the Saudi leadership, we talk to a former U.S. ambassador to

Saudi Arabia abo Washington's response to the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Stay with CNN.

[08:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to "News Stream" broadcasting live from Hong Kong as you can see the view there over Victoria Harbor. Now, U.S. Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo is in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where he left -- he has just left a meeting with Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The

meeting came as sources tell CNN the kingdom is preparing to admit that missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi died in an interrogation that went

wrong.

Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd, two weeks ago. Now, to discuss developments, we are joined by

Robert Jordan, the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George W. Bush. Thank you for joining me here ambassador. Now, you were

once Washington's man in Riyadh. What would your preferred course of action be given that we're hearing that this journalist, a U.S. resident, could

have actually been killed during what was supposed to be cursory visit to a Saudi consulate?

ROBERT JORDAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SAUDI ARABIA: Well the first thing we need is an ambassador in Riyadh. We haven had one for two years.

If I were ambassador, if there were an ambassador there, that ambassador should be in the face of the king and the crown prince immediately saying

what in the world is going on? You owe us and the rest of the world an explanation.

What in the world possess you to think that you could abduct and American resident, frankly, an employee of an American company on foreign soil,

torture him and then admit that you mistakenly killed him? Why would you send 15 officials on two official airplanes with Saudi government bone saw

in your luggage if this was simply to be an interrogation or an extraction? None of this makes sense. Give us the true story here and don't start

making things up to the public.

WATSON: And ambassador I might also note that there is not current U.S. ambassador to Turkey either in the midst of this diplomatic flat (ph) and

alleged murder as well. I want to play a sound bite from Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and what he

says about the future of relations between Washington and Riyadh. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: And this is going to alter the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia for the foreseeable future. What

those specific measures are obviously is going to be up for debate, but they will be strong and they will be meaningful. Congress will act. We'll

see what the administration does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So, my question to you ambassador, can Congress push the White House to make changes, significant changes in its relationship with a long

time ally Saudi Arabia?

JODAN: Congress can indeed do that if they act forcefully enough. They have to approve arm sales. They can put those arm sales on hold. They have

already triggered the global Magnitsky Act, which requires the administration to investigate the possible extra judicial killing of

Khashoggi.

They can then insist on sanctions. They also have the power of the purse in terms of the operation of the war in Yemen. Our support there is leading to

arguable war crimes. It is leading to death and destruction and the worst humanitarian episode in the world today. So, yes, there are a number of

things Congress can do if they actually have the resolve.

WATSON: But let me ask you ambassador, do you really expect this relationship to change after this alleged killing when Saudi Arabian

citizens were 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11th attacks when you were Washington's man in Riyadh and we didn't really see a

dramatic, to the best of our knowledge, change in this long standing alliance.

JORDAN: That is actually where I'll disagree with you. Over the course of my time in Riyadh, we saw a substantial change. The Saudis, when I arrived

there a month after 9/11, were in complete denial, a denial that they had an extremism problem. Even the current king denied to me that Saudis were

involved in the hijacking. He said it was an Israeli plot. So, we took some time. We got close to them. We were demanding and we were forceful, and we

saw a significant change.

[08:24:58] So by the time of the middle of 2003, the Saudis finally run the same page with us in fighting Al Qaeda, in fighting terrorism, and over the

next two or three years after that they actually expelled Al Qaeda from the kingdom.

They shut down charities that were contributing to terrorism. So I think we have the ability to deal with them, to deal with them forcefully,

recognizing they are an important ally, but also recognizing that they have to be an ally on the proper terms.

WATSON: And what are kind of the shared interests of these two countries that have had this rocky relationship that you worked to help maintain?

JORDAN: We certainly don't have common values, but I do think we have shared interest in fighting terrorism, in maintaining credibility in the

Muslim world, and in certainly maintaining a stable price of oil, maintaining a front that will counter Iran's malignant efforts in the

region, maintaining relationships that have large economic ties, both from military sales but also other kinds of economic ties. So there are many

common interests that are very important to us and to them.

WATSON: And this is a little bit away from Saudi Arabia, but Turkey has been a big player in this drama and it's perhaps ironic because Recep

Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, his government has arrested many, many journalists and yet it has rushed to the defense of a possibly

allegedly murdered journalist. What are your thoughts about how quickly he has been able to turn kind of his position also from one that was at odds

with the Trump administration just a matter of days ago?

JORDAN: Well, I think he's played this pretty cleverly. And I will say that he has also probably playing both sides against each other here. As

authoritarian and thuggish as Erdogan is, I don't think we've seen the kind of killing and dismemberment of an American resident that we have seen here

with Khashoggi.

But Erdogan certainly has a lot to answer for, as well. We need to have the same kind of tough talks with him. He is still technically a NATO ally and

I think we have to make sure that he understands that brings responsibilities with it.

WATSON: And perhaps it might help to have an ambassador like yourself either in Ankara or in Riyadh or both. Ambassador Robert Jordan from

Dallas, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me.

All right, the United Nations is adding its voice to the growing chorus of condemnation over missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi. What the U.N. has to

say, that's coming up straight ahead.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

IVAN WATSON, CNN HOST: Welcome back to "News Stream." I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, and these are your world headlines.

Britain's Prince Harry and his pregnant wife, Meghan, are receiving a warm welcome on their trip to Australia. Thousands of well wishers cheered them

on in Sydney on their first official day of the tour. Australia's governor general gave the royal couple their first baby gift, a toy kangaroo and a

pair of tiny boots.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has been meeting with her cabinet ahead of a make or break Brexit summit with European Union leaders Wednesday. The

next 48 hours will be critical for the survival of May's Chequers plan. She is working to find a position palatable to her European counterparts and

members of her own party.

And now to Yemen where the U.N. says the worst famine in a century could happen if the ongoing conflict doesn't stop. One reason, a key port that

brings in aid has become the center of the fighting. The agency says 18 million people don't know where their next meal is coming from. Eight

million of them are on the brink of famine.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has just wrapped up his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. Earlier, Pompeo met with

King Salman. His visit comes as pressure increases on Saudi Arabia to reveal exactly what happened to a journalist who entered the Saudi

consulate in Instanbul two weeks ago and never came out.

United Nations high commissioner for human rights says the onus is on Saudi Arabia to tell the world what happened to Jamal Khashoggi.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUPERT COLVILLE, SPOKESMAN, UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Under international law, both a forced disappearance and an extra-

judicial killing are very serious crimes, and immunity should not be used to impede investigations into what happened and who is responsible. Two

weeks is a very long time for the probable scene of a crime not to have been subjected to a full forensic investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: OK. Now to get some analysis on this, I'm going to turn to CNN's chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, who is live in the

Turkish capital, Ankara. Good to see you, Clarissa.

You know, there was this angry rhetoric in earlier days of this drama between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, between the two governments. That seems to

have toned down quite a bit. Does it look like they're finding some way out of this mess? And by extension, does it look to you that Washington is

trying to sort out some kind of resolution with Riyadh as well?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, Ivan, if you're just looking at the sort of body language or what has been

unsaid in the last few days, there does seem to have been a definite shift.

In terms of what was unsaid, well, last week we were seeing Turkish authorities with the sort of steady drip feed of leaks about what happened

to Jamal Khashoggi, to certain (ph) journalist, those leaks have largely stopped now.

There has also been cooperation between the Saudis and the Turks. The Saudis finally allowing the Turks to go in with investigators, with

forensics team into the consulate. So that seemingly shift.

Then you also look at Washington. We had heard some pretty tough talk initially from President Trump about how this was a disgusting crime and we

needed to get to the bottom of it. Then yesterday, he seemed very willing to accept this idea that it was potentially rogue killers.

And now, of course, we've just seen these images of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the country's highest ranked diplomat, sitting down, smiling,

looking seemingly relaxes and indeed fairly congenial with the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. We're told they met for between 30 and 45

minutes.

That's not a very long meeting. One can only assume that during the private part of that meeting that Secretary of State Pompeo delivered a stern

message to the Saudi authorities that they need to get in front of the story once and for all, come out with their version of event.

But there is a sense, as you said, Ivan, that they want to kind of move on and move past this, that the political will is there to try to help

facilitate the Saudis in moving past this. Whether they will be able to do that though, that's another story.

WATSON: Now, I mean, how do you explain away the potential murder of a journalist in your consulate? I just don't know how you do that.

[08:34:55] You know, and as a reaction to that, there is growing list of guests who are pulling out of this upcoming investment conference in Saudi

Arabia, the so called "Davos in the desert."

Most recently, three major European banks pulling out. Do you think that Saudi Arabia's relations with the world could be changed by this or is it

going to blow over eventually?

WARD: This is certainly a seminal moment. We have seen the crown prince on occasions before, being accused by some of overreaching, whether it's the

war in Yemen, whether it's his pack (ph) with Canada, whether it's the arrest of female driver activist, there have been occasions -- or whether

it was indeed the apparent kidnapping of the Lebanese prime minister.

There have been times when he has been criticized and sometimes even quite harshly by others in the international community. This somehow does feel

like a more pivotal moment.

At the same time, Ivan, it is important to remember for our viewers that in the background, particularly where the U.S. is concerned, this is a vital

strategic relationship and it has been under many administrations, not just the Trump administration.

The Trump administration in particular though has decided that Iran is enemy of state number one. If you want to fight Iran, they will argue you

need the help of Saudi. If you want to fight the war on terror, they will argue you need the help of Saudi.

If you want to create jobs, you will need the money of Saudi in the form of $110 billion weapon sales, making a lot of reasons that the U.S. certainly

could be interested in trying to sweep this one under the carpet and move past it.

WATSON: Certainly something that President Trump has repeated again and again in recent days. Clarissa Ward live from Ankara, great to see and

thank you very much for the analysis.

Now, as I mentioned, the list of business leaders dropping out of Saudi Arabia's upcoming investors forum, that's growing even longer, because

we've learned that the CEOs of HSBC, Credit Suisse, and Standard Chartered, they will not be going.

Meanwhile, the U.S. president is hinting the treasury secretary may not be going, either. Mr. Trump says Steve Mnuchin has until Friday to decide.

A former Google China executive, Kai-Fu Lee, will no longer participate in the Saudi summit either, a spokesperson for his investment fund told CNN.

Meanwhile, Google's CEO is saying that he is still considering whether to launch a censored search engine in China. Sundar Pichai saying, "it's very

early. We don't know whether we could or would do this." He said if the project code named "Dragonfly" were to launch, sensors would block less

than one percent of users' searchers.

And one of the giants in the tech world has died. Paul Allen, the co- founder of Microsoft, succumbed to complications relating to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on Monday. Allen was also known for his charitable work, donating

more than $2 billion to various causes as well as founding several organizations. He also owned two pro-sports teams, the Portland Trail

Blazers in the NBA and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. Paul Allen was 65.

There is much more to come on "News Stream" after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:05] WATSON: Welcome back. From robots (ph) to artificial intelligence, the Middle East's largest tech event, GITEX, is being held in

Dubai. And today, the city's first self-driving taxi is taking a test run. CNN's Samuel Burke is in Dubai. What are you seeing there?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Ivan, it's the biggest tech show in the Middle East, and certainly the biggest trend

that we're seeing this year, 5G, artificial intelligence, and of course self-driving cars.

But one thing that really caught my attention is the fact that the government of Dubai has the goal of making all journeys or rather 25

percent of all journeys self-driving by 2030.

That to me sounds like it could be a plan for unemployment, so I want to ask the chief executive officer of the Public Transportation Authority

here, Ahmed Bahrozyan. What are you going to do with all those jobs then? What's going to happen with those people? Isn't that a plan for

unemployment?

AHMED BAHROZYAN, CEO, ROADS AND TRANSPORT AUTHORITY: Well, actually, I mean, you're kind of right, because obviously the job that is under

scrutiny as we move toward self-driving is the driver, because the driver after we -- you know, technology matures, they wont be needed to drive a

car.

As a government, our job would be advancing technology but also employing these drivers into other jobs in our organizations and we do have plan to

achieve that.

BURKE: You're pretty blunt about that goal, that is the goal, 25 percent of ride automated by 2030.

BAHROZYAN: Yes. And we've not only just announced that as a number. We are actually starting to plan for it. So we're looking at all the different

modes of transport. We're banking more on government-managed, if you like, transportation systems.

So public transport before private cars. So we are focusing on (INAUDIBLE) driving system in the west (ph) so we do have a head start, but also buses,

and of course the taxi that you see right behind you.

BURKE: And that is something that is unique to Dubai. Go around the world and look at tech, and the government here is the one plowing in the money

and really trying to guide the community. Whereas in the United States, it is usually reverse. It's the tech community may be guiding the government.

In the case, this is kind of the equivalent of a yellow cab in New York, you have this classic taxi here in Dubai.

But what is unique? As you're investing your money, what do you have to look for? The climate is very different here. So, when you have self-

driving car like this one, what makes it different from other self-driving cars?

BAHROZYAN: As you mentioned, Dubai has a unique environment. Every city has its own uniqueness, if you like. But in our case, the weather, for

example, is a factor. The technologies that are used by most self-driving cars are pretty similar. Radars, you know, different sensors --

BURKE: But the heat and sand.

BAHROZYAN: The heat and sand are issues. So we've had cases where we tested, you know, for example, shuttle buses in Dubai. Has been tried and

tested in other cities in the world but the dust, for example, sometimes with the humidity get stuck into the sensors and it doesn't act as it

should.

BURKE: Thank you very much. And Ivan, I think that is something that we don't focus on enough when we are talking about self-driving cars. You talk

about the sensors, the people, but of course one of the biggest factors out here from so many experts is that weather, the dust and sand here in Dubai,

the heat. They make a huge difference to whether these cars work or don't work, Ivan.

WATSONS: If that happens, I will miss some of the fascinating conversations I've had with taxi drivers in Dubai, but thanks very much for

that update. Samuel Burke in Dubai.

That is "News Stream." I'm Ivan Watson, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Amanda Davies is coming up next.

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[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

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