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U.S., Ukrainian Leaders Attended D-Day Commemoration in Normandy, France; Far-Right Parties Expected to Win the E.U. Parliamentary Polls and Gain More Seats; Biden Warns Freedom Is Under Attack By Russia; Taiwan Emerges As Global Hub For Chipmakers. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired June 07, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[02:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong.
Just ahead. Calls for an independent investigation in Gaza after dozens of people were killed in an Israeli strike at a U.N. school where many Palestinians were seeking shelter.
Remembering the bravery and sacrifice 80 years ago, world leaders warn that democracy is still at risk.
And as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi works to form his new government, we'll look at the role one group in particular may have played denying him an outright majority.
There are growing calls for an investigation into a deadly Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school in central Gaza, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had been seeking shelter.
The attack killed dozens of people, including children and wounded many more. The U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees in Gaza says 6,000 people were sheltering at the school at the time the bombs hit.
The E.U.'s top diplomat is calling for an independent investigation into the incident. A CNN analysis found U.S.-made munitions were used to carry out Thursday's strike. Fragments of at least two American small-diameter bombs were identified at the scene. More on that in a moment.
Well Israel says it has identified nine of the roughly 30 alleged Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants, it says, were the targets of the strike, but has offered no evidence so far. The spokesman for the U.N. chief condemned the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESMAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL; It's just another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying, that Palestinian men, women and children who are just trying to survive, who are being forced to move around in sort of a death circle around Gaza, trying to find safety or pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The Biden administration says Israel has an obligation to minimize the potential harm to civilians.
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Even if the intent is what the IDF has said publicly, that they were trying to use a precision strike just to target 20 to 30 militants, if you have seen 14 children die in that strike, that shows that something went wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following the latest developments from Jerusalem. And a warning, his report includes graphic content.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohamed Farajala is still picking through the rubble of the airstrike that killed his brother. And alongside the blood-spattered walls, he is still finding pieces of flesh. He believes they are his brother's.
May his soul rest in peace, he says. I wish I died instead. There is no hope in this life at all.
Mahmoud is the second brother Mohamed has lost during the war. His third brother is in the hospital in critical condition, his skull fractured in the blast.
Mohamed is not the only one sifting through the rubble. The Gaza health ministry says at least 40 people were killed when the Israeli military struck this building overnight. But this is no ordinary building. It's a U.N. school, converted, like so many others, into a shelter for thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.
Blood-stained mattresses now filling the space where dozens were sleeping at the moment of impact. Fragments of an American-made GBU-39 bomb identified in the wreckage, according to munitions experts who reviewed this footage. Same type of munition used in the deadly strike in Rafah last month that killed 45 people.
The Israeli military says it carried out a precision and intelligence- based strike, targeting 20 to 30 Palestinian militants, who it says were sheltering in the school and preparing attacks on Israeli troops. An Israeli military spokesman said the IDF was unaware of any civilian casualties.
Hospital records tell a different story. Nine women and 14 children as young as four years old are among the dead delivered to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. [02:05:09]
Those who survived also accuse Israel of targeting civilians.
Netanyahu is killing the civilians. He is not killing militants, Shaber Abu Dahr says. It's innocent people asleep in an UNRWA facility. What did children and the elderly do? What did they do to him?
The school is one of at least 180 UNRWA buildings to be hit since the beginning of the war, according to that U.N. agency. Attacking, targeting or using U.N. buildings for military purposes are a blatant disregard of international humanitarian law, wrote UNRWA chief Phillippe Lazzarini.
But the devastation goes beyond U.N. facilities. Scenes like this have been playing out all week in central Gaza amid a clear uptick in Israeli airstrikes. Bloodied and covered in soot, survivors and victims alike have been arriving at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital at a rising clip.
As one wounded child cries for her mother, another arrives at the morgue to say goodbye to his. Mama is going to visit grandpa, his father tells his son. Don't cry, you're a man, he says, but he is the one who breaks down.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, meanwhile, there's no word yet from Hamas about the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza. Well, that's according to diplomats in Qatar, who say Hamas is still studying it. When U.S. President Joe Biden was pressed on whether Israel supports the initiative, he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly stated he is. In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Mr. Biden also said he believes he has the ear of the Israeli leader.
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JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think he's listening to me. They were going to go into Rafah full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move with full force. They haven't done that. And what they've done is they've agreed to a significant agreement that if in fact Hamas accepts it, and look, it's being backed by Egypt, being backed by the Saudis, being backed by the almost the whole Arab world. We'll see. This is a very difficult time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, powerful remembrances and poignant warnings on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, when tens of thousands of allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, terming the tide against Nazi Germany in World War II.
(VIDEO PLAYING) The flyover, part of the tributes to members of the greatest generation. The French President bestowed France's highest honor on the D-Day veterans who risked everything to help his country in its fight for freedom, while the U.S. President warned we cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come.
Joe Biden drew a clear line connecting Europe's fight against fascism all those decades ago to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Now we have to ask ourselves, will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist? Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy? We stand together. My answer is yes, and only can be yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
In the hours ahead, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with President Biden before speaking to the French National Assembly. More now on D-Day from CNN's Nic Robertson.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Heroes 80 years ago, soldiers in their hearts again today. Honored by not one, but two presidents.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: And you are back here today at home, if I may say.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Survivors of an era and a battle unparalleled in history, telling their story, a cautionary tale.
JOHN DENNETT, BRITISH VETERAN: When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.
[02:10:00]
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The sea's calmer, the stinging buzz of bullets gone, so too the life-ending explosions. This June 6th, more than a carefully crafted commemoration of the 156,000 Allied troops, 5,000 ships, 13,000 aircraft in the D-Day landings.
A warning, dangers are back on the horizon.
KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: Three nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): U.S. President Joe Biden also connecting then and now. Today, Vladimir Putin's Russia, the threat.
BIDEN: The United States and NATO and a coalition of more than 50 countries standing strong with Ukraine. We will not walk away. Because if we do, Ukraine will be subjugated and will not end there. Ukraine's neighbors will be threatened. All of Europe will be threatened. ROBERTSON (voice-over): Ukraine's President, not Russia's, invited
this year, a break with tradition and an instant hit with the vets.
Yet even here, celebrating unity, Europe's emerging divisions on show. British paratroopers re-enacting D-Day airdrops, getting passport checks not needed before Brexit.
For these young performers, a new world, not bounded by the post-World War II rules-based order the vets watching them fought for. This 80th anniversary, their baton passed.
UNKNOWN: American World War II veterans, you stand relieved. We have the watch.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): A watch that has a price. The account for this generation now settled.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well, earlier, CNN's Wolf Blitzer spoke to the U.S. Defense Secretary, who was also in Normandy. And questioned whether U.S. support for Ukraine is as ironclad as President Biden has indicated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Ukraine matters, Wolf, as you know. Not just for Ukraine, Ukraine's purposes alone, not for Europe alone. It matters to us and it matters to the entire globe. So we have to make sure that Putin doesn't have the ability to trample Ukraine. Because as the President said, there's a good chance, almost certain, that Putin won't stop there. He will continue to move forward in other acts of aggression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: The Defense Chief went on to say that despite the U.S. delay in delivering the latest military aid package, he sees strong support for Ukraine on both sides of the aisle.
COREN: Well Voting is underway and will continue for the next three days for the next European Union Parliament. You're looking at live pictures where voting is underway in Ireland. It's the world's second- largest democratic election after India's, with nearly 400 million people from 27 countries eligible to vote for 720 candidates. The election comes as the EU grapples with major issues such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, immigration, climate change and security. The polls close on Sunday and results are expected Monday.
A coalition of two centrist parties is expected to retain the majority in the E.U. Parliament. But candidates for some far right-wing groups could gain more power and eventually change the political direction of the bloc for the next five years. CNN's Clare Sebastian has more on that.
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UNKNOWN (through translator): We will act by expelling delinquents, criminals and foreign Islamists who pose a threat to national security.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From threats of mass expulsions in France to openly Islamophobic campaign material. This from far-right Portuguese party, Shega, asking, which Europe do you want?
Emboldened by winning elections at home, Europe's far right is pushing the boundaries as it eyes big gains in E.U. Parliament elections.
CATHERINE FIESCHI, VISITING FELLOW, EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE: They've tried in different places and in different ways to kind of test the waters and trying to be bolder if they can, right? To see how closely they can flirt with really inflammatory rhetoric.
[02:15:03]
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): With just weeks to go, Germany's Alternative for Deutschland crossed a line after its lead candidate claimed the Nazi paramilitary group the SS were, quote, "not all criminals".
France's Marine Le Pen kicking the party out of her far right coalition in the EU Parliament.
SEBASTIAN: So it's really a sort of litmus test as to how far right is too far.
FIESCHI: Yes, that's right. Because, you know, these parties really live or die by their own domestic public opinions.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): For Hungary's voters, culture wars are playing well. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party has put up billboards showing opposition leaders carrying gender, among other things, on a dinner plate to Brussels.
Not clear yet how that will play out for France, where candidate Marion Marechal is promising to, quote, preserve our families, our values in the face of wokeism.
Or Italy. Pregnant men and woke madness. No thank you, reads this post from far right Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
FIESCHI: For them, it's an upending of the natural order, right, which is, you know, sort of the heart of ultra-conservative ideology. And if that doesn't work, there's always the war in Ukraine.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Prime Minister Orban's party in Hungary holding a massive peace rally in recent days.
Free, neutral, safe, one slogan from Austria's lead far right candidate, calling for an end to, quote, warmongering by Europe.
Here, though, divisions in Europe's far right are stark. Italy's Giorgia Meloni, a key supporter of aid for Ukraine.
And so, in what could be Europe's most right-wing parliament ever, alliances may be blurred.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: It was supposed to be an easy win for India's Narendra Modi. So why is he having to scramble to build a new political coalition? What's behind the surprising election outcome? Ahead on CNN.
Plus, Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail, this time as a convicted felon. We'll have more on that soon.
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COREN: With his New York hush money trial behind him, U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail for the first time as a convicted felon. At his town hall in the battleground state of Arizona, Trump hammered his rival, U.S. President Joe Biden, on immigration. And he delivered a lengthy response to his successor's recent executive action limiting asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. The former president also touted his fundraising numbers before the crowd and mentioned his conviction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just went through a rigged trial in New York with a highly conflicted, and I mean highly conflicted judge, where there was no crime. It was made up, fabricated stuff.
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COREN; Trump will head to California next for more fundraising.
Critical testimony on day four of Hunter Biden's federal gun trial. Hunter's sister-in-law turned girlfriend, Haley Biden, was the star witness on Thursday. And though she says she did not actually see him using at the time, Haley Biden believes Hunter was on drugs in October of 2018. This is the same month prosecutors claim Hunter bought and owned a firearm while addicted to substance.
In the video here, you see Haley Biden throwing the gun away in a trash can at a grocery store. She says she feared for his safety and the safety of her children if they were to find the weapon.
Well days after India's election, the country is waiting to see what its new government will look like. While it's clear Narendra Modi will serve a third consecutive term as Prime Minister, he's lost his aura of invincibility with a closer than expected vote.
Modi's BJP party won far more seats in parliament than any other party, but lost dozens of seats and no longer has an outright majority. Now the Prime Minister will have to rely on coalition partners who do not share his hardline Hindu nationalist agenda. Well, among those who made a surprising turn away from the BJP are Dalits, formerly known as Untouchables, low-caste Hindus in the heartland who rejected Mr. Modi this time round.
Well joining me to talk more about this from Delhi is Karishma Mehrotra. She is the South Asia correspondent for the "Washington Post". Karishma, great to have you with us. Explain to us, why did the Dalits, low-caste voters, reject the BJP in this election?
KARISHMA MEHROTRA, SOUTH ASIA EDITOR, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, so one of the most surprising aspects of this election is the way that the lowest caste voters voted the Dalits in one of the most important states in India, Uttar Pradesh. And keep in mind, these are some of the same voters in India's Hindi heartland that had propelled Modi to power over the past two terms.
And one of the biggest reasons that Dalits seem to not vote for the BJP this time is because of fears that the BJP would change the constitution and remove the constitutional guarantees for affirmative action that are given to their caste. That's one of the main reasons. And it's an interesting reason because the constitution for many decades now has not played such a prominent role in elections in India, but this time it has.
The second reason is along class lines, the fact that jobs, unemployment, inflation, pure economic reasons are sort of widening in India and broadening. And that is also another big reason that voters, and especially Dalit voters, did not vote for Modi this time and were unable to give Modi the governing majority that he's used to in this country.
COREN: You speak of those fears that the BJP and Modi would have amended the constitution if they had got the majority, but discontent had been rumbling for some time. You know, jobs, inflation, as you mentioned, that widening economic chasm. I mean, were these not issues that Modi was aware of? Did he think that religious polarization would sort of override any of those concerns?
MEHROTRA: Yeah, I'm sure that the party was aware of these concerns. And in fact, many analysts say that that's why he doubled down on religious rhetoric in this election.
We heard him make very polarizing statements this time, especially in the middle of the election, as things perhaps seemed to shift away from their direction. So, for example, he made the claim that it's not his party that wants to change the constitution, it's the opposition that wants to change the constitution and remove resources from the Hindus and give them to the Muslims.
Now, he later said he wasn't referring to Muslims, but he clearly made a very polarizing turn. So, in fact, he probably noticed that this was happening and he doubled down on religious appeals. But unfortunately, I think that economic focus and the focus on caste is the thing that ended up being some of the biggest weaknesses for the BJP this time.
COREN: Karishma, I believe that in an interview on May 16th, Modi was asked a question about how inequality was reaching historic extremes. And he responded by saying, what should I do? Should everybody be poor that would seem to me as someone extremely out of touch with his electorate?
[02:24:58]
MEHROTRA: Yeah, I mean, I think interviews, we have to understand that the way that Modi responds in interviews, he puts on different faces for different people and for different times. So, the way he might speak to a global audience or to President Joe Biden might be very different than how he speaks to TV anchor, how he speaks during rallies.
But I think it's true that the extent to which unemployment and the widening economic gulf in this country has mattered to voters was a surprise, not just maybe to the BJP, but even to many journalists. I mean, everyone had sort of heard these grumblings, and we knew that the grumblings exist.
But let's keep in mind that the confidence that the BJP has had and the way that the country has become used to Modi as a serial winner. I mean, he's never not won a governing majority in his time in his 23 political career. And his cocktail of Hindu nationalism, of development, of the global standing, it has worked when it's a national election. It has worked.
And so, I think it was a shock to everyone that the economic matters, the class and caste matters in this country really sort of made a larger mark than we had thought. And again, he tried with more and more religious rhetoric, but it didn't end up working in the end.
COREN: Karishma Mehrotra, we'll have to leave it there, but a fascinating conversation. Thank you for joining us from Delhi.
MEHROTRA: Thank you. Thank you so much.
COREN: Well still to come. Tributes and stark reminders eight decades after D-Day with an additional guest, the Ukrainian president. But one key player was not invited.
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COREN: World leaders have been gathering in Normandy, France, to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of service members who took part in the D-Day landings of June 6, 1944. Well, Thursday marked the 80th anniversary of the invasion that helped change the course of World War II. During the commemorations, the US president vowed not to abandon Ukraine.
Several hours from now, he will meet with the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the French National Assembly later in the day. And Joe Biden will discuss democracy at the site of an American assault on a German battery. [02:30:09]
Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to the D-Day ceremonies in France, but world leaders are feeling his presence and responding his -- to his latest threats over the war in Ukraine.
CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As the U.S. and its allies celebrate the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy, 80 years ago, President Joe Biden warning freedom in Europe and the world are under attack again this time by Russia.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The struggle between dictatorship and freedom is unending. Here in Europe, we see one stark example. Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.
PLEITGEN: While Russian leader Vladimir Putin was once again, not invited to the commemoration, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on hand, likening Ukraine struggle to fend off Russia's invasion to the Allies war against Nazi Germany.
As Russia intensifies its attacks against Ukraine, often using heavy aerial bombs, the Biden administration has given Kyiv the go-ahead to hit the Russians back in Russian territory using some U.S. supplied- weapons like the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
An angry Putin saying NATO risks a full-on war with Russia, but that Moscow might also give arms to U.S. adversaries around the world.
Why would we not have the right to supply our weapons of the same class to those regions of the world where there will be strikes on the sensitive facilities of those countries that are doing this against Russia?
But President Biden, making clear, Ukraine can only use U.S. supplied- weapons to hit Russian territory close to the front lines, the president said in an interview with ABC.
BIDEN: We're not talking about giving weapons to strike Moscow, to strike the Kremlin, to strike against -- just across the border where they're receiving significant fire from conventional weapons.
PLEITGEN: Kremlin-controlled media irate, mocking Biden's comments.
OLGA SKABEEVA, RUSSIAN TV HOST (through translator): Every time you have to make reference to age, this, of course, is not ageism on our part, and not mockery, just speech. It seems to me that we should already talk about cruelty to the elderly.
PLEITGEN: And while Putin claims he would work with any U.S. administration after the presidential election in November, the Russian leader repeating unsubstantiated claims by Donald Trump that recent hush money trial the former president just lost was politically motivated.
For the rest of the world, it is evidenced that prosecution of Trump in court over allegations related to events that happened years ago without any direct proof, Putin said, this is purely using the court system for political purposes.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: The memories of D-Day, very much alive for the veterans he survived to tell the story. One of them is Jake Larson, 101-year-old former U.S. service member, who stormed the Omaha Beach in Normandy. He remembers navigating through minefields under heavy fire and seeing some of his friends die.
But he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, he doesn't consider himself a hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE LARSON, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: I don't think I was a hero. I was just like anybody else. We were all in this together. Every one of us were worst prepared to give our life to kick Hitler's ass out of Europe.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Will you come back again?
LARSON: Oh, God, yes. I'd come back again just to honor all those that gave their life so that I could be here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: What an incredible man. Well, Larson, who also met U.S. President Joe Biden shares his stories and social media, and has hundreds of thousands of followers.
After the break, the battle for A.I. supremacy is heating up and all eyes are on one tech company Nvidia. CNN brings you the latest from this year's premier tech show.
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[02:36:40]
COREN: The Boeing Starliner docked safely with the International Space Station on Thursday after a series of issues. There were helium leaks and a temporary loss of thrusters during the spacecraft's journey.
It delayed docking for more than an hour but NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were able to float into the orbiting laboratory to cheers. Flight control team continues to monitor the spaceship after the issues. Wilmore and Williams will be using the Starliner in eight days when they returned to earth.
A famous landmark in China is poetically described as the Milky Way flying down. It's a beautiful waterfall, but in reality, it may not be the heavenly wonder it's cracked up to be. Video on social media appears to show the cascade is supplied artificially with a pipe. It's in central Hunan province and is hailed as the tallest in China, 314 meters. Park officials say the pipe was added during the dry season to give the waterfall a little boost.
A.I. chip giant Nvidia is the center of attention at a trade show in Taiwan this week called Computex. Taiwan is also having its moment in the sun. There's more chip giant's boost investment there.
CNN's Will Ripley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Hollywood welcome in Taiwan for a trend setting tech superstar. From throwing the first pitch, to visiting his favorite food stands, the travels of Taiwanese American Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and one of the worlds richest men, dominating the island's news and social media, even more than China's massive military drills last month, just before Huang began his highly anticipated trip ahead of this major tech conference in Taipei.
REPORTER: How do you feel about the tensions in the region? Does that -- is that a cause for concern?
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: I don't -- I don't think it's either. We've been -- we've been -- we've been doing technology and doing engineering and conducting business here in Taiwan for almost three decades. And so, we're going to continue to do that. We're investing in Taiwan.
Our next generation platform is called Rubin.
RIPLEY: All of Nvidia's next-generation artificial intelligence chips made in Taiwan. The island democracy, the world leader in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. One reason Nvidia and its competition are investing big here.
AMD CEO and Jensen Huang's cousin, Lisa Su, brushing off concerns about Beijing's military moves.
The bigger picture in the region with China, both the chipmakers in China and also the military drills.
LISA SU, CEO, AMD: Our product goes through every part of the globe. Taiwan in particular is a very, very important to the semiconductor ecosystem. We do a lot of our manufacturing here.
I think the bottom line from -- from our perspective is it's really important to have a global ecosystem.
RIPLEY: A remarkably fragile ecosystem, as we all learned from supply chain disruptions during COVID, pushing nations like Japan, Germany, and the U.S. to develop their own semiconductor hubs, the kind that took Taiwan decades and billions of dollars to create.
Can you update us on how efforts are going to replicate some of that success in the United States?
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, one of several tech titans trying to take chip-making back to the U.S., a huge hurdle, banking on billions in government subsidies.
[02:40:10]
PAT GELSINGER, CEO, INTEL: So we've clearly seen a manufacturing resurgence as a direct result, I believe of the Chips Act. Our projects are on track. You know, what we're doing across are for manufacturing sites are on track and we're proud of the momentum that we're seeing for that. But we also have great respect for the ecosystem here in Taiwan.
But the world needs more geographically ballast and resilient supply chains, and I think that's starting to take shape.
RIPLEY: A steady supply of chips crucial to creating the next generation of A.I. powered tech, tons of it on display here at Computex in Taipei.
Drawing some of the biggest names in tech and tens of thousands to the Taiwanese capital.
A.I. BELL HOP: Have you explored the hotel's amenities?
RIPLEY: I haven't. What's your favorite?
A.I. BELL HOP: Definitely the rooftop pool. It's the perfect spot to relax after a long day of conferencing.
RIPLEY: This is my slightly awkward conversation with an A.I. bell hop, perhaps the future of hospitality.
Maybe they can go to the rooftop pool.
A.I. BELL HOP: Ha-ha, good idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still prefer a real human though.
RIPLEY: What's wild, too, is a year from now, this will seem like ancient history when we're talking again.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. I mean, year ago was ChatGPT. It was just text. Now we have voice, animation. It's running locally. It's not in the cloud anymore. So it's advancing really quickly.
RIPLEY: None of this possible without advanced chips from Taiwan. Some call the island's vital role in global tech, its silicon shield, making it too important to attack.
Here, geopolitical tensions seem far away, even with the Chinese military making moves miles from the Taiwanese coast.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: And before we go, a toddler had a close encounter with the giraffe at a drive-thru safari in the U.S. set of Texas. Two-year-old at Paisley Toten was feeding the hungry animal from the back of a truck when it grabbed Paisley by the shirt you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to feed the giraffe. Feed him. Look, feed him. Come here. Look, oh, look, oh, oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Paisley's father says the giraffe didn't intend to grab his little girl, but the incident did scare him. Paisley's mom caught her without injury. Afterwards, her parents bought her a stuffed giraffe at the gift shop saying, quote, she deserved it. She certainly did.
Well, thanks so much for joining us. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.
"WORLD SPORT" is next and then I'll be back in 15 minutes time with more CNN NEWSROOM. See you then.
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[02:45:00]
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