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UAE, U.N. Chief Call For Investigation Of Aid Convoy Deaths; Next Hour: Hearing To Set Classified Documents Trial Date; Iranians Vote In First Elections Since Mass Protests. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired March 01, 2024 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, this was the scene in Moscow where crowds are still gathered. The late Russian opposition leader
Alexei Navalny has been buried in the last hour. His funeral took place earlier today.
It is 5 pm there. It's 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. You are watching, Connect the World. Your other headlines this hour. Israel facing
calls for an investigation from the United Nations and United Arab Emirates after at least 112 people died when Israeli troops fired around an aid
convoy yesterday.
We're just an hour away from hearing - a hearing to decide the court date for Donald Trump's classified documents trial. It could have far-reaching
consequences for the former U.S. president. Iran goes to the polls today in the first election since massive anti-government protests in 2022.
Parliamentary elections come as distrust of the political system there grows.
And the market in New York will open in about 30 minutes from now. Futures indicating a mixed and pretty flat open. More on that as we get it. We are
watching an incredible show of bravery in Moscow, as thousands of mourners gathered to say goodbye to Alexei Navalny. You can see a line of people en
route to the cemetery.
The late opposition leader was laid to rest around an hour ago, exactly two weeks after his death at an Arctic penal colony. We are hearing reports of
at least one arrest at the funeral earlier according to monitoring group OVD-Info which says 22 People were also detained when they tried to leave
their homes.
CNN has experienced signal issues out of Moscow today. Our signal was blocked earlier during Alexei Navalny's funeral. Matthew Chance, however,
has been on the scene all morning and was at the church where the funeral was held. This is his report filed a little earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFIARS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, the signal has been very dodgy here. They put an umbrella blanket it seems over
the whole area. We couldn't get a signal out. But we're here now. And you can see the line of people stretches into the desk - distance. Thousands of
Russians have come out to pay their last respects to Alexei Navalny, even though you've just said that the funeral in the church which is a short
distance from here, is now over.
You can see, people are still coming along, carrying flowers and messages to lay at the casket or inside the church where Alexei Navalny has just
been taken away. Do any of you guys speak English? You speak English? No? Do you speak English?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello.
CHANCE: Hi. Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I speak English.
CHANCE: Oh, you do? Hi. Thank you, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
CHANCE: Why have you come here today with so many other Russians to pay your respects?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess, it's symbolic value for people who don't agree with everything that's happening in Russia.
CHANCE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't be specific because we can say like, they're bad words. You know.
CHANCE: It's risky for you to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's certainly risky.
CHANCE: Why take the risk?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because that's my stance on this. And I believe that's to show solidarity that you are not the one who has to deal with this.
CHANCE: All right, sir thank you very much. I've got - I've got Polina over here as well. The fact that Alexei Navalny is dead. What - has that united
people here? What does it - what does it say about the state of the country, Russia?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say that it united some people but at the same time, it's quite sad. It's obviously horrible said. It upsets me obviously,
and other people here in this group. But I think it's kind of a uniting thing since a lot of people come - came here to pay their last goodbyes.
CHANCE: What does it say about your country, about Russia?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are obviously some people who are I guess I against the whole thing that's happening right now. I can say it obviously
but there are some people who have good hearts basically I think like.
[09:05:00]
CHANCE: Thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Well John, there you have it. A lot of people here coming out. They're very careful
about what they say, because obviously it can be risky. But speaking your mind out publicly in this way.
Remember hundreds of Russians who were simply putting flowers at makeshift memorials across the country over the past couple of weeks have been
detained by the authorities. And so people know that they're taking a risk here. But look, so many thousands of people have come out, despite the very
intense security operation that's been underway here.
Riot police have been put in place all along the route to sort of hold people back. But at the moment, we haven't seen any crackdown yet by the
authorities. The authorities are still allowing these thousands of people to file past, to go to this church, which is right - right behind us there.
And to pay the respects to Russia's most prominent opposition figure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Matthew Chance in Moscow. CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward, also following developments for us, and it's good to have
you Clarissa. Matthew's report there highlighting the security operation in place. How have police interacted with mourners today?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's been - there's been some pleasant degree of surprise, actually, that there
haven't been more arrests, that this hasn't devolved into what we've seen in the past sort of brutal crackdown, if you will.
It's possible that the Kremlin understands that they need to allow people to let off some steam and to mourn this figure who did mean a lot to very
many thousands of people and the fact that you've seen all these thousands of thousands of people taking to the streets, risking everything in order
to pay their last respects, I think says a lot about the kind of opposition leader that Alexei Navalny was.
We heard from his team that as his coffin was lowered into the ground Becky, they actually played the song by Frank Sinatra "My Way." That is
pure Alexei Navalny. And that is a big part, I think of what his appeal was to many people. That compared to Putin, who was this sort of distant,
lofty, formal, isolated figure, he was down to earth. He was humorous, he was hip, he was cool.
He had this great love story with his wife, Yulia Navalnaya and perhaps most importantly, he understood how to reach out to people, how to expose
corruption, how to talk to a younger generation. And you're seeing that borne out today, I think, with these huge numbers of people who have come
out onto the streets to pay their last respects to him, Becky.
ANDERSON: For many, a very emotional day today there. Clarissa, it's good to have you. Thank you.
Well, Israel facing calls for an investigation and retribution as the death toll rises from Thursday's aid convoy tragedy in Gaza. The Health Ministry
there says at least 112 people died when Israeli troops opened fire around an aid convoys surrounded by hungry Palestinians. This Al Jazeera video
from the scene shows gunfire and tracer bullets traveling left and right.
You can also hear gunfire but it does not show who fired the shots. Paula Hancocks joins me here in the studio. 24 hours ago, we were just getting
some of the first images into CNN, you and I were responding reacting to what was then breaking news. 24 hours on and with this new video, does this
add in any way to our understanding of exactly what happened here?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, what this video does at this point, Becky, is shows some of the panic that happened at that point. It
also reminds us that this happened in the dark, so that would have added to the panic. Now we do see the tracer fire, we see the gunfire, we can hear
it but we can't see who is actually firing.
And now we have heard from eyewitnesses and from one journalist on the ground who was there at the time saying it was the Israeli military that
fired, that caused this panic, that caused the aid trucks to try and escape and flee the area and hence the sheer number of deaths that we saw.
But we're hearing from the Israeli side as well, that their fire was only later once that stampede had started. Now of course the video itself does
show and you can see the silhouettes of people trying to get away from the source of this fire. It doesn't show us exactly who carried out that firing
and this is why we're hearing this increasing call now around the world for an independent investigation.
[09:10:00]
It started with the United Nations. We've heard from France as well saying that they want an independent investigation calling on Israel saying they
have a legal obligation under international law to ensure safe distribution of this aid for the people. Also, we have a comment from - from the UAE
saying they're calling for an independent and transparent investigation and the punishment of those responsible and have warned of a catastrophic and
dangerous humanitarian situation - situation.
So apart from who was to blame, what happened when it happened, it is really focusing everyone's attention once again, as it should, on the dire
situation of the people there.
ANDERSON: And let's just remind ourselves just how bad things are.
HANCOCKS: You can see from the vision that is given to us by the Israeli military of the sheer swarm of people towards these eight trucks. There are
38 trucks that came in. The fact that they weren't so desperate to get close enough to be able to get any food. That - what we've heard from -
from those on the ground after this tragedy took place.
We've seen that they say all they wanted was a loaf of bread, all they wanted was some flour, that their children are dying of hunger. And they
were shot at and they were run over by these aid trucks. We hear this time and time again from those on the ground. The U.N. itself admitting that
it's been a week since they were able to get any kind of humanitarian aid to Northern Gaza.
Now we know down in Rafah in the south just next to where these - these crossings are and these aid trucks are coming through, there is a dire
situation, you can imagine how much harder it is in northern Gaza. We have the U.S. in particular followed by other countries now calling on Israel to
open up other crossings.
There are crossings in - that go into Gaza that are much closer to Northern Gaza, that if they were open, they would be able to get the aid to these
areas much easier.
ANDERSON: And countries dropping aid because they can't get it into the borders. So countries now dropping aid, suggesting that they will get these
marine opportunities open as well. So this is aid coming in from the sea, aid coming in from the air because frankly, there is so little aid coming
in through these borders as you rightly say.
There are a number of borders, so close to Gaza City, that are just not accessible at this point. Thank you. It's the very latest. Of course, this
is one of the main stories this week and CNN's meanwhile, in the Middle East Newsletter. In today's edition, we profiled Palestinian photographer
Motaz Azaiza, who risked his life to chronicle what is happening in Gaza on social media for 108 days.
He has now left Gaza and you'll hear from him about why he made that decision and what he witnessed in Gaza in the next hour of Connect the
World. Well, anytime now we are expecting to see Donald Trump arriving court for his latest legal hearing. This is the scene outside the federal
courthouse in Fort Pierce in Florida.
Court convenes next hour for a hearing that could have a far reaching impact on Trump's court calendar heading into the November election. The
judge in the former president's classified documents case is expected to set a trial date and push it back from its currently scheduled start in
May.
On Thursday, the Special Counsel in Trump's election subversion case asked for the trial in Florida to start in early July. Trump's lawyers proposed
an August stop. Paula Reid is outside the courthouse in Fort Pierce. And, Paula, if you will Trump attending this hearing today. What do you expect -
expect that we might hear and if you can just pick apart some of this scheduled for us so that our viewers can sort of get their arms around it,
if you will.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So the big question today is, will former President Trump's trial in the classified documents
case, there he faces 40 criminal charges related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents. Will that go later this summer? Will it go before
the November 2024 election?
So in less than an hour, this courthouse right behind me. The judge Aileen Cannon has asked both sides of this case Special Counsel Jack Smith, and
lawyers for the former president to come prepared to talk about the schedule because right now this case is on the calendar for May 20. But it
was never expected to stay there. This is an incredibly complicated case. It's taking the judge a long time to go through all the discovery here.
So she asked both sides to propose when they would be willing to go to trial. Jack Smith said early July. Now the Trump lawyers insist Trump
should not be inside a courtroom while he is campaigning for the presidency.
[09:15:00]
They say that's a violation of his first amendment right to political speech. But this case is going to go, they said maybe early August. But
there's a little bit of gamesmanship going on here. Because we know that Trump lawyers want to push both of these federal cases until after the
election, because if he is re-elected, he can make both of those federal cases go away.
But if they can take up some time on the calendar, with this case, at least being penciled in, that makes it harder for other judges and other cases to
get their cases in before the November election. And then they could always come back and say, look, this is complicated. We need to delay it again. So
you know, the charges at the heart of this case are so complicated.
Today, the biggest issue is timing. Will this case be moved? If so, when? And does the judge signal that that is a final date? Or would she be open
to moving it again? Because right now it's unclear if the former president will face either one of his federal criminal trials before the election.
The only case right now that we expect he will face is a state level case in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney's trial for hush money
payments ahead of the 2016 election. That starts on March 25.
ANDERSON: Good to have you Paula. Thank you. Well, as Paula was reporting that Trump faces a series of legal battles, of course, and later today, a
big push by the former president's lawyers to dismiss the district attorney prosecuting him in Georgia. Coming up, we'll sum up their arguments and
look at what a win could mean for Donald Trump.
Plus Iranian voters cast their ballots today in the parliamentary elections in that country. CNN is in Tehran with a live report for you. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Happening today in Fulton County, Georgia, closing arguments are expected to happen in order to decide whether or not to disqualify District
Attorney Fani Willis and the special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the case against Donald Trump who has alleged co-conspirators in the Georgia
election subversion case.
Well over the past two weeks, defense attorneys have claimed and tried to prove that Willis - that Willis benefited financially from a relationship
with Wade. CNN's Zachary Cohen joins us live from Atlanta with more on this story. And Zachary, just explain what's going on here and the wider
significance of this case.
ZACHARY COHEN CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, for the last two weeks we have been talking about the prosecutor who
charged Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election. But we've been talking about the prosecutor because
Donald Trump is trying to get them disqualified and kicked off the case.
[09:20:00]
And sources tell me that there is a genuine concern inside the District Attorney's office that if Fani Willis, the District Attorney in Fulton
County is disqualified, this entire criminal case could effectively go away. So really, the stakes of today's hearing couldn't be higher. This is
finally a time where we couldn't see a path where resolution of this matter of disqualification be finally settled.
And we could either go to a place where this case does is put to the side and it goes away effectively, or it's back on track and Fani Willis says
that if she survives this case, she wants to go to trial in August and we talked a little bit earlier about how many different legal issues and
different potential questions there are around Donald Trump's legal future. And this is probably the biggest one.
We don't know whether or not this case could survive past today, or if it could be ramping up to go to trial here in the near future.
ANDERSON: Good to have you, sir. Thank you. Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. And in
Bangladesh, the death toll has risen to at least 46 people killed and dozens more injured after a massive blaze engulfed a six storey building in
Dhaka, late on Thursday. Fire crews used cranes to rescue people. The Prime Minister says the lack of safety exits is partly to blame.
Investigators believe the fire started inside a restaurant and it may have been sparked by a faulty stove or a gas leak. In Haiti, heavy gunfire was
reported across multiple areas of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, at least four people were killed at a police station and shootings near the airport
forced flight cancellations. Haiti continues to be gripped by a wave of unrest and gang violence.
And a critical warning and as large wildfires in Texas continue to burn, strong wind gusts and high temperatures this weekend could make the
situation even more dangerous. The Smokehouse Creek Fire is now the state's largest on record. That has burned more than 400,000 hectares of land and
it's only 5% contained.
Well, Iran has been holding its parliamentary elections today. It's the first election for Iranians since massive anti-government protests rocked
the country in 2022. Well, the election comes as the Iranians grapple with an ailing economy and growing distrust of the political system. CNN's Fred
Pleitgen joins us now from Tehran and Fred, we should start with what the mood is on the ground, if you will.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky. Well, I would say that the mood is one that is probably a little less
enthusiastic than the parliamentary elections that we last covered in 2020. Right now I'm standing in front of the mains polling stations here in
Tehran inside the (inaudible) mosque. And I would say that the crowds of people, the amount of people that we've seen going in and casting their
ballots is less than we saw last time in 2020.
Now, the polling station and the other polling stations are supposed to close in about 10 minutes. And you'll recall that in the past, they've
stayed open longer because more people wanted to cast their ballots. I'm not sure whether or not that is going to happen this time. Now, of course,
one of the things that the leadership of this country has said the Supreme Leader certainly said that this morning when he cast his own ballot is he
wants many people to participate in this election.
It's unclear whether or not that is going to happen. I think that we're probably going to get the numbers of voter participation, voter turnout,
about an hour, maybe two hours after the polling stations closed. So that's definitely going to be something that this country's leadership is going to
take a look at. But one of the things that we have seen, even on the streets of Tehran, we've been in some events as well is that it's mostly
political conservatives, who I think right now are going to the polls who feel more inclined to go and vote certainly.
So the moderates that we've been speaking to on the street say that they don't wants to vote, that they are not going to vote this time, because
they don't believe that they are being represented adequately. It's been interesting to see in the run up to this election, there have, of course,
been a lot of candidates who have been disqualified.
At the same time, the government here says that 15,000, more than 15,000 candidates are actually participating and are running for the 250 seat or
290 seats in Iranian parliament. So they say that's more than ever before. Nevertheless, you're absolutely right. With all the problems that this
country has right now, a lot of them of course, induced by sanctions, but then also with a massive inflation that Iran is facing, certainly a lot of
people here want answers from their politicians going forward, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, question is will they get it? And I - you know, which begs the question, despite voter turnout, likely to be higher than some had
expected going into this. Just how significant are these elections? Ultimately, what are the consequences of this vote?
[09:25:00]
PLEITGEN: It's - that's - that's a very good question. It's very difficult to see right now, I think one of the things that you will probably see
after this election is that the conservatives here in this country will certainly strengthen their grip on power here, certainly in the run up to
what we've seen so far.
We saw very little in the way of events by moderate candidates, we saw some events, though, by conservative candidates. So it looks as though it could
be the case that conservatives could get stronger here in this country and whether or not that means anything for political consequences, and
especially as far as economic policies are concerned.
But of course, also, as far as Iran's foreign policy and the policy in the region, are concerned as well. Whether or not there's going to be any real
consequences is definitely something that is - that is very unclear at this point in time. And certainly also something where there do seem to be, at
least among younger voters, the belief that they don't believe that there's going to be massive change coming after these elections, or at least change
that would see the economy of this country are getting a lot better.
It is something that some conservative candidates have promised that they said they want to tackle some of the economic issues here in this country.
Whether or not they're going to manage to do that is of course very much still up in the air.
The other big thing, by the way, that people here are looking towards as well as not just the parliamentary election here, but one that also could
have massive consequences on their life is, of course, the U.S. presidential election coming up and whether or not potentially Donald Trump
could be the president again, because Iranians of course, remember all too well, what happened in the Trump administration from 2016 until 2020, when
of course you had those massive sanctions and the U.S. and Iran on the brink of war.
So there is a certain concern here that things between the U.S. and Iran could deteriorate even further if there is another Trump presidency,
something that people looking at. The parliamentary elections. I think, right now, if anything will strengthen the leadership that the country
currently has, and whether or not that means big changes for the electorate and for the people in this country right now is very difficult to see.
Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen on the ground. Fred, thank you. You're watching Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. Just ahead in Moscow and around
the world, people have been saying goodbye to Alexei Navalny. We'll look at his life and his legacy, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR BIN SULTAN AL OLAMA, MINISTER OF STATE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, UAE: There is a lot of hype. There's a lot of drama. There's a lot of
things that are being said when AI is being discussed. Authentic ignorance is when someone is flooded with so much information and most of it negative
about artificial intelligence. Typically, the situations I do not want to touch it. I don't want to go anywhere near it.
The first thing that hits people when you see that anything's artificial, usually feel like it's bad. Artificial sweetener, artificial meat,
artificial intelligence. So I think there's a lot of stigma. We need to move beyond the ignorance to actually understand what this technology can
do and cannot do and how we can utilize it in the best way possible.
ANDERSON: How are you utilizing it here in the UAE briefly?
AL OLAMA: So two things. First, most government provisions in the UAE went through a one year program with the University of Oxford. 400 government
officials have gone through that program already. So they are our AI experts.
ANDERSON: 400?
AL OLAMA: 400. The second is we've trained over 180,000 people from the public to understand what AI is, to take them into AI literacy to be able
to understand how to utilize it in the best way possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:30:00]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN.
ANDERSON: And trading begins on Wall Street. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. It is 6:30 in the evening here. You're watching
Connect the World. 9:30 in New York, we'll be bringing you the very latest from the New York Stock Exchange. Shortly first, though, back to what is
our main story today and an outpouring of anger and defiance as Alexei Navalny was laid to rest earlier.
The funeral of the late Russian opposition leader took place at a church in Moscow amid tight security and the fear of arrests. Well, hundreds of
mourners who had come to pay their respects to Vladimir Putin's most high profile critic chanted Navalny's name as his body arrived at the church. He
died two weeks ago at a Russian penal colony.
His loved ones hold the Russian president responsible. A senior aide to Navalny has said she hopes his death will lead to the collapse of the Putin
regime. Well, as our Matthew Chance has been reporting, the mourners who turned out to salute Alexei Navalny have taken a big risk by showing mass
defiance.
And I want to bring in former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Nathan Hodge, who is live for us tonight in London and Nathan, as you see these images of so
many people queuing to pay their respects, lining the streets, there is a big police presence albeit it does seem as if security forces have allowed
these mourners to at least get on with it.
What do you make of what we are seeing in the first instance before we talk wider about Alexei Navalny's legacy here?
OK, it does seem as if we've lost Nathan, for the time being. These are images coming to us from Moscow and so many people there holding red roses.
These are people who are mourning the death of Alexei Navalny and turning out to pay their respects as the former arch critic of Vladimir Putin is
laid to rest in Moscow.
If we can get to Nathan back, of course we will. We are keeping an eye on Wall Street for you. Just after the opening bell, this is the story. These
markets are mixed. I want to say not really moving around very much. That is after Thursday. Once again saw new record highs for the S&P 500 and for
the NASDAQ.
Stocks got a boost after new data showed inflation continued to fall in January. Well, stocks were on the up in Japan today with the benchmark
Nikkei index there near a record closing high. Elon Musk suing the company Open AI and its CEO. Open AI is the creator of course of ChatGPT. Musk
claims he deviated from its original nonprofit mission when it entered into a $13 billion partnership with Microsoft.
He also says the company then kept the code for its newest generative AI products, a secret. Now here is the context for this. In 2015, Musk was one
of the co-founders of open AI but he left three years later and formed his own AI company XAI. Open AI has not yet responded to CNN's request on this
for comment.
Well, in a time when a lot of major economies are reporting weak GDP growth if at all, India seems to be the exception. Asia's third largest economy,
posting a whopping 8.4% growth for the last quarter. Most economists were predicting around 6.6. Strong growth in manufacturing and in construction
lay behind those figures. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is of course running for re-election next month, posted on X that the vibrant economy
will help 1.4 billion Indians lead a better life.
Well, let me get you back to Moscow. Certainly the story out of Moscow and CNN's Moscow -former Moscow Bureau Chief Nathan Hodge who is live for us
out of London today.
[09:35:00]
And I think we've now established communication with you. It's good to have you, Nathan. I was asking before we lost you just earlier on for you just
to comment on the images that you are seeing of people lining the street there, queuing in Moscow, lined as it were flanked by security, to pay
their last respects to Alexei Navalny. They are taking a big risk, Nathan. Explain why,
NATHAN HODGE, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Becky and this is one of the biggest shows of force that we've seen in a long time, actually, from
Russia's opposition, which has been incredibly marginalized and embattled. Many of them have been driven or hounded into exile. Looking at these
images, I'm reminded of some of the big protests that Navalny was able to organize back in 2017, against government corruption or against the
government pension reforms, 2018, where people did turn out in big numbers.
And we're also greeted with, you know, pretty strong reaction from the police, with lots of arrests. Now, what we saw here, you know, were, you
know, lines snaking around the block, and numbers that appeared to have swelled, you know, into the thousands. So this is pretty remarkable
turnout, given how much the government has cracked down on any kind of open dissent, especially following the full scale invasion of Ukraine, Becky.
ANDERSON: I'm just looking at some of these images, actually. And I was just making sure that I can hear what was being said on the streets there.
Those images that we were just seeing were just from moments ago. So I mean, these crowds continue to snake around the block, Nathan. Your sense
of what happens next, and his legacy, if you will?
HODGE: Becky, it's kind of hard to envision that there's another sort of charismatic figure, a person of Navalny's stature, anywhere on the horizon
for the Russian opposition, although his wife in the past two weeks, Yulia Navalnaya, his widow has stepped up and assume the mantle in many ways as
the leader and as basically come through with a - you know, with a very, kind of a unified message you know, that it's not time to give up and it's
not too late to lose hope, Becky.
ANDERSON: It's good to have you Nathan and your insight and analysis over the years that you spent in Moscow so valuable. These are remarkable
images. And thank you, Nathan, reminding us that these images remind him of the protests of back in 2017. The likes of which we just have not seen,
certainly not over the most recent past. Well, we are back with more after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: The skyrocketing rise of Nvidia share price should not be a surprise. The company's chips are widely used to power up
almost everything when it comes to AI. From facial and speech recognition to the Tesla cars that are being driven today, these state of the art chips
are the result of decades worth of investments, that's pushing Nvidia to develop even better, and stronger hardware.
JENSEN HUANG, FOUNDER & CEO, NVIDIA: Inventing the next is hard, especially since if you're the pioneer in doing something, constantly, constantly
pushing ourselves to do that.
QUEST: For the Chief Executive Jensen one, it's not only about changing the game in this industry. He believes at the core of the company's mantra,
local, local, local.
HUANG: Intelligence cannot be standardized, cultures cannot be standardized. Common sense of different people cannot be standardized. This
region feels differently, and has a very different history than different regions around the world. And so we need to enable every region to create
their own digital intelligence.
QUEST: There's no better example of this than here in Dubai. The government's been investing heavily in AI aiming to become a global leader
by next decade. This is an ambitious goal, one that Nvidia's Chief Executive recognizes and is encouraging to buy, to pursue.
HUANG: It's really, really important that we democratize this technology. And that's one of the reasons why I'm here. In every single country, every
single region, there's an awakening, the government awakening, social awakening, that the data of their culture should be refined and processed
and turned into the digital intelligence of their own people.
QUEST: How do you prevent the balkanization (ph). Does that not lead to silos? Does it not lead to, we're going to protect what we've got and keep
you out?
HUANG: It is - it is the case that there will be some universally shared technologies. The foundational technologies of AI are generally shared by
everyone. It's really, really important, and enables innovations and safety and national security and transparency and explainability and alignment and
guard railing. But then on top of that, you can still build your own personal, cultural, industrial, company specific AIs.
QUEST: As they embrace Jensen Huang's vision, governments like Dubai are leveraging artificial intelligence and in doing so are supercharging their
own economies and that drives even further innovation and growth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Right, World Sports up next. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more of what is our breaking news. Stay with us.
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[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORTS)
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