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Connect the World
Ukraine Agrees to U.S. Proposal for 30-Day Ceasefire; E.U. Retaliates with $28 Billion in Counter Tariffs on U.S. Goods; Palestinian Activist's Deportation Case Heads to Court; Trump Promos Teslas at White House; Abu Dhabi to Launch Drone Show in New Partnership. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired March 12, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Eleni Giokos, live in Abu Dhabi.
Ukraine accepts a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire after talks in Saudi Arabia. So far, Moscow is refusing to say whether its on the same page.
Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum tariffs went into effect a few hours ago. The European Union calls them unjustified and it's already
hit back, putting duties on $28 billion worth of American goods.
And a Palestinian activist deportation case heads to court days after he was arrested. And his green card revoked is a sign of what is to come, as
the Trump administration targets foreign students and pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
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GIOKOS: Well, the focus now is on Moscow and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Will he accept the 30-day U.S. ceasefire plan agreed to by Ukraine after marathon Ukrainian-U.S. talks in Saudi Arabia Tuesday?
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his country expects strong steps by the United States if Russia rejects the plan. The Kremlin says no response will
happen before it hears directly from U.S. officials. Here's what President Zelenskyy had to say today about accepting the pause.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We will not play with the narrative that we do not want the war to end, the narrative
that Russia has and is spreading around the world. I'm very serious about this.
It is important for me to end the war. I want the president of the United States of America to see this. I want Americans to see and feel this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio, who was part of the talks in Jeddah, says the ball is now in Russia's court. At a stopover in
Ireland today, he told reporters conversations with Russia will happen soon.
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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We'll have contact with them today. There's already been contacts at different levels with counterparts,
different members of the administration and that'll continue.
But as far as the Russian reaction to it, that's really the question here and that is - this is a few hours old. We're going to bring it to them
directly. We're going to say that Ukraine is prepared to stop all battlefield activity and begin the immediate process of negotiating an
enduring end to the war and we'll see what their response is.
If their response is yes, then we know we've made real progress and there's a real chance of peace. If their response is no, it'll be highly
unfortunate and it'd make their intentions clear.
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GIOKOS: Well, we have a lot to talk about here. I'm joined by Shashank Joshi, defense editor for "The Economist" and a visiting fellow at Kings
College London.
And we also have Alexander Baunov, visiting fellow at European University and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Welcome to both of you. Really good to have you join us, I think, at a very crucial time.
I want to go to you first, Shashank. And I think it's really fascinating that Russia has taken the line that it was Ukraine that was an obstacle to
peace.
The question is, does Russia want to, I guess, take the route of not agreeing to the ceasefire deal and showing that, in fact, it is not wanting
to see a ceasefire and a path down peace?
SHASHANK JOSHI, DEFENCE EDITOR, "THE ECONOMIST": Yes, well, this was the gamble for Ukraine that, by accepting a ceasefire that it initially opposed
and initially proposed just a ceasefire covering air activities and sea activities, not land, not the land war.
By accepting this, they have put the onus of the next step onto Russia. And should Russia say no, that they would potentially incur the wrath of the
White House, risking the triggering of some of the sanctions and other measures that some people in the Trump administration have mentioned.
The risk to all of this, of course, is that, first of all, Donald Trump is not willing to put pressure on the Russians because he is so eager to seek
a comprehensive normalization of ties with Russia. That is a risk.
And the other risk, I think, which is more likely at this stage, is that Russia says yes but -- and the but could be some.
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For example, Ukraine has to withdraw completely from Kursk province inside Russia and maybe other conditions. So Russia will buy time with this, I
suspect.
GIOKOS: Yes. And I mean, I'm glad you mentioned Kursk, because what we've seen is the Ukrainians holding Kursk for quite some time. You know, for
Russia, it is a sore point. And that is going to be possibly something that could derail this.
Alexander, I want you to jump in here and give me a sense of, from a logistical perspective, how you enforce this ceasefire along the front
lines with so many issues.
Who's going to oversee this?
How do you see this potentially playing out?
ALEXANDER BAUNOV, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Look, president Trump took the easy route first. Easy for him. And
the easy route meant to pressure the President Zelenskyy, who is depending on the United States.
But sooner or later this route inevitably led him to a moment when he has to pressure President Putin, too. And he has much, much less tools to do
so. It's not only yes but we see that, for Vladimir Putin to agree on the ceasefire, on the same conditions, that Zelenskyy has agreed that means
without preconditions.
Means to be treated as peer (ph), is equal to President Zelenskyy. And Russia, while the proud Russia was always avoiding to be put on equal foot
with any other post-Soviet country, not to mention now with his military adversary, so diplomatically, of course, the Kremlin will put a list of
demands.
Many of them would be unacceptable for Kyiv, for Ukraine, as they were before. And there is another important point, because there is a consensus
in some circles around Putin and the part of -- big part of Russian public opinion that Russia is prevailing on the battlefield.
So to stop now is, for many of Russian observers and for the Kremlin, maybe, is to steal the imminent victory from Russian forces.
GIOKOS: And, Alexander, it's been really interesting to see the rhetoric out of the Kremlin after this talk between Ukraine and the U.S. in Saudi
Arabia, because they say, well, Russia should have been there.
But we, you know, not too long ago, it was Russia who went to Saudi Arabia for talks where Ukraine was ostracized, diplomatically, though. And you're
saying that Russia is going to put in a long list of things that are going to perhaps be very difficult to agree to.
What do you suspect the United States should be doing here?
Because Marco Rubio said that they're hoping that the Russians are going to agree. And I guess they're betting on the fact that they should.
BAUNOV: Basically, the choices, this double path, double choice or pressuring Russia will -- which is like putting conditions to join the
ceasefire.
Or when and if the American administration discovers that they don't have a lot of tools to align with Russia and Russia's demands and to frame these
demands as mutual goals, both of -- both Russia and the United States into the path for the peace and to pressure Ukraine again.
But it's sort of concealing -- it would be sort of concealing the U.S. weakness toward the Kremlin. That's the problem. And how long you can
conceal this weakness.
GIOKOS: That's true. Very good point.
Shashank, I want you to jump in here and give me a sense of the pressure that was applied to Ukraine. You know, the stopping of intelligence,
sharing of aid. We saw what happened at the White House, at the Oval Office.
Give me a sense of the relationship between the United States and Ukraine right now and the concessions that Zelenskyy would have to have made to get
this deal on the table.
JOSHI: Well, the concessions were partly a sense of contrition, perhaps not amounting to a formal apology but also a willingness to accelerate the
minerals deal, which is no longer being negotiated with a framework agreement.
A very rough, preliminary agreement that is being negotiated in full, running to hundreds of pages.
But in addition to that, I think we shouldn't forget Zelenskyy has also extracted some concessions here. That's very important to remember. He has
extracted concessions on America, emphasizing issues such as the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.
He also, I noticed in the joint statement coming out of Saudi Arabia, said that the Europeans will be involved in any talks. And, of course, just a
couple of weeks ago, the U.S. administration was working very hard to keep the Europeans out of those talks.
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So that's important to understand as well. Now you asked about the intelligence sharing. Yes, the intelligence is back on. Yes, the arms are
back on.
But I just want to make two points. One of them is we don't yet know if the intelligence relationship is completely back to normal.
Will this Trump administration assist Ukraine in conducting sensitive, high-value strikes inside Russia?
We don't know the answer to that. And the second question that is linked to this is, even if the intelligence is back on, I'm afraid the genie is now
out of the bottle. Trust has been broken.
And I think the Ukrainians will really, profoundly distrust everything that is coming out of this administration henceforth, even if, of course, if
they have little choice but to pragmatically work with it.
GIOKOS: Shashank and Alexander, thank you so much for your insights. Much appreciated.
I want to turn now to Mr. Trump's escalating trade war; 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports went into place earlier today after they
took effect. And this is hours after they took effect.
The European Union said it was putting reciprocal tariffs on around $28 billion worth of U.S. imports. Those are set to kick in April, leaving a
little time for negotiation with the United States. CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House and Anna Stewart is back with us from London.
Alayna, massive retaliation that we're seeing coming through. I think the world really watching very closely what the Trump administration is
planning next on tariffs.
Do they understand that this has created a global trade war and the global growth ramifications and the consequences of this policy?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I believe they do. And one big thing now is that they're digging in.
I think a lot of people had thought, especially after, you know, covering and seeing how the president acted during his first term, someone who was
very reactionary to the stock market, made a lot of decisions based on the performance of his policies and the stock market, he is not doing that this
time around.
He has been consistently asked now about, you know, what is your grand strategy?
And this is something I'm picking up on in my conversations with White House officials and those on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue on the
Capitol, which is what is the big plan here?
What is the grand strategy?
Because so far we've seen the stock market going down sharply over the last two days. We're continuing to see people's 401(k)s be impacted negatively.
And we haven't really gotten that much reassurance from the president and the White House, other than that he believes it's going to take some time
for these tariffs to kind of stabilize.
But what's one thing as well that is clear is that a lot of this has been given to the whiplash. You know, we've seen him start and stop. Just
yesterday he said that he was going to increase the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the United States from Canada to another 25
percent, making it 50 percent.
And then moved away from that. And that did not happen. And essentially what I'm being told is the president really views these tariffs as
negotiating tools, in addition to believing that they are good trade policy, because he believes that the United States is being taken advantage
of.
He does view them as a negotiating tool. And so that's where some of this is coming into it as well. But again, I think global trading partners and,
of course, Wall Street and those who are closely watching what is happening to the economy and the stock market specifically are looking for more
reassurance.
And one thing as well, I think, is when the president went and spoke to the business roundtable last night. He spoke to several CEOs and business
leaders and many of them were looking for reassurance and more clarity on what his overarching strategy is.
And this is what one person told our colleague, Jeff Zeleny.
They said, quote, "There was no new clarity or certainty in the room," from what they gathered, from what the president said.
So another day, again, of a lot of this uncertainty, a lot of concerns over the long term strategy and not a lot of specific answers from this White
House. Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yes. And I mean, injecting so much uncertainty into the markets, Anna. And one of the things we've been hearing from traditional allies is
you don't do this to friends.
And the E.U. has not officially said it will retaliate.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I think a lot of people agreeing with the trading partners also see these tariffs really as part of
a big negotiation. The rest of the world would like to negotiate with the E.U. and the Trump administration.
But they're struggling to see how to do that. We're seeing two very different strategies. From the E.U., we're seeing retaliation. They said
they would retaliate at an event in Paris. And they are.
And they're actually not just reimposing tariffs that they had lifted from 2018 and 2020. They're also adding additional tariffs on 18 billion euros.
That will be sometime in mid April. We don't know what they will be targeting.
But essentially trying to equate the value, same value as they're being hit in terms of aluminum and steel. The E.U. has tried to negotiate. The trade
commissioner was in D.C. He didn't get very far.
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And then we have the other strategy. For instance, we have the prime minister of Australia with some really stern words, actually. Have a
listen.
I'm sorry; I don't think we have that spot. But essentially, as you were saying, Eleni, talking about how they are friends with the United States.
That is a line that we're hearing a lot. The U.K. is not retaliating, either.
They would like to create actually a trade deal with the U.S. That was something that Keir Starmer, the prime minister, was discussing only a few
weeks ago with the president.
And as mentioned, the premier of Ontario in Canada has sort of come back, pulled back from his threat to retaliate in terms of electricity.
And there's a big meeting tomorrow, I believe, with the U.S. Commerce Secretary. So these are the different ways that trading partners are
responding, many of them making clear they're not happy and trying to remind the United States that they are friends.
GIOKOS: Alayna Treene, Anna Stewart, thank you so much for shedding light on what seems to be a very murky trade scenario, playing out on a global
level. Thank you.
Right. Ahead, a courtroom face off in New York between the Trump administration and a Palestinian activist. Why the federal government is
trying to deport Mahmoud Khalil.
And growing condemnation after Israel cut off all electricity to Gaza. We'll be back after this.
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GIOKOS: In about an hour, Mahmoud Khalil's immediate future could be decided in a court in New York. The Palestinian activist was arrested
Saturday by immigration officials. His attorneys say his green card was revoked.
And they say Khalil was transferred to an ICE facility in Louisiana to punish him for helping to lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia
University last year. A federal judge has blocked any immediate effort by the Trump administration to deport Khalil.
I want to go now to CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. He is outside the courthouse in New York.
Shimon, what are we expecting to hear today about the fate of Mahmoud Khalil?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big thing for his attorneys right now is they want to get him out of
Louisiana, out of custody. They want him to be free as they try to argue that the government had no right to detain him, is number one.
And number two is, because he has a green card, their argument is that he's allowed to be here. And the reasons for which the White House that we're
hearing from the White House and we're hearing from government officials for why they detained him and why they're trying to deport him is not
legal. That's according to his attorneys.
Of course, the government is going to argue the opposite. And all of this stems from the fact that he was a negotiator, a leader at Columbia
University through most of the second part of last year, as protests were underway, pro-Palestinian protests on the campus.
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Really, Columbia University was the epicenter of many of those protests. And so the government is arguing that, essentially, that somehow his
activity during that time period is now subjecting him to being deported, to lose his status here.
Number one, as a student, he has a student visa. And then also the fact that he has a green card, that that all they have a right now to revoke all
that and deport him. So, of course, his lawyers are going to be arguing that that is not the case.
We don't exactly know where the judge is going to go with this today. This is sort of unprecedented. We've not seen anything like this before. So
certainly this case could be groundbreaking. This could be the first time that we could be seeing something like this.
So a lot of unknowns here today. We expect things to get underway here in about an hour or so.
We'll see if the government -- the key part here is what evidence, what evidence do they have that can support their grounds to try and remove him
with his green card status?
That is going to be the key thing that I think many people are going to be looking at.
And what is the law here, exactly?
And it's not entirely clear. We'll see what the judge here does. But for now, the key things that the attorneys for him want is for him to come back
here. He's in Louisiana right now and they want him released. They want him out of federal custody and back with his wife, who is eight months
pregnant.
Obviously a very horrific situation for her as he was taken into custody as he was coming home from dinner on Saturday here in New York. And these law
enforcement officials stopping him, taking him into custody. And this is where he's been since Saturday.
GIOKOS: Shimon, thank you so much for that. As you say, groundbreaking. A lot of unknowns. And potentially, you know, this could set a precedent,
depending on what is decided today.
My next guest wrote an opinion column for "Haaretz," arguing, quote, "For the Trump administration, this arrest isn't about protecting Jewish
students but about silencing various forms of political dissent."
Journalist Ari Paul joins us now live. He's also a Columbia University graduate and a former lecturer.
Ari, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. And I really want you to just explain this for our audience. And you say it's not about political
dissent -- it's about political dissent. It's not about protecting Jewish students.
What do you make of what we've seen over the past few days to Mahmoud Khalil?
ARI PAUL, JOURNALIST: Mahmoud Khalil is quite clearly a political prisoner in the United States. He, as your correspondent just explained -- and it
has been said by the White House -- he has not committed a crime.
He is being held and being possibly deported because of participating in a protest and voicing political speech that this government, this
administration finds distasteful or that it opposes.
This sets a terrible, terrible precedent in the United States. He's a green card holder, a permanent resident. This -- the administration has also said
that he will not be the last. They've bragged about his arrest and his possible deportation on social media and in the press.
And it is sending a message that others could be next. And what could -- very much is insinuated in all of this is that it won't just be people who
participated in the pro-Palestine protests of, you know, that happened last year.
But that this could be applied to people, to immigrants in the United States and permanent residents who have spoken out on a whole host of
issues. So it's a very, very chilling, chilling message that this administration has sent.
GIOKOS: Absolutely. I mean, Ari, I want you to kind of take me through what you saw with regards to these protests that Mahmoud Khalil helped
organize. The Trump administration has branded him as pro-Hamas and as well as being anti-Semitic.
How would you assess and characterize what you saw, keeping in mind that Columbia's students have always been protesting against war?
We saw, you know, even coming, clashing with police back during the Vietnam War. So I guess the undercurrent isn't very new but this is this is very
important because we've never seen it to this extent.
PAUL: Yes. The insinuation that protesting American foreign policy in the Middle East is somehow terrorism is an old, old problem in this country.
I'm old enough to remember the days of the protests against the invasion of Iraq and the war on terror.
And it was very, very common for protesters to be labeled as pro-terrorist, pro-Al Qaeda, sympathetic to Al Qaeda, sympathetic to Saddam Hussein. This
is an old, old trope that is used as sort of a trump card against people who disagree with the United States and the United States' foreign policy.
So when I saw this happen, play out with these protests about Gaza, it was extremely, extremely familiar to me and anyone who was around those
protests, you know, the war on terror and the -- and the war in Iraq time as well.
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You know, there are plenty of Jewish students involved in these protests. There were even, when some of these protests occurred during the Jewish
Passover seder and Jewish solidarity protesters who were in solidarity with the Palestinians had gathered for a Passover seder during the protests and
invited people coming in.
So the insinuation and even just, you know, just yesterday, there were Jewish students sitting in at Columbia, protesting the arrest and possible
deportation of one of their fellow students.
So the insinuation that all Jews kind of reacted poorly to these protests is fallacious. It's not true. And the idea that somehow he's voiced
sympathy for terrorism is just not true.
GIOKOS: So the Department of Education currently investigating 60 schools over anti-Semitism. And they're saying they're going to be identifying more
cases, making more arrests and so forth.
You've also wrote this, "Every academic administrator and lawmakers should be outraged over this attack on America's best attribute, the right to free
speech and assembly. And we must unite behind the chants of 'I am Mahmoud Khalil,' because we could all be him soon."
So what do universities do now?
PAUL: Well, what I really hope that they do is, currently now, I mean, just outside the courtroom -- and there were protests in the last couple of
days. Certainly students and faculty members have been speaking out, speaking out in solidarity.
What we really aren't seeing is really leadership from the top administrators of these universities. And there's a reason for that.
They're very frightened. The Trump administration has already pulled out $400 million in grant funding to Columbia.
There was a hiring freeze at Harvard or at least a stated hiring freeze at Harvard. And then, as you said, that there's been this -- they're opening
investigations on 60 schools throughout the United States.
But this really is a defining moment in American history. These administrators need to come together and say, no, that they need to say
that we protect our students. We protect the right to free speech and to academic freedom.
And they need to be very, very vocal and united on this. I think right now we're not seeing a lot of leadership from the top leaders and it's very
disappointing and very chilling. But I'm hoping that, as this movement grows, it's going to put pressure on some of them to do the right thing.
GIOKOS: OK, so it goes beyond universities. As you just said, Mahmoud Khalil is a green card holder. Again, I'm going to refer to your op-ed.
You say, "If an administration can deport legal residents for participating in protests the government finds distasteful, what will happen to the
rights of naturalized citizens?"
So how far are we -- do you believe this could go?
PAUL: I mean, if you had asked me a year ago, I would -- I wouldn't be that worried. But these days, the Trump administration moves so fast that
sort of anything is on the table.
And the -- when Trump was president the first time, in his first administration, there were these attempts to go after naturalized citizens,
to say, well, if there were -- if we find that people who became naturalized under false pretenses or somehow lied on their applications,
that those people could be denaturalized.
That didn't get a terrible amount of traction in his first administration but they've raised that threat again. Now they're not raising the threat
that we will go after naturalized citizens, who will, who, you know, have protested in the same way that, you know, Mr. Khalil has.
But just, in a time when we see tariffs going all over the place, where we see funding revoked at any moment, people fired all over the place at
federal agencies and then rehired, fired again, it has people in sort of a whirlwind.
And whether or not it happens, whether or not they go after naturalized citizens or other green card holders, just that sense, just these events
are going to make people think twice about what they say in a newspaper, in a public forum, in a classroom.
And here in the United States, we have a First Amendment right, which is meant to protect that. And this creates a chilling effect and it very much
is a violation of the spirit of the First Amendment.
GIOKOS: Absolutely. And, you know, this could set a precedent. So we have a lot of unknowns. As we've said, we're waiting for the court hearing to
start in about an hour from now. We'll hopefully get clarity. But again, big shift. Ari Paul, thank you so much for your insights. Good to have you
on the show.
We're going to a short break. More CONNECT THE WORLD right after this. Stay with CNN.
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GIOKOS: All right, we've got some breaking news to bring you on the global tariff war that was launched by Donald Trump. Canada has just announced a
series of retaliatory measures, including 25 percent tariffs on a variety of American goods. Here's the Canadian finance minister, breaking it down.
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DOMINIC LEBLANC, CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER: Today, I am announcing that the government of Canada, following a dollar-for-dollar approach, will be
imposing, as of 12:01 am tomorrow, March 13th, 2025, 25 percent reciprocal tariffs on an additional $29.8 billion of imports from the United States.
This includes steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion, as well as additional imported U.S. goods worth $14.2
billion, for a total of $29.8 billion.
The list of additional products affected by counter-tariffs includes computers, sports equipment and cast iron products as examples. These
tariffs are in addition to Canada's 25 percent counter-tariffs on $30 billion of imports from the United States, in response to U.S. tariffs put
in place on March 4th.
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GIOKOS: The retaliation comes after president Trump imposed sweeping 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the United States.
New polling in the United States shows lots of discontent with Elon Musk as the world's richest man plows ahead with president Trump's mission to
shrink the federal government.
The CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, shows 53 percent of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Musk. Just 35 percent have a favorable opinion of
him. Musk has been leading the Trump administration's cost-cutting efforts through the Department of Government Efficiency.
His close ties with the president, his unrivaled wealth and control over the social media platform, X, has given the unelected billionaire
extraordinary influence. House Speaker Mike Johnson even acknowledged Musk can influence congressional deals.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think of it metaphorically. I get up every morning and I have this giant sort of
control panel and it's got 219 dials on it and I got to make sure everybody's, you know, OK, this ones -- oh, I got it, you know. And then I
got the president Trump dial.
And now, I -- now I have the Elon dial, OK?
Because Elon has the largest platform in the world literally and if he goes on and says something that's misunderstood or misinterpreted about
something we're doing, he can blow the whole thing up.
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GIOKOS: Well, Donald Trump's unwavering support for Musk was on full display on Tuesday when the president turned the White House lawn into a
Tesla showroom.
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Mr. Trump, posing with the Tesla CEO in front of shiny new vehicles in what appeared to be part news conference, part sales pitch. Tesla shares and
sales have been in a sharp slump recently after Musk's entry into politics.
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TRUMP: So what is this one, Elon?
ELON MUSK, PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: That's the model Y.
TRUMP: That's the model Y. So I have a lot of information, including the price.
MUSK: Yes.
TRUMP: I want to make a good deal here. You know, I do notice this. They have one which is $35,000, which is pretty low.
What is that all about?
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GIOKOS: So as he spoke, president Trump was holding a note that resembled a Tesla price list. And his pitch appears to have worked somewhat. Tesla's
stock regained some ground on Tuesday as the president came to Musk's defense.
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TRUMP: I think he's been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people and I just want people to know that you can't be penalized for being
a patriot.
And he's a great patriot.
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GIOKOS: Right. In more news from this region, an Arab diplomat is telling CNN that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is in Qatar for meetings with Arab
officials. It's all about the Gaza ceasefire/hostage deal.
Talks in Doha between Israel and Hamas are trying to extend the fragile truce. The first phase of the ceasefire expired earlier this month. Witkoff
was a key mediator in talks that led to the deal, which began on January 19th.
Now as the diplomats talk, Gaza's civil defense says at least four Palestinians were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on central
Gaza. This follows the cutting of electricity and food aid to the devastated territory. Israel's move is being condemned by Saudi Arabia,
Qatar as well as Canada.
The Saudi foreign ministry is calling it collective punishment. This week, in an effort to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages, Israel
cut the remaining flow of electricity to a water treatment facility, escalating Gaza's existing water crisis.
Israel's decision to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza has drawn a reaction from Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Iranian-backed group is vowing to
resume attacks on Israeli ships in the Red Sea as long as the blockade remains.
The Houthis launched more than 100 attacks on shipping from November 2023, before halting its offensive on the condition that the Israel-Gaza
ceasefire deal was maintained.
When we come back, storytelling in the sky: how a drone show and AI company are going to tackle a new frontier right here in Abu Dhabi. We'll
bring you that story shortly.
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GIOKOS: Abu Dhabi has become a leader in both technological advancements as well as arts and culture.
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Whether it's an AI and drone development or in fostering regional artists and building new museums, the city's latest partnership with drone and AI
show brings together all these things in a new storytelling experience.
Becky Anderson sat down with Alex Kipman, the CEO and founder of Analog, one of the key signatories of this new partnership, for tonight's "Parting
Shots."
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): He's the brother of one of the most powerful people on the global stage. And for Kimbal Musk, the sky is the
limit -- literally.
Just two years ago, the entrepreneur and food activist founded Nova Sky Stories, an aerial drone company, that combines light and sound to take
storytelling into an entirely new sphere.
And now that goal will reach new heights. Right here in Abu Dhabi, a new partnership with Abu Dhabi Tourism to provide a fleet of 10,000 drones to
light up the night sky. The partnership will also push new AI boundaries, working with Abu Dhabi-based Analog AI.
I sat down with the CEO and founder of Analog AI to talk about this new groundbreaking partnership.
ALEX KIPMAN, CEO AND FOUNDER, ANALOG AI: This will be the longest standing drone fleet in the world. It's 10,000 drones. Put it in perspective, you
know, most other drone shows that you've seen that are like, wow, are between 1,000 and 1,500, maybe 2,000 drones. This is 10,000 drones.
So if you think about each drone being a pixel in the sky and us now having the ability to paint in the Abu Dhabi sky with 10,000 pixels that are
flying closer together, that are more quiet and safer than other drones, you have seen, it's a way of telling new stories. It's a new medium.
It's a new art form that will ultimately allow us here in Abu Dhabi to tell the rich heritage and culture of our country and to attract, you know, the
best storytellers in the world that are attracted to this medium, to tell the stories in our night skies by being a standing fleet.
So it just becomes a new, available toolset to augment all of the different experiences you're having it, from Formula 1 to opening of a museum. You
could even have multiple of them.
Think about having different occasions; a show going on in Corniche at the same time that one is going on in Satya, at the same one time as one is
going in in Yas Island.
ANDERSON (voice-over): An innovative partnership, putting Abu Dhabi at the heart of art meeting AI -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
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GIOKOS: Well, that is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. Thank you so much for joining us. "MARKETPLACE ASIA" is up next. I'm Eleni Giokos. I'll see you
tomorrow.
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