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Connect the World
U.S. Special Envoy Meeting with Putin in Moscow; Thousands Pay Respects to Late Pontiff Ahead of Funeral; Houthi Defenders Frustrate U.S. Operation in Yemen; Funding Surges for Mideast and North Africa Startups; Artist Crafts Team Logos from Old Furniture for Player Walkway. Aired 9- 9:45a ET
Aired April 25, 2025 - 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: This is the scene at the Vatican where mourners are paying their respects to Pope Francis on what is
the final day of his lying in state. It's 03:00 p.m. there in St. Peter's. It is 05:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi from our Middle East Programming
Headquarters. I'm Becky Anderson.
You are watching "Connect the World". Also coming up this hour, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is in Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, while back
in Washington. Donald Trump's frustration grows, is ending the war in Ukraine. Turns out to be harder than expected.
Another American plan that's yet to see success destroying Houthi resistance in Yemen as the rebel group there proves unsurprisingly
efficient at shooting down U.S. drones. And Canadians getting ready to vote nationwide elections in the shadow of a threatening neighbor who used to be
a friend.
Well, it is just after 09:00 a.m. in New York. The stock market there opens in about 30 minutes from now. And futures indicating a lower opening after
what's been a three-day winning streak. Comments from Donald Trump to "Time" magazine indicating that he's OK with high tariffs, somewhat
spooking investors once again.
Tech stocks may find some support after some decent numbers from Google's parent Alphabet. More on all of that at 09:30 a.m. local time when those
markets open. Well, high stakes diplomacy today in Moscow. That may just mark an inflection point in U.S. efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine
conflict.
White House Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff is in the Russian capital meeting with President Putin for the second time this month. Now, this meeting
coming during a week in which Donald Trump has expressed frustration the ongoing hostilities. So, let's start with Fred Pleitgen, he is in Moscow.
What are we hearing about this visit, Fred?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Becky. Well, first of all, you're absolutely right. I think it is a pretty high
stakes visit by Steve Witkoff here to the Russian capital to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin and some senior Russian aide as well. One of the things
that we're understanding is that, that meeting is apparently underway.
We saw actually Vladimir Putin racing through Moscow to the Kremlin early this morning for the meeting. And then of course, Steve Witkoff arriving as
well. It's unclear what some of the main issues are that are at hand, but if we put up the video again, actually of that meeting, I think there's
several things that already stand out from what we see.
First of all, it seems like a very friendly atmosphere. I was listening to some of the things that were said, Vladimir Putin greeting Steve Witkoff in
English, actually. But then if we look at who's actually sitting down at that table, I think that's also very telling as well. You have the Russians
with, of course, President Vladimir Putin, but then also with two of the chief senior Russian negotiators as well.
You have Kirill Dmitriev, who is of course the Head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, but also Senior Kremlin Aid, Yuri Ushakov. Whereas Steve
Witkoff has no senior U.S. officials with him. Now, the Russians are saying that they believe talks towards a possible ceasefire in Ukraine are going
in the right direction, but there are still issues that need to be sorted out. I want to listen into what the Russian Foreign Minister said about
this. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The President of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right
direction. The statement by the president mentions a deal and we are ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific points, elements of this
deal, which need to be fine-tuned.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Some elements that need to be fine-tuned coming from Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov there. The Russians actually have been
pretty disciplined about not leaking anything as to what those elements or what those issues might still be that need to be fine-tuned.
But we do know that there are obviously two things that are very important for the Russians, Becky. One of them is territorial questions where the
Russians, of course, want to keep as much, if not all, of the territory that they've taken since February of 2022. And then also, of course, one of
the other big questions is any sort of future NATO membership for Ukraine, which the Russians say is absolutely a red line for them.
So definitely an important meeting that's going on. The last couple of meetings that we've seen between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin lasted
for several hours. This one's going -- been going on for I'd say a little bit over an hour. So, look for that to take a little bit longer and we'll
of course update you as that goes along, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. This is important stuff.
[09:05:00]
While I've got you, Fred there was a reported car blast in the Russian City of Balashikha. What do we know about that?
PLEITGEN: Yeah, Balashikha, which is actually, it is a Russian city, but it's actually a suburb of Moscow, if you will, by most definitions. It's in
the east of Moscow a suburban area. And there was a blast there where a VW Golf blew up. And we are now learning from the Russians that a Senior
Russian General was killed in that blast.
The Russians are treating this as murder. There is an investigation that is going on that Senior Russian General was pretty senior in Russia's general
staff. His name is Yaroslav Moskalik. And he was killed in that blast. The Russians are saying that so far from the investigation that they've
launched from some of the things that they've been able to glean as of now.
They believe that that bomb was planted inside a car as the general was going past blew up. He was thrust several meters through the air the
Russians say, and then killed almost instantly. The Russians are saying they believe that around 300 grams of TNT were used in that bomb.
Right now, of course, as you can imagine, this only happened a couple of hours ago. The investigation's still in very early stages. However, this is
not the first time that a Senior Russian General has been killed in Moscow or the vicinity of Moscow. In December, I was actually reporting from the
scene when another Russian Senior General was killed.
The Russians back then blaming that on the Ukrainians again, right now, still very early stages. But this was definitely someone who is a very
senior member of Russia's general staff. So very important for Vladimir Putin's military, Becky.
ANDERSON: Good to have you. Fred is in Moscow for you today. And we will get to CNN's National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt momentarily.
There seems no doubt that President Trump is getting frustrated with a lack of progress. Now, a "Time" magazine interview with the president published
today ahead of his 100 days in office, providing further insight into how Donald Trump is thinking.
And in fact, I think I have got Alex, now, and so let's get to him. Alex, good to have you. Just explaining to our viewers there that if they haven't
seen it excerpts of an interview with "Time" magazine published today include talk of Ukraine and Russia. Just explain what we have and how it
provides further insight into how the president is thinking at this point.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, I think between this interview and the comments that we heard from President
Trump yesterday in the Oval Office and some new reporting that my colleagues have, this is the clearest distillation of how President Trump
is seeing this war.
And in this remarkable "Time" magazine interview, he not only says that Crimea will stay with Russia, that is something that we've heard Trump say
that it has been in Russian hands for the past 11 years. And, and we should acknowledge that is indeed Russian, the U.S. plans to recognize that we
believe.
But he yet again, blames Ukraine for starting this war. This is something he's done before, and here he's doing it yet again in very clear terms,
repeating essentially, Becky, this most Russian of talking points, that it was Ukraine who provoked this special military operation, as the Russians
call it.
Essentially, that the Russians had no choice because Ukraine was moving closer to NATO. So, President Trump telling "Time" magazine quote, I think
what caused the war to start was when they started talking about joining NATO. Time and time again, Becky, we have seen the blame, the anger, the
frustration be directed by the American President towards not the Russians who actually launched this war, but to President Zelenskyy.
And when it comes to the concessions, what is expected of each side, it is clear that the U.S. is expecting Ukraine to make very painful concessions.
Not just perhaps recognition of Crimea, but also recognition that Russia is taking so much of the southern and eastern parts of the country.
But when asked yesterday, what Russia has offered amid this apparent or supposed American pressure, what Russia is going to concede. President
Trump said, well, they would stop the war, which is really a remarkably low bar. Here's what President Trump said in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What concessions has Russia offered up thus far to get to the point where you're closer to peace?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country. Pretty big concession. I can't think of
one country that doesn't want to negotiate a deal, and they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:10:00]
MARQUARDT: So, Becky there stopping the war, not taking the rest of the country, that is what the U.S. expects out of Russia. We have heard from
the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, who says that they are moving towards a deal, but that there's some fine tuning that needs to be done for
anybody who has watched Russia in any way, that could also be interpreted as we plan to add conditions.
We plan to drag this out. And Becky, there certainly is a concern among the Ukrainians and the Europeans that, as Steve Witkoff, President Trump's Top
Envoy to Russia meets with Vladimir Putin today, that Putin will yet again repeat the Russian stance of what he calls the root problems of this war,
that Ukraine is getting too close to NATO, that it is Ukraine who provoke this.
So, there are major concerns that Witkoff will come back agreeing with the Russian talking points, and that President Trump's patience is running out,
that he is got this short timeline. He really wants to force this through. And if that is the case, that Ukraine could end up being very much on the
losing end, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, I mean, you'd normally be safe to assume that these comments in the interview with "Time" magazine, that were released in
experts today are coordinated coming as they do just as Witkoff arrives in Moscow. I'm not necessarily sure that that is the case with this Trump
Administration, but it is -- it seems clear that the hand that the U.S. is prepared to play for Russia is clear at this point.
Are your sources telling you that despite the fact that Trump wants a deal? Is there a sense that the Russians are prepared to just keep this going,
this war going? Are they also as eager to make a deal at this point?
MARQUARDT: There is a striking difference in what you hear from President Trump, from Steve Witkoff and what you hear from intelligence officials and
people who study Russia. Not to mention, of course, the Europeans and the Ukrainians who've heard Trump and Witkoff say that Trump, that Putin does
want a deal, that he does want to end this war.
But all of the evidence that we see on full display runs counter to that. Just look at the last two nights of very significant deadly bombings in
Ukraine. Putin continuing to ignore what President Trump is saying. And, and when you speak to intelligence officials, they will tell you that the
assessment is that not only is Vladimir Putin not negotiating in good faith, that he's dragging this out, that he's playing for time.
But that his intentions, his goals have not changed. That he still very much intends to take all of Ukraine. That, that is aside from regime
survival, perhaps his highest priority. And so even if there is some kind of truce now or peace deal, where essentially the lines of the conflict are
frozen, as J.D. Vance said the other day, he expects them to be.
There certainly is an expectation among those who study Putin, that he will continue at some point in the future to try to complete his goal. And that
is why President Zelenskyy and the Europeans are so insistent on continued security assistance and security guarantees for the Ukrainians.
So that even if Ukraine has to give up all this territory now that they can in the future, prevent Putin from starting up this war again, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah. Fascinating. There's been much talk as to whether President Trump will actually meet with the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Rome, of
course, where they will both be or they're certainly scheduled to be for the pope's funeral on Saturday. While you've been on air, Alex, Donald
Trump has spoken to reporters in Washington.
And briefly some comments coming out, not least when asked whether he will meet with Zelenskyy, he said he doesn't know at this point. He also
referred to the late pope as a great guy. And we're going to get to Rome now. Alex, thank you. In Rome where mourners from around the world are
continuing to file into St. Peter's Basilica to pay their respects to the late Pope Francis.
It's nearly 150,000 people have already passed through the Magnificent Church. Today is the last day that the pontiff Lion State before that
funeral on Saturday. On Thursday evening, the faithful gathered for a rosary prayer in Santa Maria Maggiore, simple basilica that Pope Francis
chose as his place of burial. Mourners visiting Rome said his choice of final resting place reflected his values.
[09:15:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he chose a place that is appropriate for his person. I think as Pope Francis was, in my opinion, because he was unique
in everything, he was special. And therefore, this choice of the Basilica of the Madonna is special.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's good for him because he feels at home here. He stopped here before and after every trip that he took overseas.
So, I think this is close to his heart. So, it's good that he's being buried here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Ben Wedeman is in Rome alongside those who have been paying their respects. What's the mood like there and what is his final day that
the public can visit the pope before his funeral on Saturday?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The mood is somber, but there are a lot of people here today, Becky. This is a national
holiday. It's Liberation Day in Italy. So many people have the day off and have come here. So many, many Italians here.
In addition to mourners from all over the world, as you've said, more than 150,000 people have filed through St. Peter's Basilica to pay their final
respects to Pope Francis. And of course, we understand that at 05:00 p.m. local time, that's just in a little less than two hours, the St. Peter's
Square will be closed to make -- to begin the preparations for the funeral that takes place at 10 o'clock in the morning tomorrow.
In addition to that, at 06:00 p.m. the line will be stopped for those trying to get into the basilica to pay their final respects. Now, the
Vatican has put out a request to people going inside the basilica to file past the coffin of Pope Francis to stop taking selfies.
According to a 1996 rule laid down by the Vatican, it is forbidden to take a photograph of a pope in sick bed or after death without the permission of
the camerlengo or the chamberlain, who is the senior official of the Vatican in the absence of the pope.
Tomorrow morning, what will be really worth watching, I must say, is there will be the funeral procession of Pope Francis from the Vatican to the
Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, going through Imperial Rome, through Piazza Venezia by the Roman Forum, and by the Coliseum as well.
So that will be quite a scene because of course, in Santa Maria Maggiore will be where Pope Francis will be buried. Unlike many previous popes who
are buried behind me in the basilica of St. Peter's, Becky.
ANDERSON: Some controversy around an American cardinal who has been accused of covering up sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Ben. This cardinal
Roger Mahony has been selected to play a key role in Pope Francis' funeral. Just explain.
WEDEMAN: Yes. Archbishop Mahony was the Archbishop of Los Angeles between 2000 -- 1985 and 2011. And during the 1980s, he was accused along with
other senior officials in the archdiocese of basically not removing abusive priests and not cooperating with law enforcement.
Now, he was relieved of all his duties in 2013, and he has repeatedly apologized for his shortcomings during the 1980s. But he will be according
to the Vatican, participating in the ceremonies for the closing of Pope Francis' coffin and his burial tomorrow, Becky.
ANDERSON: Thank you, sir. Donald Trump on his way now to Rome. Let's listen in to some of the comments he made just before he left. We've just got
those. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President -- said that you have spoken to -- When did that happen? China says it hasn't happened.
TRUMP: I spoke to him numerous times. So, we're leading and going to Rome where we'll be attending the funeral of Pope Francis. Some of you are going
to go. Anybody going? And it's going to be very interested. We're going to meet with a lot of the foreign leaders they want to meet.
Trade deals are going very well, I think though Russia and Ukraine, I think they're coming along. We hope very fragile.
[09:20:00]
And Iran, I think is going very well. We'll see what happens. We go working on plenty of things that shouldn't be worked on because none of this stuff
should have happened. This should have been taken place by Biden. It should have been fixed by Biden, but he couldn't do it.
Nor could he come close to doing so. Anyway, we're going to Rome to pay our respects, and we'll be leaving that same day. We'll be coming back home
tomorrow night, and I'll see some of you over there. Otherwise, I'll see you on television.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- meeting this morning. You said you spoke with president. Have you spoken to him since the tariff? When was the last
meeting --
TRUMP: I don't want to comment on that, but I've spoken to him many times. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Japan --
TRUMP: From Japan. I'm getting along very well with Japan. We're very close to a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- meeting with --
TRUMP: I'll be meeting with the Italian. Yes. Your Prime Minister. Oh, it's possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you, the first player, remember Pope Francis? How was he the --
TRUMP: Very well, good man. He loved the world actually. And he was just a good man. I met him twice. I thought he was a fantastic kind of a guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- "Time" magazine -- that president called you -- When did that happen and what did you discuss?
TRUMP: I'll let you know at the appropriate time. Let's see if we can make a deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- Witkoff meeting -- Any updates on the Witkoff-Putin meeting, sir, the meeting right now. What do you hope will transpires
meeting --
TRUMP: Yeah -- meeting with Putin right now as we speak. And we have a lot of things going on, and I think in the end, we're going to end up with a
lot of good deals, including tariff deals and trade deals. We're going to make our country rich, but we're going to try and get out of war so that we
can save 5,000 people a week.
And that's what my aim is. I want to say 5,000 young men. They happen to be mostly Ukrainian, Russian 5,000 young Ukrainian and Russian men. And that's
a big honor if I can do it. I think we're pretty close.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- at least --
TRUMP: No deadline. I just want to do it as fast as possible. What?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- over your tariff plan. What do you say to those?
TRUMP: I think the tariff plan is doing very well. We're resetting the table. We're going to make our country very rich, very, very rich. It's
already happening. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And with that, he puts his arm around his wife and heads for the helicopter. We've got some pictures of him leaving there on his way, as he
says to Rome, delineating, what is a very busy schedule at present? Well, CNN understands that Houthi rebels in Yemen are managing to frustrate the
U.S. military operation against the group that began there in mid-March.
By now, the U.S. had hoped to move to phase two of this mission to target and kill senior Houthi leaders, but that objective has been hindered by the
Houthis ability to shoot down at least seven-multimillion-dollar American MQ-9 reaper drones. The Trump Administration has vowed to continue the
campaign until the militants can no longer attack shipping in the Red Sea.
Excuse me. CNN's National Security Correspondent Zachary Cohen, covering this story from this and from the U.S. perspective with this mission, what
exactly are they hoping to achieve? I think it may be a surprise to our viewers or some of our viewers that it is even still ongoing. So how long
is it expected to last and what are they expected to achieve?
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Becky, that's really the big question. The Trump Administration has said that they want to
protect U.S. and commercial vessels, they're traversing the Red Sea. They also want to prevent the Houthi militant group from attacking those ships
and also from attacking Israel.
And that's been sort of the stated objective more broadly here by the U.S. military. And this operation, a key part of it is about targeting and
killing these senior Houthi leaders. They believe that that is really the part of this that will ultimately dismantle the militant group's ability to
carry out these attacks.
And while you mentioned that they had hoped within 30 days to have the ability to ramp up intelligence collection on these leaders and begin to
actively target them. And so far, the Houthi militants have frustrated the U.S. military and preventing them from moving into that next phase of this
operation.
In part because sources say they've had so much success shooting down these American drones, these MQ -- reaper drones that are really the best tool
the U.S. has to collect intelligence on the members of the Houthi militant group and Houthi leadership. Seven of these drones have been shot down, at
least in the past month.
[09:25:00]
I mean that is really preventing the U.S. from having any real visibility into how much of the Houthis you know, arm stockpile has been degraded,
whether or not they can collect accurate intelligence about the location of these Houthis leaders. And ultimately, look, they've carried out over 300
airstrikes over the last month and some change on Houthi targets.
But the intelligence assessment says that really nothing has changed. The Houthi still intend and have the ability to carry out attacks on vessels in
the Red Sea. And they're also, their command-and-control structure still also remains in place. So, it remains to be seen how the Trump
Administration and the U.S. military will eventually move forward with this operation.
And despite the fact that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is said that the Houthi militant group has been decimated, I think the reality paints a very
different picture.
ANDERSON: Yeah. And I think, you know, speak to anybody in this region, it would take a very long time to fully degrade the Houthis military
infrastructure and assets, including human assets. So very quickly before I let you go, from your sources at this stage, is it clear at what point this
administration, Pete Hegseth, his Defense Department and this administration will be likely to call time on this?
COHEN: They --
ANDERSON: Not admit that they, you know, that they haven't, you know, achieved what they wanted to achieve, but perhaps talk about mission
completed.
COHEN: Right. Publicly, they've obviously vowed to carry this out until their objectives are met. Privately, though we're already hearing of
frustrations being voiced from senior military leaders up to the Secretary of Defense's office about the reallocation of resources from other areas
and other priority theaters you know, to carry out this operation that's becoming increasingly expensive and increasingly time consuming.
It's cost over a billion dollars in just the first three weeks to conduct these strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. And look, they don't have much to
show for it as of now. And those frustrations from senior leaders in other theaters of war will probably only grow louder as the results are not there
to show for it.
ANDERSON: Yeah, it's fascinating, isn't it? It's good to have you, Zachary. Thank you very much indeed. Right folks, we are just a few minutes away
from the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, up next. Then we are going to check in on Wall Street to see how stocks are starting the trading
day. More on that is, after this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
ANDERSON: A bell is just wrong on Wall Street. The U.S. markets are open. Indications from the futures market were, that the shares would open slowly
lower across the board. Investors perhaps taking a breather and some profits after a three-day winning streak. Also seemingly unnerved by
comments made by Donald Trump.
These comments released in excerpts of an interview conducted by "Time" magazine in conjunction with or due to be released in -- for his hundred-
day anniversary. And these comments suggesting that the president is wedded to high tariffs, undoing some of the reassurance from his treasury
secretary earlier this week, that America First does not mean America alone.
You know, by now that any comments made by Donald Trump around tariffs will move these markets one way or the other. And today, investors slightly
unhinged by it seems these comments. Anyway, we're going to keep an eye on what is going on their mix these markets.
So perhaps as I say, a little bit of profit being taken after what's been somewhat of a rally over the last few days. Well, in a global economy
defined by uncertainty, startups facing even more headwinds than usual here in our region, Middle East, North Africa, venture capitalists are sparing
no effort.
They have managed to raise nearly $700 million in the first months of 2025, the highest investment for a single quarter, at least since the end of
2023. That's according to a report released earlier this week by Dubai based data platform MAGNITT. Well, joining me now for more insight is
Philip Bahoshy, who's the CEO and Founder of MAGNITT.
Venture capital around the world is actually at its lowest level right now, since 2017. While that is the sort of backdrop, why is it that this region
of MENA and very specifically here in the UAE and in Saudi, we are seeing some quite significant investments at this point. Just explain.
PHILIP BAHOSHY, CEO AND FOUNDER OF MAGNITT: Well, thank you very much for having me. So indeed, Q1 saw a solid start to the year, and I would caveat
that we do follow global trends. Last year was relatively dampened, but at the end of the year, you began to see a pickup of activity largely driven
by the interest rate environment where we began to see the cutting of the fed policy in the U.S.
Here, we saw that begin at the beginning of the year. As you rightly mentioned, 88 percent of all of the capital that was deployed in the first
three months were between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, really becoming the powerhouses of venture and innovation here in the region. And that's been
driven over a long period of time.
I've literally just got off a plane from Riyadh, where I spent two days speaking to the ministries and the fund of funds. Here in the UAE, we've
spoken to many clients and innovation, diversification of economy, driving tech is key on the agenda of many of the government initiatives.
And that's beginning to percolate into the venture capital and wider private capital marketplace as well.
ANDERSON: Who's investing?
BAHOSHY: Regionally, you're seeing that in specifically Saudi Arabia, it's about 50 to 60 percent local investors, here in the UAE local investors
account for about 20 to 30 percent. But international participation and a lot of these entities, and I know that you go to conferences like FII,
there's the LEAP conferences are looking to attract international people to the region.
And we've begun to see players from outside of the world begin to participate specifically at late stage. We've heard of General Atlantic
recently we're seeing players like BlackRock coming to the region, that's beginning to now come into the venture capital space and attracting not
only local investors stimulated by the sovereign wealth funds, but international players as well.
ANDERSON: Yeah, this is a MAGNITT for global wealth. We are seeing a lot of family offices moving to the UAE specifically, which is a really
interesting trend and brings a lot of interest here and for VC. That's an incredibly important part.
[09:35:00]
What will keep this market alive, as it were, when we've seen such challenges elsewhere. I mean, President Trump's tariffs are really testing
investor sentiment at this point. And there's a lot of uncertainty around. What does that mean in terms of VCs and how do you believe regionally they
will overcome that challenge?
BAHOSHY: Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. I think firstly, one of the challenges is exits and right now the return of investments for all of the
capital that's been deployed is one of the areas we'd like to see more M&A activity happening in the region. Consolidation, international acquisitions
and most importantly IPOs.
But I think you've rightly pointed out, we came back from the Eid holiday and started publishing our Q1 reports. And very quickly had to change our
views to try and understand what is the impact of these U.S. tariffs discussions. And the reality and I've been saying to many of our clients
that uncertainty really is the devil of decision making.
And what it's created is an element of a risk off environment. Our sovereigns going to continue to invest in venture as an asset class. Will
VCs pause that next investment until they see a little bit more visibility? Will startups continue to raise when they don't know where the next
investment round is going to come from?
And that's something that we have been challenged with. But if there's one thing that's clear from the region is that the founders have been
challenged with adversity over a long period of time and have become very resilient to this. But I think the answer to your question is, we'd like to
see more success stories and exits from the region that can really stimulate further capital into the asset class.
ANDERSON: Yeah sir, that's a fascinating -- I certainly see that here, I hear that being suggested. It's good to have you on to share that with our
wider viewing public. Thank you, sir. Coming up, you've got your sports news and a challenging road ahead for Lionel Messi's Inter Miami Squad
after what was a semi-final setback. More than that is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Right, round two of this year's NFL draft is tonight after it got underway on Thursday night. As expected, the Tennessee Titans selected
quarterback Cam Ward as the first pick of the draft. You can catch any of the second round. If you catch any of the second round, be sure to keep an
eye out for a one-of-a-kind art installation that each player walks through. CNN's Coy Wire introduces us to the artist who created it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Green Bay, Wisconsin, hosting this year's NFL draft. And while one name won't be
called on stage, his hard work will be on full display.
[09:40:00]
IKE WYNTER, MILWAUKEE-BASED ARTIST: My name is Ike Wynter and I got commissioned by the NFL to bring all 32 NFL teams logos to life.
WIRE (voice-over): Ike Wynter's artwork lines, the very path, future stars walk after hearing their names called a Milwaukee native. He spent more
than 600 hours building logos for all 32 teams entirely out of furniture he found on the side of the road.
WYNTER: I had yet to stain or paint or buy a piece of wood for my art. When they kind of gave me the green light to the start of the project, I just
kind of started disassembling all those furniture. And it's all from alleys and the side of the road.
WIRE (voice-over): No paint, no stain, just raw materials. Repurposing more than 50 pieces of discarded furniture for every three-by-three-foot work.
This year's draft theme is built by community. Wynter says, using Wisconsin's castoffs without altering their natural beauty was important.
WYNTER: Wood is always the one thing getting tossed. So instead of just tossing it one day, I literally just made the conscious effort to bring the
wood home and use a couple saws in my garage and just cut it up truly out of like curiosity and for fun and as an arc project.
WIRE (voice-over): While he is already created pieces for heavyweights, like Mike Tyson, he calls this project the coolest of his life, to make the
moment even more special. When the NFL came knocking, they had no idea they were tapping into a family legacy. Wynter is the grandson of Ray Kuffel who
was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in 1944.
WYNTER: I'm glad that my grandfather's story gets to be, you know, revisited through this whole journey. I'm glad that my art is, you know,
more publicly known through this journey. Whatever tomorrow brings, as long as I get to sit in my studio and cut wood and listen to music, I'm on a
good journey, you know.
WIRE (voice-over): Wisconsin's trash reimagined into treasure. A reminder that not all legacies are written in stats. Some are built in sawdust. Coy
Wire, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Right. Taking a short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
END
