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Flydubai Pilot Speaks After Fighting Off Attacker Mid-Flight; U.S. Pressures European Allies to Help Lower Diesel Prices; New York Attorney General Now Special Prosecutor in Cornell Case; France's Student Protests Escalate; LIVEX Closes with Deals Worth $41 Billion; Etihad Rail Launches Abu Dhabi-Dubai Train Service. Aired 10a-11a ET

Aired October 02, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

ANKUSH KHARDORI, FORMER U.S. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: -- chief executive of the state, I mean, the same way we wouldn't want the president of the United

States going around and prejudging federal prosecutions. He does that but we don't -- really shouldn't, she should not be doing that. You know, there

may be a jury impaneled at some point and she's the governor.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes. It's good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. We've hit the top of the hour

and we are getting into the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD starting right now. Thank you.

Well, it is 6:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD from our Middle East programing headquarters.

And as we've been reporting, New York's attorney general is taking over the investigation into the allegation of gang rape at Cornell University as new

evidence and growing outrage raised questions over how the case was initially handled.

And the other headlines that we're covering this hour, the Flydubai captain who fought off his attacker mid-flight speaks from his hospital bed, saying

he couldn't let everybody else die.

Students clashing with police, schools ablaze and hundreds detained. That is the story in France as the country struggles to contain a wave of

protests over the state of the country's education system with tensions showing little sign of easing.

All right, well, let's -- let's connect you to this region then. And for the first time since this week's attack on the Flydubai plane from the UAE

to Israel, the hero pilot speaking out about what unfolded. Captain Smit Machchhar told India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi he fought back when he

was attacked by his co-pilot because he realized the plane was going down and he couldn't let everyone die. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. SCHMIDT MACHCHHAR, PILOT (through translator): You are the hero pilot. And sir, I've been flying planes for the last 17 years and I've been

a captain for the last 11 years. And even if I shut my eyes I know what is happening in the plane. And when I was on the ground, I realized that the

aircraft was falling down. And I knew in that moment, one last push, Smit. Just do it. The door is right there.

And even at that time, he was beating me up. And then I just opened it, sir. And then everybody came and everybody else also played an equal role

in this. I was telling, sir, that I was doing this for my life, but at the same time I knew that I cannot let everybody else die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Captain Smit Machchhar is being treated in hospital here in Abu Dhabi. He was brought from Saudi Arabia, where his Flydubai plane made an

emergency landing. Speaking to CNN News 18, his wife says his family is putting his recovery first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONAL MACHCHHAR, WIFE OF CAPTAIN SCHMIDT MACHCHHAR: We haven't asked him anything because right now we don't want him to get flashbacks of the

incident. We want him to fully recover. And I'm sure once he is in the right space to talk, he will share it with everyone of how the incident

went on with him.

Well, I'm just so grateful to God that he's been saved and everyone on the plane is safe. I have met him yesterday. And that gives me a reassurance

that he's in the right hands. Very good care under the good care of UAE doctors, military doctors. And I'm just hoping that he comes back home

soon. And I'm going to do everything, what it takes for his recovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, CNN has obtained new footage that shows passengers trying to help the pilot. The co-pilot, the suspect in the attack has now also

been moved to the UAE, which is leading the investigation into the incident.

Well, the senior adviser to the UAE president, Anwar Gargash, has posted today saying, quote, "The Indian pilot at Flydubai, Smit Machchhar,

deserves every bit of appreciation for he embodied the meaning of courage and responsibility in the face of a dangerous terrorist act and a potential

disaster. His professionalism and moral sense in the darkest of circumstances make him a true hero."

Nic Robertson is at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with reaction from Israel.

And what are we hearing there about this investigation? Of course, it is being run in the UAE. I'm wondering what you understand to be Israel's

involvement, if any, officially in this investigation and what are authorities there are saying.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the prime minister here has said that he's had conversations with officials in the

UAE, and he expects Israel to be part of the investigation.

[10:05:04]

He described it as an interrogation of the attacker. He very much expects that to be the case. So we understand from officials here that the Israelis

really wanted the investigation to be led by the Emiratis. Flydubai being obviously based in the UAE, but the incident took place in the airspace

over Saudi Arabia. The plane touched down there first.

That's where the attacker was being treated initially, partly because Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, and therefore

it would be hard to be involved or harder to be involved in the investigation in the way that they would like to be.

The attorney general yesterday in the UAE laying out an investigation, would begin to look at the possibility of terrorist activity, and that

certainly what that senior adviser to the president, Anwar Gargash, has said. Now they appear to have reached already that conclusion. Terrorist

event. And that very much matches what we're hearing from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that this was potentially on the scale

of the -- a 9/11 attack.

He said that this attacker had radical Islamist training or background that he intended to crash the plane with everyone on board. Now, it's not clear

if the Israeli prime minister, when he kind of draws this analogy with 9/11, already has some kind of intelligence from interrogations, from

interviews that says that actually the pilot who did the attacking intended and had a target in a place that he wanted to fly the aircraft into in

Israel.

He's not saying that, but that seems to be the scale that he's inferring at here and like the Emiratis the Israeli prime minister is saying, was anyone

else involved? This is part of the Emirati investigation as well. Was anyone else involved? And the prime minister here saying if they are, there

will be a price to pay.

But of course for the investigation on the ground in the UAE will be fed by intelligence from both the Emirati intelligence and Israeli intelligence,

very likely looking at who this Omani pilot was talking to, who was in his circle of friends, what was he saying on social media? Who was he

communicating with? And that, of course, is going to be a burden on the UAE, most immediately affecting them because he worked for an airline based

in the UAE. And therefore there may be implications inside the UAE other than there were for Israel two days ago.

ANDERSON: Yes. Good to have you. Nic is at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Time there just after 5:00 in the afternoon, just after 6:00 here in Abu

Dhabi.

European officials are holding crisis talks as they face pressure from the United States to do something to bring down sky high diesel prices. The

Trump administration calling on Europe to tap into its emergency diesel reserves, saying it may ban U.S. diesel exports if they don't.

Now, AAA says diesel fuel in the U.S. is averaging $6.37 a gallon today. That's up more than 55 percent since the start of the war with Iran.

CNN business and economics reporter Anna Cooban is covering the story from London.

And, Anna, tell us why the States is leaning in to Europe and asking Europe to sort itself out. Which European countries would be impacted, and what

are the potential consequences of this export ban if indeed the Trump administration decides to do that?

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, European countries really have been in the firing line of some U.S. officials over

the past couple of days. They're basically saying to them, you guys need to start pulling your weight and really responding to tightness in the global

diesel market by releasing more from your stocks, which you promised earlier in March.

So remember in March, there was this agreement between IEA countries, including European Union, to release 400 million barrels of oil, including

oil products. Now Europe has released just 8 percent, less than 8 percent, according to an analyst I spoke to this morning, of what they promised to

release of these oil products, these refined products, which includes diesel.

Now, there's been this meeting between G7 leaders today. And we've actually -- about this issue. And we've actually just seen now from Donald Trump

speaking on Truth Social that Europe has apparently agreed to release a massive amount of diesel from their stocks.

Now, the elephant in the room is what Donald Trump is, you know, looking down the barrel towards in less than a month, which is the midterms. Now,

diesel prices in the U.S. are sky high. They surpass that $6 a gallon on average over the whole of the U.S. for the first time ever last month. And

these high prices are not going to play very -- well very politically with Trump. So he wants to keep oil -- U.S. diesel at home so that oil supplies

are higher, brings down prices, and hopefully that can benefit him politically.

[10:10:10]

I also think it is worth mentioning that diesel is the so-called workhorse fuel of the global economy. It powers lots of kind of commercial vehicles,

farm equipment, trucks, for example. And so any rise in prices in diesel is really going to feed through to the rest of the economy. And if sustained,

elevate inflation. And that is bad both for the United States but also for European countries.

ANDERSON: Copy that. Good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.

We are going to take a very short break here on CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, though, further analysis on what we just heard in New York on the

alleged --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: All right. I want to return to our top story this hour. The troubling allegation of gang rape case at Cornell University. We've just

had a news conference in New York just wrapped up. New York attorney general said this case is now an active criminal investigation. Letitia

James taking over the case as special prosecutor.

Well, newly uncovered documents about Cornell's internal investigation have raised questions about the school's handling of the incident. This

reporting is now behind the New York governor's decision to appoint James as a special prosecutor. She explained her reasoning at that news

conference. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, NEW YORK: When the Tompkins County district attorney announced that he was reopening the case, he pointed to Jane Doe's

statement and said it did not establish that a crime had occurred. But new reporting raises serious questions about the information his office relied

upon when it made that decision. And that's why I believe this case demands a special prosecutor who will provide a fresh and thorough review of all

the facts, including the information that has recently come to light.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Ankush Khardori is a legal analyst. He's a former federal prosecutor joining us live from Washington.

Thank you. You and I spoke just after that news conference. So, a special prosecutor has taken over this case. What does that change legally? And

what powers does the new prosecutor have that the county D.A. did not use in the original incident?

ANKUSH KHARDORI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, it's not clear to me that it will change really the investigative tools that will be brought to bear

here. The New York attorney general has criminal investigative authority, and I don't think this is a case where there are particularly, like, sort

of unusual sort of investigative techniques that you would need to bring to bear here.

I think the main thing that this was designed to accomplish very unreasonably was to get a fresh set of eyes on this case because the

public, I think, really, really is upset by the handling of this, rightly or wrongly, remains to be seen, but clearly has, I think, lost confidence

in the sitting D.A. in Tompkins County.

[10:15:11]

And I think it's to the benefit of everyone, the accuser, the alleged assailants, and the public to have an independent person come in in

principle.

ANDERSON: So the original D.A. says prosecutors reviewed the evidence that they had and concluded it didn't establish a crime. We do now know that

there was additional evidence, including a later interview, in which the woman explicitly said that she'd been raped. How significant could that

discrepancy be?

KHARDORI: Well, look, in a potential criminal case, right, let's -- you know, I think Hochul, you know, sort of the tenor of her remarks during the

course of that press conference suggested that she expects criminal case to be filed. I just want to be very clear about what she seems to have

projected. But in terms of, you know, if there's a criminal case that's filed, it is very normal for defense counsel to raise inconsistencies in an

accuser or an alleged victim's account.

By the same token, it's not uncommon, particularly in sexual assault cases, for there to be such discrepancies, particularly in a case involving

intoxication where the accuser may not fully or immediately understand the full gravity of what happened to them. So, you know, I think in a case like

this we have to have a little bit of grace. But for the accuser, but also just as a straightforward legal matter, it is something that you would

expect a defense lawyer to raise.

ANDERSON: And so how long do you expect this now to take?

KHARDORI: You know, they said months. I think if I heard correctly, months, which I think is helpful for them to set a pretty narrow timeline because

clearly this has attracted a lot of attention. I think that is about right, given the nature of what we know about the scope of the investigation and

the sort of fact pattern, if you will. So it seems like they expect to make some sort of charging decision relatively soon here, and that we can expect

something in that -- in the months to come.

ANDERSON: It's good to have you, sir. Thank you very much indeed for joining us today.

KHARDORI: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Now we'll get you -- everybody up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.

And people in Afghanistan's Kunar Province have seen their homes and lives reduced to rubble after what authorities say were Pakistani airstrikes.

Islamabad says the strikes targeted militant hideouts. The Taliban government says nine people were killed in Thursday's attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They are all very poor and ordinary people. They have no links to any group, neither the TTP or the Islamic

Emirate. They have no connection with any of these groups. They leave home early in the morning and return late at night. But despite that, they are

killed. You can see this destroyed house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The plane came and carried out an airstrike. It was around 3:30 in the morning when I woke up. The women were

all screaming and shouting that the children were trapped under the rubble. We came out and saw that six people had been killed. Four of them were

children. One of them an elderly man and the other a young man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, a British Iranian man was arrested in London on Thursday on suspicion of planning an act of terrorism. The arrest was linked to a

suspected plot to target the Royal Air Force base in here at Fairford. Britain's prime minister says there are strong indications of Iranian

involvement, although Iran denies having any connection with the incident last weekend. The base is being used by U.S. bombers in the war with Iran.

Authorities in Brazil responded to a suspected bomb threat at the Supreme Court just days before the presidential election there. A man has been

detained after allegedly attempting to jump the court's fences and throw a backpack nearby, one which had to be examined by a bomb squad. It's not

clear what the motive may have been.

Well, still to come, students taking to the streets across France as protests shut down, hundreds of schools there. What's fueling those

demonstrations and why some have turned violent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:21:47]

ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. These are your headlines this hour.

And New York's governor and attorney general have been updating reporters about the troubling gang rape allegations at Cornell University. The AG is

taking over the case as special prosecutor and says it is now an active criminal investigation. The governor says she wants to change New York's

sexual assault law.

The heroic pilot from the Flydubai flight from the UAE to Israel is speaking out about Wednesday's attack. Captain Smit Machchhar told India's

prime minister that he fought back when he was attacked by his co-pilot because he realized the plane was going down and he couldn't let everyone

die. He's being treated here in the UAE, which is leading the investigation into the incident.

Well, the U.S. calling on Europe to tap into its emergency diesel reserves or possibly face a ban on U.S. diesel exports. European officials are

holding crisis talks today as the Trump administration turns up the pressure on the E.U. to bring down diesel prices ahead of the November

midterms.

Well, hundreds of schools across France closed today as ongoing protests disrupt classes nationwide. Some of the demonstrations have turned violent,

leading to injuries and hundreds of arrests. The demonstrations, which started in the Paris region last month, have grown into a nationwide

movement. Students protesting what they say are poor conditions in schools, including staff shortages and rundown buildings.

I spoke with my colleague Melissa Bell last hour about what is this developing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've just been watching them take down some of their barricades, but it's been at the

center of the protests, as have, according to authorities, some five -- more than 560 high schools now they're counting that are impacted by this

Friday across the country. And of course, what we've seen are those violent scenes. We've seen teachers being beaten up.

We saw policemen this morning being beaten up and sent to hospital. There have been fires. These barricades have been seeing that sort of violence

getting worse and worse. In fact, what the authorities are now talking about, Becky, is this sort of switch that happened yesterday when nearly

2,000 people were held by the police in what authorities say is that that was the moment when the student protests really kind of turned into

something that resembled much more urban violence, as they're describing it.

And what authorities here in France are saying very much blaming the far- left for fanning the flames, for being present at some of these rallies, some of these demonstrations. For its part, the far-left LFI Party has

defended its actions, its presence at some of these barricades, saying that the students have a right to make their feelings plain.

And you're quite right. It is a question of funding that they're protesting, not just here at high schools in central Paris, but in the

outskirts of Paris, in many French cities. Now, students who say they simply don't have the resources that they need, sometimes lacking tables,

chairs, teachers that aren't there.

What we have seen so far in terms of a measure is an announcement by the government that one of the plans it had for its 2027 budget, which is to

slightly raise the inscription fees for some of the high schools, that's now been scrapped as a concession.

[10:25:03]

And we know that there are meetings going on today between student leaders and the education minister to try and find some kind of solution that would

go some way to meeting some of their aims. But apart from that, no sense so far, Becky, that this is running out of steam yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: I want to bring in Lorenza Antonucci, who is joining us now to discuss more on this.

You're in University of Cambridge. You're an associate professor in sociology there, and I really want to get your sense of what is going on

here. We're seeing student protests in France, protests in Spain over housing costs. These are debt-laden governments who are frankly strapped,

cash strapped at this at this point. On the other side, we're seeing growing support in some European countries for far-right parties. An

example of that is the AfD in Germany.

There is clearly, you know, a growing sense of economic insecurity in many countries. How worrying is that, especially as the onset of winter is here?

LORENZA ANTONUCCI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN SOCIOLOGY, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: Yes, you're right. I think there's something that's connecting the AfD

rise, but also increasing support for populist left in Germany, in Berlin. And then we have in Spain protests due to housing, increasing housing

costs. And then you have also this protest in France, which really point out that the chronic lack of funding for public services.

And I see this as really the result of many decades of defunding the welfare state but also placing a bit of a different emphasis on what the

welfare state does. And I think this is only going to grow, yes, as financial concerns are on the rise. This is not just the left behind issue.

Like people, you know, from left behind communities. This is becoming a widespread sense of insecurity. It's affecting different groups, including

the middle class, the declining middle classes.

So we really need to consider the more than 50 percent of Europeans, according to my research, are affected by growing financial concerns like

capacity to make ends meet, capacity to face unexpected expenses, which, you know, often refer to housing costs, but also --

ANDERSON: Right.

ANTONUCCI: Just for warming up your house, capacity to make savings, capacity to reduce or avoid debt, and a general sense of financial anxiety.

And we show that these are -- this is clearly linked to populist sentiment and voting for -- yes.

ANDERSON: Yes, these are --

ANTONUCCI: Sorry.

ANDERSON: These are significant numbers that your research, which, as I understand it, looked at more than 75,000 people across 10 European

countries. I mean, this is really a worrying stuff. You found that money worries and job dissatisfaction were major drivers of this populist support

that we're seeing. And we are continuing to see those pressures build. What is the answer?

ANTONUCCI: Yes. This is a tricky question because a lot of the answer is not up to the state. In my view it's up to the market. A lot of these

issues that you're seeing, for example, the protests in Spain started because there was a -- because housing is left to investment companies. So

it's -- the state cannot really absorb or this insecurity by itself.

But, you know, also asking the market, or shaping the way the market is providing some of these services in a way that it's -- you know, that it

can provide people security because at the moment the priority is really maximizing profit, and this is having detrimental effect on protecting

people's lives. So I think we also need to consider that the center left and center right parties have more or less agreed to, you know, a change in

the way the welfare state operates in Europe in the last decades.

And people are looking for responses either from the populist right or from the populist left. So I think this is really pushing the mainstream parties

to think really carefully about how much they allow the state to take up really important public services, and not be concerned about, you know, the

effects that it has on people's socioeconomic security.

ANDERSON: (INAUDIBLE) governments, who, frankly, are struggling to institute policies that would promote growth at this point. And it's

interesting, isn't it? At a time when, you know, like it or not, or agree with the policies or not, the U.S., for example, is in pretty good shape

when it comes to its growth story. How -- how do these European governments sort of dig themselves out of this slow growth pit that they are in?

[10:30:02]

ANTONUCCI: I'm not sure the answer is just growth because if you look at macroeconomic indicators, these are not capturing what is happening in

people's lives like the indicators I told you before, capacity to make ends meet, capacity to face unexpected expenses, do not go in the same direction

of unemployment rates and GDP rates. And even in the U.S. actually, AOC made, you know, a whole agenda about, you know, addressing the increasing

housing costs.

So I really don't think it's a point of growth. But the distribution of growth, distribution of profit. Where is it going in society? We know that

there is an increasing level of inequality. The profits are, you know, absorbed by people at the top and are not distributed among like most of

the population, including the middle classes. And not just like the poor members of the society. And this is becoming an issue in the U.S. as in

Europe, in my view.

ANDERSON: It's really good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us today.

ANTONUCCI: Thank you.

ANDERSON: It's half past 6:00 here. Half past 3:00 in the afternoon in the U.K.. Good to have you.

Still to come, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD, two of the biggest of the Middle East's biggest cities are now connected by rail, giving millions of

people a new way to travel. We'll have a look at that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, the U.N. is urging Iran and the United States to keep lines of communication open as peace talks stall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: I think the situation remains extremely, extremely worrying. We are in a moment of a bit of radio

silence. We know there were indirect contacts between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. We hope that this round of discussion

continues through the good offices of Qatar. And obviously other countries are involved, whether it be Pakistan and others. And so it is very -- it is

very important that these channels of communications remain open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the U.N. also focused on concerns surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations says that a tanker using the

strait caught fire on Thursday after being hit by an unidentified projectile. The crew was reported safe, but the extent of the damage is not

yet clear.

Well, the Trump administration is imposing new sanctions in an effort to ramp up pressure on Tehran. The new measures target Iran's biggest

automakers and railroad companies. Also being sanctioned are non-Iranian auto parts suppliers, which the U.S. says are helping Tehran to side step

existing sanctions.

Well, in the UAE life goes on. The first ever LIVEX investment summit in Abu Dhabi attracted thousands of visitors this week. It was all about

livability, the idea that quality of life should be at the heart of how cities grow. The event brought in deals worth some $41 billion.

[10:35:08]

Well, I spoke to Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, who is the chairman of Abu Dhabi's Municipalities and Transport Department. This is effectively calling him

mayor, and asked him what livability in Abu Dhabi actually looks like. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMED ALI AL SHORAFA, CHAIRMAN, ABU DHABI DEPARTMENT OF MUNICIPALITIES AND TRANSPORT: Ability components doesn't only -- it's not only real

estate. It's not only infrastructure, network of roads. It includes your parks, your healthcare facilities, your educational facilities, social

services as well, your pets.

By creating the right atmosphere, attraction will come. And by creating that attraction, investors would want to come and capture that opportunity.

ANDERSON: I'm going to have to ask you how much has the regional instability impacted, one, the ambition, but two, the appetite from the

international and other private investors.

AL SHORAFA: From an ambition point of view, Abu Dhabi did not stop. We stayed the course. We continued with our projects. None of our government

projects or even private sector projects have been delayed or put on hold. The numbers from our real estate center are astonishing. Still, people want

to come and invest because, don't forget, during that crisis, Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates have really managed that situation in an amazing

way that we are all together as one family. That protection and safety talks a lot about how you can attract a lot of people to this part of the

world.

ANDERSON: What are international investors telling you about what they need to see here in order for them to choose Abu Dhabi?

AL SHORAFA: Very good question. I'm not going to talk about safety. Safety has been -- that's a given. But I think we provide a different environment.

It's not only the flourishing of a city, but also how people can grow the opportunities that Abu Dhabi brings to investors, entrepreneurs and

innovators. But those people also need to raise a family. When you raise a family, you need to have good healthcare. You have to need -- you need to

have good education as well. Higher education, connectivity to the rest of the world.

And by bringing all of these unique selling points of Abu Dhabi gives you a great product that we can sell easily.

ANDERSON: Talk to me about, you know, the permitting, the planning, the regulatory sort of environment here. What it is that you can provide for

institutional international investors that will sort of provide incentives or guarantees on the tenures here? How do we ensure that that patient long-

term capital is coming?

AL SHORAFA: See, we always look for long-term capital. And as you put it, patient capital. But patient capital also need quick decision-making. They

need to invest as quickly as possible so that they can get the right returns. And this was one of the key components for Abu Dhabi. Our

digitization of all our, for example, our building permits. If you go to any of the developed countries, if you want to build a tower, a commercial

tower or residential tower, it takes you a couple of years just to get approval to build those developments.

In Abu Dhabi, it takes you a couple of weeks. Why? Because we already have a complete A.I. urban planning system. We introduce all the requirements

and construction costs that are required. What we need from those developers is just to submit their architectural and structural drawings,

and you get approvals or comments instantly. And by doing that, you're actually creating a return on investment for them faster than if they stay

for four or five years just developing a project.

How agile you are as a government, as a service provider, you can give to those people. This is the name of the game.

ANDERSON: There are a number of livability indices around the world. The EIU is one of them. I mean, the region cities have slipped slightly. Abu

Dhabi included on that index. How do you ensure you're effectively competing with those other cities, given that this is your sort of

investment edge livability going forward?

AL SHORAFA: Listening to the community. That's the number one, to be honest with you. And by listening to the community, you understand the

requirements. We're hoping that new methodology that we developed, which we call it Livability 2.0, that introduces 120 different data sets, and not

only from quantity of services or infrastructure, but also the quality and the services that are required within every single community.

We have a scoring for every single district in Abu Dhabi, and that district, the scoring that comes from that district tells us a lot about

where and when do we need to do these changes dependent on the people that live there.

ANDERSON: And you are not being asked to rein in your spend when it comes to Abu Dhabi, Inc., as an ambition?

[10:40:06]

AL SHORAFA: On the contrary, we are doubling down on the plans that were there, and we're seeing a lot of private sector that want to be part of our

capital expenditure, and our infrastructure, and our livability, and this is humongous to us, to be honest. And we are happy to participate with the

private sector on that. And this gives us a lot of opportunities also to look at other areas that we can invest into with the private sector.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Fascinating. Well, a closer look now at an example of the types of sort of livability projects that we were just talking about. Until now,

traveling from here in Abu Dhabi to Dubai has meant a drive lasting a good hour or more, depending on the traffic. Well, now there's a whole new

option. High speed trains.

CNN's Eleni Giokos reports on Etihad Rail's brand new connection.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The new passenger rail service is going to be linking many cities across the UAE. The ones that are already

operational is Fujairah Station to here, Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed city station. The link that I'm taking today finally headed to Dubai, Al Yalay's

Station. It is the link between the two major metropoles in the UAE.

I'm in premium class and Etihad Rail has two classes, comfort class and premium. And I've just been given some chocolate. It is 8:45 in the

morning. I think I'm going to hold off from eating this just yet. But I have to say the experience thus far really cool. I have to show you this.

And I get a little bit of a foot rest. And if I'm so inclined, I could also put my laptop on here and get some work done. But I prefer to look out.

So the plan is to connect 11 cities across the UAE. But what's even more exciting is the fact that there's a high speed train that is in the works,

and apparently that's going to be ready in 2030. And that would cut the trip between Dubai and Abu Dhabi to 30 minutes. Some people drive between

Abu Dhabi and Dubai daily. Taking the train is absolutely superior. It's a lot more comfortable. You get a snack. So the question is, when are you

going to take the train?

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ANDERSON: Well you heard Mohamed Shorafa talking about livability as the investment edge and transport infrastructure. Absolutely part of that.

Right. Before we go, Manchester City have confirmed that they have filed an appeal after being found guilty on all charges relating to the breaches of

Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. The Premier League said that the Abu Dhabi-owned club systematically broke rules for

nearly a decade, creating what they described as sham contracts as part of a disguised funding scheme.

Manchester City have continued to deny the charges and said today, and I quote them here, "The club's firm position is that on multiple grounds, the

opinion contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe," end quote.

Right. Well, more on that in "WORLD SPORT." That is up after this short break today.

That is it for CONNECT THE WORLD. You can find me online at BeckyCNN on Instagram and on X. Stay with CNN.

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(WORLD SPORT)

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