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First Move with Julia Chatterley
Special Counsel Drops Cases Against Trump; Israeli Cabinet to Vote Hezbollah Ceasefire Deal; Palestinians Fear More Evacuations Under Trump; Fire Destroys Homes in Coastal Shantytown in Manila; Kyiv Facing Massive Russian Drone Attack; Macy's Employee Hid Up to $154 Million Worth of Expenses; COP29 Climate Conference Crisis; COP29 Pledge to Give $300B Annually by 2035; Wayve Driverless Cars Tests on U.S. Roads; "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" Pull in Combined $169.5M in U.S. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired November 25, 2024 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR, FIRST MOVE: It's 6:00 a.m. in Bangkok, 7:00 a.m. in Manila, and 6:00 p.m. here in New York. I'm Julia Chatterley. And
wherever you are in the world, this is your "First Move."
And a warm welcome to "First Move." As always, here's today's need to know. Trump's triumph. Special Counsel Jack Smith dropping two major criminal
cases against the president-elect. Philippines fire. Thousands are left homeless as a blaze engulfs a shantytown in Manila. Macy's millions. The
retailer says an employee hid up to $150 million worth of expenses. And a wave across the ocean. The British start-up using embodied A.I. to bring
self-driving cars to the states. That conversation and plenty more coming up.
But first, two major legion victories for Donald Trump. Special Counsel Jack Smith dropping the federal election subversion case against him and
the classified documents case. Smith added that the outcome was not based on the merits or strength of the cases and kept the door open for charges
to be brought once again in the future.
The president-elect said, quote, "It was a political hijacking and a low point in the history of our nation and our country or country that such a
thing could have happened, and yet I persevered against all odds and won."
Vice President-Elect J. D. Vance, adding, quote, "If Donald J. Trump had lost an election, he may very well have spent the rest of his life in
prison. These prosecutions were always political. Now, it's time to ensure what happened to President Trump never happens in this country again."
For more, we're joined by James Sample. He's professor of law at Hofstra University. James, great to have you on the show. So, as far as these two
cases and the president-elect are concerned, it's all over.
JAMES SAMPLE, PROFESSOR OF LAW, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY: That's right, Julia. It's good to be with you as always. And for Donald Trump, his strategy of
delay, delay, delay and then win the election to do away with the litigation ultimately proves to be one of the ultimate success stories. And
you can view it as a success electorally. You can view it as a success in terms of the support of the rank-and-file voters, and that's certainly
true. It's also a win in terms of avoiding accountability, which means it's a loss for the rule of law that it took so long to bring these cases to
trial that they never, in fact, got to trial before the election.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think once the president-elect is no longer in office, this case could come back to haunt him or is that an irrelevant question at
this stage? And my backup question to that on the classified documents case is while they've said, look, we're not going to pursue the president-elect
anymore, there are two co-defendants that were former employees of him that they will still pursue in this case. If we fast forward and assume at some
point in the future, they're found guilty, could Donald Trump pardon them as president?
SAMPLE: Those are the right questions to be asking for sure, Julia. I think that here what has happened because Jack Smith is seeking and
encouraging Judge Chutkan to dismiss these cases without prejudice, you're right that there is the possibility that he could still be prosecuted. It
seems farfetched. It would be four years from now at a minimum. But because he is encouraging the judge to dismiss these cases without prejudice, that
means that there is still the opportunity to refile.
With respect to the classified documents case, you're absolutely right. There are two co-defendants. The most prominent of those is Walt Nauta, and
those who have been around Trump know that those two are basically always attached at the hip pretty much wherever they go. My expectation is that
one of the very first actions that Donald Trump is going to take when he takes office on January 20th is to pardon those individuals. Now, that's
not a guarantee. You don't need to wait for a conviction for Mr. Trump to pardon them, but I highly, highly doubt that those two will ever stand
trial in the classified documents case.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. So, certainly a triumph for the president-elect and possibly the co-defendants too. James Sample, professor of Law at Hofstra
University, sir, thank you for your time.
Now, turning to the Trump transition, a new poll showing more than half of Americans approve of the way the process has been going so far. The
president-elect's pick for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, also getting high marks from investors, economists, and business leaders. A source
telling CNN even JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is on board. They hope Bessent will curb Trump's most aggressive instincts on trade and tariffs.
[18:05:00]
That hope was also reflected Monday in lower bond yield, a softer dollar and higher stock prices. Scott Bessant is in favor of a three-pronged
approach to economic policy, boosting growth to 3 percent a year, cutting the budget deficit in half to 3 percent GDP. The question is how? And
boosting oil production by 3 million barrels a day. We'll see what he can achieve.
Anyway, we'll move on. There's new hope that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah may be near. The Israeli cabinet is set to vote on a ceasefire
deal on Tuesday. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesperson says it's likely to pass. A Lebanese official also says a deal is expected
within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Israel says it struck two Hezbollah command posts in Beirut on Monday. So, the violence, at least for now, continues. Nic Robertson joins
us now from Jerusalem. Nic, we were talking two hours ago. This does feel different. The question is, how does it work, assuming that this deal does
get agreed?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and a lot of these details, the key bits of the details of things that have been the
sticking points, Israel's demand that it wants to be able to target immediately Hezbollah if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the ceasefire
agreement. What is the mechanics of that? Do they call somebody up? Is it the U.N.? Is it the U.S.? Who adjudicates that? Is there an adjudicator?
So, that was sort of one of the pieces of detail that we don't understand.
But what we do understand are the broad basics of this, and that is a 60- day ceasefire. Hezbollah moves north away from the border with Israel. It moves 30 miles, 45 kilometers north of a river called the Litani River.
This is just like the 2006 as a U.N. Security Council Resolution for it. And at the same time, Israel pulls back south of its border.
And then in that sort of military vacuum, that's where the U.N. security force is supposed to go in and expanded force is what we understand, but we
don't know the contours of that. And also, the Lebanese army is supposed to go in there, and their role would be to make sure that everyone plays
right, particularly that Hezbollah doesn't move back to the border again. And historically, the U.N. hasn't been able to do that. The Lebanese army
is weak compared to Hezbollah, and they haven't been able to do that.
So, that's where you get the sense of there's all these questions, and perhaps the detail of the deal, when we find out about it, will answer some
of those questions. But that's what's supposed to unfold, and the trigger, as far as we understand, will be that decision by Netanyahu's cabinet less
than 24 hours from now.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and whether Netanyahu himself can convince some of the skeptics at this moment to be on board with this as well. It obviously
throws questions about where this and what this then means for the situation in Gaza, what it also potentially means for the West Bank and the
situation there, particularly when we're sort of two months out from a new American administration.
Nic, I know the Israelis were hearing at least some degree of optimism that the incoming president-elect will mean more support for their claims, at
least relative to the incumbent administration, but you've also been speaking to some of the Palestinians there. What are they saying at this
moment?
ROBERTSON: Yes, there's this real level of concern that Trump's going to be good for the Israelis and bad for the Palestinians. The prism of that
view is partly shaped through the -- through his pick to be ambassador, someone who is liked by the settler movement, liked by the hardcore right,
who doesn't recognize the Palestinians right to the West Bank. It's the occupied West Bank under international law.
So, we've been talking to both the settlers and the Palestinians about how they view what's going to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FMR. GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE (R-AR): There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Mike Huckabee and at times controversial visitor to Israel looks set to return as President-Elect Donald Trump's pick to be
ambassador. If he does, he'll have plenty of friends. Yishai Fleisher, an activist and settler, has met with Huckabee many times.
YISHAI FLEISHER, SETTLER LEADER: He happens to be a great friend of Israel, and of the kind of Israel that I represent, that lives in its
ancestral heartland, which is Judea and Samaria, what on CNN may be called the West Bank.
ROBERTSON: Even the occupied West Bank?
FLEISHER: Right, even occupied West Bank, but we don't see it that way.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): But the history of the West Bank is complex and deeply disputed. Under international law Israel is deemed to be occupying
the land.
Huckabee will be arriving when settler violence against Palestinians is significantly up over Trump's last administration, and the Israeli
government's claim to the land is at its most politically charged in years. Powerful right-wing nationalists in the government want to annex the entire
occupied West Bank. So, too does Fleisher.
[18:10:00]
FLEISHER: We're still fighting a war of liberation for that piece of land.
ROBERTSON: And is Huckabee going to be helpful in that liberation?
FLEISHER: I think he will be.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): 50 miles north, on the fringes of the West Bank Palestinian village Bardala, Israeli diggers are gouging out a new barrier
through the middle of Palestinian farms, on land, they say, is a security risk.
The Israeli government is in the process of taking more land. The head of the council tells me claiming no security threats here.
What the media is talking about with Huckabee is already happening, he says. These actions are part of Israel's systematic policies to occupy and
annex all of this land. Their goal is to drive us out of this area.
He shows me documents he says proved Palestinian families have owned this land for more than a century. As we talk, Israeli troops show up to serve
an eviction notice on the farmer below. It's been told his buildings are unlicensed.
ROBERTSON: What he's saying is this document is the official document informing him that he has to be off this land by 9:00 a.m. on the 4th of
December, otherwise all of this, he loses it.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Khalid (ph) is 60 years old, heartbroken.
I don't know how to describe my feelings to you. He says, this is my livelihood. My children rely on it. Then someone comes along and takes it
away. You can't argue with them. We have no power. They have the power.
ROBERTSON: In the villages around here, they call this silent annexation. Little by little, the Palestinians losing their land to Israeli settlement
expansion.
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI DIPLOMAT: If Israel unilaterally annexes large parts, large swaths of the West Bank, this is not going to fly well in the
Arab world.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Pinkas is a former Israeli diplomat. Believes Huckabee's settler friends could harm Trump's bigger objectives, Saudi-
Israel normalization.
PINKAS: He's going to be pressured by the Saudis, the Qataris, and the Emiratis to strike a bigger deal. He's going to want to build on the
Abraham Accords.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Saudi Arabia very soon --
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The price of which Trump's biggest regional friend, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, says is a Palestinian
State.
MOHAMMAD SHTAYYEH, FORMER PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRIME MINISTER: Maybe there is an opportunity with Saudi Arabia for us, and that is why we're
closely coordinating with Saudi Arabia.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): The Palestinian Authority's former prime minister believes it's Trump's friends who'll triumph in influencing the Israeli
government, not Huckabee's.
SHTAYYEH: This man is not the one who will be dictating the shots. He's a player. He's an important player, but he's not the player. He's not the
president.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): By the time Huckabee arrives, more land, like Farmer Khalid's (ph), will have been seized. What will the future hold, he
says. It's a question everyone here is asking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): And if you want one simple metric to understand how the Netanyahu government think about the outgoing Biden administration and
the incoming Trump administration, the Biden administration pressured them to put more restrictions on the -- on settlers, settler violence, which
they did.
Now, just this past week, they've lifted those restrictions, and we've heard from the defense minister as well saying they're going to speed up
putting in more of those big security fences through the West Bank. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Vitally important reporting. Nic, thank you. Nic Robertson there. Now, a devastating fire in the Philippine capital Manila
over the weekend. No fatalities were immediately reported. However, local authorities say the blaze left thousands homeless. The fire took place in
the city's largest shantytown, home to more than half a million people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY (voice-over): A blazing fireball erupts in Manila, filling the air with smoke and flames. What looks hellish from the air is far more
destructive on the ground. Officials say the raging fire burned for nearly eight hours on Sunday, incinerating about a thousand makeshift homes in the
city's largest slum. About 8,000 people have lost their homes. Smoke was still seeping from the debris as residents picked through the ash and
rubble to find anything unscorched by the fire. But for many, it's a total loss.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I feel bad because we have no livelihood and no home. Everything is gone. We don't know how we can eat.
We're in a very bad situation, and it's almost Christmas.
CHATTERLEY (voice-over): Some tried to escape the fire by sea, piling their belongings on rafts as the fire spread to the edges of the seaport
where the slum is located. Manila's mayor urged people to evacuate to a temporary shelter where the displaced can get meals and supplies.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but faulty wiring and gas canisters have sparked previous fires, and the densely populated slums,
often filled with shacks made of flimsy and flammable materials are no match for a fire of this size and ferocity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY (on camera): And this just in to CNN, the mayor of Kyiv says the Ukrainian capital is currently under fire, saying, quote, "air defense
forces are operating in different areas of the city." Mayor Vitali Klitschko is accusing Russia of launching a massive attack using Iranian
made Shahed drones. We'll give you more details the moment that we get them.
For now, President Joe Biden also hosting a Friendsgiving dinner for military families here in New York City. Let's take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- your daughter's a junior in high school, about to go to the junior prom, she's like, I got great news, we're
leaving. You're going to go to another school. I really mean it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You underestimate the impact that they all provide
for you to be able to do your job.
And folks, you know, I often said, as a nation, we have only one sacred obligation, and that's to care for those we send into harm's way and care
for them when they come home and make sure their families are taken care of before and after. I mean that sincerely.
We had a son who was military. We passed him because of -- anyway, he's a major in the United States military, in the United States Army and, you
know, it's -- you can see it every day. So, thank you, thank you, thank you, and I promise you, every day we'll keep striving to live up to the
obligation we have.
And I'm anxious -- I may not eat, I may come around the table and meet all your kids. Because everybody knows that I like kids better than people.
Thank you, really, from the bottom of my heart. And the families, thank you, thank you, thank you. Not a joke. I mean it from the bottom of my
heart. Thank you, all the sacrifices you make.
So, have a good meal. We got a great chef, by the way, he's the best in the world. So, thank you. I'll see you again.
CHATTERLEY: President Biden speaking there at a Friendsgiving meal for military families here in New York City. Lots of children. You can hear
that in the room clearly saying, OK, let's get on with it and get some food. We'll move on and leave the president there.
All right. Coming up for us, President-Elect Trump poised to ease regulations on driverless cars. One company set to benefit, Wayve
technologies, which is revving up operations in the United States. We'll hear from their CEO later.
Plus, let's move over, Barbieheimer, it's all about Glicked. "Gladiator 2" and "Wicked" deliver a powerful one-two punch at the Box Office, but how
long can they defy Box Office gravity? We'll discuss. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. And here's hoping all our first movers around the globe are having a great start to a Thanksgiving U.S. week here. I'm
very thankful for you. Topping today's Money Move, the Bessent bounce. The Dow hitting record. Solid gains for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ too, as
investors give their apparent blessing to Scott Bessent, President-Elect Trump's pick for the treasury.
The small cap, Russell 2000, also hitting milestones, its first all-time high in three years. Just take a look at that chart. And from Bessent to
Bitcoin. The champagne still on ice. Bitcoin's much anticipated $100,000 milestone will have to wait another day. It's currently down more than 4
percent as you can see there.
And across in Asia, call it the thunder down under. Australian shares hitting all-time highs on Monday. Nice gains for the Nikkei and the KOSPI
as well, although, a little bit of weakness filtering in as you can see there in China. We'll call that relatively unchanged. We'll see if Chinese
investors can turn things around when Tuesday's trading session kicks off very shortly.
And in other business news, a turkey of a day for Macy's, a dry one, just days before its world-famous Thanksgiving Day parade, shares falling more
than 2 percent on news that the retail giant was the victim of a major accounting fraud. It says a rogue employee hid up to $154 million worth of
expenses over the course of around three years. Call it a black eye for Macy's ahead of Black Friday.
Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now. I'm still perplexed. We were talking about this two hours ago and trying to understand exactly what happened. Talk us
through what we know, because I think Macy's is still trying to work it out as well.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: They certainly are, and they're still investigating. But essentially, they were putting
together their third quarter's earnings report and realized that the numbers simply were not adding up. So, they launched this independent
investigation and found that a single employee was fudging the numbers around their delivery expenses to the tune of $154 million.
So, Macy's is still investigating, but saying we're going to press pause and delay our third quarter's earnings report as we're trying to figure
this out, now pushing that announcement of their earnings to December 11th.
Ultimately, though, Macy's is saying that they don't know how or why this employee did this, or at least not disclosing it to us reporters just yet,
but this did not impact Macy's cash management or their payouts to vendors. But to put it into context, Julia, delivery expenses over those three years
were about $4.3 billion. $154 million is a fraction of that, but that's still something. We're still talking about millions of dollars that this
employee was hiding over three years.
So, this morning, the CEO of Macy's, Tony Spring, came out with a statement and he said, quote, "At Macy's Inc. we promise -- excuse me -- we promote a
culture of ethical conduct while we work diligently to complete the investigation as soon as practicable and ensure this matter is handled
appropriately. Our colleagues across the company are focused on serving our customers and executing our strategy for a successful holiday season."
This single employee is no longer with the company, but a lot of questions are being raised about how the internal accounting and auditing branch of
Macy's did not catch this for three years. Also, we've got a little bit of a pre-earnings note from Macy's that said that sales slid by 2.4 percent in
the third quarter. So, not great news for Macy's today, and as you mentioned, shares fell more than 2 percent.
But the company says that they're still investigating, and I guarantee you that's going to be the number one question on the call on December 11th
when they do report earnings. Just trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here and where was that money hiding, Julia.
[18:25:00]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, because the terminology is interesting. It doesn't look like there was an inflation of the expenses, which would suggest some form
of theft. And the fact, to your point, that they say it didn't impact payments to vendors or their cash management, perhaps argues that it could
be even a typo that was quietly carried on through the years and only just found. I know the employee is no longer with the company either. Wow. It's
going to be interesting to see what they say on December 11th. They have to work it out fast.
YYURKEVICH: Yes.
CHATTERLEY: Vanessa, thank you.
YURKEVICH: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Vanessa Yurkevich there. All right. Americans are taking to the skies and freeways this week for Thanksgiving. Almost 80 million of
them, according to AAA. They may need to prepare for a travel headache as a storm brews across the Eastern United States. For more on this, Elisa Raffa
joins us from the CNN Weather Center. Tell us more, Elisa, how bad might it get?
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's going to be soggy on some places for Thanksgiving. Right now, we're tracking two storms. These are a look at the
current delays. A lot of green lights. We do have some showers, though, from Chicago down to Detroit. That's one storm. The second storm, this is
going to be probably a little bit more of a headache. It's brewing on the West Coast. San Francisco has had problems at the airport all day because
of this. Some of that rain and storm moving onshore.
As we go towards tomorrow, all of this moves east. You can see some of these delays start to get to the east coast from Boston to New York. And
then, you see again, this storm starts to take these delays over towards Denver. We will find though that this first storm will exit as we go into
Tuesday. So, getting out of our hair, but this storm will continue to develop and create a pretty wide windshield here and rain as well.
By Thursday, we're looking at snow developing across the lake -- the Great Lakes interior New England, from Upstate New York into Maine. And then,
look at all of this rain, stretching from D.C. down to Charlotte, Atlanta, and the Florida panhandle.
So, while the rain won't -- doesn't look like a lot, maybe an inch or two, again, will make things soggy and then a several inches of snow possible
for parts of interior New England and the Rockies as well.
So, as far as travel headaches, it's actually not terrible Tuesday and Wednesday, unless you're flying in and out of places like Denver and the
Rockies. That's where the problems will be. By Thursday, it's up and down the East Coast. It starts to hit some of those bigger cities like New York,
D.C., Atlanta, Boston. Some of these areas could have some problems because of all of that rain. So, pretty soggy turkeys on Thanksgiving along the
East Coast.
Some cooler air coming in behind it. So, it gets pretty cold for the Northern Plains, the Great Lakes, some snow showers up in the Northern
Plains and some wind on the West Coast. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade looks pretty wet, we'll find that rain around pretty likely temperatures
chilly in the 40s and temperatures only go downhill after that as some cold air comes in. So, you need to bundle up for Black Friday shopping. Julia.
CHATTERLEY: No, a raining day on Thanksgiving Parade. No, I love it when it's sunny. Oh, well, we'll just have to get out there. Elisa Raffa, thank
you for that. Just wrap up warm and take the umbrella.
OK. Coming up for us, a conference in crisis. COP29 nearly going off the rails as delegates stage a walkout. More on that and the summit's historic
agreement in just a few moments. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move" with more international headlines this hour. A resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers will be delayed
until January. The delay will give a newly elected prosecutor time to review the case. Lyle and Erik Menendez appeared virtually at a status
hearing on Monday in L.A. They're serving life sentences for killing their parents in 1989. They say they acted in self-defense. The ongoing district
attorney has recommended they be re-sentenced based on new evidence.
And a plane crash near an airport in Lithuania has killed one person. The DHL cargo plane skidded into a house and then burst into flames. One crew
member died, but remarkably, three others on board survived, along with a dozen people inside the house. Investigators are trying to find out what
caused the crash.
And with America's Thanksgiving Day just days away, two turkeys called Peach and Blossom received the traditional pardon at the White House. And
now, spared from the dinner table, Peach and Blossom will live out their days in Minnesota as poultry ambassadors for agricultural students.
And this hour, President Joe Biden is in Staten Island. You can see him here serving meals as he and the First Lady celebrate Friendsgiving with
U.S. service members and their families.
Now, world leaders shook hands on a new climate deal over the weekend, closing out the COP29 Summit in Azerbaijan. Under the deal, wealthy nations
agreed to provide $300 billion every year by 2035. That's in order to help poorer nations cope with the growing climate crisis. The developing nations
say it's simply not enough. And the talks almost imploded Saturday as delegates walked out of negotiations.
For more on this, we're joined by Bill Weir. Bill, the suggestions are more than a trillion dollars is needed on an annual basis and they're not even
going to get this money for another 10 years. It's just not enough.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And when you consider the fact, the original promise was made a generation ago, that $100 billion a
year would kick in 2020 and then it didn't for two years. They're just now starting to see the fruits of that 25-year-old promise. And now, this one
kicks this can down the road. And when you adjust for inflation, it does nothing to match the size of the problem.
India's climate envoy gave one of the fiercest clap backs once the gavel fell there, that most people have remembered in the last 30 years of these
meetings, and many other countries from the Global South followed that up.
And it's not just, you know, feeling shortchanged less than a quarter of what they were asking for in this fund, but also, just the attitude of the
whole conference. Last year in Dubai, the world finally agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. This year, it felt like the momentum
went the opposite way as countries like Saudi Arabia really dug in for the status quo.
The U.S., E.U. tried to get a motion, get some language into this final agreement that would basically renew the vows of Dubai to transition away,
and Saudi Arabia led the effort to kill that in a very sort of heated back and forth, it almost fell apart in the wee hours of Sunday. It's from all
accounts, but the compromise that came up with an extra $50 billion in that $300 billion final amount there.
Some talks of maybe carbon trading markets taking shape, but in the end, Al Gore maybe said it best. His statement was, while the agreement avoids
immediate failure, it is far from a success on key issues like on stopping carbon emissions and on finance. The bare minimum is the play of the day,
and that's just not going to get it done in the end.
[18:35:00]
CHATTERLEY: Bill, you're my eternal optimist and you have conversations about this. I know all over the world as I do. And a lot of people say,
look, the public sector is never going to do this. It always has to be about the private sector and their financing, irrespective of what we see
in terms of arguably what is a failure of nation states to come together here and agree it.
Do you think the private sector can be galvanized if we change the thinking that there is reward and return for investing in this kind of technologies
around the world? Because in many respects we are seeing it quietly, despite the sort of big headline concerns, failures that this perhaps
represents.
WEIR: There are enormous green shoots in a green economy. Decoupling, decarbonizing and seeing economies grow, that's been proven. And there's
almost half a trillion dollars has flowed into green tech investments. But it's not a fair fight, Julia, because oil and gas majors are still getting
trillions in direct and indirect subsidies around the world, and they have the politics on their side. It feels like a populism right now. So, yes,
that's a great question as to where the momentum goes from here.
It will continue. Most people are convinced the direction will continue. It's all about the pace and the scale, and it's a time test, you know,
where the laws of physics don't care about, you know, political swings or market moods. Greenland's melting, Antarctica's melting, you know, growing
seasons are getting harder, supply chains are getting tougher, insurance rates are going up, all these things are happening really at speeds that
weren't even predicted by even the most forward-thinking scientists. So, it's here, the crisis is here. We'll see whether all of this politics
matters in the end.
CHATTERLEY: I know, the politicization of climate change. Come on the Brazilians. And next year, we'll see what they can do. We'll keep talking
and fighting.
WEIR: Exactly.
CHATTERLEY: Bill Weir, thank you.
WEIR: Thanks.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Coming up after the break, from South Kensington to San Francisco, Wayve's, self-driving cars switched to the other side of the
street as the British start-up expands in the United States. The CEO discusses it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. Carefully navigating the crowded streets of London, cars utilizing by British autonomous vehicle start-up
Wayve have a new task to learn, that is how to drive on the other side of the street.
And as any British tourist renting a car in the United States will attest, that's easier said than done. The company's expansion comes after a
billion-dollar investment led by SoftBank earlier this year, putting it on par with rivals such as Waymo and Cruise.
[18:40:00]
Here, Bill Gates recognizing the potential in a ride along to pick up some traditional fish and chips. Nice. What makes Wayve's proposition unique is
that their cars learn as they go as opposed to being programmed. They draw from a single large AA model based on hundreds of hours of test drives and
simulations. And now, their technology will be set loose in San Francisco.
Alex Kendall is the CEO and he joins us now from London. Alex, let's talk about your software and what makes it unique. Give us the vision of Wayve.
ALEX KENDALL, CEO, WAYVE: Hi, Julia. Thanks for having me on your show. So, the fundamental vision of Wayve is that we think the future of
transportation is going to be enabled by vehicles that have the intelligence to make their own decisions, drive, including in places
they've maybe never been before. And this is exactly what we set out to build seven years ago with embodied A.I.
Embodied A.I. is all about bringing A.I. into the physical world and training deep learning models that enable these cars to make their own
decisions. So, for example, without needing to follow high-definition maps or use lots of LiDAR sensors or other infrastructure that some autonomous
vehicles required so far, but instead, building cars that have the capability on board to make their own decisions, to drive in really complex
environments like what we've seen here in Central London and now in the U.S.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I remember having a conversation about autonomous driving technology 10 years ago, and it was always about how to make this scalable,
given the variance, the unpredictability of what these cars might face on any given street. And your point is you want to make this model so flexible
that they can adapt as they go. And that's the sort of key feature of embodied A.I. They literally learn as they go.
KENDALL: Well, you're never going to see the same thing twice on a road. I mean, every day we have different weather, pedestrians, cyclists, other
road agents around us. And so, it's -- you know, it's -- if you're going to try and hand code how a car should behave in every single scenario, you're
either going to have a really hard time or spend a lot of money to try to do so.
So, what this is -- what's really incredible about this A.I. technology is that we can now learn how to drive through these scenarios by simply
letting it watch enormous amounts of video data. What that lets the system do is learn emergent behaviors that we might not necessarily hand. We might
not prescribe or tell the system how to drive. Here you can see it waiting for some pedestrians and driving around -- seen with some cyclists in front
of us. All of this behavior of predicting how others are going to interact is really complex. It depends on the scenarios that where the other road
agents are, the weather, so many different factors.
And what we do is we let the data speak for itself and train a system end to end, all the way from the sensor input to our A.I., to the motion plan
output of how the A.I. controls the car. And this is end to end learning that allows us to learn behavior that's more complex than what you could
hand engineer, and what unlocks operation in busy environments like what you're seeing here.
CHATTERLEY: And should enable you to be able to jump countries, change driving on whichever side of the road, for example, without too much
effort, which I guess takes us to the point of you now being in California, which has been -- San Francisco in particular has been a hotbed, I think,
of autonomous driving technology for the last, what, 15 years.
What's the ambition? Is it to see this kind of software licensed to whichever car provider? Because you've got the likes of Waymo operating
there already, you've got Tesla that has its own technology in its own vehicles. Could you imagine yourself perhaps in a sort of compatibility
sense, licensing this to all of those, including perhaps Tesla one day, if this ultimately proves superior? Do you think it's superior?
KENDALL: Well, before I talk about it, last thing, one quick anecdote that I was really excited about. We've been learning to drive in the U.K. for
about the last seven years. And we launched our fleet a couple of weeks ago in the south of San Francisco Bay and had a couple of weeks experience
learning to drive around those roads.
And we've talked a lot about large language models generalizing to other languages or different tasks, whether it's, you know, English, Mandarin or
Spanish. And for me, I saw one of the most exciting examples of embodied A.I. generalization where we took the learning from driving in London, of
learning in an urban environment, and a couple of weeks of experience driving in the South of San Francisco Bay. And that's what U.S. driving
culture.
You know, in London, we don't have four-way stop signs. We also don't have the ability to turn right at a red light or even drive on the right side of
the road. We drive on the left side of the road here. But with seven years of experience of driving in the U.K. and a couple of weeks in South Bay, I
went in our car, and the very first day up to San Francisco and we were testing in the city, it had never been to San Francisco before. We don't
need a high-definition map.
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So, we didn't need to map the area. And what I saw was the car able to navigate four-way stop signs, drive through very busy, dense urban traffic,
and even do some right turns at red lights. And so, for me, that -- what was really exciting about that is the A.I. had generalized to a new
environment. It had taken the knowledge from London from South Bay and combined them in a new way.
CHATTERLEY: Yes.
KENDALL: Pretty exciting.
CHATTERLEY: Proof of concept. Yes, proof of concept you hope. Alex, very quickly, because I have about a minute. Do you hope that the president-
elect and we've heard sort of rumblings, perhaps of deregulation or supportive policy as far as autonomous driving technology is concerned,
will help you with your approach in the United States and -- or do you think it might help Tesla more given the relationship?
KENDALL: Well, I'm optimistic that, you know, harmonized legislation around the United States will be a really good thing for the industry, but
I go for a step further. I'd love to see harmonized legislation worldwide. You know, the U.N. is doing some great work and putting together
legislation for all ranges of autonomy. We help co-chair one of the committees towards this.
And you know, the more alignment we can get around the world will just be a good thing for accelerating the benefits of self-driving to cities and
countries around the world, including in every U.S. state.
CHATTERLEY: Alex, we'll continue the conversation. Great to have you on. And certainly exciting times. Congrats on the money raise as well. It's
very impressive. Alex Kendall, CEO of Wayve. Thank you, sir.
KENDALL: Thank you so much.
CHATTERLEY: All right. Coming up, move over Barbenheimer. Two blockbusters face off at the Box Office, creating a new cultural phenomenon. We'll
explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: It was a wicked weekend for the U.S. Box Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're green.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: The adaption of the Broadway show "Wicked" created a cultural moment alongside another blockbuster that broke records, "Gladiator 2." The
dynamic duo combined are being called Glicked.
Joining us now, Paul Dergarabedian. He's senior media analyst at ComScore. Paul, it's actually not quite Barbenheimer, actually, in terms of scale,
but it's another sort of cross-cultural phenomenon that's got everybody excited. I want to see both, by the way.
PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST, COMSCORE: Absolutely. I mean, it just creates a fervor by having two big high-profile movies open on the
same weekend. And, of course, you alluded to Barbenheimer, which last year, the weekend of July 21st, those two movies really, I think, set the stage
for Glicked.
Now, that was a much bigger debut, but that was in the summer. "Barbie" opened to $162 million in the U.S. and, you know, "Oppenheimer," $82
million. This past weekend, "Wicked" opened to $112.5 million and "Gladiator" $55 million. So, combined $167 million. And globally this
weekend, those two movies, "Wicked" and "Gladiator 2," brought in $268.5 million around the world. So, it's a global phenomenon as well.
[18:50:00]
CHATTERLEY: And they have a long run in now to Christmas to beef up those Box Office tickets as well. But can we also talk about "Wicked's"
astonishing advertising spend? I mean, they really went wild to promote this movie.
DERGARABEDIAN: Yes, they went big on this one. I mean, they've been universal in the entire team behind this movie. They've been tirelessly
working for months and months and months, taking the marketing plan out on tour, so to speak. And Jon M. Chu, the director, Ariana Grande, all the
talent involved, completely immersed in this. You know, they went big and it paid off big, but that certainly isn't inexpensive to do this kind of
marketing campaign.
But if you didn't know this movie was opening, I mean, you definitely weren't paying attention. And the fact that it opened the same weekend as
"Gladiator 2" just added that little additional boost to the profile of the film. But certainly, great reviews, great marketing, a perfect release
date. And like you said, Julia, that this will be playing well into December and actually. into the new year in the Box Office year of 2025,
both of these films.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think that kind of big budget spending on advertising on these things and this sort of counterprogramming movie release of the
two comparisons? Because the data shows around 72 percent of the ticket purchases for "Wicked" are women. I think 61 percent right now, men for
"Gladiator." And obviously, that might even up. But do you think that helps sort of boost into the streaming downloads for this as well? It's sort of
all built. It's not one or the other. It helps.
DERGARABEDIAN: That's a great point because, you know, the small screen and the big screen are complimentary and additive in my estimation, not
adversarial. And what will happen is these movies, by opening a movie theaters around the world and having all this attention paid to them, their
value goes up exponentially, both in terms of revenue generating potential, but also, in the want to see factor for those who either are not able to
see them in the theater or are going to see them in the theater multiple times and then download them or buy them at home.
The revenue stream just is the gift that keeps on giving for films like "Wicked" and "Gladiator 2." And there's more big movies to come. "Moana 2"
opening later this week and then on and on into December with some great blockbusters and indie films set over the next few weeks. Great time for
movie theaters for sure.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. "Gladiator," I'll watch at the cinema. "Wicked," I'll watch at home so I can sing.
DERGARABEDIAN: There you go.
CHATTERLEY: Paul, thank you.
DERGARABEDIAN: You'll be able to sing at home.
CHATTERLEY: Yay. Thank you, sir. All right. Now, from a wicked weekend at the Box Office to a wicked finale for the LPGA golf season. And a true
golfing gladiator from Thailand taking home the biggest prize ever in women's golf. Don Riddell joins me now. Don, and you spoke to her. She is a
true legend.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, at the age of just 21. And she's so cool and she's so absolutely brilliant and the way she won the last event
of the LPGA season was just quite incredible.
First of all, during the week, she won a million dollars for winning the Risk Reward Challenge and then by winning the last event of the season she
won another $4 million. That was the biggest prize in women's golf. She absolutely deserved it. Coming from behind over the last few weeks, this
was an absolutely brilliant approach to really put the pressure on her rival for the title. Her rival buckled, Jeeno made the putt. And so, just
like that, in the space of a few days, $5 million.
To put it into context, that much money is more than any of the men's major champions won for winning those majors in 2024, and it really does
represent just how big women's sport and women's golf is becoming when you've got that kind of money to play for.
As you say, a short time ago, I did speak to Jeeno. We had an absolutely brilliant conversation on World Sport. And one of the things I asked her
about was how she chose golf because legend has it that her dad sat her down at the age of six and said, you can play tennis or golf, you choose.
So, she went away, watched some YouTube videos and chose golf, and this is why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEENO THITIKUL, WON SEASON-ENDING LPGA EVENT: I believe it was Tiger Woods. And some Thai players that are on the LPGA, maybe like Ariel, Moria,
and Nideko (ph) at that time, I guess. That's pretty much -- like, summed up me to, like, playing this sport more. Because I wouldn't -- heard of a
golf at all and I have no idea where like they have a club and hitting the ball. That's so interesting on my side. That's why I want to try. And
another good reason is I don't want to run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: Maybe that's the real reason there at the end, Julia, she doesn't want to run. She might be running not walking to the bank though. She's got
a lot of money that she's about to be depositing. Just absolutely brilliant and she's all set up now for next year.
[18:55:00]
CHATTERLEY: She doesn't want to run. She wants a caddy. I like this woman. Someone else can carry the luggage. It gave me goosebumps. What a
superstar.
RIDDELL: Absolutely.
CHATTERLEY: And the balance, the equality there is brilliant too, more than. Don, thank you for that. Don Riddell.
And finally, on First Move, call it a Champs-Elysees hooray. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas along the world-famous Parisian Avenue after a
sparkly holiday lighting ceremony took place over the weekend. The lights are, of course, a holiday tradition in the City of Light lasting throughout
the season. It is a perfect end to a year that, of course, saw Paris host the successful Olympic and Paralympic Games. Beautiful.
And that just about wraps up the show. Thank you for joining us. I'll see you tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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