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Connect the World
New Russian Strikes Lead to Power Outages in Kyiv; Ukrainians Place Flags in Kherson's Freedom Square; Candidates Begin Runoff Campaigns in key Georgia Senate Race; Danish Brain Collection a "Time Capsule" of Mental Illness; Main Bridge across Dnipro River in Kherson Region Destroyed; Chief Information Security Officer Quits the Company. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired November 11, 2022 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Hi I'm Richard Quest. Welcome, it's the second hour of "Connect the World" and you are most welcome.
Kherson is unbreakable with those words, a jubilant official as Ukrainian forces have taken control of a key city and almost entire West Bank of the
Dnipro River.
These are the celebrations. Social media images show residents flooding the City Central Square, waving and cheering the arrival of Ukrainian troops.
Even as the crowds ring in the new day Ukraine is wearing accusing Russian forces of hiding in civilian clothes and destroying infrastructure as they
left.
Dozens of buildings and bridges including this key bridge across the Dnipro River were destroyed or damaged as Moscow retreats. Meanwhile, Russia's
Defense Ministry is confirming its withdrawal of all troops and equipment from the West Bank of the Kherson region.
But it sounds a note of caution saying Kherson remains a part of Russia. Sam Kiley is with me from the Capital Kyiv. And square that circle for me,
Sam. This is another part of Ukraine that Russia has allegedly annexed, but they no longer have control over.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Kherson is the regional capital of the province of the same name, Richard,
and it was illegally annexed by Russia a few months ago now, alongside the earlier annexation of Gulf Coast, Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk Provinces.
Now, it was also the first regional capital, the only regional capital indeed, to have fallen to Russian forces. It felt very early on in this
campaign, because it was a great strategic significance, arguably the most important strategic capture in this war so far, and it is therefore deep
strategic significance that they've lost it. Why does it matter, Richard?
Well, because it is there at the Delta effectively, of the Dnipro River. And it is from that delta on the other side of the river that the
freshwater supplies for Crimea, which was illegally occupied and annexed by Russia, following their invasion in 2014. So it controls the water supply
into Crimea.
Now that water supply still in Russian hands, the Ukrainians are still saying that they are going to fight on when they can get across that river.
That is going to be a very formidable defense barrier, though, for the Russians. And I don't think the Ukrainians are going to be in a great rush
to invest a lot of troops in a very visible ways along that opposite bank, because of course, they will now be within the range of Russian artillery.
But that said the Ukrainians now are also have equipment that can strike using artillery all the way into the Crimean isthmus they say. So, again,
this does give the Ukrainians a very significant bridgehead, effectively for a continued campaign, which they say is all about driving every single
Russian soldier out of every single bit of Ukrainian territory notwithstanding Richard, some hints coming out of Washington that perhaps
they might begin to start thinking about talking to the Russians, Richard?
QUEST: Now, from the Russian point of view, what do you do next? I mean, you've withdrawn as far back as you can. You've got these new mobilized
troops, rather troops, you know what I mean, coming in from Russia. You still have your Iranian drones, with which you can effectively destroy
large parts of Ukraine's electrical infrastructure.
KILEY: Yes, those drones, they've got a large number of them. I've been speaking in the last few weeks to intelligence experts around the world.
And they're also saying alarmingly from the Ukrainian perspective, that those Iranian drones are almost limitless in supply, they're relatively
cheap to make.
The Iranians have got enough for their own purposes and their understanding is that they can continue to supply Russia as long as Russia is prepared to
pay for them. And there are also talks, potentially of supplying the Russians with bigger longer range surface to surface missiles, again,
potentially very accurate and deadly in terms of knocking out the infrastructure.
As you rightly point out there, particularly the electrical infrastructure, which affects the ability of many people in Ukraine to even get fresh water
let alone heating as winter is beginning to set in. So the Russians can continue to pursue that. They are we understand from Pentagon reporting
from my colleagues out of the Pentagon.
[11:05:00]
KILEY: The Pentagon estimates are that they're running out of equipment and shells of their own production. Ukraine is in talks via the United States
to import 100,000 shells from South Korea that supplied by the United States as part of the effort being made by the U.S. and others to help the
Ukrainians get on the front foot.
And that has been critical because that new equipment now can be deployed along that Western Bank of the Dnipro, opposite whatever it is, the
Russians are going to try to use there. But they now have a defense in depth and they have got that Dnipro River to try and protect themselves.
It's going to be a much, much harder military challenge for the Ukrainians and I would bet not that not one, they're going to engage in this side of
the summer. They will need to reorganize very significantly before they get back on to any further assault, I would argue across that river very, very
substantial, natural barrier very easy to for the Russians to defend there Richard.
QUEST: Sam Kiley in Kyiv this evening, thank you! A CNN team was in the newly liberated Ukrainian town of - only hours ago where they witnessed the
elation of residents of being freed from Russian occupation. CNN's Nic Robertson says the town has been through a lot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (on camera): It's quite an incredible everyone's telling us we are the first reporters here
literally the Ukrainian troops only arrived here yesterday and liberated the town. The Russians left two days before as you drive into the town
here, everyone's waving.
Everyone's happy. People I've talk to here have horror stories to tell about their treatment by the Russians, particularly over the last few days.
I'll give you an idea of what you're seeing behind me. You see a couple of young teenagers here with Ukrainian flags on their shoulders.
They were the first to raise the flag when the Russians left even before the troops arrived. So sort of a pre-liberation by teenagers here and they
tell us that a month ago, somebody had been shot here shot and killed for raising a Ukrainian flag.
And in the middle of the crowd here, everyone's gathered; we're sort of in the center of the town outside the administrative buildings here. That's
the Regional Governor, he's just visiting here. He's just arrived in the last few minutes is explaining to people how they're going to get support
from the Ukrainian government in the coming days, that they're going to be bringing humanitarian aid, supplies and support into the town here.
The situation for people here is really difficult. There's no electricity, there's no gas. So they've had a very difficult time just in terms of
surviving under the Russians. But what's happened in this town over the past few days as the Russians the past couple of weeks, as the Russians
knew that they were going to pull out there was widespread looting vehicles looted.
We've been to the bank here; it's completely ransacked and looted. The police station here were told was used as a base of torture that people
would be taken in here and tortured and if they want to extract more information, and they would take them there 45 kilometers on to Kherson.
I spoke to a young girl here and I'm telling you a lot of things here because everybody wants to talk everyone you speak to her the roadside here
wants to talk. This young lady 15-years-old, she told me her mother confirmed her story, that in the past - over the last few days are the
Russians being here she was taken away kidnapped to hurt put over her head. She told her she was afraid of being raped. She was only released
yesterday.
This is a town that is only just now getting to grips with the idea of liberation of what it means to be free of what it means not to have Russian
rule here. And I think people are in all of it. We've seen people on the streets, meeting friends they haven't seen for a long time hugging each
other in tears. But I think also there's a sense of OK, what's going to happen now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Nic Robertson reporting! Mark Kimmitt is with me, the Former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He joins me from
Washington. Mark, it's good to see you! The difficulty now is both the military and the political, this idea that even though it's denied that
pressure is being put upon the Ukrainians to consider opening some form of negotiations, whilst at the same time they are having military successes,
that is going to be a very hard thing to achieve.
MARK KIMMITT, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR POLITICAL- MILITARY AFFAIRS: No, I don't think it's very hard to achieve. I think it would be very hard to convince President Zelenskyy to do it. Why should he
negotiate at this point? He believes he's on his front foot. The Russians are falling back.
On the other hand, why would the Russians negotiate? They don't think they're losing. They think they're just making a tactical withdrawal. They
still have Mariupol they still have the entire East. They still have Crimea.
[11:10:00]
KIMMITT: So while there may be some value in setting the preparations for negotiations, nobody would believe that either the Russians or more
importantly, the Ukrainians are willing to negotiate at this time.
QUEST: So on the military side, then that does currently in your view, have the upper hand to be sure Ukraine has made some serious advances? But
Russia has played the missiles against infrastructure card and according to what we hear from Nic Robertson, aside from Sam Kiley earlier, this is
something that they can easily and relatively cheaply in terms of money times make - can continue to do successfully?
KIMMITT: Yes, I think we wouldn't say upper hand or winning on either side. But it is certainly the case that the initiative for the operations which
the Russians held for the first couple of phases of this war, has now turned over to the Ukrainians. They are the ones that are calling the shots
on the battlefield, not the Russians.
Now the real question is going forward should the Ukrainians attempt to continue this operation? Or should they settle in for the winter and try to
reconstitute, and candidly, at the same time that the Russians are trying to reconstitute both which would focus on a spring campaign, rather than
try to either advance or win this war during the wintertime.
My view is that the Ukrainians have done very; very well, they really didn't win Kherson. They lost Kherson to Russia, excuse me; the Russians
lost Kherson because they're pulling out candidly, not from pressure by the Ukrainian ground forces, but by the Ukrainian artillery and missiles that
have been devastating the supply depots and the ammunition depots of the Russians.
QUEST: Putting your last two answers sort of together an understanding. The scenario that you're painting is probably one of a sort of a dreadful
winter of digging in on both sides with episodic skirmishes to try and take what little territory they can but essentially, dig in for the winter.
KIMMITT: I think that's a good characterization, Richard. But what I would also say well, the frontlines are digging in. I think we can expect to see
the Russians continue this strategic bombing campaign, much like the Battle of Britain and the Blitz in the United Kingdom trying to force the
population to their knees, not the soldiers.
And on the other side, I would expect the Ukrainians while those frontline forces are digging in for the artillery, the missiles and the drones on the
Ukrainian side, to be going after those very, very vulnerable supply depots of the Russians.
Remember, the Russians left Kherson, not because they were fought out but because there were starving because the logistics couldn't get to them. And
that's because of the pressure the Ukrainians. So winter digging in, but at the same time continued this, what we call an indirect fire campaign
against key logistics for the Ukrainians and key infrastructure on the part of the Russians.
QUEST: Thank you, sir. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Hurry up and wait that describes the Senate in the United States right now. Votes are still
being counted three days after the midterm elections, and it's likely to continue for some time.
No one knows yet if the balance of power in Congress will tilt towards Republicans or Democrats? Republicans are inching their way to a majority
in the House of Representatives. They need seven more seats declared to take control, but the Senate could go either way.
You've got Nevada and Arizona, counting hundreds of thousands of ballots in races, too close to call. And then the Senate race in Georgia was so close.
It's going to run off. CNN's Eva McKend is in Atlanta, where voters are looking at another month of political ads, phone calls and text messages
and you know, Georgia is either going to be a cushion for one or other party or an absolute all-out battle?
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, you're absolutely right, Richard and that's why we are hearing Senator Warnock, Herschel Walker
really close in on their closing arguments again, these arguments coming into focus.
Senator Warnock arguing that Herschel Walker is ill prepared to serve in the United States Senate, Warnock says that the next four weeks is about
competence and character and really highlighting a comment that Walker made during their one and only debate where Walker suggested that diabetics just
needed to eat right now.
[11:15:00]
MCKEND: Warnock saying, look, this illustrates that he is not ready for this job. Meanwhile, Herschel Walker has long argued and continues to do so
that Senator Warnock is to align with President Biden that went to Washington forgot about Georgians, and is more concerned with Washington
Democrats than he is everyday Georgians. So take a listen to how we are hearing these arguments play out on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERSCHEL WALKER, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: He would then go into overtime because you watch what he was saying; we're going to
go into runoff. And I was saying, no, I want to beat you out, right. And if he wants to go into runoff with me, I'm saying you bring your homes, you
rank - bill for this.
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): You have to admit that I did warn y'all that we might be spending very - bill. And here we are. So I'm going to need you
to stick with me for four more weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKEND: So Richard, ultimately, when all the votes are tallied, it looks like that Senator Warnock will emerge with the most votes, but that really
does not matter. In this State of Georgia, you need 50 plus one and so that is what necessitated this runoff.
You know, two years ago when Senator Warnock was successful in his runoff he contributed to Democrats a holding power in Washington. He could be in
that very same position. Again, we just don't know yet for sure, Richard.
QUEST: Race to be watched coming up, 10,000 brains in a basement how this stunning collection came to be and why it could be invaluable for Mental
Health Research?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Allow me to update you on the news of the day. President Biden has brought a clear message to leaders in Egypt today. He said the United
States will not relent on tackling climate change. Speaking at the COP 27 Summit a few moments ago, President Biden painted the U.S. as a leader in
the fight against global warming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Our investments in technology, from electric batteries to hydrogen are going to spark a cycle
of innovation that will reduce the cost and improve the performance of clean energy technology that will be available to nations worldwide, not
just the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The President called a recent bill to spend almost $270 billion on clean energy projects. In his words, the biggest most important climate
bill in U.S. history. And so to an extraordinary story now about a massive and arguably a unique collection in Denmark from 1945 to 1982 nearly 10,000
brains were taken from psychiatric patients who died in Danish hospitals and they are still being preserved today.
[11:20:00]
QUEST: It's the focus of a new special documentary brought to us by our Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, have a watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Unrolling shelves alone in the dark, in a room with little sound and surprisingly
little smell, sit nearly 10,000 white plastic buckets, each one holding a human brain.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): I think I'll ever get used to looking at all the buckets.
DR. MARTIN WIRENFELDT NIELSEN, DIRECTOR, THE BRAIN COLLECTION: I know.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): The brains, they aren't always alone. Sometimes like today, they're visited by the man currently entrusted with their care.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): Feels heavy.
DR. NIELSEN: Yes.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): Just to hold this, you feel like you're holding something very special, scientifically, but also just as a human. Now we
think about how we care for each other and this is a big part of it.
DR. NIELSEN: The brain is a mysterious organ, I mean, we know a lot about it, like how it looks. And we know the anatomy quite well; you know how the
nerve cells talk to each other and things like that. But how it actually works, we don't know very much about that.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Each of these buckets with a hand drawn number represents a life a person and then total, a range of psychiatric
disorders.
DR. NIELSEN: Back then they really had no idea about what these diseases were, we still know very little about them, actually. But they knew that
those diseases were in the brain. And so they said, OK, we'll get all the expertise that we have to sort of help future patients in the same
situation.
DR. GUPTA (voice over): Roughly 5500 brains here with dementia 1400 with schizophrenia, 300 with depression, 400 with bipolar disorder and more. And
what's key is that the brains collected during the first decade are virgin brains, meaning they are untouched by modern medicines.
DR. NIELSEN: So if you examine a patient from --a brain from a patient today, who died and who had schizophrenia, you would not really know
whether the changes you see in the brain are because of the disease or because of the treatment.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): It's sort of a time capsule of schizophrenia at that pre-medication sort of phase.
DR. NIELSEN: Yes.
DR. GUPTA (on camera): Is there anything else like this that exists in the world?
DR. NIELSEN: Not to my knowledge, it's a lot of psychiatric patients from different hospitals around Denmark, whereas other brain collections maybe
specified for neurodegenerative diseases or dementia or tumors or other things like that. But we really have the whole thing here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with me now. This is extraordinary, quite remarkable Sanjay. How did this whole collection come about? I mean, and
what, what happens next with all those brains?
DR. GUPTA: Well, I have to tell you, first of all, it is a really fascinating story, Richard, I think I mean, I've been doing this job for 20
years as a reporter, it's one of the more fascinating stories I've come across. Denmark's a small country, often thought of as one of the happiest
countries in the world. But they had a lot of mental illness; this is going back to the mid-40s.
And they didn't have a lot of options, as most places in the world didn't. So these researchers that pointed look, we don't know what the future
holds. But maybe there'll be some utility in just starting to take brains and people who had these mental illnesses and died and preserve them.
So that decades from now, maybe somebody will be able to do something with this. That's how it sort of came about. I mean, but there wasn't a grand
plan other than that. And for you know, 70 years, these brains have been preserved sitting in various places, such as the place that you're looking
at there a basement and in an academic institution.
QUEST: Sanjay, you're, you're sort of you're a neurosurgeon, you're a brain surgeon, so to be in an environment like that, with so many brains all
around you. And it must be quite overwhelming in some senses. But what does it tell us about mental health disorders today? What do we what didn't they
know then when the collection began that we know today?
DR. GUPTA: We certainly can visualize the brain in with technology in ways that we couldn't before. And for some of these mental illnesses, we've
learned a lot more about what's actually driving and sometimes there's genetic factors. But Richard, you know, in some cases, like with
schizophrenia, for example, there's not a lot more that we know today.
We know how better to treat symptoms with anti-psychotic medications. We know a lot more about heritability meaning how likely is a child to have
this if the parent is and the answer is very likely.
[11:25:00]
DR. GUPTA: I mean it's as heritable as height is, for example of a tall parent, like they have a tall child, schizophrenia in the parent, very
likely to result in some sort of schizophrenia in the child as well. That's new knowledge. But what's been striking to me, Richard, is that these
brains have largely been unexamined because there was so much controversy around them, they were taken from mentally ill patients and there wasn't
always consent.
And people didn't really know how to handle some of that stigma and some of those challenges. Now that those issues have largely been settled, these
brains may be able to answer some of the questions that researchers have been trying to answer for decades.
What exactly is going on in the schizophrenic brain? What are the characteristics that draw these schizophrenic brains together? What can we
do about it? That's the hope here.
QUEST: Sanjay, thank you. The documentary or special documentary this weekend is world's untold story; the brain collect doesn't it throughout
the weekend. You can see the times when it starts, of course, but you can catch it at various times over the weekend. We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back. I'm Richard Quest; this is "Connect the World". The top story we're following of course, Ukrainian soldiers are in the center
of Kherson City after Russian troops have retreated. Ukrainian forces apparently encountered little to no resistance according to social media.
Meanwhile, residents in the city have turned out in droves to welcome their troops and they are wrapping themselves in Ukrainian flags. The Russian
defense ministry says its forces and equipment have withdrawn from the west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region. It's considered the biggest
setback for Moscow since the start of the illegal war in Ukraine.
Yuriy Sak is the Adviser to Ukraine's Defense Minister is with me now from Kyiv. The jubilation in Kherson is understandable. And now we need to
understand what is likely to happen next, because the weather is deteriorating. There is now this large river between the two sides and a
sort of battle of attrition. Now is the scene is set.
YURIY SAK, ADVISER TO UKRAINE'S DEFENSE MINISTER: Yes, indeed. Good evening and thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to your audiences.
This is a milestone. Kherson is the only regional center that the aggressive Russian army was able to gain control of since the beginning of
this large scale invasion.
So and the fact that the Russian troops are now retreating means and only proves that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been exceptionally successful
at our counter offensive which has lasted now for some weeks.
[11:30:00]
SAK: We have destroyed their logistical and supply lines; we have conducted high precision strikes at their command centers. So they had no other
choice. So they're leaving now they're fleeing now. They're actually leaving behind some of their wrongs.
But at the same time, you know, it is still too early to celebrate because we fully understand that this is far from over this war is not won yet. And
our armed forces are actually warned just half an hour ago though, that we are prepared for further battles for our land.
QUEST: Is this a case of digging in for the winter now, because there comes a point upon which as you're getting much more sophisticated technology and
military technology from NATO and its allies. But at the end of the day, the physical business, if you will, of fighting a war becomes that much
more difficult in the depths of winter.
SAK: Well, of course, the winter will be the factor; it will slow down the military operations due to weather conditions. But we will have to see what
kind of weeks that we are going to have because if you look now, we are in the middle of September almost.
And the weather is not typical for September is still very warm. But you know Ukraine has been fighting this war since 2014, when the Crimea was an
act when Russia invaded the Donbas area, so Ukrainian armed forces had experienced the fighting in different weather conditions, including winter.
QUEST: And I'm looking now at the various new arms that you have received, you have, of course now received the new surface to air missiles for your
air defenses. You haven't gotten enough of the missiles or indeed, the launchers yet, but a bit more on the way.
And I also see that it's potentially that South Korea via the United States could end up supplying some arguments. So there's very there's an enormous
amount heading your way, still, but what more do you seek?
SAK: Richard, indeed, we are very grateful to our international partners and the U.S. being a leader of this military assistance that we are
receiving. And getting air defense systems has been a priority for us because even last night, there was a missile strike on the city of Mykolaiv
during which multi storey building was destroyed and six people, six civilians were killed.
So air defense is a priority for us. We know that Russia is shopping around globally for missiles, they are talking to Iran, they're talking to other
countries with the - requiring more ballistic and cruise missiles. So we are trying to improve our air defense capacity. And you know, the more we
receive the better. Yesterday we--
QUEST: We do want to talk about, I mean, you know there is this awfulness of what's become sort of casually not casually, but to notice that your
missile Monday when huge numbers of missiles are sent by Russia at your infrastructure. But you can't repair that infrastructure quickly enough.
And I'm wondering whether this is now the soft underbelly, how do you cope in the weeks ahead, if they continue to target such infrastructure,
electricity, bridges, water works, all the machinations if you will, of civilization?
SAK: Indeed, this missile strikes, they have done a lot of damage to our electricity, infrastructure, we still have power cuts, we still have
blackouts. But our government and our emergency services are doing all they can to restore these facilities as fast as they can.
And our partners, especially European partners have been providing Ukraine with necessary repair equipment and generators for electricity. So it is
still a challenge. We understand it and we will rely on our partners to help us cope with this.
QUEST: So I'm grateful that you've taken time today. Thank you for joining us. I appreciate it for joining us now.
SAK: Thank you, Richard and you're welcome to arrive in Kyiv on the first plane when it's safe.
QUEST: Oh, I'll be there. Don't fret about that. There's a huge economic story and business story that we need to get to grips with --, one of the
first if not the first there to look at it, so I'm grateful to you tonight. China has eased some of its COVID 19 restrictions. Now the changes are
quite dramatic bearing in mind from where they've come.
Travelers entering the country will spend less time in quarantine the circuit breaker protocol is being abolished which is the cancellation of
inbound flights. The suspending of routes if percentage of tested positive on a plane. Meanwhile, the number of major Chinese cities dealing with
COVID outbreaks continues. Selina Wang is with me from Beijing.
[11:35:00]
QUEST: Selina, it's good to see you out of quarantine from the various quarantines I hope. But realistically, is this are these changes symbolic
even though they're important? Or is that through the back door, a different shift in policy that we didn't really hear about at the congress
recently?
SELINA WANG, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Richard, great to be with you and that is right. Fresh out of quarantine myself, look, these
are significant steps because we're seeing any change at all. But let's be clear, these are baby incremental changes. Zero COVID is not going away. A
better way to describe this, I think would be fine tuning the zero COVID policy. But we did see markets and Investors cheer this news as a sign that
the top leadership here recognizes there needs to be some adjustment in their approach as public frustration over this policy is mounting because
for nearly three years, this policy has been up ending people's lives devastating the economy, countless and growing heartbreaking stories of
suffering because of the zero COVID policy.
So these new measures include cutting down the amount of time that inbound travelers and close contacts of COVID cases have to spend in quarantine
down from 10 days in total to eight days, having just wrapped up a 10 day government quarantine myself this is a small but very welcome move.
The government is also scrapping a penalty system for airlines that bring in travelers with COVID. Another important change is that the government is
no longer identifying close contacts of close contacts of infected people. So what that means is that overall, a fewer number of people will be sent
to government quarantine facilities.
But let me walk you through the key restrictions that are still in place. Communities in China can still go into lockdown over a small number or just
one COVID case. COVID cases and close contacts are still sent to government quarantine facilities.
A recent PCR test is still mandatory to enter public places; I've got a line up pretty much every single day. And our daily lives here are still
dictated by the color of our health codes. And restrictions are still ramping up in major cities, including here in Beijing as the number of
cases continue to rise small numbers by international standards but still a cause for a big response here in China, Richard.
QUEST: Selina in Beijing, thank you. A major player in crypto industry is started the bankruptcy ball rolling. Now its troubles are serious, but it
could be child's play compared to the dumpster fire at Twitter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Crypto is in chaos today. As one of its biggest and most powerful players the FTX Group says it started voluntary proceedings, bankruptcy
proceedings in the U.S. and the CEO has resigned.
[11:40:00]
QUEST: FTX ran into liquidity issues early this week after the price of certain crypto assets plummeted, a rival firm backed out of a rescue. 30
year old founder Sam Bankman-Fried is a Rockstar of the industry hailed as a generation's Warren Buffett, or JP Morgan.
He will stay on, and the company says to help with an orderly transition. It is the 11th of the 11th and the talk is of chapter 11. Elon Musk says
Twitter could face bankruptcy in the face of a new turmoil, a number of top executives have resigned, including the Chief Information Security Officer
a crucial role in the company.
In a tweet, Lea Kisner says, I've made the hard decision to leave Twitter; I've had the opportunity to work with amazing people. And I'm so proud of
the privacy security and IT teams and the work that we've done.
Joining me down to break down all of this is CNN's Oliver Darcy. Let's just deal with Twitter first. The wheels are well and truly coming off this
wagon.
OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Yes, I think we need to think about whether Twitter can survive Elon Musk, Richard. I mean, I never
thought that Twitter would die as a platform. But that seems to be in the realm of possibility now. And Elon Musk who's obviously the owner now of
Twitter is not ruling that out.
He's publicly or privately at least telling employees of the company that bankruptcy is not out of the question if they can't significantly up their
revenue. And it's hard to see how that's going to happen, given the advertisers, which Twitter is largely dependent on for revenue are
extremely skeptical of Elon Musk's Twitter for the wide variety of things he's done since taken over this platform.
QUEST: And this FTX, so FTX Binance was going to help them out, last night reported they're not going to any more, FTX goes into chapter 11. How much
of this is FTX's own problems?
DARCY: Richard, I think a lot of it's probably FTX's own problems. You know, this is really stunning news in the crypto world that this company,
you know, as you mentioned, that the founders was hailed as a visionary that this company is now you know, in the dumps. And like you said, a 11, a
11 and a lot of chapter 11 talk on this day.
QUEST: I'm going backwards and forwards between Twitter and FTX because it's extraordinary. Briefly and finally on Twitter, is there a dynamo, is
there something that we need to keep an eye on? Or is it just literally an attrition of misery?
DARCY: I mean, I don't, it's hard to predict anything with Twitter these days right now. But it seems I mean, just to dive a little bit deeper into
this company's chaos, the company is largely rely onto advertiser revenue. And advertisers have fled the platform.
And the advertisers are not going to be coming back given the changes that Elon Musk has made, whether it's regarding verification and nuking the
verification system, basically, which allows people to determine what is authentic and not authentic on the platform, or the resignation of Yoel
Roth, who is the Head of Trust and Safety at Twitter.
He is a key figure there who gives a lot of advertiser's confidence that their ads aren't going to be placed next to hate speech or misinformation.
He's gone from the platform. And so if you're an advertiser, it's hard to see why you to why you go back.
QUEST: Oliver, I'm grateful for you. Thank you and that's our report today. Marketplace Middle East comes next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, HOST, MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST (voice over): Big events in the region, from Saudi Arabia to the UAE to Qatar, that's all next on
Marketplace Middle East.
GIOKOS (on camera): This month as fans gear up for the World Cup in Qatar, Marketplace Middle East, takes a look at how major sports events can
bolster a country's economies.
GIOKOS (voice over): In 2009, Alan Holt hedged his bets, he knew if Qatar won the bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, his Dubai based travel
business needed to pivot and fast.
ALAN HOLT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, EXPAT SPORT: Ways to be a travel company. And then we specialized in sport, then we made the decision in I think 2009 to
specialize only in sport and not do any holidays.
GIOKOS (on camera): Why?
HOLT: Because it's the ticket, the ticket to the golden egg.
GIOKOS (voice over): The golden ticket for Holt is the more than 1 million fans expected to attend the FIFA World Cup being held this year in Qatar.
HOLT: We will be bringing people over to Dubai who wants to actually watch the football either here at the fan festival, or then to travel always and
go to Qatar as well.
GIOKOS (voice over): It is the first time a Middle Eastern country is hosting. Not only is it a huge economic opportunity, but it could put the
tiny Gulf nation on the Global Map as a destination and so much more.
NICOLAS MAYER, PARTNER, GLOBAL INDUSTRY LEADER, TOURISM, PWC MIDDLE EAST: If Qatar is going to deliver a successful World Cup, which we all believe
it will, what it will do for them is create credibility in that space, right. They will now be one of the destinations where the world at large
knows to say - those guys have practiced as they have done it they have delivered it.
So that could be further sports event. But it's also large meetings or events or congresses. So it basically just puts you on the map as a
destination where you can say, I can trust large numbers of visitors to this destination to deliver success.
GIOKOS (voice over): According to an Oxford Business Group analysis, the estimated investments in infrastructure developments and preparations for
the tournament is anywhere from 220 to $300 billion. The event is estimated to contribute around $20 billion to Qatar's economy this year, according to
Qatari officials cited in the analysis. But it could boost Qatar's long term competitiveness across sectors in everything from tech to hospitality.
MAYER: Once you have that infrastructure, you didn't have the basis to basically program events over and over and over again and bring, repeat or
follow up assignments in there. So you always have to look at these investments as a 10 or 20 year play.
If you take any of these large mega events individually and say, is the investment that Doha has done into the World Cup going to pay off in the
one month that they have the world cup, probably not immediately, but with the follow up of all the other elements to marketing the draw of other
people. That's how you see basically, the economic viability happening very well.
GIOKOS (voice over): And Qatar is not the only country expected to benefit. Gulf nations like the UAE are also expected to reap the rewards.
MAYER: There is indeed a large ripple effect of any of these large events into the region at large, right. And that's exactly how you want to develop
a regional tourism frame. So what we're seeing right now is that certainly Dubai is benefitting significantly from visitor increase as a result of the
World Cup in Qatar.
People that will stay here they will fly over taking some games and then fly back here. So it really delivers economic input into the reach.
GIOKOS (voice over): Holt says fans from the UK to Mexico and South America are buying packages which start from 1500 U.S. dollars per person, not
including match tickets however. With that expat sports is offering four to 12 night experiences with flights from the UAE to Doha and hotel stays in
Dubai.
HOLT: So on this floor; we've got the standard room. So I'll show you an example of where I guess we'll be staying. It's been the biggest that we've
ever been involved in, I would estimate would probably bring in 5000 people to the region to actually stay here or one of the other places in Abu Dhabi
and other hotels that we're working with. 10,000 is the number of people would take him who are based in the UAE who are traveling from the UAE to
Qatar.
[11:50:00]
GIOKOS (voice over): The Middle East is becoming one of the world's fastest growing sports tourism destinations, valued at an estimated $600 billion
according to the World Trade Organization, hosting major sports events from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar to Abu Dhabi's Formula One Grand Prix.
In 2020 Abu Dhabi was named the world leading sports tourism destination for the eighth consecutive year at the world travel awards. In October, Abu
Dhabi hosted pre-season NBA games. It was the first time the National Basketball Association league paid games in the Gulf part of a multi-year
partnership between the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.
To kick it off, they brought in NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal to help promote the sport and the region.
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, FORMER BASKETBALL PLAYER: Boards teach you a lot of things, teaches you discipline, teaches you teamwork teaches you how to be
together love to be a part of the first kid that makes it from this region makes it to the NBA and becomes a big star.
GIOKOS (voice over): The region is also hoping to become a big star when it comes to hosting major sporting events. Tourism that Holt and his company
are hoping to not only profit from but for the niche for sport enthusiast in the region.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS (on camera): As fans relish the excitement around the World Cup, there's also a buzz here at the region's largest tech event Gitex about
advances in technology and the impact it's having on sport. So whether you're screaming at a riff about goal lines, or you're tracking your
favorite formula one team around the track, technology is having a far greater impact on sports than you can imagine.
GIOKOS (voice over): I met up with Walid Yehia from Dell, UAE to talk about the new innovations at Dell when it comes to sports.
GIOKOS (on camera): So when I say innovation in sports, how does technology impact the game?
WALID YEHIA, GENERAL MANAGER, DELL TECHNOLOGIES: Let me take a step backwards a little bit. What has happened over the last 10, 15 years in
technology has evolved from systems of records to systems of engagement and systems of insights, right? But it's really changing the way we do sports
by giving us more insights that we ever had before.
GIOKOS (on camera): So that's very exciting. You work with McLaren, you've teamed up with McLaren. How is sports or what Dell is doing relying on the
technology and innovations within Tech?
YEHIA: You know in the car racing one second make a big difference.
GIOKOS (on camera): Yes, split second.
YEHIA: Exactly, a micro-second, sometimes make a difference. So what we've been working with McLaren is to help them actually build this insight
system by collecting a lot of information, analyzing them by providing the right insights to the managers so they can actually make the right
decisions in a nutshell.
GIOKOS (on camera): So if I just say what the future of sports is when it comes to technology, do you think that innovations will underpin the growth
within certain sectors?
YEHIA: Dell has publicly actually announced what kind of technologies we will be focusing on in general in the next couple of years. It's around AI,
it's around Metaverse, it's around 5g technology, around Cloud Computing, around data in general because data is the new oil as we say, right.
So when it comes to sports, we're actually working with our partners in this industry to help them build more intelligent systems to help them be
able to analyze more data in order for them to actually improve the performance of the athletes in general and the sports the industry as well.
[11:55:00]
YEHIA: It can be as simple as the technology applied in Tennis and I like them as still the Line-Calling System or what they call the Hawk-Eye,
right. Or it can be as deep as giving advises to coaches on how to plan for the game or how to improve their performance.
GIOKOS (on camera): I think that you know, in the past we didn't think the sport is synonymous with Tech. Do you think that goes to world's now
converging?
YEHIA: Yes, I totally believe the technology is there to improve the quality of the human life.
GIOKOS (on camera): And it's a human experience on sports right, and then also high efficient sports can actually be.
YEHIA: Exactly and technology is very immersive right, so people who have no chance to actually go to very expensive clubs or play--, those kind of
sports, it really helps the inclusion of the societies into this sequel system of the sport. So it's one of those things I really, I am very
passionate about --.
GIOKOS (voice over): From one major conference to other, in Ryad, Saudi Arabia the future investments initiative held its six addition of the
annual global meeting, one of the biggest topics finding solutions to the climate's emergency.
ADAIR TURNER, CHAIR, ENERGY TRANSITIONS COMMITTEE, FORMER CHAIR, UK FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY: The interest in green hydrogen is far bigger
than it was before. And let's take sustainable aviation fuel. I think the plans for developing sustainable aviation fuel instead of conventional jet
fuel, a massively more advance network two or three years ago. So look, we are not on target to make global --into 1.5 degrees. But sector by sector,
actually there's quite a lot of good stuff happening and if anything accelerated over the last six months.
GIOKOS (voice over): With A5 hosting more than 500 international speakers and 6000 delegates, conversations there are a snapshot to how leaders are
engaging with issues facing humanity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS): Well, that's it for this edition of "Marketplace Middle East" in Qatar. We're excited to take a look at more of the stories we cover on the
program. From me Eleni Giokos, I'll see you next time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
