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Quest Means Business
Aid for Egypt; Egypt in Crisis; Record Low Rupee; US and European Markets; Zurich Insurance; Dollar Weaker; Facing Fear
Aired August 19, 2013 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: Emergency talks. The EU considers suspending aid to Egypt.
There's a rush on to save the rupee as India's currency falls to a record low.
And taking a deep breath. Face the fear. And I face a lifelong fear that might surprise you.
I'm Richard Quest, it's the start of a new week, and of course, I mean business.
Good evening. Saudi Arabia says Arab and Islamic nations are offering Egypt a helping hand if the country loses nearly $7 billion of European aid.
There have been diplomatic discussions in Brussels today after the president of the European Council and the EU says the relations with Egypt should be reviewed. That could mean halting the grants and loans promised last year to help Egypt move to a democracy after the revolution in 2011.
Some of the aid has already been stopped because democratic reforms came too slowly. In response to that, the Saudi press agency's quoted the foreign minister of their country saying the Arab and Islamic nations will not shy away from offering a helping hand to Egypt.
When you compare Egypt's aid, you can see the major contribution -- when you compare Egypt receives in aid, you can see the major contribution the Gulf states make already. The EU's aid package comes to $6.7 billion. The US gives $1.5 billion a year. Saudi Arabia has pledged $5 billion and Qatar out in front with $8 billion.
I'm joined by Bernardino Leon, the European Union special representative for the Southern Mediterranean. Sir, thank you for joining us. The EU says at the last meeting --
BERNARDINO LEON, EU SPECIAL REPRESENTATITIVE FOR THE SOUTHERN MEDITERRANEAN: It's a pleasure.
QUEST: -- you now say you are reviewing all options. Everything's up for grabs for the meeting of foreign ministers to take place on Wednesday. What do you expect you can do? What pressure can you still bring to bear, do you think?
LEON: Well, what we will do on Wednesday, what foreign ministers of the European Union, together with the high representative, Catherine Ashton, will do on Wednesday is to go through different proposals to respond to the current situation in Egypt in the light of the principles of our cooperation, which as you very rightly pointed out, our conditionality on the one hand, conditionality to --
QUEST: Right.
LEON: -- determination to progress on transition to democracy on what we call the principle of more for more. But on the other hand, we'll try to leave the door open to a constructive approach, because we still believe there are chances for political dialogue.
QUEST: OK. If Saudi and the Gulf countries decide to make up any shortfall from EU or US aid withdrawn, that basically scuppers you, doesn't it? That negates your -- one of your biggest weapons in this.
LEON: Let me say, I'm not an economist, I'm not an expert, but let me say that my impression is that Egypt needs a lot of support from the overall international community.
I think that it's very important that the Gulf countries -- and you mentioned Saudi Arabia as the most important one, but also others -- together with the -- all the members of the international community, the European Union, the United States should work together.
I have -- just let me remind that the current deficit -- budget deficit in Egypt is around $13 billion to $14 billion, expected next year to be similar. The energy deficit is around $9 billion. So, we're talking about maybe $30 billion, more than $30 billion.
We need to work together, and I think that we should support Egypt politically and economically --
QUEST: But here's the problem --
LEON: -- and this is very important, stability.
QUEST: Here's the problem.
LEON: Yes?
QUEST: Both the EU and the US, to use that Americanism, are between a rock and a hard place. There are no easy solutions, because you don't want to push the country so far that it falls into further instability, but at the same time, you cannot be seen to be condoning in any shape, form, or description, that which has taken place. It's almost a no-win for you.
LEON: Well, that's very right, but I think the most important element here is that it's not foreign aid, what Egypt really needs. This is very important. On everything we can do to support the Egyptian people, such a huge country, such a huge economy, is very important.
But I think that what the country really needs is job creation, is investment, is tourism, and for all this to happen, what we need is really stability. So -- it's not about a debate on all these elements on international aid. Of course this is very important, and of course in our case, we have to abide by the principle of conditionality --
QUEST: OK, right --
LEON: -- but what is really important is to do something to convince investors and tourists to come back.
QUEST: No, but you're -- with respect, that's looking at it from the other side of the coin. The truth is, nobody seems -- well, maybe the Gulf states and Saudi, but the US and the EU, if you look at the reports from, say, Senator Graham, from Senator McCain, if you look at the reports that have come out from meetings, none of you seem to have any influence with the regime in Cairo at the moment.
LEON: Well, I think we do. I think we do, and I think it's very important to remind -- let me just give you a couple of examples to talk about the Europeans, which is the case I know better. We are the main economic partner, the main trade partner for Egypt with more than 30 percent of the foreign trade.
We are the main source of investors. Around 70 percent of investments in some of the last years were coming from Europe. We're the main source for tourists. Just in the last couple of weeks, most European tour operators, which account, maybe, for 80 percent of the Egyptian tourism, have canceled their trips because of the instability.
So, we need, really, to find a political solution, of course to grant that there will be foreign aid, but especially for investors, tourists, and people who can create jobs to go back to the country.
QUEST: Sir, thank you for --
LEON: And we have to work together, international community, IMF, and the private sector.
QUEST: Right. We'll talk more about it. I appreciate you joining me tonight, sir. I know, very busy times, obviously, for you --
LEON: Thank you.
QUEST: -- and it's good of you to give us time. We thank you very much for joining us on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Let's actually catch up with the events in Egypt, now. Nick Paton Walsh joins me, live from Cairo. The curfew is underway and the situation would best be described how?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As we stand, we have had another reasonably calm day, if you take out the events in the Sinai earlier on this morning, when 25, now it is, soldiers were killed by an ambush involving rocket-propelled grenades, state media saying they were on their way home, on leave, in fact, taken from their vehicles.
And the pictures released show them in what appears to have been execution-style killing. That was, in fact, condemned by the Muslim Brotherhood, who said it may have been something they claimed put on to try and frame them for such kinds of violence.
Militancy in the Sinai, almost a full-blown insurgency well underway there for some time with only, many say, sort of tenuous links to the Brotherhood, although of course many will push forward the idea of them being from the same Islamist frame.
But we've seen, really, today no further protests of significance, certainly in the capital. And a real sense, perhaps, that this government narrative is beginning to dominate, the Brotherhood perhaps losing some enthusiasm and support on the streets.
And as you have been hearing, the interim administration here quite clear that they consider foreign criticism deeply unwelcome, they have supporters in the Arab world willing to make up any cash shortfalls.
And I think, perhaps, many looking at this as a calculation made by General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the head of the military, the armed grease behind the administration here that really Washington needs Cairo in the long run, for Israel, for strategic support, and they're not going to let even something as horrifying as the past week's events necessarily disrupt that relationship, Richard.
QUEST: Nick, thank you for bringing us up to date. Nick Paton Walsh, who's in Cairo tonight.
After the break, the rupee is now Asia's worst performing currency. Saving India's currency, we'll discuss how to rescue the rupee. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: India's currency has fallen to an all-time low. The relentless slide of the rupee has dashed hopes that Manmohan's government can calm the country's panicky financial markets. The central bank's intervened several times to try and stem the currency's fall, and all that's done is push up bond yields.
The rupee fell 2.5 percent today, its steepest slide since 2011. It's lost almost 13 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of the year. It's Asia's worst-performing currency against the dollar, as you can see there.
Kit Juckes is the global strategist at Societe Generale in London. I asked him earlier what's gone wrong with the rupee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIT JUCKES, GLOBAL STRATEGIST, SOCIETE GENERALE: The Indian economy is slowing down. They've had for a while a current account deficit that's bigger than they'd like, so their balance of payments requires them to borrow money from foreign investors. And that's really why it's come about now.
As markets prepare for the prospect of less buying of government debt by the US Federal Reserve, so the yields on US government debt are going up and investors are moving out of the assets that they bought, looking for yield elsewhere.
So, investors hungry from yield wherever they could get it went to India, didn't worry about the slowing growth, didn't worry about inflation, didn't worry about the size of their current account deficit. And now in the middle of summer, when people tend to worry about things rather too much, they're definitely worrying about all of those all at the same time, and it's in danger of spinning out of control.
QUEST: So, there's no single reason why the Indian crisis -- an ongoing crisis, a chronic crisis, if you like -- has suddenly become cataclysmic?
JUCKES: Not from within India. So, only from outside. It's this rise in the yields that investors can get on safer assets, on US government debt, that is the trigger. And India, remember, six months ago was one of the favorite investments of the global investor community in its hunt for yield. So, a lot of people owned it, and as they pull back, so that was the catalyst.
QUEST: But here's the fascinating part about this conundrum. There's very little that the Indian government can actually do in that scenario, because growth is slowing down 4 to 5 percent. There is not the prospect of that speeding up anytime soon. And tapering will becoming sooner rather than later.
JUCKES: Absolutely. This, remember, is what happened in the mid-90s when we had exactly the same thing happening in the United States. As interest rates started to rise and we had an Asian crisis then. What you have to do is not have over-borrowed, over-expanded, over-enjoyed the good times when money flows freely from the United States --
QUEST: But --
JUCKES: -- but now it's too late.
QUEST: That's the point. Is it too late for India? And if it's -- if they do need to take urgent, remedial action, what does the government of Manmohan Singh need to do?
JUCKES: Well, they need to do things to boost confidence. So, they need to do things to make a clear sign that they're in control of inflation, that they're in control of the size of their budget deficit, which is a part of what's driving their balance of payments problem.
And put in place longer-term structural improvements that they've needed to do for sometime that boost global investor confidence and restore the faith that everybody has that they're in much better shape than they were 10, 15, 20 years ago and remember why they bought those Indian investments in the first place, rather than just think, oh, we only bought that for the yield, and now the yield's not so exciting, we're going home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Kit Juckes on the question of the rupee in trouble, the Indian rupee, that is. US stocks are largely flat on the Monday trading session. Investors are watching the US Federal Reserve for any hints on when it might slow down.
Now, just look at the Dow Jones Industrials. The Dow is now down 27 points, just a fraction off. We are in those days of -- 15,000 is looking a little wobbly at the moment. But we are in the back end of August, and in the back end of August, one does have to be a little bit careful with the way the market's trading.
And of course, don't forget, the US does have a bank holiday weekend coming up quite soon, Labor Day, so this could also be -- you're going to see low volumes. Even here, you've got a bit up, and you're down. So, let's not get too excited.
Meanwhile, in Europe, most of the markets closed slightly weaker. Those are the boards -- well, most all the major ones, the FTSE, the DAX, the CAC and the Zurich SMI. The worst losses there were in Paris, where the market was off some 1 percent.
Natural disaster payouts in the United States and in Europe hit the insurance companies very hard, and Zurich Insurance was also hit with its quarterly earnings. The company has warned of a challenging economic time ahead.
The group's chief executive, Martin Senn, joins me now from London. I know it's always difficult, Martin, with insurance companies, to pick the disasters. But which ones really hit your wallet?
MARTIN SENN, CEO, ZURICH INSURANCE: Hi, Richard. Well, we had definitely a pretty challenging second quarter with major tornadoes in Oklahoma, the floods in Europe. But there was also a fair amount of mid- sized weather-related losses in Canada, the US, and Europe. So, this time, it kind of was not well diversifying geographically and came at the same time at all places.
QUEST: Insurance companies all -- your very raison d'etre is to pay out, and obviously, you were in a good position to do so. It impacted the earnings, but it doesn't structurally impact the company. But I wonder, if this is going to become the norm, more weather, more disaster claims, what do you need to do, as the chief exec?
SENN: Well, we always have to diversify our risks. You don't want to have concentration risk, and that makes, really, it more challenging in terms of having a well-diversified approach. Typically, you would not have weather-related events all over the world at the same time. So, the bigger you manage the portfolio, the better diversified, the lower you keep the risks contained.
QUEST: But -- do you get a feeling that whether it's global warming, climate change, whatever it might be, we are seeing more of these big weather-related risks, and you may have to rethink premiums, you may have to rethink the way you balance the risk yourself.
SENN: Well, there's definitely more frequency, there's more severity as well. But also keep in mind that people are moving more into catastrophic areas. Think about Super Storm Sandy, last quarter, last year, that wouldn't have happened to that extent a hundred years ago because that area was just not that populated. So, it's a function of different aspects, and again, we just have to diversify and manage these risks well.
QUEST: It's difficult for you on the other side of the equation. Interest rates are low. You can't -- your own investments, you can't chase yield because you're an insurance company and you can't risks -- unnecessary risks. So, short of putting it into gold in the vaults, which might not be wise even in Switzerland, what do you do to improve your own company's performance on an investment?
SENN: We have done a pretty good job in managing the firms through this very low-interest rate environment, because we have obviously made sure that we own the right to the bulk of our risk capital in the co- insurance business. That way, you can expect in the long run high returns.
Chasing yield, as you say, Richard, is not a good thing. It's a bit like trying to find out where the wind comes from and where the wind is going. You might get it right once or twice, but not sustainably in the long run.
QUEST: Excellent analogy upon which to end an interview with someone from the insurance. Which way is the wind blowing? Martin Senn of Zurich Insurance, good to see you. Thank you, sir, for joining us.
Now, the astute of you this evening may notice I seem to be bell-less. Yes, I know! I've lost the bell! I was in New York last week, where we have another bell, and somewhere in my travels, the bell that we have here at the CNN Center, I seem to have mislaid.
So, if you see a bell anywhere in your travels, @RichardQuest, we'll find -- we've got an electronic bell we can use, but we'll have to find another bell for tomorrow's program. Because normally, it would be the bell where I would go -- ding! -- tonight's Currency Conundrum.
It's almost 15 years to the day that the Russian ruble plummeted against the dollar, prompting the Russian government to default, one of the largest defaults. Tonight, how much did Russia devalue the ruble? Was it 34, 54, or 74 percent? The answer, of course, later in the program.
The dollar is weaker against the pound and the euro. It's slightly stronger against the yen. Those are the rates -- ding! -- this is the break. Where is that bell?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Business leaders rely on being able to communicate, whether it's an audience of two or 2,000. We are talking delivery, diction, and enunciation. Of course, the skills do not come naturally to everyone. And now, one of the world's best drama schools, RADA, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, could be offering help. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: I hate public speaking. There, the secret is out. I can broadcast all day on television to viewers who are unseen, but put me in front of an audience and I'm a mess. And now, it's time to face my fear.
CLAIRE DALE, COMMUNICATION SKILLS COACH: Hi, Richard.
QUEST: Hello.
DALE: Come in, come in.
QUEST (voice-over): My tutor, Claire Dale. Helping business people communicate effectively is her full-time job.
DALE: I'm delighted to be coaching you. We've got three sessions together.
QUEST: Coaching is based broadly around three elements, three concepts: think, breathe, speak. Today, we're starting with the thinking bit, and the first step, I must identify my own flaws.
DALE: So, can I ask another question, then? How would you describe your voice?
QUEST (on camera): Well, as somebody once described, which I think -- it's like gargling with broken glass.
DALE: OK.
QUEST: I can't hear that.
DALE: And then, we need to --
QUEST (voice-over): I can't fool Claire. She's watched a recent speech I did in India.
QUEST (on camera): I never start a speech with thanking the people.
DALE: Yes.
QUEST: You've got to grab them, and you've got to hold them.
DALE: You see, I like that about your speech. I liked that you started with --
QUEST: I have often found it is best when staying in somebody else's house not to criticize the wallpaper.
DALE: There's a lot going right, which is good news. And there is plenty to work on as well. First, give you a scale of one to ten, how loud do you think you are?
QUEST: Eight.
DALE: Yes. So you're aware --
QUEST: Absolutely.
DALE: -- that it's quiet high.
QUEST: Absolutely.
DALE: Great. The good news is that you can be even more charismatic and powerful without using that level.
QUEST: That one will be difficult, and the reason it will be difficult is because I think it will feed my insecurity. That's going to take me out of my comfort zone.
DALE: So, come and lie down here.
QUEST (voice-over): I may have been broadcasting for more years than is honest or decent, but I have to accept, I've developed some bad habits. The gravelly-ness of my voice in particular, it may be putting undue strain on my vocal chords.
DALE: You're just going to open the back of the jaw, open the mouth, and let the air pass down --
QUEST (on camera): I breathe through the nose or through the mouth?
DALE: You can do either at this stage, all right?
(QUEST TAKES DEEP BREATHES)
DALE: And that's good. Very much a softening of the muscles, ice cream melting, that image is the one I want you to work with. Keep the air going down --
QUEST (voice-over): It's clear, Claire is used to talking to people who think they know what they're doing and then challenging them.
DALE (mumbling): Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday --
QUEST (on camera, mumbling) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday --
QUEST (voice-over): There's no standing on ceremony, no concession to an already packed schedule.
DALE: I need you to practice these exercises every day, 15 minutes. And you've got an absolute radar for tension.
QUEST: Next time on Facing My Fear.
DALE: Yes, yes, yes! Woo!
QUEST: It all gets a bit close to home.
QUEST (on camera): This is the hour, I feel, to give and receive confidence. You're saying to connect to the script, and for God's sake, if I can't do that, then I shouldn't be in the job that I'm doing.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (mumbling): Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, love to be here. (normal voice) I promise you, it went on -- it was quite an experience. We'll talk more about it later in the program, and we'll hear more about it tomorrow.
Tweet me if you've ever felt the same, that taking out of your comfort zone, facing the fear, and how you dealt with it. And I'd love to hear your thoughts as part of our nightly conversation. It's @RichardQuest, as you can see on your screen.
When we come back, a candid conversation with a prince. He's also a new father, and he recalls the media frenzy after the birth of his son, Prince George.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: It's nice that people want to see George, so I'm just glad he wasn't screaming his head off the whole way through.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The duke of Cambridge's first interview since becoming a dad, and it's right here on CNN. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS -- ding!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. This is CNN and, on this network, the news always comes first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): In Egypt, a deadly ambush in the lawless (ph) Sinai Peninsula adds to the unrest and chaos. State-run TV is reporting suspected militants hit two buses carrying security forces in the border city of Rafa (ph). They were armed with rocket-propelled grenades; 25 soldiers were killed.
This is a live picture of the plane which has brought the soldiers bodies back to Cairo.
Egyptian prosecutors have extended the detention of the ousted president, Mohammed Morsy, for another 15 days while he's investigated. The charges against him include participating in the torture, murder and attempted murder of Egyptian citizens and inciting thugs to use force and terrorize citizens.
The Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius has been formally indicted for the Valentine's Day murder of his girlfriend, model Reeve Steenkamp. At a hearing today, he was charged with the planned and premeditated murder, which comes with a mandatory sentence of life in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin on March the 3rd.
The White House says British officials gave their U.S. counterparts a heads-up before detaining the partner of the journalist who broke the U.S. surveillance leaker story. David Miranda was held for nine hours at Heathrow Airport on Sunday. The U.S. government says it was not involved in the decision to detain him.
U.S. authorities are investigating JPMorgan over claims it allegedly had children of influential Chinese officials in an effort to gain official business. One claim is that the bank hired the scion of an investor firm, China Aerobright (ph). The two companies went on to complete a series of deals together.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Britain's future king, Prince William, has spoken candidly for the first time about his new role as a father.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): The Duke of Cambridge sat down with CNN's royal correspondent Max Foster in his first official interview since the birth of Prince George. William says his son is a little fighter and vividly recalls that moment when he and the duchess, Catherine, brought their son out of the hospital and into a media frenzy.
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: I think more shock and dauntingness was the feeling I felt. But it was -- the thing is, it's -- I think I was on such a high anyway, and so was Catherine, about George, that really we were happy to show him off to everyone who wanted to see him ,as any new parent knows. You're only too happy to show off your new child and proclaim that he's the best-looking or the best everything.
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: There's the baby, the new royal heir in the United Kingdom.
(APPLAUSE)
FOSTER: You were comfortable there.
WILLIAM: Yes, I felt again, it's not somewhere I enjoy being. But I know that the position I'm in that's what's required of me to do. And I think it's one of those things that I'm -- it's nice that people want to see George. So I'm just glad he wasn't screaming his head off the whole way through.
FOSTER: That moment you came out with the car seat, I mean, we had some warning that you might be doing that.
(APPLAUSE)
FOSTER (voice-over): Fathers around the planet will be cursing you for doing it so easily.
WILLIAM: Believe me, it wasn't my first time. And I know there's been speculation about that. I had to practice. Really, I was terrified that I was going to do some -- he was going to fall off or what, I wasn't going to close properly. So I had actually practiced with that seat, but only once before.
FOSTER: And your decision to drive off, I remember that moment as well. That was the most nerve-wracking thing to me, having my family in the car. But that was something that you were clearly determined to do.
WILLIAM: Where I can be I am as independent as I want to be. And same as Catherine and Harry. We've all grown up differently to other generations. And I very much feel if I can do it myself I want to do it myself. And there are times when you can't do it yourself and the system takes over or it's appropriate to do things differently.
But, I think driving your son and your wife away from hospital was really important to me. And I don't like fuss so it's much easier to just do it yourself.
FOSTER: And you didn't stall.
WILLIAM: I didn't stall -- well, it's an automatic so it's all right.
FOSTER: The interpretation of the imagery we saw there, which went around the world was that this was a modern monarchy and a new way of monarchy, but was it that? We reading too much into it? Is it just you doing it your way? You and your wife doing it your own way?
WILLIAM: I think so, and I'm just doing it the way I know this, you know, if it's the right way then brilliant, if it's not, if it's the wrong way then I'll try to do it better , but, no I just, I'm quite -- I'm reasonably headstrong about what I believe in, and what I go for, and I've got fantastic people around me who give me great support and advice.
FOSTER (voice-over): The prince says Baby George is already quite a character.
WILLIAM: Well, yes; he's a little bit of a rascal, put it that way. So he either reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger. I'm not sure. But, he's doing very well at the moment. He's --he does like to keep having his nappy changed, and --
FOSTER: Did you do the first nappy?
WILLIAM: I did the first nappy, yes. Exactly.
FOSTER: A badge of honor.
WILLIAM: Well, it is a badge of honor, exactly. I wasn't allowed to get away with that. I had every midwife staring at me, going, "You do it. You do it".
He's a little, he's growing quite quickly actually. But he's a little fighter. He kind of, he wriggles around quite a lot. And he doesn't want to go to sleep that much, which is a little bit of a problem. But he's --
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: So you're up a lot at night, you're pretty tired.
WILLIAM: A little bit. Not as much as Catherine. But you know, she's doing a fantastic job.
FOSTER: How is she? OK?
WILLIAM: Yes, very well. For me, Catherine, and now little George are my priorities. And Lupo. And so --
FOSTER: I was going to ask you about Lupo. How's Lupo coping?
WILLIAM: He's coping all right, actually. As a lot of people know who have got dogs and bringing a newborn back, they take a little bit of time to adapt, but, no he's been all right so far. He's been slobbering sort of around the house a bit, so he's perfectly happy.
FOSTER: And how are you about going back to work?
WILLIAM: Well, as a few fathers might know, I'm actually quite looking forward to going back to work.
(LAUGHTER)
FOSTER: Get some sleep.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Get some sleep. Exactly, yes. So I'm just hoping the first few shifts I go back I don't have any night jobs.
FOSTER (voice-over): One of Prince William's great passions is saving endangered species in Africa. He wants his son to experience the same Africa that he saw as a boy and as a young man, to spark in his son a passion for preserving the rarest wild animals, much as his father did with him.
FOSTER: You talked about your father possibly whispering quietly in your ear as he --
PRINCE WILLIAM: Sweet nothings.
FOSTER: -- as a young boy. Are you going to do the same for Prince George because it's such, it's a cause that you care so deeply about. Would you like him to pick up on it?
WILLIAM: Probably. At this rate I'll probably whisper sweet nothings in his ear. I'll have toy elephants and rhinos around the room. We'll cover it in sort of, you know, lots of bushes and things like that. Make him grow up as if he's in the bush.
FOSTER (voice-over): He says the possibility of his son carrying on the royal family's legacy in Africa isn't his immediate concern.
WILLIAM: At the moment, the only legacy I want to pass on to him is to sleep more and maybe not have to change his nappy quite so many times.
FOSTER (voice-over): Like any new mother or father, parenthood has surprised and amazed Prince William.
WILLIAM: I think the last few weeks for me have been just a very different emotional experience, something I never thought I would feel myself. And I find, again, it's only been a short period, but a lot of things affect me differently now.
QUEST (voice-over): Max Foster, talking to the prince, the Duke of Cambridge.
Prince William as you've never seen him or heard from him before. And you can see more of Max Foster's interview in our special presentation, "Prince William's Passion: New Father, New Hope." And it's on September the 15th, of course here on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: After the break, a journey out of this world: space tourism is about to become a reality if you've got the money.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Business Traveller" update, the sun is shining on two of the areas hardest hit economies in Europe, Greece looks set for a record summer. Visitors spending a surged 21 percent in June, the first month in the busy holiday season. And that brought total tourist spending for the first half to $4.4 billion. And Spain is also looking for a record season with foreign visitor numbers up more than 5 percent in June, 26 million foreign tourists have visited the country in the last six months, including myself.
If you're looking further afield for your next holiday and you have serious amounts of money to spend, far more than you'll need for a quick week on the costas, you might consider a little jaunt into space.
From next year, Virgin Galactic, the space exploration company owned by Richard Branson, will be offering trips beyond the Earth's orbit. The commercial director, Stephen Attenborough (ph), assures me the tickets at a mere quarter of a million or so, they're a bargain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: Launched to much fanfare in 2004, Virgin Galactic is the world's first real attempt at space tourism with passenger flights hoping to start next year. The wealthy and the famous have signed up in droves. Stephen Hawking, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber and of course, the founder, Sir Richard Branson and his family.
The thing you've now got to do is take this and actually take it to space?
STEPHEN ATTENBOROUGH, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR, VIRGIN GALACTIC: Yes, absolutely. So we've -- everything is essentially tested; the aircraft is tested; the spaceship has glided many times. The big milestone that we had a couple of months ago was when we took the rocket motor, put it into the spaceship so everything integrated for the first time, lit the rocket motor and the spaceship went through the sound barrier. So that was a hugely significant milestone and, in many ways, the last big piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
QUEST: How much have you spent so far?
ATTENBOROUGH: If I had to give a rough ballpark figure, we're talking several hundred million dollars.
QUEST: And that's private money?
ATTENBOROUGH: It's all private money. No government money at all.
QUEST: How many seats have you actually sold?
ATTENBOROUGH: We've sold around 640 seats.
QUEST: A lot of money. So what do you get for it?
ATTENBOROUGH: You get memories to last a lifetime, a trip which is absolutely about sensory overload. Every part of this journey is going to be a little bit bigger than anything else you've ever experienced.
These first space flights, from start to finish, 2-21/2 hours. We'll be taking you to the space borders of sunrises, out through the doors, across the tarmac to the waiting spaceship. Taxi it out, take off in the normal way and then a nice long, slow climb up to 50,000 feet.
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ATTENBOROUGH: At 50,000 feet, everybody's ready to go. The spaceship is released.
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ATTENBOROUGH: And the pilots (inaudible) motor in the back (ph). Within seven seconds, you're at the speed of sound. The pilots are pitching the most straight upwards and you are literally hurtling away from the surface of the Earth. Outside the big windows, the sky's gradually turning color from blue to black as you escape the atmosphere.
I think it's sort of the pinnacle of the experience, really, is that they will be floating up to one of the big windows, which we have all around the spaceship and they'll see that life-changing view of Planet Earth beneath them.
QUEST: How long (inaudible)?
ATTENBOROUGH: Four or five minutes. And then gravity takes hold of you and the spaceship will start to be pulled back towards Earth. And those rotated wings act as giant air brakes to make sure that you just slow very safely without any (inaudible) buildup.
They're going to have a spectacular glide all the way back down to the space port, where we'll be waiting with your astronaut wings and a glass of champagne.
QUEST: I'm guessing that when it comes to selling this, it basically sells itself.
ATTENBOROUGH: This, at the moment, is clearly not something that everybody can afford. Some may even have remortgaged the house or whatever in order to do it.
QUEST (voice-over): And that's a question: when will the man or woman on the street get to (inaudible)?
ATTENBOROUGH: At $250,000 a ticket, we are around 1 percent of the price that you would needed to have paid in order to go to space as a private citizen before now.
But I think we can do better. But we will only be -- we'll be responding to market conditions and hope there will be a large, thriving, vibrant industry, which will make it possible for most people to go to space in my lifetime, anyway.
QUEST: To the critics who say it's suborbital, because it's not really going into space, what would you say to that?
ATTENBOROUGH: I'd say it is really going to space because it is. We will be aiming for a space altitude, however you define that. I think that the thing that people are talking about is that you're not spending a fortnight in space. But it's a vital first step. We have to show that you can take ordinary people to space regularly, safely; give them a great time and do it in a commercially viable framework. and we can do that, then I think we're going to be able to move to orbital trips; maybe be going to the moon, maybe we'll be traveling from London to Australia via space, all those things are important. But you have to get the first step right.
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QUEST: Now$250,000, there's $250,000 for you.
If you had $250,000, would you spend it and go on it?
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: After maybe a dozen test flights.
QUEST: You --
SATER: A dozen.
QUEST: -- you wimp.
SATER: Well, I didn't say 24.
QUEST: You wimp. I was just about to put you on the first one and you turned it down because you wimp.
SATER: I would have to, yes. That would be me.
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SATER: Get a dozen flights under your belt and then we'll talk.
Sounds great, though. For those of you who like to travel into Europe, well, maybe you keep your seat belts fastened and your tray tables in the upright locked position because thunderstorms have dropped some (inaudible), some hail, damaging winds, parts of Germany. We've seen it into some areas of the Alps. We've got some good thunderstorms that we're firing up just to the east of Innsbruck. They're kind of dying out now . They slide out of screen. But this is an area where, if you want to fly, you keep it just generally in Europe instead of out into space, that's all you have to deal with. And we've had millions of these flights already to contend with.
All right. Just a little bit of activity possible, weather delays based on computer models from Munich 30-45. We've got a little trough. It's going to cool things down. We're still finding the heat in parts of Budapest, Istanbul, we're finding numbers in Athens, still in the low 30s, over towards Spain and Portugal, mid to upper 30s. Just like they started the summer, looks like they may end on a hot streak. But then the problems are in southern China. remember we had a tropical storm Utor moved in. That was last Wednesday. Landslides, the circulation of rainfall continues in nine provinces in southern China. Hong Kong, maybe some possible delays. But most of the dealys down there in Guandong Province are due to railway systems and the landslides. So this is going to be a concern. Now we've got another tropical storm. It's been enhancing rainfall in the Philippines. Take a look at these numbers. Five hundred six millimeters, this is the wettest month of the year in Manila and they've picked up 80 percent of this average rainfall in a day and a half. So they're flooded. But the bigger concern may be our tropical storm. And why? If you have a business, possible flat toward Taipei, this is heading in your direction. Wednesday night, 10:00 p.m., landfall moves in. Take a look at that, Richard. We'll be watching this one closely. Let's just concentrated on keeping on the ground right now before we head too far out into space.
QUEST: Tom Sater, we thank you for that, all the delays that you might wish to see.
We'll be back after the break.
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QUEST (voice-over): The "Currency Conundrum" answer, 15 years ago Russian authorities devalued the ruble. It fell against the dollar by -- the answer -- 34 percent . Officials wanted a maximum currency corridor (inaudible) rubles for an orderly (ph) devaluation over several months, but it continued to (inaudible) even after that.
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QUEST: A Palestinian computer expert has hacked the Facebook profile of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The programming in Hebron says he had no other choice after the social media said he ignored his warnings of a security bug. A Facebook engineer admits his team should have investigated his claim more thoroughly.
Jim Clancy's following the story. Jim's in Jerusalem for us.
Jim, he discovered it; he warned them; they ignored him; he went nuclear.
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he did. It's a little bit like that story from around these parts called David and Goliath; this is Khalil and Mark. Khalil is Khalil Shreateh, and he is a 30-year-old I.T. expert. And he discovered this flaw that really could have been handwringingly wonderful for spammers all over the world. Let me let you tell them about it.
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KHALIL SHREATEH, SECURITY RESEARCHER: To find a way to post to other Facebook users' timelines, this is dangerous. This is so dangerous, because it will allow people to make public ads without paying Facebook money.
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CLANCY: Now they wouldn't have to pay any money, wouldn't have to pay any money at all. The way this would work is this: anybody that wanted to could then go out there and post on thousands of Facebook sites and that would go to possibly hundreds of thousands of different computer screens, put out spam on all of those screens. So he turned it in and he tried to get his message through to Facebook, this one's serious. And he said, well, you know, I'm a white hat. That's one of what Facebook calls one of the hackers that actually looks for security flaws and then tells Facebook about it. But he didn't get any relief there. Listen.
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SHREATEH: I asked them that this report as a white hat; I never asked them that I want $4,000 or $5,000. I didn't deal with them like that. OK, I found a vulnerability, this is your site, you have an exploited website. Deal with it, guys.
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CLANCY: But the guys didn't deal with it and that's when he decided to go directly to the top, and he posted it on Mark Zuckerberg's own private timeline, showing him what the flaw was. But in doing so, he violated the terms of service and this 30-year-old unemployed Palestinian I.T. specialist isn't going to get any reward for it, reward money he could actually use a lot. He's been out of work for two years; I guess he's still hoping that perhaps the billionaire Mark Zuckerberg might show some mercy his way, Richard.
QUEST: Jim Clancy in Jerusalem, just think about it.
So he doesn't get up to a million dollars because he chose to go that way even after they'd ignored him. Is that fair? Maybe Mr. Zuck would like to write him a little bit of a check. Not a big one, just a little one.
I'll have a "Profitable Moment" after the break. Ding! Where is that bell?
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QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment": all this deep, diaphragmatic (inaudible) that I've been learning how to do, now you might have been surprised to hear that I get a bit of the wobbles when speaking in public. After all, you'll find me here night after night, talking to you on the telly. But here's the problem: or maybe it's a blessing. It could be a curse. I can't see you. And when it comes to addressing hundreds of people, it's a little nerve-wracking to say the least. I can assure you it's a lot harder than peering into these cameras here in the studio, where, as I say, I can't see what's on the other side.
So that's why I got some professional advice, to sweep the fears under the carpet. And there's a lesson here. In business, getting a message across to the audience can make or break a company. Even here in "Profitable Moment," getting the right message framed in the right way. And whether you're talking to staff, suppliers or customers, so when I'm interviewing CEOs, I'm often am amazed how hard it is to speak clearly, simply and most importantly, with passion. I asked for professional advice and in the coming days, we'll just see just how difficult and far it took me from my comfort zone.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this Monday night. I'm Richard Quest. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
Ding! We've lost it.
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QUEST (voice-over): The headlines: it's the top of the hour.
The bodies of 25 Egyptian soldiers killed in an ambush in the country's Sinai Peninsula have been flown back to Cairo. State-run TVreports suspended militants hit two buses carrying security forces in the border city of Rafa (ph). They were armed with rocketpropelled grenades.
The Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius has been formally indicted for the Valentine's Day murder of his girlfriend, the model Reeva Steenkamp. At a hearing today, he was charged with planned and premeditated murder, which comes with a mandatory sentence in prison. The trial is scheduled to begin on March the 3rd.
The White House says British officials gave their U.S. counterparts a heads-up before detaining the partner of the journalist who broke the U.S. surveillance leaker story. He's David Miranda; he was held for nine hours at Heathrow Airport on Sunday. The U.S. government says it was not involved in the decision to detain him.
And Britain's Prince William has given his first interview since the birth of his son last month, telling Max Foster Prince George is "a little rascal," and reminds him of his brother, Harry. Prince William says his outlook is already changing.
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QUEST: Those are the headlines. Now Hala Gorani is with "AMANPOUR" in New York.
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