Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
Make or Break Meeting for Greece Ends Early; US Stocks Down on Greece Worries; European Stocks Down; ECB Gives Greece More Emergency Funding; US to Allow Families to Negotiate With Terrorists; Outrage in France Over US Spying; NSA Spying Threatens Trade Talks; Hundreds Protest UK Fracking
Aired June 24, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00] (NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSING BELL)
PAULA NEWTON, HOST: And another day closes on Wall Street. You can cut the applause -- it was the first down day of the week. Triple-digit
losses on the Dow, and we know who to blame. It's Wednesday, June the 24th.
No deal yet. Talks on Greece come to an abrupt end in Brussels, the two sides still deadlocked.
New rules on ransom. The US president says he's changing the way they do business with hostage-takers.
And like a war zone. Freight and shipping companies warn the migrant chaos in Calais is damaging their business.
I'm Paula Newton and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening. No deal tonight. What was expected to be an all- nighter turned into a very short meeting, really, for European finance ministers. They will try again tomorrow because this is supposedly -- this
is it for Greece. It needs to unlock $8 billion in fresh bailout money or risk missing next week's deadline to repay the IMF.
The Greek government is just out with this statement. Quote, "The institutions on their part submitted a new proposal which transfers the
burden of austerity to wage-earners and pensioners in a way which is socially unfair. The Greek side cannot agree with such change of
direction. Negotiations are continuing at all levels."
Greece now has until June 30th to avoid defaulting on its debts, which would leave the country in uncharted territory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHAN VAN OVERTVELDT, BELGIAN FINANCE MINISTER: We have a very big responsibility towards the Greek population. I think their suffering is
immense. Can we imagine an economy that diminishes by 25 percent in a few years time? That's horrendous. That's what they are going through, and we
have to stop that process. We really have to -- we have a moral obligation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: A day of chaos. I'm going to bring in Tadhg Enright, here, who's apparently going to tell us about any progress. But as I said, it
just looks like chaos. If you can break it down for us. This was a much shorter meeting than we expected. Why end it so early?
TADHG ENRIGHT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This was supposed to be the meeting when the politicians got together, the finance ministers,
and had a look at what the IMF, the ECB, and the European Commission, the Troika, had to say about the proposals which Greece made on Monday.
Remember back then, those proposals came into Brussels fairly early on Monday morning. There was that meeting of eurozone finance ministers, and
then followed up by a meeting of leaders.
They said they didn't have the time -- the number-crunchers hadn't had a proper look at the figures just yet, and that hopefully by tonight, by
Wednesday evening, by the time the eurogroup got together again, they would have crunched through those numbers.
Forty-eight hours later, the IMF weighs in, says we have looked at these numbers, they aren't good enough. Yes, they are saving money, but
they're not saving money in the right areas.
Alexis Tsipras summoned to Brussels for a meeting this afternoon with the European Commission, with the IMF, trying to bridge the gap, which has
remained ever present between all the sides on this. It seems they have failed to do that.
They didn't actually have a document ready to prepare to show to the finance ministers for them to start debating on, and that's why we saw this
meeting break up very soon after it started. It seems like they just sat down for dinner and then decided there's no point in continuing right now.
NEWTON: Mr. Tsipras still faces a firing line. He's got a meeting in about an hour. This will, though, in some measure, continue. Tadhg, thank
you for that update. We appreciate it. And now we go to Athens for some reaction.
Anna-Michel Asimakopoulou is the finance minister for Greece's opposition New Democracy Party. It was the party in government before
Alexis Tsipras won the Greek election five months ago. Now, she's been very critical of Mr. Tsipras and the fact that Greece is back in recession.
She joins us now, live from Athens.
This is complete torture, even for someone who's not in Greece, who's not Greek, and who's not part of those negotiations. This evening in
Athens, what is the reaction?
ANNA-MICHEL ASIMAKOPOULOU, FINANCE MINISTER, NEW DEMOCRACY PARTY: It's going to be a long night for everybody in Brussels and Athens and
everywhere. Anybody who's got their eye on the Greek problem.
You see, Mr. Tsipras has put us between a rock and a hard place. Before elections, he promised people just about everything: increased
wages, increased pensions, lower taxes, free electricity. He also had a central promise which he made, and that's what he got his mandate based on,
and that was that he would deliver a better deal and keep us in the eurozone.
[16:04:56] Now, clearly, his pre-election promises have gone out the window. But this is not a better deal. He put his signature yesterday on
a proposal which brings 8 billion euros worth of measures to Greece. And it's 93 percent taxes and increased social security contributions and only
7 percent anything else.
So, he doesn't really have a mandate, and his party is just a mess over this. And I don't know if he can even --
(CROSSTALK)
NEWTON: But if we want to --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: -- pass it through parliament, no less implement it. On the flip side --
NEWTON: OK, and what --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: -- he doesn't have a mandate to take us out of the eurozone. Can you hear me?
NEWTON: We will get -- yes, I can. We will get to those points. I just want to make clear, though, your party --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: OK.
NEWTON: -- was in government before this. If we just look at what you would do, what is the solution here? Because he does have a mandate
from the last election. They did not like the deal that was struck --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: Of course --
NEWTON: -- by your party. And so, what would you do now? What would Greeks want him to do now faced with such a tough negotiating stand in
Brussels?
ASIMAKOPOULOU: OK. We've been faced -- we were faced with tough negotiating stance. It wasn't a walk in the park for us. Just for
history's sake, now, the deal that was on the table from our party when Mr. Samaras was prime minister had a price tag of 1 billion, not 8 billion.
So, we're reminiscing about that now.
But at the moment, what Mr. Samaras has done -- because clearly we want to honor what the Greeks want, which is to stay in the eurozone -- so
he's called for Mr. Tsipras to move in the direction of national unity, to sit down with all the pro-European political parties, and we can help him
negotiate. But he has to want that. And he hasn't asked for anybody's help.
Now, we've been very clear about the policy mix that we would like to see. There is nothing in this agreement about growth from his side. We
believe growth will come from the private sector, from businesses. That he can't hire more people in the public sector. He's hired 5,000 people in
the last five months.
And that's, now that we're in a recession, that we're -- our back's up against the wall. We have no money, and we've had four months of living in
this parallel universe of constructive ambiguity and testing out Mr. Varoufakis' game theory in playing brinkmanship games and playing chicken.
And where has that gotten us at the moment? Nowhere. We're up against the wall.
So, he is facing a tough decision, and he should be honest and tell the Greek people that he's at a dead end. If he wants our help, we're here
to help. We're the party that put Greece in Europe. We would not do anything to jeopardize Greece's European future. But we've got to --
(CROSSTALK)
NEWTON: At this point --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: -- seriously talk what this deal should look like.
NEWTON: And at this point, I think you can hear the collective --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: At this point, we only have a couple of days.
NEWTON: But can you -- I just want to make a point here. We're going back and forth on a lot of the critical detail that, quite frankly,
everyone in Europe is sick of. I'm sure that people in Greece now understand the sheer exasperation.
Do you see a way forward here so that people in Greece can come together to get a deal done with Europe? Because right now, frankly, it is
looking a bit precarious, especially when you factor in the uncertainty with the markets.
ASIMAKOPOULOU: Yes. And I understand what you're saying, and I also think that as a result of these five months of Mr. Tsipras' inexperience or
his party politics, or whatever it is, unfortunately, as you say, we've lost a lot of our credibility.
There are serious people in Greece in politics and it pains me to have to make that point when the previous government had actually got us to the
brink of being over all of this, almost getting out of it, almost moving to a different kind of universe than what we're in today.
Mr. Tsipras has to make his decision. Like I said, we're here, we can move fast. But he's the prime minister, and this is his responsibility.
Mr. Samaras even talked openly today, as you know, he's on his way to Brussels for the party -- the European party summit. And he said clearly,
we're here to help. But that's Mr. Tsipras' decision. Otherwise, he as to tell --
(CROSSTALK)
NEWTON: Well, it sounds like you --
ASIMAKOPOULOU: -- the Greek people the truth.
NEWTON: Yes.
ASIMAKOPOULOU: And the truth is, he got us into this mess.
NEWTON: Well, it sounds like you want -- you do want a deal to vote on. We will wait to see if that materializes in the next few hours.
Thanks so much for that perspective from Athens.
US stocks ended deep in the red. After two consecutive days of gains, Wednesday's session was dragged down almost 180 points -- you guessed it --
over worries about Greece.
[16:10:02] Ben Willis, senior floor broker for Princeton Securities Group is with me now, live from the New York Stock Exchange. We heard that
view from Athens. They are still into their internal squabbling. Doesn't seem like that's really going to help the situation right now.
How much of a jolt do you think this could be to markets if it continues in the next 24 to 48 hours, where it looks like Greece may
literally run out of a cash and run out of time?
BEN WILLIS, SENIOR FLOOR BROKER, PRINCETON SECURITIES GROUP: Well, I'll give you a trader's view. We're very grateful on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange that Greece can't make up their mind which they want to go, because without this kind of movement and the volatility being created
by Greece, there's really not a lot to trade.
The market since Monday has moved up in anticipation of Greece coming to some sort of settlement and agreement with their creditors. That pushed
us to the high end of what we have been locked in this trading range.
Today, we got a reversal from those highs from yesterday, and we came back down. But quite frankly, without that, there's very little reason for
investors to be in the United States stock market at this point. This is really a trader's market. And when you have commentary like Greece, giving
us that volatility, that's very much appreciated by people who make their money trading the market.
(LAUGHTER)
NEWTON: Spoken like a true opportunist.
(LAUGHTER)
NEWTON: I think what most people want to hear, here, who are not doing that is that, look, do you expect this beyond -- and I understand the
highs and lows are where you're going to make your money -- but do you believe that this will be a real jolt.
It's -- look, we could wake up the next day, the day after that, the day after that, and we could be staring in the face the fact that Greece
may be leaving Europe. How much do you think that will spook a market that has had a lot of volatility --
WILLIS: OK.
NEWTON: -- both in Europe and the United States.
WILLIS: A great example of how strange traders are on Wall Street is, I think when Greece finally is allowed to leave the euro, it will be jolt
to the upside. It will be a welcome relief.
They should not have been in the eurozone to begin with. I don't know why anybody hasn't asked why Goldman Sachs should be held accountable for
writing a derivative that allowed them to enter the eurozone.
But here we are, and the fact of the matter is, Greece has no business being in the eurozone. I had dinner with one of the largest private
shippers in all of Greece, and he said Greece was the first nation ever to declare bankruptcy. They've done it seven times since, and he fully
expects them to do it again. So, it shouldn't be a surprise, and the market will take that in stride when it happens.
The real issue, quite frankly, with what's going on in Greece is what kind of door it will open for the likes of Ireland. The United Kingdom has
already held a referendum whether they want to stay in the eurozone even though they have their own currency. What does it do for Portugal?
So, that's really the story as far as the Greece and the eurozone is concerned at that point. But the fact of the matter is, for the investors
at home, if there is some sort of drop, that should be an indication of a buying opportunity.
The Russell 2000 is up over 6.5 percent. That means American companies that are based in the United States of America are making money.
The big picture to look at is interest rates globally will be moving higher.
The idea of lowering rates to try and stimulate is played out, so the trend will be higher, which means it will put upward pressure on
currencies, and the United States is leading in that pack.
NEWTON: All right. Ben, you have been a breath of fresh air on Greece. Finally, a contrarian opinion. Many will not agree with you, Ben,
but I take it that that is the view from the floor, and an important insight to have there.
WILLIS: I was -- I was raised to be --
(CROSSTALK)
NEWTON: Thank you so much.
WILLIS: -- a majority of one.
(LAUGHTER)
NEWTON: And we will be having you back if this all goes -- you know what I mean -- pear-shape in the next few days. Ben, thanks so much.
WILLIS: Very good.
NEWTON: Appreciate it. Now, European stocks gave up some of their gains from earlier in the week. The Athens benchmark, which jumped 15
percent -- really, so optimistic -- over the past two sessions fell by almost 2 percent today. But I can tell you, that was off its lows.
Earlier today, the European Central Bank once again increased additional emergency funding for Greek banks to stave off fears of a bank
run.
Will -- they will not negotiate with terrorists. Or will they? The White House makes a major change in the way the US handles hostages being
held overseas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:15:48] NEWTON: The US government will now communicate with terrorist groups holding Americans hostage abroad. It's one of a number of
changes to the way the United States deals with hostage situations. President Barack Obama says the White House policy on paying ransom has not
changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States government paying ransom to terrorists risks endangering more Americans and
funding the very terrorism that we're trying to stop. And so I firmly believe that our policy ultimately puts fewer Americans at risk.
At the same time, we are clarifying that our policy does not prevent communication with hostage-takers by our government, the families of
hostages, or third parties who help these families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Several countries, shown in yellow on this map, are believed to have paid ransoms to bring home hostages held by terrorist
organizations. "New York Times" reports that terror organizations like al Qaeda and ISIS have taken in at least $125 million in ransom revenue since
2008.
Now, the UK and Japan, shown here in red, maintain a hardline policy against negotiating with terror groups. CNN White House correspondent
Michelle Kosinski joins me from Washington with more on this policy.
Michelle, the reason this policy has been put into place is they believe it keeps Americans safer because there isn't a price on their head.
In the end, what do you think motivated this change today?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. I think just compassion for the families, and the criticism that the families have
made very public in recent incidents. The family of James Foley, who was beheaded by ISIS, his family said in no uncertain terms, "We were
threatened with prosecution if we wanted to pay a ransom, we were treated poorly by the government."
And I think that the White House was embarrassed by this. They wanted to make some changes and to truly show compassion for these families who
are put in such an awful position.
The way the White House tried to explain this today was by saying that the nature of these incidents have changed. Without going into a lot of
detail, they said that it's an evolving threat. Things have changed in terms of the threat, and they needed to evolve as well.
I think what's so interesting, and what causes a lot of problems in trying to figure this out is by saying that the US policy has by no means
changed, that the US does not make concessions to terrorists, does not pay ransoms. But they're not going to prosecute Americans whose families are
held hostage who want to do that, even though it is against the law.
Now, I think on a human level, everybody can understand why that might be. But on an ideological level, and to try to prevent this from happening
over and over again, if the US has this hard and fast policy, why does it then not apply to these people?
And the explanation we got was that although that policy is there for a reason, they also want to stand by these families. And we heard a top
advisor to the president on counter terrorism today say that there is no doubt that ransoms fuel terrorists, but they also have a responsibility to
the families and they want to stand by them in ways that they can. So, there's the explanation that we got, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And President Obama was quite clear in just saying -- and apologizing and saying look, we have let those families down. But
Michelle, I put this to you: in terms of these families, if anyone has the unfortunate situation that they find themselves with a loved one being
taken hostage, the floodgates will open necessarily. Anyone will be going to --
KOSINSKI: Right.
NEWTON: -- business people, businesses, crowd funding. It is just going to open the floodgates to obviously large amounts of ransom.
KOSINSKI: Yes and no. I mean -- this is such a tricky situation. So, I think the White House tried to boil it down into the simplest
possible terms.
And they didn't even want to get into the very simple question of, well, are you going to dissuade families, then, from making ransoms? Are
you going to try to convince them otherwise at first? They didn't even want to get into details of how those conversations would be.
[16:19:59] But I think -- we might not see an immediate change when there are future incidents, because a lot of times, remember, families feel
the need to keep this very private and very quiet so as to not cause the terrorists to make more demands or to change any status in the way their
loved one is being held.
But the White House is basically saying, we won't pay ransoms, but if a family really feels that's necessary, basically, we're going to turn our
-- we're going to turn a blind eye. We're not going to bring the power of the law against them, even though the government feels that it's a bad idea
to pay ransoms.
So, if a family is going to go their own way and try to find a way to bring their loved one home that way, the government isn't going to stop
them from doing it. It's really a tough area, and it raises so many questions that clearly the White House just doesn't want to answer at this
point, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. Such an interesting day to see all of that evolve. Michelle Kosinski, stay with us, if you will, for a moment, because we want
to go to something else that happened at the White House today. President Obama assured his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, that the US will
put an end to surveillance of the French president.
Documents posted on the WikiLeaks website sparked outrage by revealing that the NSA tapped phone conversations of three French presidents. Jim
Bittermann sent us this report from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Quite lively reaction from the French this morning. President Hollande convening his
defense committee and afterwards saying that this kind of thing, the kind of facts revealed by WikiLeaks, is totally unacceptable.
However mentioning the fact that, in fact, they had been promised -- the French had been promised by, apparently, President Obama after this
kind of spying on Europeans was first revealed back in 2013, that they had been promised that this would not go on any further.
And the French government hopes that the US holds to that engagement that there wouldn't be any further spying. Later this afternoon, at around
3:00 local time, the prime minister is going to go before the national assembly to explain to parliamentarians what the government reaction has
been.
And then this evening around about 6:00, the American ambassador here, Jane Hartley, is going to be summoned to the Foreign Ministry, apparently,
also to hear the kind of displeasure the French are feeling at this spying that's been going on.
In fact, there hasn't been too much revealed in the leaks that have come out so far, not too much that is really that surprising, that Jacques
Chirac didn't have confidence in his foreign minister. He wasn't alone in that regard. That Nicolas Sarkozy thought he could save the world from the
economic crisis. Again, something that presumably most people felt.
And that Francois Hollande, after coming into office, almost immediately became concerned about the Greek financial crisis. Again, none
of these things seem to be that earthshaking. However, WikiLeaks had, though their various people, have promised that, in fact, there will be
more revelations coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: That outrage in France has even led to calls for an end to free trade talks. In this tweet, a member of European Parliament and
president of the left party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, says in French, "I demand an end to the TTIP and asylum for Snowden."
We want to bring back Michelle Kosinski now from the White House. Again, the reaction from the White House on this pretty swift today.
KOSINSKI: Yes, I know. And not saying much, actually. I hate to disappoint you, but again, this is an area where the White House does not
like to give away too much information. They won't admit that this happened in the past.
They did put out a read-out of the phone call that went on today between Hollande and President Obama saying that the US has this unwavering
commitment to the bilateral relationship. They're committed to this cooperation in security and intelligence.
And during the daily briefing today, the press secretary instead of talking about how this call ended up -- did this reassure the French at
all? -- he referred back to when Hollande was here in Washington about a year ago and said that mutual trust had been restored, because this issue
came up then.
And the White House says that the president reiterated that today, that mutual trust between these two countries has been restored. Paula?
NEWTON: Michelle Kosinski, thanks so much for being so patient with us and bring to us both of those important stories from the White House
today.
Now, a tiny British town becomes the focus of the debate on fracking. Protesters gather as one community decides if it will allow drilling.
[16:24:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: A tiny village in England has become the epicenter of the debate over fracking in Europe. Opponents of fracking gathered in northern
England to protest an application by Cuadrilla Resources to begin hydraulic fracking in the area.
Lancashire county council is expected to decide on the application early next week. If approved, it will be the first land-based fracking
operation in Western Europe since 2011. Opponents say fracking poses environmental risks and threatens property values. Supporters say fracking
will reduce the UK's growing reliance on gas imports.
I'm joined here in the studio by Chris Faulkner, otherwise known as the Frack Master, CEO of Breitling Energy. All right, look, we know where
you stand. You think this should happen.
CHRIS FAULKNER, CEO, BREITLING ENERGY: Yes.
NEWTON: I'm sure that you have certainly concern for the planet.
FAULKNER: Sure.
NEWTON: We have problems with earthquakes, problems with water. You're going to tell me no. Why? What definitive that you've seen?
Because a lot of the studies are preliminary.
FAULKNER: Look, the EPA has come out now with their fourth study after multi years of looking at water and groundwater contamination
concerns in the United States. The United States really is the true epicenter of fracking. We have the most data of any country on the planet,
a million and a half wells have been fracked in the United States.
And the EPA is the governing body of our environmental concerns in our country, and they have done studies that can't find any widespread concern
against groundwater.
Seismic activity now is being studied. But when we talk about seismic activity, let's talk about the fact these are 2.5 --
(CROSSTALK)
NEWTON: But they're there.
FAULKNER: -- earthquakes. They are there.
NEWTON: The Earth shakes.
FAULKNER: That happens 900,000 times a year on our planet. We all can't say it's due to fracking. So, I think environmentalists can slash
this data up and try to pinpoint fracking on us as a boogeyman.
But the reality is that these are spoon-fed concerns that environmentalists have given to these folks in Lancashire, and there's a
lot of mistruths and misinformation. That's why I was up there today and giving my side of the story.
NEWTON: Why bother? Oil has gone down in price.
FAULKNER: Sure.
NEWTON: We're at about, I think, around $63 a barrel today. It was down again today. But many people saying that, look, the low price of oil
is here to stay. We're awash in oil. We've got more inventory of oil than we have had in decades. Why bother taking that environmental risk? You
can understand what the residents are thinking up there.
FAULKNER: Well, I think when you talked about risks in the start of this conversation, we also should look at the risks of all energy sources
on this planet. From renewable, they have concerns about the toxic chemicals that go into the photovoltaic sensors of solar, from windmills to
coal to nuclear. Every one of these things have some kind of consequence.
The reality now is that the UK government came out with a stat that 72 percent of all the natural gas in this country by 2025 will be imported.
Now, fracking isn't a silver bullet, but I do think it adds a diversification piece to supply this country can reduce, potentially, its
continued reliance on Russian piped gas or Qatari shipments, which are now not coming to the UK, they're going to Asia because Asia pays more than you
guys.
So, I think fracking and shale gas needs to be a part of the energy mix or the puzzle, if you will. It's not the end-all end-all, but neither
is renewable energy. Neither is nuclear or coal. It's all got to work in conjunction to power this country and the rest of the planet.
NEWTON: In terms of how controversial fracking is, though, is there anything that you can present that you'd say, look, this is better than a
windmill, this is better than solar? Why go down this road? It's tagged a lot of detractors.
FAULKNER: Well, I think everything does. You're not going to power this whole country and this planet on windmills and solar. You can power a
portion of that, and that's fantastic. And I give you a great example.
We've subsidized renewable energy in the United States for 40 years. And today, it powers 3 percent of our power generation. That's subsidized.
So, when you pull back those subsidies, it can't compete with what the likes of coal, unfortunately, is producing, or oil, or natural gas.
Natural gas is a bridge fuel for the future. You guys have a lot of it here.
And environmentalists were behind natural gas in 2010 until they realized there's so much of it in the United States that they can't support
it because they're afraid of stymieing renewable energy. So, they were behind natural gas at one point, too, and they changed their mind.
[16:29:59] Fracking doesn't scare them. Natural gas does, because they think natural gas is going to displace coal, it's better for the
environment. And I'll tell you it is, because in the United States alone, we've reduced more greenhouse gas emissions in our country than the whole
rest of the planet combined from renewable energy. That's because of fracking displacing coal.
NEWTON: I think there's a lot people that will challenge you on that. We don't have time for that this evening.
FAULKNER: I welcome it.
NEWTON: Chris, I appreciate. I really appreciate --
FAULKNER: Thank you.
NEWTON: -- you being here. We'll wait to see what the decision is next week.
Now, migrants in Calais, meantime, resort to desperate, dangerous, and often illegal measures to try and get to the UK. There are safety concerns
for the British-bound truck drivers. We're live in the port city Calais with the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Hello, I'm Paula Newton. There's more "Quest Means Business" in a moment when Calais' migrant crisis pits England against France and
shipping companies are caught in the middle. And legendary investor Carl Icahn bails on Netflix. We'll look at what this means for the company.
But before that here, we want to get to those latest news headlines.
Families of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing have rejected the apologies of the man convicted of carrying out the attacks. Before
being sentenced to death, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told the court that he was guilty and that he was very sorry for what he did.
The head of the Eurogroup says the work will go through the night if necessary to get a Greek deal. Talks in Brussels ended early Wednesday
with no breakthrough. A short time ago, I spoke with the finance minister for Greece's opposition New Democracy party. She puts the blame at the
feet of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
ANNA-MICHEL ASIMAKOPOULOU, FINANCE MINISTER, NEW DEMOCRACY PARTY: His pre-election promises have gone out the window. But this is not a better
deal. He put his signature yesterday on a proposal which brings 8 billion euros-worth of measures to Greece and it's 93 percent taxes and increased
social security contributions and only 7 percent anything else.
So he doesn't really have a mandate and his party is just a mess over this.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: President Barack Obama says the U.S. has kept its promise not to spy on French leaders. The White House says Mr. Obama spoke to the
French president earlier today about new claims of espionage from the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.
Now the site reported that Washington spied on Francois Hollande and two of his predecessors. France's foreign minister says the practice is
unacceptable.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
LAURENT FABIUS, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER VIA INTERPRETER: It is out of the question that we accept that the president of the Republic - the three
successive presidents of the Republic - be wiretapped, including their private conversations. And anyone can understand that.
[16:35:09] So that's the watch word and that's how it should be between allies. There should be certain degree of trust. When this kind
of practice develops, it undermines trust and this is something that should be taken very seriously.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: In Pakistan more than 800 people have died in a heatwave and that number is expected to rise. One hospital in Karachi has treated more
than 7,000 people in the past four days alone and relief centers have been setting up, distributing water and salt tablets.
Alabama's governor has ordered four confederate flags to be taken down from a memorial at the state capital. The order comes as lawmakers in
South Carolina open a debate about removing the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds.
Many people now want the controversial flag gone immediately.
The British prime minister has called the scenes of migrant chaos in Calais, France unacceptable. David Cameron was talking about this - people
clamoring into the back of trucks in a desperate attempt to make it to Britain.
It's incredible scenes. We've seen them fly out for days now. The trucks are caught in the backlog of traffic. That's after yesterday's
strike by French ferry workers sparked a shutdown of the Channel tunnel. Now the prime minister today vowed to strengthen border controls at the
French entrance to the tunnel.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We've been looking at whether we can put more personnel and indeed sniffer dog teams on that side of the
Channel to make a difference and there's also more work being done in terms of installing fencing. Not just around the port at Calais but also around
the Eurostar and Eurotunnel entrance.
All these things can make a difference and we should work with the French very closely. There's no point either side (AUDIO GAP) trying to
point the finger of blame at each other. This is a strong partnership that we have in place and we should keep it that way.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: The deputy mayor of Calais meantime spoke to CNN's Hala Gorani. Philippe Mignonet says this is more than a British problem - this
is a British problem, pardon me - than a Calais problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
PHILIPPE MIGNONET, CALAIS DEPUTY MAYOR: Most of the time when we talk to migrants, they all say the same - they want to go to England and our
British friends now becoming more than hypercritical. Because they say these your responsibility while they know that migrants being there wants
to go to England.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: And Hala Gorani joins us now live from Calais, France. You've had quite the day today, Hala. I mean, the pictures are absolutely
incredible and it seems that this is all done in front of authorities there in France.
HALA GORANI, CNN ANCHOR, "THE WORLD RIGHT NOW": Right, absolutely. Just a few months ago, migrants would usually wait until nighttime to try
to board trucks to make it across the Channel. But the numbers here have swollen to such an extent and the desperation along with it that migrants
are simply not waiting until nightfall and doing it broad daylight.
We had an opportunity to follow some of them as they tried to jump on the back of trucks, tried any which way they could to hitch a ride on one
of these vehicles to try to make it across. And they told me why they are willing to risk just about everything to make it to England. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
GORANI: Running after trucks on a busy highway. Migrants storm a raid in Calais, making a desperate dash for open vehicles to hide in. A
police siren sounds, dispersing the small crowd, and with batons, officers force them off the trucks.
Chaos and desperation just a few hundred meters from the entrance to the Channel tunnel. Most of the migrants here are from Sudan, Ethiopia and
Eritrea, and all say they have nothing left to lose.
You're willing to take the risk to jump on one of these trucks.
Male: Yes. Yes.
GORANI: But it's dangerous.
Male: Yes, it's dangerous because of -- there it is - it is war - we will die, and here we are going die even.
GORANI: The attempts to hitch a ride almost seem pointless at times, trying to open the doors of cars loaded onto a truck, these two men
apparently wondering if they could fit under this vehicle.
The desperation we see here is leading people to try just about anything to make it across. They'll jump onboard the trucks, sure, but
some will actually hold on to the undercarriage of the vehicles. They say they'll do anything because Britain holds the promise of a better future,
something they tell me they are just not finding here in France.
[16:40:10] Twenty-five-year-old Sayeed (ph) is from Afghanistan. Why do you think life is better in England?
SAYEED (ph), MIGRANT FROM AFGHANISTAN: Because England give more opportunity because you can work there. In France, you cannot work.
GORANI: Lorry drivers here are largely patient. We saw them calmly inspect their vehicles for clandestine passengers. This man, whose truck
was overrun by migrants -
Male: Get out!
GORANI: -- was in no mood to carry an extra load today. Inside, migrants come out from every corner.
Male: Hey! Hey! Come out!
GORANI: The driver bangs on boxes with a metal crowbar, others emerge. But did more climb onto the truck than came out? Hard to say.
It made all of the chaos moments of humanity. A driver hands a migrant a bottle of water and gets a thumbs-up as a thank you.
Today authorities have started building a fence near this makeshift camp to keep illegal migrants from storming the highway. Eventually it
will be several kilometers long. But until then, these scenes will be routine. The ferry strikes on Tuesday highlighted a crisis that's been
ongoing here for years.
In the distance, men lie flat on the roof of more trucks. Will they make it? Will they get caught? Either way, they're willing to take a
life-changing risk to find out.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
GORANI: (AUDIO GAP) the fence being erected today. Well I'm standing on the foundation of the next phase of this fence that is meant to divide
this camp called the Jungle Camp in Calais from this main highway where we saw so many migrants today chase after vehicles trying to make it - make
their way - across the Channel tunnel. Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, Hala, thanks for the reporting today. Certainly many people there are caught in the middle between France and the U.K. and how
to solve this problem. Our Hala Gorani there live on the ground in France.
Now meantime, the U.K.'s Freight Transport Association has warned the situation is like a war zone for drivers stuck in Calais as you just saw.
Now the FTA's head of policy for the southeast Natalie Chapman said, "The closure of the port, coupled with delays on the Eurotunnel and the
ongoing problem with migrants has created a perfect storm. Lorry drivers and members of the public are sitting ducks and we are concerned for their
safety and welfare." Now, "The French authorities need to do more."
The U.K. Chamber of Shipping has echoed those concerns. It says the situation is damaging business. Tim Reardon is policy director at the U.K.
Chamber of Shipping, and Tim thanks so much for joining us this evening.
You know, a much-discussed topic but this is an old, old story. I mean, this has been going on for many, many years. It's exacerbated now
because there are so many more migrants there. Your - you know - the people in your industry completely caught in the middle.
TIM REARDON, POLICY DIRECTOR, U.K. CHAMBER OF SHIPPING: Absolutely. We're caught in the middle, ferry companies caught in the middle and our
customers are caught in the middle. The truck drivers whose vehicles you saw on the piece just now being broken into, tourist families as well,
concerned, scared as they're caught in stationary traffic on the road. And there are a lot of such vehicles there.
We have about two and a half million trucks coming through the port of Dover from Calais and Dunkirk every year, same number of family cars, about
13 million tourist passengers coming through the port of Dover from Calais and Dunkirk every year.
So this is a big traffic stream. It's important to the U.K. economy, 89 billion pounds worth of trade comes through Dover in those trucks. It
matters that it isn't disrupted and at the moment it is being disrupted.
NEWTON: Yes, it is a major trading route in Europe obviously. But I want to ask you - we heard Prime Minister Cameron come out and say, yes,
something will be done. This has been going on for years. What do you advise the government to do? What do want the governments of France and
the U.K. to do to try and solve this problem?
REARDON: Well clearly there is a responsibility on French authorities to maintain law and order in France and the scenes we see just now make
clear that some law order is not being maintained effectively around the port of Calais. It needs to be.
But longer term, there is an issue here about British policy, its relations with France in the context of the immigration debate. This
problem will persist so long as there are large numbers of individuals camped out in proximity to the port of Calais with the sole purpose of
breaking into vehicles and stealing into the U.K.
They think that when they get here, they've made it. The government needs to do more to have an effective way for deterring these individuals
from taking their chance breaking into vehicles and stealing into the U.K.
And equally, some form of deterrent needs to be undertaken when these individuals are dragged out of trucks in France. At the moment, as you saw
in the film, they're dragged out and simply sent on their way to try again.
[16:45:08] NEWTON: About 500 found today alone. And so you're saying that finally there needs to be some kind of consequences for when that's
done.
REARDON: Absolutely. There needs some kind of penalty for doing it. At the moment there is none. There are penalties on the trucks if they end
up with somebody inside, but there's no penalty on the individuals themselves.
NEWTON: Yes, a problem that will continue to persist. I thank you for coming here just to explain the issue that obviously your members are
caught in. Appreciate it.
REARDON: Thank you.
NEWTON: Now no business or first-class and no assigned seats, yet Southwest Airlines in the U.S. says it's perfecting the travel experience.
We'll have that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: This month on CNN "Business Traveller," Richard Quest is flying in the U.S. road-testing the four major American carriers - American
Airlines, Delta, Southwest and United finding out what they are doing to improve the flying experience.
I can think of no one better than Richard to do this. And this is his route - crisscrossing some of the major cities and hubs. Today we are
going to Love Field in Dallas where the main airline is Southwest. It's currently locked in dispute with Delta to keep its dominance at that
airport.
Let's get going with Richard.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR AND REPORTER HOST OF "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" SHOW: And so to Dallas Love Field, the home, hub and
headquarters of Southwest Airlines, the granddaddy of all low-cost carriers.
Southwest is where it all began in the 1970s as a regional Texas airline. It was the pioneer of the no-frills affordable airfare - the low-
cost carrier. And Southwest continues as one of the most profitable airlines in America by doing things a little differently.
(SOUTHWEST SAFETY VIDEO RAP)
We're going to show you a little of what goes on
Over here in the States but we'll keep our clothes on.
QUEST: The Southwest economy is the only class offered and there are no assigned seats. Never have been, and they say probably never will be.
The challenge for Southwest was how to improve the customer experience when the airline doesn't have a business or first-class and wants to keep
the costs as low as possible.
TERESA LARABA, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CUSTOMERS, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: Anybody can fly you from point A to point B. It's how we get you there
that makes the difference. So we've grown a lot -
QUEST: Teresa Laraba's job is to make sure everyone's happy.
LARABA: What's different for Southwest today, is that we have two bags fly free. No other carrier has bags fly free. We have no change
fees. No one else has that. We do have free TV on the aircraft, and we have Beats music. One of the things that you'll see here that we're doing
in left field is where the customer can tag their own bag.
[16:50:11] QUEST: Well we've got to see this tagging of bags because every time I'd ever tried to tag a bag, it's always ended in tears, misery
and mayhem.
(LAUGHTER)
Female: Everything's been good so far.
QUEST: Excellent.
Male: (Inaudible).
QUEST: Please tell me he didn't.
LARABA: I don't know these people. I just appreciate them already.
QUEST: The very idea of Southwest was that you wouldn't have (AUDIO GAP) - everybody was equal. Now you've got A list and A list preferred.
Where's your equality gone?
LARABA: Our equality is still there. As much as you fly, based on how much you fly, we reward you for your flight status.
QUEST: You're starting to look like another airline.
LARABA: We're not starting to look like another airline.
QUEST: You are.
LARABA: We're never going to look like another airline. What I don't have behind me are our people and if our people were behind us, you would
know we're not going to be any other airline.
QUEST: Not a bad pitch for a budget airline.
Female: Hello.
QUEST: Hello. Now to test it in flight. Southwest may win the popularity stakes, but when it comes to offering more onboard, it has a
certain disadvantage. Snacks are usually restricted to pretzels and peanuts. And if you want more leg room, because it's a single-class
carrier, there's no main cabin extra, economy comfort or economy plus. This is what you get - however much leg.
The Southwest experience has been copied many times but rarely emulated. By seeing what Southwest is doing today, we're getting a very
good idea of what the low-cost carriers elsewhere will do in the future.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: Now a piece of news just coming in to CNN. The U.S. Senate has approved a bill to streamline congressional approval of international
trade deals. Now the measure would require Congress to vote straight up or down on trade bills and wouldn't allow amendments to be attached. The bill
now heads to President Obama who is expected to sign it into law - a crucial piece of legislation he wanted passed there.
Now right now a stock in Netflix will set you back nearly $700. The company has a plan to change that, and one billionaire investor isn't happy
about it. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: Shares in Netflix had a rollercoaster session today. The stock soared in early trade on yesterday's news that the streaming media
firm was splitting its stock. And just as quickly as it gave back those closing - those gains closing the day at nearly 0.4 percent lower, Netflix
announced it was splitting the stock seven times to make it more affordable.
Now billionaire investor Carl Icahn was completely unimpressed with the news and dumped the stock. He tweeted this earlier today, "Sold the
last of our Netflix shares today. I believe Apple stock currently represents the same opportunity we stated Netflix offered several years
ago."
Now despite that, take a look at this. The stock has had an incredible run this year - doubling in value. We want to bring in Samuel
Burke now for more. He joins us now live from New York.
Samuel, a lot to consider here for Netflix. Why this move and what are they getting ready for in terms of competition in the future?
[16:55:03] SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Paula, it looks like Carl Icahn doesn't like a little bit of competition. Reed
Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, has said it's starting to look a little bit like the baseball World Series that we have here in the United States, and
you need a lot of players for that.
If you just look right now at the landscape, you have Hulu for instance. But it's really only here in the U.S. - it doesn't have much of
an international footprint, so it's not going to be major competition for Netflix. Then you have Amazon. They're always getting in everybody's
backyard and they're available overseas and they have had - they've had some real success with their show "Transparent" about a man becoming a
woman - very topical with everything that's happening with Caitlyn Jenner.
And then they have HBO, owned by our parent company Time Warner. The chief content officer of Netflix has always said, "The goal for Netflix is
to become HBO faster than HBO can become us."
But the truth is, Paula, HBO has a lot of deals overseas with cable providers. They're in the U.K. where you are. Their shows air on Sky
Atlantic for example , so it's going to be hard for HBO to duplicate a lot of that streaming product overseas because of those cable agreements they
already have. So we'll see if Carl Icahn regrets not going after the competition a little bit.
NEWTON: Well we are excited to find out and those who follow in his footsteps. Samuel Burke from New York. Thanks so much.
We'll have more "Quest Means Business" for you in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NEWTON: And back to our top story. The head of the Eurogroup says there's no agreement on Greece but talks will resume Thursday afternoon.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem just spoke in Brussels.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
JEROEN DIJSSELBLOEM, EUROGROUP PRESIDENT: -- very brief. We have just informed the ministers on the process and the progress being made so
far. Unfortunately, we've not reached an agreement yet but we are determined to continue work. This work will go on through the nights if
necessary and we will reconvene. So we've now adjourned the meeting and we will reconvene at 1:00 tomorrow in order to take stock of the situation.
Male Reporter: (Inaudible) this weekend?
DIJSSELBLOEM: That's all I have to say, thanks very much.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NEWTON: So many people wish he would have said more. Now negotiations in Brussels ended early Wednesday with no breakthrough.
Greece has until June 30th to avoid defaulting on its debt which would leave the country in uncharted territory.
That's it for "Quest Means Business." I'm Paula Newton. Stay with CNN.
END
