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Quest Means Business
U.S. Clears Way for Shell to Drill in Arctic; Airbus to Build Ultra- Long Range A350; "Humans of New York" Fights Slavery; Poll Shows Trump Clear Leader among Republicans. Police Hunt for Bangkok Bomb Suspect; Terrorists Take Aim at Tourism, Economy; US Stocks Fall; Worst Day in Three Weeks for Chinese Stocks; Brent Crude Falls Slightly; Iran Gears Up for Lifting Oil Sanctions; NBC Invests $200 Million in Buzzfeed; "New York Times" Public Editor Criticizes Amazon Story. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 18, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:59:55] (NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSING BELL)
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: Closing bell is ringing, the Dow is off just about 30 points on what's a relatively quiet day, bit of choppy turbulence of
trading. Care Capital ringing the bell.
(GAVEL POUNDS)
QUEST: Oh, that's what you call a good, robust gavel on Tuesday, it's the 18th of August.
Tonight, new information on the Bangkok bombing. Police say they are very sure this is their man.
The fear is back in China as the stock market slide starts again.
And Humans of New York has hit Pakistan. The online sensation shines a light on modern-day slavery with the Freedom Project.
I'm Richard Quest. I mean business.
Good evening. There is mourning and there is trepidation in Bangkok as the police are searching for clues following the bomb which ripped through a
busy intersection during rush hour on Monday. The hunt is on for the man seen here on surveillance video. He appears to leave a backpack at the
Erawan Shrine.
Thai police say they are "very sure" this is the bomber. They are combing through more than ten days of close-circuit footage taken around the
shrine, which is a popular tourist attraction.
The atrocity on Monday left people in Bangkok on edge, and as you can see there, tensions rose further after a second explosion was reported on a
pier on the Chao Phraya River, as you -- those dramatic pictures that you're looking at at the moment.
At least 23 people were killed in Monday's blast, and officials in the UK say one of the victims was a British woman. Doctors in Bangkok say the
dead also include five Thais, four people from China, two from Malaysia, and one from Singapore.
Andrew Stevens is in Bangkok, joins us now. Andrew, the startling development. I mean, look, I've seen that video of that man allegedly
planting the bomb. It is chilling in its gravity and -- and its awfulness.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: And its purpose. It's absolutely deliberate. It is a calculated act. He -- taking off the backpack.
And police here, Richard, have said that they are, as you say, very sure that this man is the bomber. Their language has steadily got stronger and
stronger. It started off, "We're seeking a man in connection," then he was a suspect. Now they are saying he is the bomber.
And the police are also linking definitely the two explosions, the attack on the shrine, and then the attack at the pier on the waterfront, on the
riverfront here in Bangkok, which is also a tourist area. Although at the time, there weren't many tourists there.
Police say it was the same MO, basically. It was a pipe bomb, and the explosive used was the same. No casualties on that second explosion.
QUEST: Right.
STEVENS: It actually landed in the water next to the pier and exploded there. But if you look at the video, it was obviously a big explosion,
they're saying that as well. This was a -- the second explosion was a big one.
QUEST: These bombs were large, but have the police said whether they were sophisticated explosions?
STEVENS: They haven't said whether they are sophisticated. They're pipe bombs, Richard, and pipe bombs have been used sort of commonly throughout
the world.
What is interesting is what the actual explosive substance was. Now, there have been reports that it was TNT or C4. Now, if it was C4, that is a more
advanced substance, which could give a better lead for investigators to go on. But at this stage, no.
But where it was placed in that shrine -- and they say, the police say at 6:52, just a few minutes before the blast, it was placed in the shrine to
cause that maximum damage. So, they knew it was a high explosive --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Right, and --
STEVENS: -- they knew it would cause a lot of damage.
QUEST: And Andrew, I just want to draw the strands together as we -- because we're going to be talking about the tourist aspect of this. The
pier where this was located would also tell me -- help me understand -- would this also have been an area that tourists might have frequented? In
other words, ramping up the fear factor?
STEVENS: Yes. It all ties in with the narrative that the government has been saying. It began from the deputy prime minister, now the prime
minister, saying that this was clearly an attack on tourists, on tourism, and by extension, on the Thai economy.
[16:04:56] You've got to remember, Richard, that tourism is one of the few bright spots in the Thai economy at the moment. It accounts for about 7
percent of GDP, which is quite outsized, to compare with many other countries, particularly here in Asia. So, it was just recovering after the
military coup of last year --
QUEST: Right.
STEVENS: -- in May last year, which followed years of street protests. So, tourism was picking up, and then, this explosion happens, and that is
what the government is working -- that's their working assumption, that they're after tourism to hurt the economy.
And interestingly, they said at the press conference just a few hours ago that they have stepped up security on the streets, but there's a lot more
plainclothes police and military on the streets, because they don't want images flashing around the world of massive amounts of uniforms on the
streets. So, they're trying this very delicate balancing act: providing security, but not scaring people off.
QUEST: Thank you very much. Andrew Stevens, who is in Bangkok for us this evening.
Now, we've talked about tourism. Well, in the past few months, the number of attacks where tourists have been the target are most definitely on the
rise. If you join me at the super screen, you'll see what I mean.
In March, terrorists mounted a siege at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. That was the first in this area. At the Bardo, 19 people were killed in that,
most of them were foreigners, after the gunmen took hostages.
Then in June, ISIS, you'll remember, also in Tunis, targeted the seaside resort of Sousse. Gunmen stormed the beach, horrific pictures, the pool,
the parking lot, 38 people were killed in that incident. And interestingly, the prime minister of Tunisia did actually say these were
the sort of attacks that could bring down the country and the government.
Now go to Egypt, where an attack was thwarted in Luxor. Suicide bombers were targeting the Temple of Karnak, and thousands of tourists visit that
temple every day.
So, from Tunisia, if you like, in the Near East, the Middle East, now go to the Far East and Bangkok and the bombing and attack on the Thai economy.
Tourism generates more than 8 percent -- maybe up to 10 percent, some people say -- of Thailand's GDP. Not surprisingly, putting it into
context, Thailand's prime minister is vowing to keep his country's visitors safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA, PRIME MINISTER OF THAILAND (through translator): In our country, there are individuals or groups of individuals who are seeking to
destroy the country. The ongoing attempts at destruction might be politically motivated, targeting the economy, tourism, for whatever reason.
The government will work to find those perpetrators and bring justice upon any networks involved as soon as possible. The government guarantees
through best efforts the safety of lives and assets and well-being of foreigners living in Thailand, including those at embassies, counselors,
and other international organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tourism is widely regarded as one of the world's biggest industries. Conservatively, it's estimated up to 10 percent of the
population is involved in some form of tourism in one way or another. And the idea of tourists as targets, although it's nothing new, it certainly
has become more serious in the recent weeks.
Taleb Rifai is the secretary general of the UNWTO, the United Nations World Tourism Organization. He joined me via Skype, and he told me preventing a
repeat of what happened in Thailand is a global challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TALEB RIFAI, SECRETARY GENERAL, UNWTO: This is not a Thai challenge, this is not a Thai problem only, this is a global challenge, as you all well
know. This is something that we all have to face together in a collective manner. This is an attack on our way of life and our belief, on our 21st
century standards and principles.
And it's happened over and again, and now, it's the turn of Thailand, unfortunately. And they're targeting places that are so successful and
doing so well. They know that this is where the tourism -- that's why they try to attack there.
And the only way to counter that is not to let them win. The only way to do it is to be aware that this is exactly what they have in mind. They
have in mind to hurt us, hurt our economy, hurt the tourism industry.
And by doing that, they are destroying the livelihood of people, they're destroying some of the most cherished and some of the most worked-for
achievements of these societies. We should never allow that to happen. We should continue to travel to Thailand and other places because we need to
prove that they cannot defeat us.
QUEST: What needs to happen? Because you can't -- or one can't blithely say we mustn't let it affect us. There has to be measures taken. What are
those measures?
RIFAI: Definitely, Richard, definitely. But it's important to establish the principle here. If you ask me to go to Thailand, I'm ready to take my
family and go to Thailand tomorrow. I mean what I say.
[16:09:56] Now, what needs to be done is very important as well. First of all, we need not to panic. We need to make sure that this is not a
situation that would result in panicking and chaotic outcome.
Thailand is a well-established tourism destination. It's been there for hundreds of years. It's been a tourism industry for a long, long period of
time, has established tradition, and it will come back. So, it's not something long-term. We need not to panic, and we need to put this in the
correct perspective.
Secondly, yes, we need to be conscious about security issues. We need to be aware that soft targets are targeted, and that's something that we learn
by experience. There is nothing wrong about admitting that.
Thirdly, we need to make sure that the population is around us, that the community and the society is on our side, and that they know what is at
stake here. I -- that's all that I can say at this point in time, because what I am more concerned with now is how to deal with the ramification of
this thing and how to make sure that the outcome -- the results of this are short-term and not long-term at all.
QUEST: We learned with Tunisia, when the government suddenly announced it was going to have to ramp up security, same in Luxor, same in all these
cases. Are you now saying that every tourism minister needs to, with the security forces in a country, review their plans, review their security
structures? Would you call for that?
RIFAI: I would call for a serious review of where and how soft targets can be a target, not just in places like Tunisia or Egypt or Thailand. I think
that needs to be done everywhere. This is a global thing, as I said. It's not limited to these countries or these destinations at all.
But I would not -- definitely not advise going into panicky and excessive measures that would result in a negative impact that would actually yield
the opposite results.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Taleb Rifai of the UNWTO talking to me on the line earlier.
In a moment, China, and the bears are back. After watching share prices slide again, investors would like to see more help from the government,
although, frankly, arguably, our next guest could question whether that help is part of the problem. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
(RINGS BELL)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: You don't want to get too excited by what happened on the market today. The Dow was down 33 points, but if you look at the way the trading
day moved, it was off at the beginning, then it had two little -- three little peaks of green when it went higher, but the rest of the day was all
down. Off the lows of the day.
Walmart was 3 percent lower after the company missed analysts' expectations, and the company lowered its outlook for the year. But we are
in the midst of August and, as you can see, you're going to get that sort of volatility in smaller trading days.
The volatility is most certainly back in the Chinese market. You have the Shanghai Composite down 6.1 percent, you have the Shenzhen down 6.5
percent. Now, they're the worst losses for these markets in three weeks. Investors are clearly worried that the measures Beijing took last week to
steady the market may be a thing of the past.
[16:14:57] And, of course, there's the currency issues that have come in as a result of the loosening of the peg to the dollar. All concerns that
the Chinese economy is most definitely slowing more rapidly than we thought. Don't get too excited, though, at these losses. Shanghai is
still up some 17 percent for the year so far.
We need to put it in perspective, bearing in mind what we've seen. Bill's here, Bill Rhodes, good to see you, sir.
BILL RHODES, PRESIDENT AND CEO, WILLIAM R. RHODES GLOBAL ADVISORS: Great to see you, Richard, as always.
QUEST: Now, president, CEO of William R. Rhodes Global Advisors, senior advisor at Citi, and the author of "Banker to the World." We thought China
had settled for a moment. We were wrong.
RHODES: Well, I think there are two countries when they move shake the world. One is the United States, and the other is China. We tend to
forget China too often. We spend all our time worrying about when the Federal Reserve is going to start raising interest rates, and we ignore
China.
And China is going through this tremendous transformation from export-led to domestic consumption. And there are a lot of roadblocks on the way.
And we've seen some of them in the stock market, as you mentioned, property markets, and also in the reform process, and now with the currency.
QUEST: But a few weeks ago, three, four weeks ago, we had the Chinese, they were -- the government was basically buying into the market. We had
companies suspending their trading. And the feeling was that they would do -- they were going to avoid the worst. Do you still believe that?
RHODES: Well, I think when you take a look at the total Chinese economy, the stock market is not a big part of it. I think what's important about
the stock market is there's an impression that the leadership may have mismanaged this. And I would --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Do you believe that?
RHODES: Well, I think there's going to be a problem, and I wouldn't be surprised if some heads may roll, particularly at the level of the CSRC,
which the securities and exchange commission there.
But I think more importantly is what's going on with the economy. And a recent group of economists recently put out a report saying that they think
the first half of the year was not in the 7 percent area, which is what Li Keqiang, the premier, has stated would be the goal of China, but more in
the area of 6.3 percent.
And you still have a hangover from the property market. You still have problems, I think, with the -- situation with the banking, the banking side
of it, the financial side.
QUEST: So --
RHODES: So, you've got a lot of problems built up there.
QUEST: Is it your view that the market doesn't justify these valuations, and that the -- basically, I suppose, the Chinese government is trying to
defend the indefensible?
RHODES: I think there are two problems, Richard. One, I think that the investor is worried about the slowdown in China overall. That's number
one. Number two, they're concerned about how the intervention was handled when the stock market decided to drop. In other words, suspending stocks,
et cetera.
A lot of people thought that what they do is what Hong Kong did in 19 -- when they had their problem in 1998, which was to just go in and buy stocks
simply, but not manipulate who could trade and who couldn't trade.
QUEST: I want to just ask you, though, we saw the currency maneuver last two weeks -- a couple of weeks ago, when the 1.9 and then 1.6 percent
widening of the balance.
RHODES: That last week.
QUEST: Yes, last week. You know, it's amazing how these weeks go fast, isn't it? Donald Trump says that the Chinese manipulate the currency. But
the IMF and the world -- the financial world had been calling exactly for the Chinese to better -- currency to better reflect the market, which is
what they've done. Heads you win, tails I lose.
RHODES: I think what's going on is Zhou Xiaochuan, who's governor, and a very good governor, of the central bank of China, the People's Bank of
China, has said a long time ago that he wants to move towards convertibility.
One of those steps is to be part of the special drawing rights arrangement of the International Monetary Fund. Now, you could say that they killed --
tried to kill two birds with one stone by dropping the rate as of the end of last week, 3.6 percent to help exports, to help the economy, and at the
same time, to start showing flexibility to be included in part of the SDR regiment of the International Monetary Fund.
QUEST: Right. Good to see you, sir.
RHODES: Great to see you, as always, Richard.
QUEST: Thank you.
Now, the price of Brent Crude fell slightly on Tuesday. It was weighed down by concerns that we could see a further slowdown in demand from China.
Investors are also worried about Iran's likely reemergence as a force in oil markets. CNN's John Defterios from Abu Dhabi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: In the aftermath of reaching a nuclear deal, Iran is already making a big difference to the energy
market even before emerging from under the cloud of sanctions. If an agreement is finalized, Iran's energy minister has clearly stated he will
release a half a million barrels onto the market immediately, and a million a day within a month.
[16:20:01] And Iran has scale: 157 billion barrels. And the oil is pretty easy to get to. It ranks number four in proven oil reserves, and
number two in proven gas reserves.
MARK LEWIS, CHIEF ENERGY ECONOMIST, KEPLER CHEUVREUX: It's low-cost oil, and I think in a world where, for the last ten years, we've seen prices
rising as the costs of upstream investment have increased dramatically, Iran is the last great untapped source of cheap oil and gas production.
DEFTERIOS: And it seems Iran has been storing more crude at sea than expected. Maritime group Windward has tracked those supplies and said
they've gone up 150 percent in the last 16 months, suggesting there's 50 million barrels at sea.
But revving up new production may prove more difficult. Iran has been starved for capital and oil technology and says it needs $200 billion of
investment to match what it has done in the past.
Back in its heyday, four decades ago, Iran was producing 6 million barrels a day. Prior to sanctions, its output was at about 4.3 million. And
today, it's limited to 2.8 million barrels of production.
But even the mere talk of Iran's reemergence is hitting an already saturated market. According to the International Energy Agency, supplies
are at a 17-year high. At the same time, demand from China and Japan is dropping, a very nasty combination keeping prices hovering just above a
six-year low even before Iran's official comeback.
John Defterios, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: There are 200 million reasons why the people at Buzzfeed are happy today. They've received a huge investment, and Brian Stelter will be here
to tell us about another partnership of old and new media.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Now to the journalist, the listicle is either the next development in a long history of reporting or, bluntly, how the functionally illiterate
get their news. Either way, Buzzfeed is taking the listicle all the way to the bank.
It's a win, a major one, for the website: $200 million in new funding from old-school NBC. Now, this is an OMG moment for Buzzfeed. It had only
raised $96 million in total so far. Now it's getting $200 million.
Buzzfeed's valuation is trending every higher. Reports say the NBC deal values Buzzfeed at $1.5 billion. On the listicle titled "Publications now
worth less than Buzzfeed," you'll find "The Financial Times" and "The Washington Post." We need an old-schooler to talk about a new media. Join
me, sir.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Old-schooler?
QUEST: Well, traditionaler.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Brian Stelter is our senior media correspondent, he joins me now. What about this deal? I mean, bring this together. Buzzfeed with NBC. Is
this an admission by NBC that they can't get the digital footprint they want themselves?
STELTER: It is partly an acknowledgment that they need help. They need help from Buzzfeed, and last week, Vox Media. They also put $200 million
into Vox, which owns sites like Vox Media, Vox.com, owns sites like the Verge and Eater and Racked. So, essentially, Comcast and NBC Universal are
going after these giant digital media companies, putting money into them, and partnering with them --
(CROSSTALK)
[16:25:01] QUEST: But why?
STELTER: -- and Buzzfeed --
QUEST: Why? I mean, look. NBC's a vast company in its own right. It's got NBC --
STELTER: But it's a television company, right?
QUEST: Ah!
STELTER: It's a movie studio company. It has some websites, but it does not have the 200 million people a month that Buzzfeed has. It's going to
be able to cross-pollinate. I think what we're seeing are old and new media companies making nice, admitting they can learn from each other.
Buzzfeed's also getting a whole lot out of this. They're going to get access to the Olympics. Think about it. NBC has an exclusive deal with
the Olympics for the next 15, 20 years. Well, Buzzfeed will now have access to some of that programming. You can imagine some listicles on
Buzzfeed all about the Olympics, for example.
So, there will be benefits for both sides. But I do think it's an admission from new media, like Buzzfeed, that they could use old media's
help.
QUEST: No! They don't need the help.
STELTER: No?
QUEST: They need their money.
STELTER: Well, they need both. They need the money for sure --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: So, what do they do --
STELTER: -- and NBC has the money.
QUEST: What does Buzzfeed get?
STELTER: Well, they also will get access, besides Olympics, to other sorts of television opportunities. You can imagine shows from Buzzfeed or Vox
appearing on cable channels like E! or Bravo or across the world, all around the world, thanks to NBC Universal. But there's no doubt, Buzzfeed,
Vox, they need and want the money from NBC.
QUEST: All right. So, I'm looking at Buzzfeed today, just to -- to get a grip on -- I mean, I do look at Buzzfeed quite frequently. But it doesn't
have the depth. It doesn't have the range. It doesn't have the, if you like, institutionalized nature of many of us.
STELTER: But I do think it's gradually getting there. Yes, it is still largely known for entertainment content, largely known for funny, amusing,
and emotional content. But it is increasingly hiring journalists as well. It's got a mix of both. But it's still much more People Magazine than "The
Financial Times."
QUEST: Buzzfeed. We need to talk very briefly and very quickly about Margaret Sullivan, the public editor at "The New York Times," who has just
basically kicked "The New York Times" in the groin --
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: -- by saying that their expose on Amazon doesn't come up to snuff.
STELTER: Yes, she doesn't think it adds up entirely. She's sort of their in-house watchdog. She feels like the article was way too much about
anecdotes, not nearly enough with data to back up the anecdotes about Amazon being a bruising workplace.
To which I think some people at "The Times" would say, wait a second, how are we going to get the data? How are we going to prove this with metrics
when we're trying to show --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: But she has given Amazon --
STELTER: -- where lots of incidents that are powerful.
QUEST: She has given Bezos an immediate -- immediate -- "I told you so."
STELTER: She has.
QUEST: Your own public editor doesn't agree with you.
STELTER: Yes, that is true, and I do think Amazon will be pointing to that as they continue to try to defend themselves. But "The New York Times" did
accomplish something very big here. They have got us all talking about Amazon and about the workplaces in Silicon Valley. It's a story that's not
going away.
QUEST: All right. A young chap like yourself won't be familiar with how to tune in a good old-fashioned --
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: -- if in doubt, you just --
(HITS THE TV)
STELTER: The thing still works! It's amazing!
(QUEST HITS THE TV)
QUEST: You just give it a good old hit, and it always works.
(LAUGHTER)
QUEST: Thank you very much --
STELTER: Good to see you.
QUEST: -- thank you very much. Still to come, it's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, and Shell gets the go-ahead to drill on the oil industry's last frontier.
Shell's heading to the arctic. We're heading to a break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
[16:28:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:00]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.
When Airbus gets to work on relaunching the world's longest flight and the man behind "Humans of New York" tells me how he raised nearly $2 million
for Pakistan's bonded laborers.
Before that, this is CNN and, on this network, the news always comes first.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST (voice-over): Police in Thailand say they are very sure that this is the man responsible for Monday's deadly bombing in Bangkok. Security
footage shows the man dropping a backpack at the Erawan Shrine. Later on, at least, 22 people were killed in the explosion that followed. The Thai
prime minister says all leads are being considered.
PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA, THAI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We have checked the closed circuit camera footage and there appears to be a
suspect. But it wasn't clear. We have to investigate more. After the explosion, there were many rumors online, saying there might be a network
behind.
We will find this network but I haven't ruled out any possibility yet.
QUEST (voice-over): Teams in Indonesia say they've found both of the flight recorders on the Trigana airliner that crashed on Sunday and are
preparing to remove the bodies from the crash site, which is in a remote mountain range. None of the 54 people on board the aircraft survived.
A somber day in Tianjin in China: people stopped to remember those killed in last week's chemical blasts.
Firefighters pay tribute to their fallen colleagues, many of them were among the 114 people confirmed dead; 52 firefighters are still missing.
Nelson Mandela's 24-year-old grandson has been charged with raping a minor. South African police say Mbuso Mandela sexually assaulted a 15-year-old
girl at a restaurant more than a week ago. A bail hearing has been set for Friday.
The South African archbishop Desmond Tutu has been taken to hospital with an inflammation. The archbishop, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984,
has made several visits to hospital in the past few months. His daughter said that the latest problem was not related to an infection for which he
was treated recently.
CANON MPHO TUTU, DAUGHTER OF DESMOND TUTU: We are, of course, concerned. If we weren't concerned he wouldn't be in hospital. But that's concerned,
not panicked and not anxious about his well-being.
My mom would much prefer to have him at home so that she can feed him with his favorite foods and cuddle up, but she's sort of making the trek back
and forth to the hospital and spending time with him there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: The U.S. government is proposing tighter anti-pollution rules for the oil industry. It says operators should cut methane emissions by nearly
a half over the next decade, even though the industry says it's no time to add to its extra costs.
Washington's trying to steer a course between saving the planet and the economy. And you see that very much today. This month President Obama set
a target for cutting carbon emissions from power stations. Now we talked a great deal about the reduction of carbon emissions.
If that suggests he's anti-fossil fuel, far from it. Just yesterday, the U.S. gave Shell the green light to drill in the Arctic -- time for.
It's an area with big untapped oil reserves. Environmentalists say the Arctic shouldn't be disturbed -- two different, reducing carbon emissions
and pressure from oil companies.
Now the presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, tweeted that the Arctic drilling is just not worth the risk. In her views, "The Arctic is a unique
treasure. Given what we know, it's not worth the risk of drilling." And the "--Hillary" -- or "--H" -- means that's a tweet from herself.
CNN opinion columnist John Sutter joins us --
[16:35:00]
QUEST: -- now from the CNN Center.
He's trying to have it both ways.
JOHN SUTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He really is trying to have it both ways. And I think that this is really perplexing for a lot of environmentalists
who have been very excited about the clean power plant that you mentioned or the methane regulations. All these actions to curb carbon emissions and
to work at combating global warming, what she's saying is one of the biggest challenges that we face as humans today.
And then meanwhile, he comes out in favor of permitting drilling in the Arctic, which is one of the largest, as you said, remaining reserves and
which scientists, there have been reports that show that tapping that resource is essentially incompatible with limiting climate change to a safe
level.
The world looks at two degrees of warming as 2 degrees Celsius of warming - -
(CROSSTALK)
SUTTER: -- dangerous threshold.
QUEST: Excuse me. I think I've got a bit of pollution on meself here.
John, on the one hand, you do have that major announcements from the White House on carbon emissions last week, the administration leading the way.
Then you have methane -- now you have Shell with the Arctic.
Is it even -- we've got Paris coming up for the negotiations.
Is it even possible to square that circle?
SUTTER: I don't know that it is possible to reconcile those things. Like the environmentalist that I talked to today said they're very bewildered by
this stance. Like I mentioned, those climate talks you mentioned in Paris at the end of the year are essentially focused on limiting warming at 2
degrees Celsius. And there was a report in "Nature" earlier this year that said that tapping Arctic resources could set off such a frenzy that it
would be impossible essentially to limit warming at that level while tapping that resource.
So you see this big movement to keep it in the ground for advocates saying that fossil fuels, the reserves that we haven't discovered need to stay in
the ground and we need to limit use of the resources that we already are tapping essentially.
QUEST: OK. But then you have, of course, the Hillary Clinton, who's obviously disagreed with the president on this one. But she's holding her
fire on the question of the pipeline, saying she's waiting to see what the final decision is.
Why won't Hillary come out one way or the other on the Alaska pipeline?
SUTTER: I think this is the politically safe thing for her to do. I think that it's a political rationale. I mean, I think this is a hopeful signal
for Greens that Hillary Clinton will come out with pro-environment policies if she is elected into the White House. That would be the favorable way
that they would read it.
But she's gotten a lot of criticism from the Left and from people who are concerned about environmental issues for not taking a stance on this.
QUEST: John, thank you, John Sutter joining us from the CNN Center.
It's a new plane for the world's longest commercial flight. Now it's the A350 -- you may arguably say nothing new about that; it's already flying.
But what Airbus is working on is a variant of the A350. This is the plane that Singapore Airlines is hoping to have redesigned to restart its nonstop
service to the United States from Singapore.
Now Singapore Airlines held the record for the longest commercial flight until 2013. It was a 19-hour all-business class flight between Newark and
Singapore. It took it several times. It just went on and on and on.
But today's longest flight in the world, well, the 350 would give Airbus a second foothold in the ultra-long distance market, which is pretty much run
now by -- dominated by two models, one from Airbus, one from Boeing.
Now if you take the A380 flight, here you have the one from Emirates -- the A380 flights from Emirates take just over 16 and change to get from Dubai
all the way across to the United States to Los Angeles.
It takes the same amount of time for Delta -- Boeing 777 -- which is the other competitor -- to fly between Atlanta and Johannesburg.
Now that's the fourth longest flight in the world.
The third longest flight in the world is Saudia's, which goes from -- it's a 777, again, 777-300ER -- extended range -- goes from Jeddah all the way
to Los Angeles. Obviously it takes the Great Circle route.
And that's the same time as the second longest. This is the longest flight in the world at the moment, 16 hours, 55 minutes for an A380-800 off
Qantas. It flies -- thank you. It flies from Sydney all the way up to Dallas, passengers please make your way boarding to the upper deck or the
lower deck.
Now Emirates is now hoping to start next year a flight -- remember, this is the one -- this is currently the longest at 16 hours, 55. Emirates is
hoping to start --
[16:40:00]
QUEST: -- 17 hours, 35, a 777-200LR -- thank you -- from Dubai to Panama City. Now that doesn't look that far it you look at it. The daily flight
will begin in February. It's going to be using the -- but if you look at the map, you'll see why it's going to take -- oops -- you'll see why,
because that particular run from the Gulf, from the Gulf over here, you see it's going across to Panama. And it's actually traveling at the wide --
almost the widest part of the circumference of the Earth. This would be obviously much more than that bit.
They're using, for this flight, that they're going to be using the 777- 200LR. Now that is the same model that set the record for the longest flight by a commercial aircraft. It was 13,422 miles. It was on November
the 9th to the 10th, 2005. And it is in "The Guinness Book of Records."
How do I know that was the longest flight in the world? I was on board.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST (voice-over): On board, we're a motley crew of Boeing staff, test engineers and journalists. The plane itself, a series of cabins carrying
test equipment and showcasing how the plane could actually be used.
Breaking the record involved following complicated rules. We had to go a certain way, turn at certain points. Favorable winds helped the eight
captains flying the plane to use less fuel than they had planned.
QUEST: Do airlines want these very long, ultra-long route planes?
LARS ANDERSON, MGR. LONG-RANGE 777 PROGRAM: I think they do. I think they want to appeal to their passengers. And if that -- if that can bring them
additional market share, and in some cases maybe additional ticket price because of the convenience of the service, that is a marketing advantage
for them.
QUEST (voice-over): London Heathrow and we had comfortably broken the record, flying 13,422 statute miles. For passengers the world over,
there's an important fact: we have just ensured that pretty much any two places on Earth could be joined together.
And, yes, I can finally answer that question, we're here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: There we go. The longest flight in the world.
The deal for IAG to buy Aer Lingus has been cleared for takeoff. Ryanair accepted the offer for its stake in the Irish airline. Aer Lingus joins
British Airways, Iberia and Vueling as part of the IAG family. Shares of IAG finished 1.3 percent higher; falling commodity prices and worries about
China pulled European stock markets lower.
And news to CNN at the moment: Fitch has upgraded Greek debt just one notch. It goes to triple-C from double-C.
Still to come, it's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. It's ending the cycle of slavery. I will be talking to the photographer Brandon Stanton about his
part in the campaign to end forced labor in Pakistan. He'll be joining me.
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[16:45:00]
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QUEST: CNN's Freedom Project remains committed to raising awareness about modern-day slavery. It's a rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar
enterprise and we've made it clear it cannot and must not be ignored.
Brandon Stanton is one of New York's most famous photographers and is leading the fight against debt slavery. He's helped raise nearly $2
million to help end what's known as bonded labor in Pakistan.
These are his powerful photographs and they show the victims of a practice with debts over their heads. They are forced to work hard to labor with no
payment.
Stanton founded the huge popular blog, humansofnewyork. It has 15.5 million likes on Facebook. And Brandon himself has hundreds of thousands
of followers on Twitter.
And I'm delighted to say he joins me.
We're honored, sir, to have you on the program tonight.
BRANDON STANTON, PHOTOGRAPHER AND ACTIVIST: Thank you very much.
QUEST: Honor to have you with us.
STANTON: Thank you.
QUEST: Where did this come from? It's a long way from New York --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: -- why did you get involved?
STANTON: In the last year, I traveled to about 15 different countries over the summer and I always wanted to go to Pakistan. But I was unable to get
my visa on time. And so this year it was at the top of my list. I was there for 11 days. And what I do is I just stop ordinary people on the
streets and I learn their stories.
And so in the process of doing this over 11 days in Pakistan, I was introduced to this wonderful woman named Syeda Ghulam Fatima and she is the
one that is leading the fight in Pakistan to stop bonded labor.
And through the series I did on her and introducing her to my audience, that's how we were able to raise the money.
QUEST: You see, what's fascinating about this is that as a Westerner, you go to a place and you learn about something that's really almost endemic in
certain parts of the country, isn't it?
STANTON: Right, right. And you know, the amazing thing is is that due to the power and the entrenched interests of these brick kiln owners, bricks
are 3 percent of the GDP in Pakistan. And the people who own these brick kilns are immensely rich. And they influence the legislature in a way that
it's really hard for us to imagine over here, to the extent that they have -- even though bonded labor is outlawed in Pakistan, these guys have the
police working for them to keep people in bondage.
QUEST: They get out of bonded labor how?
STANTON: They don't is the problem. What happens is these poor, illiterate farmers in desperate situations are tricked into taking these
very small loans in exchange to work for a few weeks on the brick kilns.
When this period of time is done, they go back and say, OK, it's time to leave. And then these owners say, no, you've lived in our house. You've
eaten our food. Now you owe us twice as much. Get back to work.
And if they try to leave, they're hounded and harassed, sometimes by the local police, into staying. These debts balloon and they never get out.
QUEST: I could arguably say to you -- we've known about this for a long time. What do you want done?
STANTON: Well, you know, one of the things that I am trying to do is empower people on the ground who have the expertise -- I'm not a leader in
the fight against bonded labor. All I'm doing is spotlighting the most wonderful woman, Syeda Ghulam Fatima, who -- this woman -- who I've met who
is leading the fight.
This is --
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: What does she need? Does she need money? Does she need political power? Does she need -- frankly, does she need the elites and the rest of
the world to put pressure on Pakistan?
STANTON: Right. Well, you know, I am in favor of countries solving their own problems. I think Pakistan is a country that is filled with good,
well-meaning people. And that, you know, I think there can be a critical mass of awareness within Pakistan and they can pressure their own
government to do something about it.
What does this woman need? Is this problem going to be solved overnight? Millions of people who have nothing are suddenly going to be incorporated
into society? No. It's going to be hundreds of incremental changes. But we're trying to do one of those incremental changes by putting $2 million
in the hands of this woman, who's proved to be at the forefront of fighting this.
QUEST: Are you surprised at how quickly or were you surprised at how quickly your discovery really resonated?
STANTON: I mean, this has been a 3-day fundraiser where $2 million was raised. So yes, the speed of it was absolutely unbelievable.
The most I'd ever raised before was $1.4 million over a period of two weeks. So to beat that by 50 percent in a period of three days --
[16:50:00]
STANTON: -- I think it's a testament to how much this woman -- and I encourage everyone to go to humansofnewyork and learn this woman's story --
this woman has captured the hearts of 15 million people to the point where we have one of the quickest and most successful crowdfunding campaigns for
a charitable cause in history.
QUEST: And you, sir, have played an important part in that as well.
STANTON: Well, thank you.
QUEST: Brandon's fundraising page will stay online throughout the day. If you want to take part and you can find a link on Indiegogo's home page,
we're showing it at the bottom of your screen now. Just being sure we are and if now, we certainly will be. You can find out more about CNN's effort
to fight slavery. It's one of the most important things that we do on this network as part of the Freedom Project. It's at cnn.com/freedom.
Donald Trump is dominating the political polls here in the United States. And it's women that have helped put him on the spot. First, the highlight
from "Make, Create, Innovate."
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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QUEST: Donald Trump is looking more and more like the Teflon candidate. There seems to be no controversy that brings him down. The more vulgar he
speaks, the more aggressive he challenges. And if you look at the numbers, the latest CNN/ORC poll's given an 11-point lead over his closest
Republican challenger, which is Jeb Bush.
Trump was the biggest gainer in the latest survey. He's up 6 points since the last CNN poll in July and that was before the debates. Trump's now-
infamous blood comments, good grief -- 45 percent of respondents said that when it comes to the economy, they trust Trump more than any other
candidate.
So today I tweeted out -- I tweeted out to the world that's -- I was going to be talking to Athena Jones, who joins me from Washington, and I needed
to actually ask people how they justified, how Americans justified the support of Athena -- of Trump.
Athena, we'll get to the comments from the viewers in a moment.
Explain, please, to the rest of the world this attraction with Donald Trump.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's remarkable, isn't it. Looks like there's nothing he can say or do that costs him support in the polls. He's
gotten stronger and stronger. And you mentioned that economy point, 45 percent saying they trust him most on the economy. It's not just that: 44
percent trust him most on dealing with illegal immigration. It's 32 percent trust him most to battle ISIS --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: -- even though --
QUEST: -- Athena, hold on; I'm jumping in here. I'm jumping in here. I know because I speak to relatives and friends in the U.K. I get tweets
today, one tweet said it's because he doesn't have to raise money. Another tweet says that they can't believe -- they cannot believe that Americans
would be so stupid as to go towards Donald Trump.
This is my view. This is what people have tweeted to me.
So explain to me what are those people seeing that the rest of the world isn't?
JONES: Well, first of all we're talking about Republican voters, so not, of course, the entire electorate. Numbers suggest he would have a harder
time when we're talking about the entire electorate.
But the people who like him really, really like him. They like the fact that he's not a typical politician. They like the fact that even though he
hasn't really spelled out that many very precise ideas and hasn't even necessarily demonstrated that he has a strong grasp of --
[16:55:00]
JONES: -- how easy or difficult it would be to turn his ideas into reality, they like his tough talk. They like that he says he's going to be
tough on China, which is making it hard for U.S. companies to compete. They just like that he's outspoken.
QUEST: But do they like all of this? For example, one tweet said to me they like it -- we like him because he doesn't -- he's not -- he's not like
a -- doesn't think like a politician. He's a business man. What he says makes sense.
But do they like him safe in the knowledge that no one believes he's going to get the nomination?
JONES: I don't think that matters to them at this point. In some ways, it's a protest vote. I mean, the people who are supporting Trump are
supporting him precisely because he's not a typical politician and it doesn't seem as though they're holding him to the same standard. They say,
look, this is a guy who's clearly been very, very successful in business, a billionaire many times over. He sounds tough. And we trust him that he's
-- if he's been so successful in his own life, he'll make good deals for us. That's what he's selling and they're buying it.
QUEST: And we're looking forward to having you discussing this with us many times between now and the election. Thank you, Athena, Athena Jones
joining us from Washington.
@RichardQuest is the tweet address where you can give us your thoughts on that and we will have a "Profitable Moment" after the break.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment": so tourism is now under attack by the terrorists. There's nothing new there except, of course, recent
incidents have shown just how serious it is. Taleb Rifai on this program from the UNWTO said he would go to Bangkok in Thailand any time, any place.
And I've got news for Taleb. I'll join him there and I'll bring my mother, too.
The reality, of course, is tourists will always be under attack. It's the soft side, if you like, of an economy and that's why we simply must ensure
we still get on planes and go and visit. Tell me where and I'll be there.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable.
Let's do it again tomorrow.
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END
