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Quest Means Business

Global Central Banks Aggressively Raise Rates; Russian Fearing Conscription Flee Country; Blinken: International Order Shredded By Ukraine War; Surging U.S. Dollar Is Hurting Global Economy; Call To Earth; Greece Dims Lights To Lower Consumption; Iranian Women Cut Their Hair, Protesting Death Of Mahsa Amini. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired September 22, 2022 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:23]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.": An hour to go of trading on Wall Street and the selling continues. So, the Dow has

clawed back some of its losses, but the real business is not on the Dow, it is the triple stack that will show what I'm talking about.

The S&P is now at its lowest level since July, highly likely to suggest the June lows. The NASDAQ is off one -- well about 11,000 and we will talk to

you on that. The markets and the main events are all one in the same. A monumental week of monetary policy decisions. The heads of the IMF and

World Bank tell us the world's poorest will be affected.

The price of flights out of Russia surges as President Putin's partial mobilization gets underway.

And Hungary puts European unity to the test, it calls on the EU to lift all sanctions on Russia.

Hungary's Foreign Minister with me tonight.

We are live in New York, Thursday, September the 22nd. I'm Richard Quest. Yes, I mean business.

Good evening.

We begin tonight with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, both say, vulnerable people are getting squeezed between rising inflation and higher

rates, and they say more must be done to protect them.

Kristalina Georgieva and David Malpass are warning, there are severe consequences to rising prices. Central Banks are responding correctly by

raising rates, even though this is going to cause maybe a recession in -- a global recession.

The Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, the Norwegian Central Bank, all raised policy rates today. The IMF head says inflation could trigger

global unrest. The MD spoke to Christiane Amanpour about how to manage the economic risk.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So then, you are talking about Central Banks. I think you've agreed with the necessity to increase

interest rates, but many say that could plunge the country into a recession. Who would that hurt? The most vulnerable.

KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: Well, if we don't -- if we don't bring inflation down, this will hurt the most

vulnerable because an explosion of food and energy prices for those that are better off is inconvenience for the poor people -- tragedy.

So, we think of poor people first when we advocate for attacking inflation forcefully, but then it doesn't mean we do nothing on the fiscal side. We

need to remember that space to help shrank. We used all of it during COVID. So, the remaining, as much as there is, it has to be very, very well

targeted.

And I have a very simple message to people who watch monetary policy, no choice but to increase interest rates to tame inflation. Fiscal policy, it

goes generously to help everybody, will be actually on the way of monetary policy. Actually, it would be the enemy of monetary policy because you

increase demand and that pushes prices again up and then there has to be more tightening.

So, Christiane, the critical question in front of us is to restore conditions for growth and price stability is a critical condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: The problem, of course, is how to do both. As the World Bank President David Malpass said, monetary policy alone cannot solve inflation.

He wants more fiscal policy action, which of course is what the MD was talking about.

Central Bankers should use tools rather than raising rates, even though there could be inflationary implications. Speaking to Julia Chatterley, the

President of the World Bank said the world is in the midst of a sharp slowdown and the stakes are highest for the poor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MALPASS, PRESIDENT, WORLD BANK: The important part is this is really important for the bottom half of the income scale worldwide. They need more

growth in order to get out of the recession that seems already to have been long lasting because of COVID, but that now threatens -- the risk is that

it goes into 2023 and even beyond.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR, "FIRST MOVE": You have to explain that point I think to my viewers as well because there will be

Central Banks listening to what you're saying, Central Bankers listening to what you're saying and saying actually, that's exactly what we're doing.

[15:05:06]

Yes, we're making the cost of credit more expensive, higher through hiking interest rates, but if we don't get inflation under control, it is the

poorest people that spend the highest proportion of their income on food and fuel actually that are hurt the most by inflation, too.

MALPASS: That's exactly right, and that is one of the tragedies of inflation right now. So, it's really important to get price stability, to

recover that and bring inflation down. But then, the question is, are there more tools that could be used to do that? Or is it just resting on interest

rate hikes? I worry that if it's all on rate hikes, it is going to point to a long lasting recession, especially for the poor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Rahel Solomon is with me. I'm not -- no one is suggesting this is easy as a strong major once said, "If there are any easy solutions, don't

you think we'd have found them by now?" However, the options are what, both for individuals and for countries?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what Malpass, what we also heard him say there, Richard, is that we have to focus on the

supply side of this, too, right? So, maybe focusing too on increasing production, not just crushing demand, but focus on the other side of

inflation.

In fact, those comments from Malpass actually echoes some recommendations that we saw in the World Economic Report in June suggesting, yes, focus on

the supply side, right, increased production would lower costs. I think we can pull it up for you here.

And also saying that governments need to cut taxes, which of course, is a controversial topic, but also develop targeted regional plans and that is

what I want to focus on tonight. And this brings me to focusing on the developed world. So there, that is why you're seeing some increased calls

for increased fiscal support, which have to be extremely targeted, Richard, extremely targeted to both basic necessities in terms of shelter,

accommodations, energy, and food, but also targeted to the people who absolutely need it.

Because if not, of course, that can become inflationary, which critics would argue some of the fiscal support we saw here in the US was

inflationary.

QUEST: Right. So, just to jump in on that. So, for example, there is going to be a fiscal event or mini budget, or they are not calling it that in the

UK, which is going to have broad based tax cuts, as well as Liz Truss' help for energy costs, but this seems to affect everybody, which is not the

targeted things you're talking about.

SOLOMON: No, it's not, right. In fact, that starts to mirror some of the fiscal support we saw here in the US. You could argue that that could

actually be inflationary, right? I mean, if it is just uniform, broad support, well, then you sort of perhaps stimulate some spending.

But I also want to talk about some comments that I got from the Peterson Institute about this very issue just about 30 minutes ago, Richard. I want

to bring your attention to this. Even in the best of circumstances, a higher US interest rates, a strong dollar can still hurt them, (them being

poor countries) by tightening global financial conditions, which brings me to the second part of this is poorer countries, how to help them and you're

starting to see more support for perhaps restructuring debt obligations from some major creditors like the US and China.

So look, the problems are plenty across the globe. The solutions, as you pointed out, are not easy. But the question now is how to minimize the

bleeding? How to minimize the unnecessary suffering if the pain is inevitable, which Powell says it is, how to minimize the unnecessary

suffering and this is one unnecessary.

QUEST: I would ask -- I would suggest a refining of the question, Rahel. It is whether there is a commitment more than lip service by countries to do

it, or are they going to be much more concerned with their own populace, which is understandable. We saw it in the pandemic.

SOLOMON: I mean, absolutely and when you have moments like this, it sort of becomes every country for itself. Although, you could argue, letting these

poorer countries default, letting these poorer countries suffer isn't good for anyone globally.

So, it is a question about what is best -- what's in your best interest as a country, but also, if you don't deal with it now, what might you be

dealing with in the future? It's a tough question to answer.

QUEST: And here is the reality. Rahel, thank you. Here's the reality of what we are talking about, Rahel Solomon was with me.

So, we've seen this several times now and we're going to keep showing it to you. This is where global interest rates are at the moment. Think of them

as quarter points, even though they may have gone up by three quarter points.

For instance, Sweden, over here. They went up by a whole one percentage point, so they did a whole lot in one go earlier this week. The US, the

Fed, we talked about that yesterday, but these three all moved today.

You had the UK going up by half; Switzerland by 0.75 and you had Norway -- remember, they were negative. They were negative.

[15:10:07]

And you had Norway by half a percent and so now you see exactly where we stand. Norway at one percent, but look at the -- sorry, over here. Look at

the United States -- one, two -- where is it going to end? Two and a quarter, but where is the neutral rate for the United States? If you look,

of course, over the totality of them, everybody with perhaps the exception of one, Norway, is expected to continue raising rates for the foreseeable

future.

Katharine Neiss is the Chief European economist at PGIM and she joins me now from London, I look at these and I'm staggered. Monetary policy

normally operates at glacial speeds. When I look at what we've got here, it is quite remarkable how particularly, let's take Norway, it has gone all

out to 2.25 percent.

KATHARINE NEISS, CHIEF EUROPEAN ECONOMIST, PGIM FIXED INCOME: Yes, it is. Here, today, in the UK, the Bank of England raised rates, and perhaps the

Bank of England is a bit of an exception to the pattern that you've just focused on. We saw them raise rates, as I expected by 50 basis points. This

is the seventh consecutive rise that we've seen coming from the Bank of England, it's part of the a very proactive stance that they took. They were

one of the first Central Banks out of the gate tightening policy, already talking about raising rates at the end of last year, and indeed, stopped

purchases of government bonds.

So they were one of the more proactive and early and consistent responders. And so far, we haven't seen that ratcheting up coming from the Bank of

England.

QUEST: Two things on these numbers that we're seeing. We have Jay Powell yesterday, basically saying higher for longer, don't get any idea, we are

going to be pivoting and turning back. And we have a sort of a hardening of expectations. So, how far down this and I know, you know, individual

countries will have different measures -- how far down this road do you think we are?

NEISS: It's very difficult to say because of a number of factors. Firstly, we have been hit here in Europe by a huge energy shock. That shock

happened, it started already in the last few months of 2021 and, you know, really, really took full effect on February 24th when Russia invaded

Ukraine.

And the real economic impact of that shock has yet to really materialize on the real economy and it is very difficult to assess, you know, how

impactful that is going to be. So, that is one area of uncertainty.

If we focus here on the UK, we have a new government, we don't yet know details around this fiscal package that we're hoping to hear more about in

the coming days. And so that too, will have an important impact on where policy needs to be set optimally.

QUEST: Katharine, do you think this fiscal package, which is an interesting one, because it seems like it's going to be broad based. We know that the

heating -- the fuel plan is broad-based and very expensive. But these tax cuts, I mean, you're heard what -- you probably weren't listening to -- you

weren't with us by that stage what Kristalina Georgieva of the IMF says, what is the point of raising rates to tighten policy, if at the same time

government, fiscally, is doing broad based tax cuts, which loosens policy?

NEISS: Well, the Bank of England is very much hoping I expect that its early and proactive stance at raising rates will allow it now to thread

that needle if you'd like, to strike that balance of being able to demonstrate, resolve that it is committed to its inflation target in

bringing inflation back down to two percent without having to over tighten and magnify the downturn on the real economy.

But that said, the impact of these rate rises is meant to weaken the economy, to bring demand down in order to bring inflation back to target.

Any fiscal policies that our stimulatory, expansionary are going to suggest other things equal that the Bank of England is going to need to raise rates

by more than otherwise would have had to in order to get inflation back to target.

But we don't know the details of the package yet and that is something that we will come to learn in coming days, and when the Bank of England updates

its forecast for us in November, they will no doubt have a narrative around how they see that and where that means policy rates will go going forward.

QUEST: I'm grateful for your time tonight. Thank you.

It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from New York.

The reality of war is hitting home. Long lines at Russia's borders, men are racing to escape Putin's draft, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:18:08]

QUEST: The price of flights out of Russia is now surging as President Putin's partial mobilization is underway. For instance, the cost of a one-

way ticket from Moscow to Istanbul jumped 800 percent after the announcement. It went from $350.00 to $2,715.00 and direct flights to visa

free countries on Friday, they are sold out completely.

By car, it is just as difficult at those borders where you can cross and would have crossed relatively easily.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Suddenly, an exodus across Russia's borders. Social media now filled with

images like these near the country's southern frontiers of vehicles backed up out of sight.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

CHANCE (voice over): "Everyone is on the run from Russia," the male voice says. "Endless cars. It's mind boggling."

In the west towards Finland, border officials also reporting significantly higher traffic. Nearly 5,000 crossing in a single day and more expected by

the weekend as Russians make for the exits.

(CROWD protesting.)

CHANCE (voice over): Across Russia, there is a growing sense of alarm, even anger with the call up of reservists to fight in Ukraine.

(CROWD chanting.)

CHANCE (voice over): More than 1,300 protesters have already been detained, many of them women terrified their husbands and sons will be killed.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

CHANCE (voice over): "I've got two kids of conscription age," says this protester. "I brought them out alone and I don't want to lose them," she

cried.

(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE speaking in foreign language.)

[15:20:03]

CHANCE (voice over): "And for what?" Asks her friend, "Just so they can kill the sons of other mothers," she answers.

But the mobilization is taking place, regardless. Images of reservists like these boarding a military transporter in the Russian Far East show how many

are heeding the call to arms.

At assembly points, families are saying emotional goodbyes before their men, some apparently in middle age as bused to work in what was always cast

as a limited special military operation feels more and more like a full blown war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has accused Russia of shredding the international order, speaking at the Security

Council's meeting a short moment ago, and he warned that Russia must be held accountable for the war, that the world can't let Putin get away with

it.

He called on the UN to demand Russia and its reckless nuclear threats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, US SECRETARY OF STATE: We can expect President Putin will claim any Ukrainian effort to liberate this land as an attack on so-called

Russian territory. This, from a country that in January of this year, in this place, joined other permanent members of the Security Council, in

signing a statement affirming that -- and I quote -- "Nuclear war can never be won, and must never be fought." Yet another example of how Russia

violates the commitments it has made before this body, and yet another reason why nobody should take Russia at its word today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: So Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the most senior of the Kremlin's representative at the General Assembly hit back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): The Kyiv regime owes its impunity to its western sponsors, first of all, Germany and

France, but also the United States.

Over the past few years, the Kyiv regime has conducted a frontal assault on the Russian language. It brazenly trampled on the rights of Russian and

Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Richard Roth is at the UN.

Richard, you have been at the UN long enough, just about, to remember sort of pre glasnost and walls coming down and things like that. So, you can

sort of give us a context of Cold War, which is what it is feeling like.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UN CORRESPONDENT: I was at the Berlin Wall when that fell in 1989 in November. Here, the differences, the divides have gone

up, have been raised since those days post-Soviet Union.

Today, Sergey Lavrov did not come in to hear the US Secretary of State Tony Blinken and then he left immediately after he spoke and he didn't hear the

Ukrainian Foreign Minister. There was no given take. They just read out perfunctory these speeches. So, there is no solution to the Ukraine war

here at the UN.

The International Atomic Energy Agency Director General has been meeting with neither the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov or Foreign Minister Kuleba

of Ukraine. They want to work out this demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Very unclear when that will happen.

It has been discussed and talked about for months now with the threat of nuclear war, according to the Secretary General in the air, a catastrophe

he said that could happen.

QUEST: Bearing in mind the SG has been to Kyiv and has been to Moscow and didn't really make any progress. Does the UN have a role?

ROTH: Well, it has a role. His visit to Moscow eventually paved the way for this grain shipping deal to work out where African countries and other

developing nations are getting grain. Russia is upset it can't get its fertilizer out. The US and other countries say it can. You're just not

using the system.

The UN, as usual serves best in humanitarian crises, helping people, but it can't go where there is a war. It can't get always inspectors into places.

The Secretary General is trying hard and he is in his second term. He's kind of throwing caution to the wind.

The most incredible thing, of course, is that Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power and there is a limit to how much

you can get through the Security Council.

QUEST: When we look at China's role both as how Xi has met Putin in Shanghai, but more recently -- and in Kazakhstan, but more recently in the

United Nations, what role does China play in this case?

ROTH: Well, overall, China as usual, is saying "Can't you work it out? We want peace, trying to take both sides," though, you know, the leader of

China visited with President Putin the other day, didn't exactly fully endorse a war, but the statements from China at the Security Council

certainly not backing Ukraine, one of the few countries on the Security Council, but you know, ready to help, and also, China has been building up

its involvement in African countries where this grain is supposed to go.

[15:25:16]

China may yet get heard from, but so far on the sidelines, and which the Ukrainians get upset with saying you can't be neutral. French President

Macron yesterday saying being neutral is being almost guilty in this affair with the Russians.

QUEST: I'm grateful, Richard Roth at the United Nations. Sir, thank you.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, Japan is an outlier when it comes to interest rates and Central Bankers keeping them in negative. It's a decision that sparked

the flight from the yen and that's prompted the government to step in for the first time in several decades.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. More QUEST MEANS BUSINESS as you and I continue.

The Global Chair of PwC tells me how a strong dollar is sending shockwaves through the global economy.

Hungary's Foreign Minister tells me that is government is calling for Europe to lift sanctions on Russia. We hope he will be with us in time.

Traffic in midtown Manhattan is pretty awful, so we will have to see if he makes it.

We will get through it all, only after the news headlines and I've straightened my tie, I've wondered what it is doing.

This is CNN. And here, the tie is always straight.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard is warning of a crackdown as violent protests rocked the nation. It says anyone who spreads false news and rumors should

be prosecuted. The unrest was sparked by the death of a young woman in police custody. Officials claimed she had a heart attack.

Speaking in the last few moments here in New York, Iran's President pledged the woman's death will be investigated.

A US Appeals Court says investigators can review testified documents found at Donald Trump's home in Florida. His attorneys wanted an independent

party to sort through them first. This new ruling lets the Justice Department resume a criminal investigation into the matter.

[15:30:16]

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

(HEADLINES)

QUEST: U.S. markets are down after the Fed hiked rates yesterday. Japan's government has intervened to prop up its currency.

The yen tumbled on news that its central bank will stick with ultralow interest rates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The government will continue to monitor closely with elevated vigilance the

movements in the currency market. We will boldly take necessary steps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: This highlights the impact of a surging U.S. dollar. It's been on a tear. It makes import into America cheaper, exports are more expensive and

emerging markets will find it difficult to repay debts borrowed in dollars.

Bob Moritz is the global chair of PwC.

I guess this increasing the dollar's value must be hitting your clients very sharply.

BOB MORITZ, PWC GLOBAL CHAIRMAN: It is. A lot of these variable projects are moving to cost reduction, debt restructuring and other aspects to

solidify the balance sheet and be more resilient.

The slow economy, the efex issues, interest rates and consumers being more picky is causing CEOs and management teams to really rethink their

strategies.

QUEST: Do strategies need to change?

MORITZ: There are three elements of that change, still a continuation of the digitization efforts. The second is to do more with less. The third is

the broader climate and social agendas out there.

They do have to bring that climate and social aspect into the piece. That's where the CEOs are spending their time.

QUEST: How bad will it get next year?

MORITZ: It depends on the part of the world. Europe will be a real challenge over the next 3-6 months. The U.S. still has some significant

consumer confidence, some low growth.

We don't talk much about what's happening in China and the impact globally. So those dictate where consumers are.

QUEST: China opening, a double edged sword

[15:35:00]

It eases supply chain issues but will suck in resources, particularly energy.

MORITZ: If you net out that you'll get the progress from an energy perspective. But the demand is continuing to increase, excluding China.

Unfortunately, Europe's going to take the brunt of this, based on the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The question is how can we move forward?

Because clearly, the last three years, we mismatched supply and demand in terms of the investment necessary to get those energies -- supplies to

consumers.

QUEST: Do people believe Europe is ready for a hard winter?

To some extent, since Nord Stream 1 is already off, Putin has pulled the Band-aid off in one go. Even so, it could be a dark, deep and nasty winter.

Do you think Europe is prepared?

MORITZ: I think they are somewhat prepared. The reality is the governments and the business community is only now really getting tactical on what it

means to actually have rolling blackouts, to deal with a spike in the energy prices.

Honestly, the humanitarian aspects that may come with that in a big-time way, when you add that coupled with some food issues and shortages, these

things I don't think are well thought through.

They can get worse. We've got to be better prepared. This week in New York, this is what one of the conversations are all about at the General

Assembly.

QUEST: Can I turn to a good old-fashioned piece of navel gazing into your own industry?

EY is breaking audits and advisory. Every article I've read on this, besides EY's difficulty of doing it. But every article I've read says this

could fire the gun for the others in the Big Four.

You are one of the Big Four.

Do you feel a gun being loaded to fire, to split your advisory and audit?

MORITZ: Absolutely not. Let me be super clear on this, Richard. We've looked at this, as any good business would look at it on a regular basis.

We truly look at it from a stakeholder perspective.

We think what we are doing and how we are doing it with the right infrastructure is the right thing for PwC. We do not feel the pressure in

any way shape or form. We continue to monitor our clients buying differently.

We monitor our people. And we monitor what competitors and regulators are saying. I would tell you today, there is no need to change our strategy,

our operating model. We don't feel that gun to our head.

QUEST: All right. The thought is -- I guess everybody has to rethink. It's a question of how you rethink, that you don't throw the baby out with the

bathwater. The challenge is going to be to avoid a change being enforced.

MORITZ: Absolutely and the reality is you also don't want to just follow for the sake of following. As you said, every organization has to rethink

what's best for them individually and rewire themselves, rewire a global economy.

That goes at the policy level, the trade level, even for businesses in terms of how they are set up with their portfolio and their mix of

businesses, coupled with how they organize themselves.

You will have to do that regularly because the world is moving way too fast. So assessing it makes sense. The question is, be smart about when

you, if you and how you pull that trigger.

QUEST: Good to talk to you, Bob. Nice to see you, grateful.

MORITZ: Good to see you, Richard.

QUEST: In a moment, all this week on Call to Earth, we are looking at listening to the Earth, getting our messages back. Now scientists are using

all five senses in their fight to conserve. The Call to Earth explores how sound is used to save an endangered bird in Australia.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: In this Call to Earth and all this week, we look at how to help protect and conserve the planet simply by listening to it. Today, we will

head to the rainforest hinterlands of the Gulf Coast of Queensland, Australia. There, a scientist is using a network of sound recording devices

and artificial intelligence.

Why?

To track down an endangered and elusive species of bird.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

DR. DANIELLA TEIXEIRA, ACOUSTIC ECOLOGIST (voice-over): Behind us here is the falls. On the other side of this escarpment, you can see how the

vegetation changes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): For the past seven years, the research of acoustic ecologist Dr. Daniella Teixeira has focused on recording and

analyzing the sounds of Australia's iconic black cockatoos.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): That is the habitat of the glossy black cockatoos. We have sound recordings planted in that forest over there.

My journey with biostatistics began with three species of black cockatoo, the kangaroo island glossy black cockatoo and the southeastern red-tailed

black cockatoo. So they are both endangered subspecies of black cockatoos that have different challenges when it comes to monitoring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): She says the birds face a multitude of threats, including habitat loss and climate change and their dwindling

numbers, low density and cryptic nature make them really hard to find.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): Just having a little bit of a look. You're much more likely to see this feeding sign than you are actually to see the birds

themselves.

With the particular project that we are doing today, this is programmed to record every single day from sunrise to sunset.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): With all those hours of recordings to analyze, she also relies heavily on artificial intelligence.

TEIXEIRA: What we are looking at here is the detections of glossy black cockatoos that the machine learning has detected.

That's what they sound like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): With her research, Daniella says they now have a complete understanding of the birds' vocalizations and can train the

AI to identify the most exciting moments of a cockatoo's life, leaving the nest.

TEIXEIRA: Fledging is the moment when the baby bird leaves the nest. And I've been able to train algorithms to help me detect that automatically.

And that's how we can actually detect breeding success and measure it in really big ways.

[15:45:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): About 1,800 kilometers northeast of the coast sits the Yourka Reserve, a remote parcel of land owned and managed by

Bush Parentage Australia. She also works as a researcher for this conservation-minded organization.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): Yourka is situated in what we consider to be a resilient landscape. So it's likely to offer refuge here from climate

change in the future for quite a large number of species.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Just under a year ago, four new solar- powered recording stations were installed here. Today she's back to collect the data for the first time.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): Look how nice and dry it is in there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The sensors are part of the Australia Acoustic Observatory, a world first, continent-wide network, consisting of

approximately 360 devices that record 24/7.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): The sound recorders we put out here have been out there during times where the site was inaccessible. So it would have been

collecting sound data when we weren't even able to go out there. Hopefully we find certain species of frogs and birds. And we can get a bit of a good

idea of how (ph) systems are performing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Daniella believes that a noisy landscape is a healthy landscape and that her recordings, which she calls digital

fossils, can be a key to unlocking a new level of understanding about Australia's natural world.

TEIXEIRA (voice-over): There is a whole world of activity happening right now that we would just be unaware of. But sound is the best way we can

connect to that. If we understand what those sounds mean, we can understand this species and what they need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Gosh, fascinating. I'm sure you're doing fascinating things as well. Tell me what you are doing to help the conservation help the planet

and please use the #CallToEarth.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Greece is taking extraordinary measures to tackle its energy crisis. They are turning off the decorative lights on bridges to conserve

energy. The officials say the move will help to meet the E.U. goal of cutting gas use by 15 percent. Other countries are taking further steps,

lowering the heat inside government buildings, for instance.

[15:50:00]

The Greek prime minister spoke to Isa Soares and told her conserving energy is a team effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYRIAWKOS MITSOTAKIS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER: It is important to send a signal that we all need to team up in this effort. The government is doing

its part. But we also all need to see how we can reduce as much as we can the consumption of energy and the consumption of electricity, the

consumption of gas.

So there will be interventions when it comes to paying businesses for not producing; that is, not consuming gas. We are talking about a concerted

effort to make sure that Putin's effort to weaponize gas and to impose unnecessary pain upon European society actually fails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: As the energy prices soar and the crisis gets worse, the Bank of England has taken action by raising interest rates half a percentage point

designed to curb inflation. The U.K. is struggling with their highest level of inflation of any G7 country. CNN's Nina dos Santos with more from

London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: The Bank of England followed the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world in deciding to

tighten interest rates to one of the highest levels in 14 years.

The monetary policy committee members who set rates across the United Kingdom decided that they had to go up by 0.5 percent to 2.25 percent, the

highest level seen in about 14 years, not seen since 2008, the days of the financial crisis.

A big recession then and the U.S. in a debt crisis as well. The U.K. is dealing with unprecedented economic dynamics; in particular, a 40 year

inflation rate. There were some saving grace inside the Bank of England's statement, saying that monetary policy committee members believed that

actually, inflation was going to start to calm down.

At least for the near term, they predicted that it would peak at 11 percent instead of a previous prediction of 13 percent. But when it comes to the

economy, it was bad news in the statement.

They have looked over their previous economic forecast and said that no longer would the U.K. be poised for anemic economic growth. In fact, the

country is already, probably, in the midst of a technical recession, which means two negative quarters of falling output.

And the cycle of tightening is not over yet because economists and the markets are predicting that interest rates across the United Kingdom could

go up to 4 percent and maybe even 5 percent by the middle of next year in tandem with other big central banks around the world -- Nina dos Santos,

CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Iran's government is cracking down on nationwide protests over the death of a young woman in police custody, as we have been talking about.

Officials are claiming that 20 year old Mahsa Amini died of a heart attack. Her father accuses the authorities of lying about her death.

These protests which have been spreading for days now, are the biggest we have seen in Iran since 2019. A witness says protesters clashed with police

in the capital on Wednesday. At least eight have been killed across the country according to Amnesty International.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh spoke to Mahsa Amini's family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world knows her as Mahsa. To her family, she was the kind and shy Geena (ph). That is her

Kurdish name. Her cousin in Norway sharing these family photos with CNN of happier times from their childhood in Iran.

DIAKO ALI, MAHSA AMINI'S COUSIN: She was a very happy girl, living in a not so good country, with dreams that we don't maybe know about. But very

respectful and very kind, good hearted; took care of her mother and father.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Amini's death after being taken into custody by the morality police last week has sparked unprecedented protests, calls for

accountability for her death have turned into cries for freedoms this generation of Iranians has never known, with women at the forefront of the

protest, burning the head scarves they've been forced to wear for decades.

ALI: It makes me sad and happy in one way because, it is sad that someone's life has to go away for these things to start. And I know that

when they demonstrate in Iran, it is not like if we demonstrate in America or in Norway or in Sweden. They are risking their lives.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Amini's family is demanding justice. They do not trust the government's investigation. They want the truth. They accuse

authorities of covering up. Last week police released this edited CCTV video. They say it shows Amini at the so-called reeducation center, where

you can see her collapsing.

Police say she was taken because she did not abide by their strict Islamic dress code.

[15:55:00]

They claim the 22 year-old appeared unwell, had a heart attack and collapsed into a coma. She died in hospital three days later.

Family members say they saw her beaten up by the morality police as she was dragged away. It was the last time they saw here awake. They say doctors

told them she had severe head injuries, swollen limbs and had a heart attack.

ALI: There are no heart disease or anything. And it was damage to her head, like she was bleeding out her ear.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Violent acts of repression by this notorious force, known as the morality police, have been on the rise, according to

the U.N. This video from an activist group purports to show those abuses.

CNN cannot independently verify the circumstances of this video or when it was filmed. The fury on Iran's streets has been years in the making and

Amini's death appears to have been the final straw.

ALI: I want the world to know that she was a good person. Her life did not end for nothing. I hope this can start something to maybe toward to get a

better Iran, a more free Iran. And I am going to start crying.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Diako's overcome with emotion, hopes for the homeland he hasn't seen in more than 10 years and the pain of a family

grieving their beloved Geena (ph) -- Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: We will take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," how to prevent the wheels coming off the wagon and the world's most disadvantaged and poor from being affected

even more by rising interest rates, slowing economies and higher values of the dollar.

There are a variety, numerous ways it can be done. But it will require commitment of policymakers, wealthy governments, individuals and companies.

The reality is, yes, you can mitigate the worst effects of the worsening financial crisis as a result of higher rates but only if you want to.

And that's an entirely different question. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York.

END