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Quest Means Business
US Soldier Expelled from North Korea; Three Days Left To Avoid US Government Shutdown; US Markets Adding To Week's Losses; Hollywood Writers Go Back to Work; AI Implant Affords Paralyzed Man Some Movement; Call To Earth: Sea Of Hope; KAYAK's Rules Of Air Travel. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired September 27, 2023 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:27]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The market is doing its very best, its level best to avoid a second day of setup. As you can see there, I
mean, it went all the way down. Now, it has come all the way back up again.
But we are in the last hour of trade, and anything can happen between now and 4:00 PM Eastern. The markets and the events that we are watching
closely: The American soldier who entered North Korea is back in US custody.
The White House is warning a US government shutdown would cause significant airport delays amongst other economic damage.
And the Hollywood writers go back to work. Some are doubting their new deal does much to protect them on the issue of artificial intelligence.
Live in London tonight on Wednesday, September the 27th. I'm Richard Quest and in London, I mean business.
A very good day to you.
We begin with the American soldier, Travis King, who is now on his way back to the United States more than two months after he caused a sensation when
he crossed into North Korea.
The decision by North Korea to suddenly release King perhaps came as a surprise. There was speculation in Washington that Pyongyang could try to
use King as a political bargaining chip.
CNN's Paula Hancocks reports from Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After 10 weeks in North Korean custody, Travis King is back in US hands. His mother
thanks the US military for a job well done. US officials speak of intense diplomacy with multiple countries, but no concessions made to Pyongyang.
A transfer to China with the help of Sweden, the protecting power for the US in Pyongyang. The US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.
North Korea said earlier, Wednesday, they would expel him, added King had confessed to illegally intruding into the country due to "inhuman
maltreatment and racial discrimination in the United States Army."
Pyongyang's words through state media, King has not been heard from or seen since mid-July. Photographed here on a civilian tour of the Joint Security
Area in the DMZ just before he ran across the military demarcation line into North Korea.
US officials say he tried to access the main building which was locked, ran around the back, and was bundled into a van by North Korean guards.
There is a fairly safe assumption he would have been extensively questioned by North Korean officials.
MALCOLM DAVID, SENIOR ANALYST, AUSTRALIAN STRATEGIC POLICY INSTITUTE: He was a fairly low ranking soldier. He wasn't an officer. He didn't really
have access to any classified information. So there's not much he could have told them.
HANCOCKS (voice over): King faced disciplinary action for assault in South Korea, spending around 50 days in a facility. He was supposed to be
deported back to the US, but instead of boarding a flight, he headed to the DMZ.
HANCOCKS (on camera): US officials say the focus now is on King's health and reuniting him with his family and that any administrative actions could
be considered later.
They say that he is in good health and in good spirits and has made it quite clear that he is very happy to be on his way home.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, a few hours ago, the State Department said that North Korea had transferred King to the Chinese border and it was there as he was met by US
officials and flown back to the United States via South Korea.
CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon. He joins me now.
Now, I mean, we just don't know, do we? He is being kicked out, but we don't really know what the relationship is going to be like back with the
United States and the Pentagon.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: It's almost even more bizarre than how Travis King initially got into North Korea, which is he was
supposed to be on a flight out, left the airport, went on a DMZ tour, and then ran into North Korea. This, how he got out of North Korea, an even
wilder story to a large extent.
As we've learned here from US officials, a Swedish convoy in North Korea and Sweden was essentially working as the intermediary here, took him to
the Friendship Bridge into China. He was then met by the US Defense attache to China, and at that point, King became in US military custody and is on
his way back first, from China to South Korea, and now South Korea back to San Antonio.
But the question remains, what was North Korea's motivation here? You're absolutely right, Richard, to point out that there was serious concern that
North Korea would try to use him as propaganda and that simply does not appear to be the case as the US insists they gave nothing up for a soldier
who was held by Pyongyang.
[15:05:13]
QUEST: Which becomes curiouser and curiouser that they actually decided -- I have to say, having been to that border, and stood on that demarcation
Line, the urge to run across, not that one I know, it like going to the edge of a cliff and thinking, just what would happen if I went over?
I mean, this idea of institutional racism, this idea of he was being disciplined by the Pentagon. Do we know anything that's factual on any of
this?
LIEBERMANN: No, not in those specific reports, because all of those came from North Korea. And it took a long time for North Korea state media to
even acknowledge they had King in custody. This, after there was essentially video and witness accounts of him running into North Korea.
Then several weeks later, North Korea claimed he had confessed to all of this. And now as they say, they expelled him. They also say, they concluded
their investigation into him. But what the basis of that investigation was, what the conclusions were, what they found, all of that remains a mystery
and that goes back to the original question. Why did they essentially decide that it was time for him to leave the country? And I don't know how
much clarity we'll get on that. Certainly not right now, as the focus is on getting him home.
QUEST: Oren Liebermann who is at the Pentagon. Grateful to you, sir. Thank you.
When it comes to the global economy, one major concern at the moment, three days before a potential US government shutdown, with all the economic mess
that that will create. If the US Congress doesn't pass a spending bill, one consequence would be serious disruptions to air travel. A shutdown would
halt pay for air traffic controllers, and the agency, the TSA that provides airport security. Also, of course, the FAA Reauthorization Bill.
The aviation industry is right at the perfect storm at this particular moment. The Transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg made the case to CNN
this morning about the damage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE BUTTIGIEG, US DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We can't afford a shutdown right now, because of the disruptions that it would cause to
transportation.
Look at aviation, where we've made enormous progress after the COVID-driven disruptions we saw a year ago. Cancellations are back down to normal after
everything we went through last summer. This summer is actually a little bit below where they were before COVID.
But in order to keep that going, we've got to be able to hire air traffic controllers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Matt Egan is in New York. This shutdown, the latest, of course, is that it doesn't -- we don't know whether the House Leader McCarthy has got
the votes to get a continuing resolution through. So, this uncertainty is building up ever greater.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Richard, although there is a growing sense that there will be a shutdown, for example, Goldman Sachs just put
out a report telling their clients that they think there's a 90 percent chance of a shutdown, and they warn it probably won't be a short one.
And one of the concerns, of course, is what's going to happen to the travel sector? The US Travel Association, the trade group for the travel industry,
they estimate that a shutdown would cost the US travel economy $140 million each day and that's because in part, there could be these delays, and some
people may decide not to travel.
In the longest shutdown ever, that was the last shutdown, the one that began in late 2018, there was a situation where some TSA workers and some -
- even some air traffic controllers, they called out sick, and that was causing delays at the airport.
And so the worry is that there could be chaos, and that that's going to really impact the travel economy, the problem is that TSA workers and also
air traffic controllers, they're going to be deemed essential workers, so they'll have to report to work, but Uncle Sam won't be paying them because
the government is shut down, and that's where you have a situation where some workers may not show up as they wait for the government to reopen and
they actually get paid -- Richard.
QUEST: Now, it is worth mentioning, I think that the way it also works, as they do tend to reauthorize the back pay once everything gets going again,
but that doesn't really discount much the incredible inconvenience and worry about people who can't pay bills, and yet, the market is -- the
market is febrile, the market is uncertain, but it's not broken yet on this.
EGAN: That's right. The stock market -- I don't think the stock market has reacted too negatively to the risk of a shutdown, but that's not helping.
You can look at the market actually well off session lows as we speak, just turning briefly, turning positive on the day.
The S&P 500, the NASDAQ steadily positive, but Richard this has been a pretty terrible for the month for the stock market and September is really
living up to its hype as historically one of the worst months and less than the shutdown, it's really been about higher oil prices and higher bond
rates.
[15:10:12]
Bespoke Investment Group has called that a two-headed monster for investors, because the higher oil prices go, and you can see WTI, US oil up
almost four percent on the day, topping $94.00 a barrel for the first time in over a year.
QUEST: Yes. Just while you talk about that, just to interrupt you. It's going to be a hundred, isn't it? That's what the Saudis want. It's moving
in that direction at a feral click. If you're a betting man, I'd say a hundred will be -- it'll hit a hundred.
EGAN: Yes, Richard, it feels like there's just a magnet to $100.00 a barrel, because to your point the Saudis are taking off so much supply. The
Russians are. They both have interest in trying to drive up their oil revenue, and so they are kind of artificially propping up supply at a time
when demand has been pretty strong and that's a negative for the economy. It's a negative when it comes to inflation, and you also have rising bond
yields.
You put it together and that the stock market has had a pretty terrible September.
QUEST: Matt Egan, now, you weren't planning on having anything else to do over the weekend if this is -- the way this thing is going in terms of the
shutdown. We'll all be working morning, noon, and night.
Matt, it's good to see you. Sir, thank you.
It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for you. And a US senator pleads not guilty to taking bribes. The accusation includes accepting hundreds of thousands of
dollars in cash and gold bars, Mercedes Benzes are involved. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: And just a few hours, former US President Trump will speak outside Detroit, Michigan to striking auto workers. Now Mr. Trump has decided to
court the state's blue collar workers rather than attend a Republican Party debate. At the same time, he's facing a major threat, probably one of the
largest to his business.
A New York judge has ruled that President Trump falsely overstated the value of his real estate on various financial statements for loans and the
like. The former president has now been labeled for fraud and liable for fraud.
At the same time, a prominent Democrat senator is in serious legal hot water. New Jersey's Bob Menendez posted $100,000.00 bond after he pleaded
not guilty to federal bribery charges.
Three businessmen are accused of buying political favors from Menendez. Cash, a Mercedes Benz, and good old fashioned gold bars were involved.
[15:15:10]
More than half the state's Senate Democrats have called on Menendez to resign.
Kara Scannell is in court. There's lots for us to chew over here. Let's start, if we may, with the Menendez -- I mean, he says he didn't do it. He
says there's perfectly good explanations and I guess it will be a jury that will decide.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the senator appeared in court today where he walked in holding hands with his wife, Nadine Menendez, who
is a co-defendant in the case. And then inside the courtroom, he entered that plea of not guilty.
It was a fairly brief hearing, only about 30 minutes, and he only stood up and answered questions twice when the judge asked him if he understands
what the process was. He said, "Yes, Your Honor."
Otherwise, he sat there with his hands clasped, and then he and his wife left the courthouse together after they signed those personal recognizance
bonds and walked out again hand in hand, but they did not make any comments to reporters, which have been asking him for days now if he's going to
resign.
As you mentioned, there's all that pressure from Democrats, and he wasn't commenting again on that today -- Richard.
QUEST: Right now, you're doing double duty. Let's talk about Donald Trump and the judge's decision. When I read it last night, I thought, Trump is in
real trouble here. All the companies, all the way up to the Trump Organization and above, their certificates of operations in New York are
being withdrawn, and that calls into question the assets underneath. How's he going to get around this one?
SCANNELL: I mean, there's still so much that's in question about the judge's ruling. Yes, he said that the former president committed fraud,
that he had lied on his financial statements that he used in business for years. But even at a pretrial hearing today that one of my colleagues
attended, there were still questions about what exactly this meant for the Trump Organization, which of the entities would be impacted, and the judge
is giving them 30 days, that's 20 days longer than they initially had to get a receiver in place to try to sort this out.
But even one of Trump's attorneys in court today was saying, what is the point of going to trial at this point now that the judge has already found
that Trump is liable for fraud? That trial is expected to start on Monday when there are still so many questions in the air about what this actually
will mean for the Trump Organization -- Richard.
QUEST: I'm almost lost, the sheer amount of litigation -- criminal and civil -- surrounding the former president. It's often -- I mean, besides
the criminal stuff of Mar-a-Lago and documents and January the 6th, but this threatens his business, doesn't it? This threatens, if you like, well,
whatever money machine, he still has.
SCANNELL: I mean, Richard, you remember last year, his company was convicted of tax fraud, and that was fairly significant, even if it didn't
have any immediate impact on the business.
It was a blackeye to the former president. This is the company he built from the ground up here in New York City with his name on companies, and
buildings, and skyscrapers. And so this was his company on trial and the judge is saying, you have been a fraud for years inflating the value of
your assets, inflating your own personal worth, and essentially lying to the public, and your counterparts in business about how much money you
have.
So that's stinging to the former president, you know, from a reputational standpoint, and even though this is still in a sense, a small family run
business, it is a significant presence in New York of having Trump Tower, having some of these operations and it's still unclear how this is going to
shake out.
Now, the former president, obviously handed the reins of this company to his sons when he went into the White House, but it is still the family
business. It is still something that he has pointed to as saying that he is a billionaire, that he's a successful businessman and that's part of his
political campaign.
And so now, a judge striking in the heart of that saying that actually, no, this was a fraud, that you had inflated the value of your worth and your
assets and saying that he'd done it persistently for years.
QUEST: All right, thank you very much. Both stories, beautifully covered. Thank you.
Earlier today, the British government has authorized major oil and gas production in its largest undeveloped field in the North Sea. It follows a
week after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, watered down British policies on combating climate change.
Anna Stewart is with me. How are they justifying, Anna? How do they justifying new fossil fuel development?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Right.
The government's answer to this, Richard, is this is a boost to energy security at a time where with the invasion of Ukraine, of course, bills
have gone up. This will make it more affordable for people in the UK to have their energy. It will be a boost for jobs.
It could create 1,600 jobs and it will lead to eight billion pounds which is nearly $10 billion being invested into the UK.
[15:20:10]
That is the government's argument. Of course, there's a lot of criticism, not least from opposition MPs, climate activists, campaign groups, you name
it.
QUEST: How does he justify -- I mean, I'm thinking about COP 28. He's got these -- he has got a series of negative climate change actions that will
be thrown at his face.
STEWART: Instead of being at the UNGA last week, and there was a climate summit there, Rishi Sunak rode back, essentially on a load of climate
policies, really watering them down. This week, a day after the IEA said, the world needs to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, cut it by 25
percent by the end of the decade. You know, 24 hours later, the prime minister announces this, and this comes off a few weeks I think since he
said he wanted to max out oil and gas fields in the UK.
So this comes as no surprise and this is this government's strategy. Is it to do with the economy? Is it to do with the election? They would likely
will be an election this year or next year. Is this playing to the voters?
QUEST: Anna Stewart, you'll be covering that election when it does happen, probably next year. Thank you.
As the British economy weakens and seems to falter, Sterling has fallen to a fresh six-month low against the dollar. The markets are betting against
future rate rises from the Bank of England. The bank last week kept rates on hold amid signs of the slowing growth. It's not clear when it might
lower them.
And I guess, it is something my next guest is keen or irrelevant to know about. He's the founder of the Burnley Savings and Loan. It is a local bank
that he set up under incredible difficulty.
I am absolutely delighted. You see him there. He is the inspiration for one of my favorite movies of the year, "Bank of Dave." Have a watch at this.
(BEGIN "BANK OF DAVE" VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Financial Regulation Board hasn't approved a new bank in 150 years. We've got Google up here to you know?
The Bank of Dave. It's catchy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dave could do some good for the Burnley.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The "Bank of Dave" is Dave Fishwick and Dave, I mean, you started this at the height of the financial crisis because you could see that
regular banks weren't lending to people who needed it, and you're still doing it now.
DAVID FISHWICK, OWNER, BURNLEY SAVINGS AND LOAN: That's absolutely right. I mean, we've now lent over 33 million pounds to thousands of people and
businesses all over the UK. We've helped people get the best rate of interest on the high street and the profit after the overheads, we give it
to charity.
QUEST: So are you a philanthropist? A fool? An altruist? I don't know. What are you?
FISHWICK: Well, I sell buses. I'm there from Burnley, who sells buses. But what happened is my customers were coming to me and they couldn't get
funding. So I thought, well, I'll lend them the money. They paid me back.
I thought this banking malarkey is not that difficult. And then I thought I can help other businesses as well, and that's what gives us the idea for
the Bank of Dave.
QUEST: Right, and the Bank of Dave, which is doing gangbusters business, but you're not affected by the Bank of England, when it raised interest
rates as it has over the last 18 months because you pay a fixed amount, which is bizarre in itself.
FISHWICK: Yes, we pay a fixed amount, we give the service a fixed amount and what we do is anybody we can get them a cheaper loan, we will actually
broker them out and get them the best loan we possibly can. Because all we're interested in doing is helping.
It is a community operation run by the community to benefit the community, rather than the bonus culture.
QUEST: When we now look at the inflation, and the higher rates that your savers and your borrowers will be paying what are you seeing the cold face
of the northern economy in terms of people's hard times, as mortgages have doubled, energy prices have more than doubled.
FISHWICK: Absolutely, people are writing to us all the time. They are saying, Dave, we've got a problem. I've even got people writing to me
asking me for a loan for formula, baby milk. People are saying the mortgages are doubling.
I mean, there's such a lot of people out there having problems. We need to do something about this. When you've got one side of society wanting
millions and millions of pounds in bonuses, the big banks, and then you've got another side of society, that we're actually feeding children. I've got
schools writing to me saying, Dave, can we have some money to feed the kids in a morning? And we've been giving it to them. We are supporting food
banks.
The world's just gone bonkers and people who rob banks go to prison, but banks who rob people get paid bonuses and that has to stop.
QUEST: Are you anti-bank?
FISHWICK: No.
[15:25:06]
QUEST: And I say that because, you know, having seen the film and spoken to you and just listening to you now, I mean, you are anti-bank.
FISHWICK: Well, big banks, I just think they forgot what they're there for.
I mean in the furlough, Burnley Savings and Loan didn't take a penny in furlough. We didn't take a penny in grants. We didn't take a penny, and all
the big banks did. They had been bailed out twice now, all over the world, and they forgot what they were there for in the first place.
They shut in 60 banks a month, Richard, that's two a day. You know and post offices are supposed to then help them out. I mean, post office sell stamps
and birthday cards, how are they going to give you business advice?
We need banks to go back to doing what they were there for in the first place. They were there to help people get mortgages, start businesses, and
give a decent rate of savings. They forgot all about that now.
QUEST: You know, I'm thinking there's a lot of similarities in the sense of the savings and loans in the United States, the old S&Ls, they came to a
very messy end back in the 1990s as you will be well aware. I guess, you still have to be careful, Dave, even though, you know, I mean, you've got
your many other business enterprises. Lending money is a very fine art of risk management.
FISHWICK: Yes, I've got my right arm, David H., 55 years in banking. He manually underwrites, Richard. He looks at people as people. How can a
computer 300 miles away make a decision on a florist in Accrington?
You know, David looks if they've had a problem, and if they have, hey will say to them, all right, okay, have they gone over it? They've had a bump in
the road in their life. They've not paid a credit card bill, but they've got over it now. Maybe they got divorced in the past.
But we look at people as people and this new artificial intelligence, David says, look there's nothing wrong with normal intelligence. We don't need
this artificial stuff.
QUEST: Good northern -- good northern common sense. Of course, I come from the north myself.
Listen, Dave, make me a promise. When we come up to Burnley in the next few months, you'll meet up with me and take me around and show me where the
best place to get a full English.
FISHWICK: Well, and also, I'd love you to meet some of the businesses that we've helped as well. There's one guy building boat on top of a hill. He
has been seen in the movie and now a senator from America is coming to buy a boat off him. You're going to get there first. You might buy one as well,
Richard, the Bank of Richard, it's coming.
QUEST: The Bank of Dick, absolutely not, and I'm certainly not buying a boat. I can think of -- no, no, forget the boat.
Dave, thank you very much. Honored to have you on the program tonight.
FISHWICK: Thank you as well.
QUEST: Coming up on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, and it is straight out of science fiction, leads to a medical breakthrough.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are paralyzed with your hands and you can just open and close. It's a new change. Suddenly you can eat. You are gaining
independence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:31:38]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): Hello, I'm Richard Quest with a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS as we progress. Hollywood writers are heading back, some say the
new contract deal doesn't do enough to protect them against the AI issue.
The chief exec of KAYAK on air travel etiquette, what do you do?
What do I do that I shouldn't?
Before we get to any of that, this is CNN and on this network the news will always come first.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST (voice-over): Authorities say at least nine people have been arrested after a deadly fire at a wedding in northern Iraq on Tuesday. Officials say
the fire spread fast through the building, because illegal cladding materials had been used. At least 100 people were killed and 150 were
injured. The bride and groom managed to get out alive.
Nearly half the population of Nagorno-Karabakh have left the region. More than 53,000 people have crossed the border into Armenia. They began fleeing
the disputed territory inside Azerbaijan last week.
The White House says Israel will be joining the U.S. waiver program, which allows Israeli citizens to enter the United States without a visa and vice
versa. Some U.S. senators have raised concern about the move, citing the treatment Palestinian American travelers have been subject to when visiting
Israel.
United Auto Workers union appears ready to stand its strike against GM and Stellantis. GM announced a contract may be announced as early as Friday. If
contract talks have not progressed, the union may also expand their strike and include against Ford this time around.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: It took 148 days but Hollywood's writers are going back to work after leaders of the Writers Guild of America unanimously voted to end
their strike. It reached a deal with the big studios.
Amongst the deal, increases to pay and benefits. Compensation for guarantees for shows that are aired or streaming and new rules around the
role of artificial intelligence. The potential for AI was a major issue. According to a summary of the deal, studios have agreed that AI can't write
or rewrite literary material.
Any AI generated material given to a writer has to be disclosed. For those who are not happy, veteran medical executive Barry Diller said on CNBC, the
paragraph protects nothing from no one.
Bill Wolkoff is a television writer and producer and joins me from Los Angeles.
First question, how difficult was it becoming on strike for that long?
The economic times are starting to get tough.
BILL WOLKOFF, TELEVISION WRITER AND PRODUCER: It was a challenge to say the least, Richard. But I was happy to be out there. And would have stayed out
longer if necessary. I was -- and so was the membership that I was with.
[15:35:00]
QUEST: OK, so I've seen the money bit. That's nice. The streaming residuals, that's a much better and you're not going to hope you get honest
numbers about the data because you get a bonus if the streaming goes well. So that's good, too.
WOLKOFF: That's massive. We never had -- those were all things that the studios and companies said from the beginning we would never ever get. And
that's only, you know, a few of the things they said that we would never get.
There's many others, like guarantees for writing staffs and keeping writers on through production and paying into the pension and health for writing
teams as individuals. So this is all huge.
QUEST: Right. So now let's go to the biggie, AI. Now as you heard me say, Barry Diller thinks you got nothing for no one. The wording is vague; it's
a principle rather than a practice. They have to disclose it. But you know, you can't hold back the tide. And you know AI's coming.
So it's really about -- are you happy with the AI agreement?
WOLKOFF: I am. Here I am on your show, pushing back against Barry Diller a little bit. But I'm going to. Every contract is always stress-tested the
moment it's written.
Is it happening now?
One hundred percent. Barry Diller has a great mind. Maybe he's seeing things I am not seeing but we have protections against writers being handed
scripts generated by AI. And that seems to me hard to get around.
But I will admit, there is one thing I don't see in the contract that I would have liked to have seen and that is having our training data -- in
other words the scripts that we write -- protected. Right now the studios and the companies can still use the scripts that we write for training
data.
And that's something I think we have to continue fighting for. I think we need to fight for that on a legislative level beyond this contract.
QUEST: All right. So you go back to work.
What is the first thing you're going to write?
(LAUGHTER)
WOLKOFF: I'm a "Star Trek" writer. I write on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." I'm very, very excited to get to go back to work on that show.
That is when SAG-AFTRA resolves their contract and the actors can come back also. We'll probably go back to writing that before them but I'm thrilled
to go back to that.
QUEST: Bill, when somebody clones you through AI in your style, come back and talk to me about it and we'll have a look. Thank you very much,
congratulations on the strike being over. And now get back writing. Thank you, sir.
WOLKOFF: Thank you, Richard, thanks for having me on.
QUEST: Delighted.
Medical breakthrough now, more AI. A Swiss man who was paralyzed after an accident is regaining some movement and it's with the help of a new brain
implant. Nick Watt has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVE MARVER, CEO, ONWARD: If you talk to people with paralysis, it's their number one priority. They want to restore hand and arm function, even above
the ability to stand and walk again.
NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here is how it works, an implant is placed on the brain above the motor cortex. AI in
that implant deciphers intent to move arms, hands, fingers; then relays that information wirelessly to another implant in the body, so bypassing
the damaged spine.
AI in that implant triggers the right muscles to actually make those movements. They call this thought-driven movement. Dr. Jocelyne Bloch
performed the surgery.
DR. JOCELYNE BLOCH, NEUROSURGEON, LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: We remove a bit of bone, replace this piece of bone by this set of electrodes and then
we close the skin. This implant is going to work wirelessly and activate the spine cord stimulation.
WATT (voice-over): Her partner, a neuroscientist, first had this sci-fi idea years ago and then waited for tech to catch up.
GREGOIRE COURTINE, NEUROSCIENTIST: If you are paralyzed in your hand and you can just open and close, it's a huge change. So then you can eat. You
are gaining independence. The change in the activity of the living is dramatic. This is why this new project is so exciting.
WATT (voice-over): We met Block and Gregoire Courtine in July to discuss their previous project, another world first, fitting a similar device to
this man, who lost the use of his legs after a bicycle accident.
GERT-JAN OSKAM, CYCLIST AND PARALYTIC: Now the implants are able to capture my thoughts of walking --
[15:40:00]
OSKAM: -- and able to transfer to the stimulator in my lower back.
WATT (voice-over): But they say restoring arm and hand function is actually harder.
MARVER: It's more refined, especially if we want to extend the restoration of movement to the fingers and not just the arms, so help them grasp
something or help them use individual digits.
WATT (voice-over): "While it is still too early to provide full results," Onward told us, "we are pleased to report that the technology works as
expected and appears to successfully reanimate his paralyzed arms, hands and fingers."
MARVER: We'll learn a lot from that first person, then we'll expand to four or five people and then if that goes well, we'll conduct a global pivotal
trial and hopefully get FDA approval and make it available.
WATT: A lot of work still to be done for sure but they, with these trial surgeries, have proved this can be done, something many people thought was
impossible, restoring movement after a spinal cord injury. One legal ethicist told me, so many people could benefit from this that we have an
ethical imperative to continue this research.
We looked into this and so much more for an episode of "THE WHOLE STORY," airing here on CNN next month -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now the basic rules of air travel, besides courtesy, get there early, no liquids through security and on it goes. Well, KAYAK took it to
the next level and has now listed dozens of rules for travelers to follow. The chief executive of KAYAK will be with me after the break. QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
QUEST: So when I think of seaweed, I probably think of the beach or perhaps a sushi roll. Well Vincent Doumeizel believes it may be our planet's
greatest untapped resource. He's the guest editor for our Call to Earth series this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): There are around 800 species of seaweed found in the waters off Brittany's Coast, believed to be the largest
seaweed field in Europe.
VINCENT DOUMEIZEL, FOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR, LLOYD'S REGISTER FOUNDATION (voice-over): I love it. I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): According to Vincent Doumeizel, in order for seaweed to reach its potential as the planet saving force of nature he
believes it is, one slight modification could do it some good.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): The first thing to do may be to change the name of the seaweed. It's not something unwanted that grows in your garden.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The food industry veteran wasn't always so passionate about algae. He began his career in Africa where he says he
witnessed true hunger and it changed the trajectory of his work.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): I decided to spend the rest of my life supporting a more sustainable food industry, a more efficient food industry in order to
feed these billion people that is starving today.
And after 20 years, I simply realized that there was no solution on land. And the food systems we have built became the biggest contributor to
climate change, to water scarcity, soil depletion, biodiversity loss and to social injustice.
Beautiful baby.
[15:45:00]
(LAUGHTER)
So we see here a gremonier (ph). So someone who is collecting wild seaweed from the deeper ocean, using a Scooby-Doo (ph) which is a very traditional
tool. There are a very limited number of boats that are allowed to do that, of course. And it's very, very well monitored because you don't want to do
it too much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The harvesting of wild seaweed is considered to be less ecofriendly than farming it and in fact represents a
small fraction of total global production, around 2 percent, according to the WWF. But it continues to play an integral role in the livelihoods of
many coastal communities.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): Yes, it's a very important industry for the last two centuries here because, of course it's the main place for seaweed
collection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): A species of brown algae known as laminaria flourishes in the cold waters here.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): These are quite sticky. They really looks like plastic.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): It's sought after because it's rich in a biomaterial called alginate, a naturally gelling substance already used in
many products, including a new and innovative approach to tackling plastic waste.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): So you go picnic, you want to have a lunch.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): You will open the sachet, you will pour the oil in your salad. And then, when it's done, you can throw it away in the ocean
and it will get back to nature.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The sachet is made by London-based start- up Nautler (ph), which produces a variety of plastic free packaging products made from brown seaweed and plants.
DOUMEIZEL (voice-over): And you can do even better, you know, You can -- here is the packaging. Just like a collet (ph) of ice cream. So that's most
recyclable packaging you can think of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: You can see the full story of why seaweed could be one of the most valuable resources. It is our documentary, "Call to Earth, Sea of Hope." It
is this weekend on CNN.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:37]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Yay.
And so we have a --
QUEST (voice-over): That's me breaking one of KAYAK's rules of air travel back in 2018. You're not supposed to clap when the planes land because a
slight majority of sites used is on KAYAK said it's pointless, the crew can't hear anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The KAYAK guidelines are extensive and some will come as a surprise. For instance, feel free to skip ahead in the security line if you're late.
Most people say they don't really mind.
Chatting to your seat mates, that's better than talking to friends in other rows and it is quite acceptable.
And here's something that's definitely prohibited, bare feet. Your fellow passengers would prefer you to keep your shoes and socks on.
My husband Chris has never forgiven me, ever since he saw me changing the channel on the video monitor with my bare foot. KAYAK CEO Steve Hafner
joins me from Miami.
I'm guessing -- he was horrified and has never let me forget it. I'm guessing that's an absolute no-no.
What is the difference between using my foot and using my finger?
STEVE HAFNER, CEO, KAYAK: It depends on what you put in your shoes, Richard.
Oh, my, yes, that's a definite no-no. Thanks for having me on, by the way. Great to see you.
QUEST: Good to see you.
I'm looking down the list. You are allowed to watch your seatmate's screen because people don't think that's weird. And I have to say, I've spent
whole flights, watching the seat across the aisle without any sound and enjoying the movie.
HAFNER: You know, some movies are better without sound.
(LAUGHTER)
HAFNER: But, yes, it is a pretty fun package of plain etiquette, some of the stuff I think would be common sense. But it seems like every day in the
news there is another report of unruly passengers.
So our marketing department decided to have a little fun and asked 1,000 people in the U.S. and Canada what the rules were. And there's a lot of
good nuggets there and some surprise and consensus, too.
QUEST: And I just -- you've also come up with this new tool to help you score best holiday flights. And how that's -- I mean I'm the worst at this
because I wait and wait and wait, even though I know the principles of dynamic pricing, and then I'm surprised when the management tells me I've
got to pay twice as much.
HAFNER: Well, the airlines thank you for your purchasing behavior. But for everyone else in your audience, you know, you can use this new tool. If you
tell KAYAK your travel dates, the preferred length, that is, and where you'd like to go, the city pair, we'll search our database and tell you
what is the best time to try to get a great deal.
If you are flexible in your travel plans in terms of dates, we can actually help you save a ton of money. And airfares right now, they're coming down
but they're still at pretty high levels. So it's something your audience could really use.
QUEST: And if we see oil going over $100 a barrel, it won't be long before either the surcharges go back up or we see. So there's this interesting
moment. It was a very busy summer and it was a pretty horrible summer as well for many fliers.
And there's no indication to me that it's going to ease off because the bucket list and the unpent demand is still there.
HAFNER: I would quibble with that. You know, based on the data that we have at KAYAK, it seems like we're heading into a more traditional fall travel
season, which means fewer people traveling than over the summer.
And that's being reflected in the prices we see. Airfares are about down 5 percent from this time last year; hotel rates are down 9 percent from last
year except in New York City because of the Airbnb effect.
And then rental cars are down 16 percent versus last year. So prices are falling, not to say that it's cheap. It is still certainly expensive to
fly. Most would say still too expensive to fly but it is getting better.
QUEST: Right, but you know, every flight I'm on is full.
[15:55:00]
QUEST: It is extraordinary at the moment. I flew from London on Friday night packed, it will be packed when I fly back again, which I suppose is
good at one level but it does make finding the bargains that little bit more difficult, particularly if you don't really want to book early.
HAFNER: Yes. I mean, look, the biggest change that's gone on in the airline industry is -- coming out of the pandemic is business travelers haven't
come back in full force, which means that they're not subsidizing the folks in the back like me.
So you know, the leisure fares feel high and then occupancy in the back of the plane is also high. And that's because you don't have first class and
business class paying the same amount as before, where airlines could afford to keep fares high and keep the back relatively empty.
QUEST: Steve, you'll be delighted to know my husband, Chris, has just texted to me, that he is delighted that you are as horrified by my actions
as he clearly was. Good to see you as always, sir, thank you for joining us.
HAFNER: Good to see you, too.
QUEST: We'll have a Profitable Moment after the break.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment: I was thrilled to meet Dave Detrick (sic), of course, from the Bank of Dave. What I love most is he didn't
disappoint. He was every much the generous, warm hearted person I was hoping he would be.
After all, he is the man who started the Bank of Dave, which matches lenders with borrowers and, therefore, allows people who can't get loans to
get decent loans out of himself, all with fixed interest rates.
It's not banking in the traditional sense but it's banking in the truly traditional sense, where those who need money for good reasons can get it.
And now, of course, he's looking at whether he should set up a full bank. He's looking at all the necessary mechanisms for doing. That
But I think his message tonight was very clear, particularly in hard economic times.
When people are having to decide, do I feed the children or do I feed myself?
Or can I eat out for both?
Who would have thought it, 2023, and people are having to make those sorts of decisions while bankers are creaming off billions in bonuses and
profits.
Having Dave Detrick (sic) on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight was a privilege because we got to see just how good banking can be. That's QUEST MEANS
BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. The closing bell is ringing on
Wall Street.
END
