Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
U.N Releases Scathing Report on South Sudan; Syria is Devastated By War Making All Structures a Target; Human Trails DeepMind Computer 2-0 in "Go" Tournament; An Empty Shenfu is the Remnant of China's Rapid Expansion; President Obama Says Tech Can Help Make Us Informed Voters; French Law Aims to Reduce Food Waste
Aired March 11, 2016 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: Strong day on the market after all the uncertainty, and betwixt and between. But now more than 200 points higher on the Dow
Jones. As it is gavel is hit. Trading comes to an end. They're getting more robust, more firm well it is Friday. It's the 11th of March.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It's a case of not so bad after all. Stock markets have a change of heart. We'll see what might be causing this difference of opinion.
Stay seated and don't move towards the exit. Easy Jet's Chief Executive tells me a "brexit" is bad for customers.
And go forth and conquer. As machine beats man, I discuss the future of artificial intelligence with the renowned physicist, Michio Kaku.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest. It's a Friday and of course I mean business.
Good evening from London. Traders take an anti-acid pill and the markets have returned to green.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: On Wall Street as you've just seen, the Dow surged back over the 17,000 mark quite comfortably so. A gain of 216 points. The S&P and the
NASDAQ were up also very strongly fueled by a rise in oil prices. That perversion continues. Look at those green arrows, doesn't matter where you
look, from China, where stocks rallied as the Bank of China pushed the Yuan higher against the dollar.
In Europe, investors are still digesting the ECB stimulus. The bank shares are up sharply. Which is somewhat unusual. The ECB though is going to pay
banks to borrow it's so called targeted longer term refinancing operations, TLRTOs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It was a complete turnaround from Thursday. When Mario Draghi remarked that rates weren't likely to fall further and that sent investors
running to the exit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO DRAGHI, PRESIDENT EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: Let me say that rates will stay low, very low, for a long period of time. And well past the horizon of
our (inaudible). From today's perspective, taking into account the support of our measures to growth and inflation, we don't anticipate that it will
be necessary to reduce rates further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Reduce rates further, no necessity. We'll talk more about that in a moment. Also factoring into the markets, the International Energy Agency,
the IEA. A note of cautious optimism that oil prices may have hit what they believe is light at the end of the tunnel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The energy watchdog says there may be light at the end of what's been a very long dark tunnel. Low prices finally forcing high cost
producers to cut supply.
U.S. output will slow by 530,000 barrels a day, and the rig count, that's the other big number that they follow very closely, fell on Friday. Iran's
return to the market has been slower than expected. Supply and demand to balance sometime in 2017 but they can't or won't say exactly when they
believe that will happen. Overall, they describe it as sound but not rock solid in terms of demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Joining me now, Stephanie Flanders, the Chief Market Strategist for Britain and Europe at JP Morgan Asset Management. Good to see you.
How nice to be here.
STEPHANIE FLANDERS, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST FOR BRITAIN AND EUROPE, JP MORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: Nice to have you in London.
QUEST: And it's good to be here. Let's start first of all, the markets clearly saw something today that they haven't seen so far. What was it?
FLANDERS: I think it was a sort of sense of stabilization on some of the things that had been animating us over the last few months. Whether it was
the oil price. You mentioned China. Just a sort of hint of stability from the authorities there on the exchange rate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLANDERS: I think also the sort of ground settling around the ECB's decision. You know you had that big positive reaction when the
announcements were first made. They were acting on all those different fronts. Then the reaction to Mario Draghi's comments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FLANDERS: And people couldn't work out whether they were going to be - whether they should be excited about the current moves or worried about the
fact that there weren't going to be anymore. And we may see that dynamic again but for the moment they've just decided to be - well today we decided
to be excited about the current move.
QUEST: With mature reflection now of 24 hours, this idea that there will be no -- he doesn't anticipate no further rate cuts to come. It's a more
nuanced view than that because there's many things he can do at the margins with rates not necessarily cutting the repo rate.
[16:05:00]
FLANDERS: Yes, although I think there is a reason why people took fright at that. Because it pointed to the sort of internal conflicts you have with
policy at this lower bound.
Remember Richard, he'd also said, I don't know, about 40 basis points ago that that was the lower bound, or maybe 30 basis points when it just went
into negative territory, that rate. So they have to -- they wanted to give some reassurance to the banking sector for the banks to carry on lending
that there aren't going to be a lot more negative rate cuts. But at the same time, they have to reassure the world that there's no limit to Central
Bank action, that they can still help the global economy. It's a very difficult balancing act.
QUEST: What's left in his arsenal, if he almost has restricted, although he can always reverse himself, no further rate cuts, and he's got his LTROs,
which is four years, which is an extremely interesting departure in that sense. What else has he got left?
FLANDERS: Well one of the things they didn't do was they didn't talk about -- they didn't extend the program of quantitative easing of the actual bond
purchases beyond March of 2017.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLANDERS: Some people thought they might do that. So they could do that. He could emphasize it's open ended like the Japanese plan and for a while, the
foreign reserve.
QUEST: And he can also buy any old rubbish that he finds round the back. You know he could - he could --
FLANDERS: Well, I think some of the German critics inside the Bundesbank would say they're are already doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: They're already doing that, I mean this -- it's increase to - in this range of assets, and the eligibility of assets. Do you get the
feeling that they've reached desperation yet?
FLANDERS: Well, I think the fact that they had to do so much different things and they were so clever and careful in what they did shows that
policy's a lot more complicated in this environment and yes, that there is going to be diminishing returns and inevitably less room for them to act.
QUEST: Finally, he said yesterday - and it's only with again reflection. He said yesterday that there's no deflation. And yet you have this tremendous
reduction in the inflation forecast. Only a certain amount of which can be predicated to lower oil prices. Unless it feeds into inflationary
expectations.
FLANDERS: Well, remember the definition of deflation is actually falling prices. So as long as you're got a positive inflation rate or you're
expecting at least a positive inflation rate, you can say there's no deflation. But he has talked himself about the disinflationary pressure in
the Eurozone and as you say that's not just the falling oil price.
QUEST: Good to see you, thank you.
FLANDERS: Good to see you Richard.
QUEST: How lovely to be here with you in person. Thank you.
Now when it comes to the U.K's place in the European Union, it's all about business.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The Chief Executive of Easy Jet lays out the airline's case. It's the airlines case for wanting Britain to stay in the E.U. You'll hear from
Carolyn McCall after the break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Easy Jet customers are better off if the U.K. remains in the European Union. The Chief Executive of the airline, Carolyn McCall, told me
that was the reason why the low-cost carrier is anti-brexit. I sat down with her on the eve of my low-cost round the world #flywithquest. We'll
talk about that in just a moment.
First, Carolyn McCall to explain why Easy Jet thinks Britain is better off in the E.U.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLYN MCCALL, EASY JET CEO: We've made our position as Easy Jet very clear. The first thing to say is it's not political. In this country,
anything to do with "brexit" seems to be an political football. For Easy Jet, it is not the political argument, it is basically about our consumers.
And we have been very clear. We've said that actually we believe consumers of aviation, it is better to stay in the E.U. and the reason -- in a
reformed E.U.
[16:10:14]
MCCALL: And the reason for that is there's no regulatory burden about flying freely across Europe. We can go to all sorts of places, anywhere we
choose, without getting any permissions whatsoever and we can do that at low fare because there's no regulatory burden. And if we are not in the
E.U., our government will have to renegotiate all of those agreements either with a trade bloc, the E.U. or individual countries. That is going
to take quite a long time and we will be joining a cue of other sectors that will have to renegotiate terms. So we've been very clear, it's a
passenger focus point of view.
QUEST: So really, when this whole issue comes up, it is the uncertainty, it is the what if that becomes the issue for yourself.
MCCALL: Well, I think it's a combination of knowing that we can fly freely, simply, with no administrative complexity across all these borders you see
here, and trying to negotiate with each of those countries is going to be onerous. It's not just the uncertainty, it's the transition. And then I
don't know where that leaves Britain in the future, I don't know.
QUEST: Low cost versus legacies. You're all meeting in the middle. I mean, the legacy - yes, the legacies are going this way. You're going this way.
You're meeting in the middle.
MCCALL: Richard, that's rubbish, you know that's rubbish. You just said to me that you have flown a perfectly decent low-cost long haul airline from
New York, but you know that you would get a completely flat bed and a completely different level of service and a lounge to shower in when you
arrived with a legacy airline that makes a huge amount of money out of business class.
What we do for Europe is really, really good, but we don't have, you know, the thrills, the fancies, the kind of, you know, for an hour's flight, for
hour and a half flight, the legacy carriers do a whole lot of stuff that we absolutely don't do and we'll never do because it's prohibitively expensive
and that is not our model. Our model is to be simple, efficient, friendly, speedy. That's Easy Jet.
QUEST: But what they want to do is to lower their bar just sufficiently so that they can pick off some of those people that would go to you. So that
the bag in the hold, extra. Or whatever -- they want to have a product that makes it the more difficult.
MCCALL: Now, 95% of business passengers who fly with Easy Jet fly again with Easy Jet, they re-book. And 78% of people who fly on holiday with Easy
Jet rebook immediately that they come back. So our loyalty of passengers is important. It's important to us. I think it's important to them. And we
will keep that.
QUEST: Final piece of advice from you, please? I'm going 10 airlines, 9 countries.
MCCALL: You're going to love it.
QUEST: You want to come with? Any advice?
MCCALL: I just think -- no, not really. I think enjoy it. I think it'll be brilliant actually, I think it'll be brilliant. I think flying is
fantastic, don't you think? Being able to get from a to b in the way we can now, at a low fare, with people smiling at you all the time on Easy Jet is
a fantastic thing to do. You can get there and back in a day. It's an amazing thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Carolyn McCall of Easy Jet. More now on the round the world trip, the round the world trip that begins with Easy Jet tomorrow. In the coming
hours, I'll be embarking on an epic adventure. Ten airlines. Nine countries. Eight days. One journey around the world in low cost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'll be traveling, look there we go, off we go around the world. I'll be traveling with two producers and a photographer. There are rules to
what we are doing. The first rule. The journey must start and end at London Gatwick. We can only travel in one direction, so no backtracking. We must
cross the Atlantic and the Pacific once. And we must fly low cost economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: You can follow me on social media as we travel, #flywithquest. Simon Calder is the Travel Editor for The Independent. Good to see you, sir.
SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL EDITOR, THE INDEPENDENT: Very nice to see you.
QUEST: You see - you see why we're doing it.
CALDER: Well, I understand what you're doing, but Richard, I've followed you for years, you've done things like go around the world in economy but
on legacy carriers where they look after you. You've gone across America by Amtrak. I've even been on a (inaudible) to Albania with you but I think
this is the maddest thing you've come up with. It's point to point. You just get on an aircraft, you sit there quietly for an hour or two, or in
your case, up to ten hours, and you get off the other end. You're not trying to connect. That's not what's supposed to happen. That's why the
legacy airlines are still there.
[16:15:20]
QUEST: Right but we are aiming to show how important these airlines are. Now, they are -- come on Simon, they are the backbone of intra-continent
travel.
CALDER: Absolutely, and they are where all the growth has come from in aviation. In fact, if you look just at the U.K. market, if you go back ten
years, all the growth, plus a bit more, has been off the low cost carriers. The legacy carriers have actually fallen back a little bit. So they are the
future. But nobody, apart from you and your long suffering producers and photographer would ever contemplate going around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: But you are the man who's known as the man who always pays his way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALDER: Yes, and that's fine. And I need to get somewhere and I will find the lowest price and I will go for it. By the way, I've followed the rules.
Obviously you can only deal with stuff -- one thing I've learned recently is always pay for a lounge if you can. So I've just been over to Poland, I
paid $20 to get back, I paid $20 to use the lounge in (inaudible) airport. I imagine you're able to do that. I'll sub you the money for the first one.
QUEST: I'll take it off you. All right so I'm allowed to do that. What other advice would you give? So we'll use lounges, we'll buy lounges
because I mean it could get a bit whiffy. Although we are overnighting - we are overnighting. In transit hotels where available. Or the nearest airport
hotel. Send me a challenge or give me something that I have to do on - while I'm going.
CALDER: OK. You have to make a friend on every single flight. That could be crew, it could be a fellow passenger. But you have to find somebody, engage
with them, as you're really quite good at doing, and just learn something from them. And I think actually of course I'm going to sit here and say
best thing you can do Richard, is cancel the whole lot except you won't get your money back. This is low-cost air travel.
But I'm actually secretly envious. Because you're just going to see - because the aircrafts are all the same, there's an Airbus A-370, it's a
737. But how does it work in different cultures, what sort of people are onboard these flights? It's going to be absolutely fascinating. I'm so
looking forward to following flywithquest# but I'm very looking forward to not being on those planes with you with the greatest respect.
QUEST: Thank you, sir.
CALDER: Thank you.
QUEST: Thank you very much.
CALDER: Good luck and may all your non-connections connect.
QUEST: This was said with a certain Schadenfreude of what happened. #flywithquest. It starts tomorrow morning, Easy Jet from London Gatwick to
Brussels International and then we change airports. More on that.
A formal rival endorses Donald Trump for U.S. President and says there are two Trumps.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Two Trumps? We'll explain after the break. Quest Means Business. [ bell rings ]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back. Quest Means Business in London. Now if one Donald Trump is not enough for you, Ben Carson said there are actually two, a
public and a private one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Carson formerly Trump's rival has now endorsed the current Republican frontrunner. Sunlen Serfaty has more.
TRUMP: I think it's time to end the debates.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump today is signaling he's ready to move beyond the primary battle. Throwing cold water on the idea of
more debates.
TRUMP: How many times do you to give the same answer to the same question?
SERFATY: The GOP front-runner also rolling out the endorsement of Dr. Ben Carson.
BEN CARSON, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A much more reasonable person than comes across.
SERFATY: The one-time rivals burying the hatchet.
CARSON: There are two different Donald Trumps. There's the one you see on the stage and there's the one who's very cerebral.
SERFATY: That characterization one that Trump is two minds about.
TRUMP: I probably do agree, I think there are two Donald Trumps. I don't think there's two Donald Trumps. I think there's one Donald Trump.
SERFATY: The Carson coming on the heels of Thursday night's CNN debate.
TRUMP: I cannot believe how civil it's been up here.
SERFATY: Trump's rivals largely taking a hands off approach. Highlighting differences on issues over personal insults. Rubio rebuking Trump for his
comments to CNN that Islam hates us.
TRUMP: There's something going on that maybe you don't know about and maybe a lot of other people don't know about but there's tremendous hatred and I
will stick with exactly what I said to Anderson Cooper.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not interested in being politically correct, I'm interested in being correct.
SERFATY: Trump is urging the party to unite behind his candidacy.
TRUMP: I just say embrace these millions of people that now, for the first time ever, love the Republican party and unify, be smart and unify.
SERFATY: But his opponents are not having it. Marco Rubio is encouraging voters in Ohio to support John Kasich if they want to stop Trump.
RUBIO: Clearly John Kasich -- has a better chance of winning Ohio than I do. And if a voter in Ohio concludes that voting for John Kasich gives us
the best chance to stop Donald Trump there, I anticipate that's what they'll do.
SERFATY: And saying he is the only option for defeating Trump in Florida.
RUBIO: If you want to stop Donald Trump in Florida, any vote but a vote for me is a vote for Donald Trump.
SERFATY: Ted Cruz still trying to present himself as a only viable option to derail Trump's march to the nomination.
TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm just laughing because it's the Washington establishment's last gas, let's divide things up, let's
play games. It's real, real simple, how do you beat Donald Trump? You beat him. You beat him at the ballot box.
SERFATY: With Kasich and Trump in a tough battle for Ohio, Trump is launching a full-scale attack on the Ohio Governor, releasing this new
television ad today.
[VIDEO PLAYING] John Kasich has been an absentee governor, spending most of his time everywhere but Ohio, especially Michigan, the latest disaster in
his failing presidential bid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: CNN's senior political analyst is David Gergen, joins me now from New York. David this is, this is getting fascinating. I mean it was
fascinating before. Now we're being told, two Donald Trumps. But this is what many of his supporters genuinely believe, isn't it, that he's using
the bravado or braggio to get the nomination but actually there's a much more serious man underneath.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, but first of all, Richard, as you set upon your long trip tomorrow, I hope you have a lot of exit row
seats. You're going to need them.
QUEST: Come along with, come on David, I'll buy you a ticket.
GERGEN: Your mind will be fine when it's over but your body may be in a revolt. Look, there are two Donald Trumps, there are at least two Donald
Trumps. I've had personal experience with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: I took a class of Harvard students in to see him before he started running. He sat with them for an hour and a half, absolutely charming. They
came away feeling wow, he was interesting, he was calm, he was funny, but he was very smart. And then you've got this theatrical Donald Trump who is
I think part of that is a show. People take on a public persona.
I'm sure a lot of your viewers will ask -- are there Richard Quests? You know can he be - possibly be this sort of like hyper in private or would he
be a much - sort of different fellow?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: And the truth is we all know that psychologists have told us going back to Carl Young who say contemporary of Freud's, as you know, he argued
that all of us have a bright side and a dark side and the goal in life is to somehow integrate those two.
And since then psychologists have told us we have multiple personalities so yes, there's a theatrical trump, and yes there's this calmer person in
private. But we need to know about who those other Donald Trumps are before the election. Who is he when he's not on stage? Who is he when he deals
with business? Who is he when his temper erupts? And one here's stories about how like he can be totally threatening sometimes in a private
setting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: The voters deserve to know today when issues are so complex, we need to know a lot about the character and personality of the person who
runs the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:25:07]
QUEST: He today was sounding, even in last night's debate and in today's announcement, he's sounding more Presidential. He's cloaking himself with
that gravitas. But he's going to have to be saddled with the policies that he's put on the table which includes of course building the wall.
GERGEN: Yes, I think you're absolutely right, that he is evolving as a candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: He's beginning to change his public persona. But he is not only going to be saddled with the policies that he's embraced such as the wall
and deporting 11 million people and keeping all Muslims out. But also the kind of rhetoric that he's used, which has been sort of crude at times and
sort of very unpresidential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: And then there's this growing question Richard, it's very hot in the United States right now, about the punching that's taking place, the
violence that is beginning to erupt in some of his rallies against people who have come and protest. We've seen videos in the last couple of days
that are really quite horrifying. He has to put a stop to that. He's responsible for the tone of his rallies. And he's got to call people out.
Just as he had to stand up and say, you know, renounce the KKK, he has to set a much more civil tone. Otherwise, these kinds of things are going to
undue him. He has a - if someone who really gets beaten up badly and hospitalized or god forbid dies at one of his rallies, he's going to -- may
not bear a legal responsibility but he will bear moral responsibility.
QUEST: And finally, this idea of tactical voting, which has been around and certainly if you go somewhere like the U.K. where there's a parliamentary
system you do see much more tactical voting taking place. It's not the sort of thing you see that often at the Presidential level. Certainly where one
candidate says vote for the other guy.
GERGEN: Absolutely. And we have had -- we've all been starting to talk about what it's like at a brokered convention when people start making
these kind of tactical moves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERGEN: But we haven't really seen it in primaries this early in this country. As Marco Rubio tried to do, he told his voters - his voters in
another state in Ohio to go vote for a different person, not him, in order to beat Trump. And by the way, the John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio, said
hell no, I'm not doing that, I'm not playing that game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Finally, David, your last chance. You can still make it you know around the world, economy. You're taller than me so -- still time for --
GERGEN: I'm flying to one of your -- I'm going to Dubai in just a few days but I Richard, I'm not flying on the cheap airlines. I must tell you. Good
luck with that. I wish you well. And as I say, I hope your body doesn't revolt before it's over.
QUEST: Thank you very much, David Gergen, I'll see you back in New York when I'm hobbling back into the studio, thank you David.
GERGEN: OK, bye.
QUEST: #flywithquest. We'll have our world headlines in just a moment. It is "Quest Means Business" we're in London tonight good evening to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:49] RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. When President Obama argues
the cool kids make technology work for us and our voting system. As he visits South by Southwest Festival. I'll ask a rock star of the science
world if it's all systems "Go" after this week's milestone for artificial intelligence.
Before any of that, this is CNN, and on this network, the news always come first.
The military in South Sudan has denied accusations by the United Nations that its troops have committed horrendous human rights violations. The
scathing report says South Sudan has operated a scorched earth policy taunting civilians for killing them and rape. U.N. says militias allied
with the government are allowed to rape women in lieu of wages.
Ben Carson is throwing his support behind his formal rival Donald Trump. The retired neurosurgeon praised the Republican front-runner as the voice
of the people to be heard. Dr. Carson says the private Trump is not the same as public Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN CARSON, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are two different Donald Trumps. There's the one you see on the stage and there's
the one who's very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully. You could have a very good conversation with him. And that's
the Donald Trump that you're going to start seeing more and more of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: U.S. authorities now say a longtime adviser to president Putin died of blunt force trauma to the head. Initially Russia claimed the former
Kremlin insider, Mikhail Lesin, suffered a fatal heart attack. He was found dead in a Washington hotel room in November.
The funeral service is now under way for the former U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan. She's being laid to rest next to her husband Ronald Reagan in
California. These are live pictures from Simi Valley from the Ronald Reagan library. Where they're having all sorts of -- rain is pouring down.
The service is under way. Mrs. Reagan died on Sunday. She was 94. The First Lady Michelle Obama, and the Former First Lady, and Presidential
Candidate Hillary Clinton, are also attending the event.
Andy Murray says he's disappointed with his racket sponsor Head. The company has promised to extend its sponsorship of Maria Sharapova despite a
positive drug test in Australia. Murray, the men's world tennis number two, says, "Sharapova must accept responsibility for failing the test."
Sharapova will be provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation from this weekend and faces up to a four-year ban. The chief
executive of Head told this program why the company's sticking with the five-time grand slam champion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHAN ELIASCH, CEO, HEAD: Was this done by with the intent to gain an unfair advantage or was this a mistake. And the conclusion that we came
to, having deliberated on this, was entirely clear. All the circumstantial evidence points that this was an honest mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tonight a shocking new U.N. report condemning South Sudan, where there are horrific allegations. And the South Sudanese official claims
that the report is not genuine. It's not the only atrocity the government is currently being accused of, as Robyn Kriel explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over) It's an all too common scene in South Sudan. Villages destroyed here, bodies littering the
streets. Thousands have been left homeless trying to flee the violence. Now the United Nations accuses South Sudan's government of operating what
it calls a scorched earth policy against its own people.
[16:35:00] DAVID MARSHALL, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION: (on-camera) Which is killing its civilians, displacement, pillaging, abductions, rape and
generally terrorizing the civilian population.
KRIEL: (voice-over) Among the more horrendous abuses detailed in the new report, the U.N. says South Sudan lets fighters rape women as payment. In
another case, Amnesty International says scattered human remains in this field are all that's left after government forces let more than 60 men and
boys suffocate in a shipping container. According to the report, they were suspected of supporting the opposition.
South Sudan's government denies those accusations. A spokesman also says the U.N. report is not genuine and that the military's mission is to
protect the people. Vowing any perpetrators of human rights violations will be brought to justice.
But the country has been racked by years of violence. After gaining its independence in 2011, civil war erupted two years later. Splitting the
already poverty-stricken country along ethnic lines. And while the U.N. says there have been war crimes committed by both sides of the bloody
conflict, they add this.
MARSHALL: (on-camera) The violations in 2015 are predominately the responsibility of the government.
KRIEL: (voice-over) The U.N. says some 50,000 people have died since the fighting broke out. But multiple aid workers tell AFP they believe the
number to be as high as 300,000 killed. Whatever the number, the U.N. calls South Sudan one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the
world. Robin Kriel, CNN, Nairobi, Kenya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, to another war ravaged nation, which is Syria. All next week, CNNs, Clarissa Ward, she will be bring exclusive reports and will take us
on a harrowing journey deep into the heart of a country that's been scarred by five years of conflict. Isolated by devastation. Clarissa Ward will
meet the people still what's left of seemingly -- I mean just look at the pictures. This is what is left. And they still call it home.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over) We had to travel undercover to see a war few outsiders have witnessed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) The Russian planes target anything that works in the interest of the people. The goal is that people here
live a destroyed life, that people never see any good.
WARD: (on camera) There are snipers all around here. But this is the only road now to get into Aleppo.
(voice-over) Aleppo was once Syria's largest city. Now an apocalyptic landscape. Anything civilian infrastructure is a potential target
including hospitals.
(on camera) Is it possible that they did not know that this was a hospital?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) Everyone knows this is a hospital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: This is Clarissa Ward, inside Syria, behind rebel lines, it's an exclusive coverage and it's only on CNN. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, it's a
Friday, we'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Cockiness isn't a human trait purely after all we believe. Google's DeepMind computer hasn't even finished its five game "Go"
tournament against Lee Se-dol, but its programmers are speculating about the next game they'll use to humiliate us humans. It's "StarCraft." It's
a computer game that pits humans against two hostile alien races. This is the next one.
[16:40:00] Now unlike Go or chess where players can see the whole board. It StarCraft players have their opponent's strategy largely secret, and
that makes it more difficult for a computer to play as well. But the mere fact that the DeepMind computer was able to play this game, how significant
is it? Joining me now is the human and futurist, Michio Kaku, and we are absolutely delighted that the professor is with us. He a professor at the
City University of New York and host at "Sci Fi Science" on the Science Channel.
Professor, we always are so pleased when you help us understand these things. Look, it won. It won convincingly and it appeared to learn from
previous mistakes. In other words, it was thinking. You don't agree, do you?
MICHIO KAKU, HOST, "SCI FI SCIENCE," THE SCIENCE CHANNEL: Well, this is a milestone because there are more possible moves in the game of "go" than
all the atoms in the known universe. So this was a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence. But you have to remember that it's an
adding machine. A very sophisticated adding machine that adds so fast it gives the illusion that it's self-aware and that it's innovative. However,
you cannot go to DeepMind and slap on his back and congratulate it for winning, because DeepMind does not even know that it's a machine. It does
not have any self-awareness whatsoever.
QUEST: Why do you put such importance on this concept of self-awareness? I understand it's relevant if we are talking about humanity and
attributable human values. But if you're talking about a machine taking over, once it starts, it just keeps going.
KAKU: Well I'm a fan of the "Terminator" series, however, we are decades away from creating a robot that is aware of itself, that is innovative,
that learns from this experience, that has human interactions and has common sense. For example, ask DeepMind a simple question. Can strings
push as well as pull? You see be we know that strings can pull but not push, but robots don't. Because they have no experience with common sense.
And this is one advantage that we humans have. We learn. We learn from bumping into thinks, but there's no line of mathematics that says that
strings can pull but not push.
QUEST: What do you see as being the benefits of something like DeepMind playing "go"?
KAKU: In the next coming years, we're going to have expert systems like robo doc, robo lawyer and robo accountant. You'll talk to an image in your
intelligent wall screen and you'll talk about your symptoms and robo doc will scan the internet and give you the best medical advice known to
science almost for free. This is going to revolutionize medicine, revolutionize the legal profession, but it won't replace doctors and
lawyers. Paralegals might be replaced. But we still need the human experience. We still need the wisdom of humanity.
QUEST: Professor, finally, how long have I got in this job before DeepMind decides it can do a better job than me?
KAKU: Just realize that you are among the winners. Because of the fact that you have innovation, leadership, talent, analysis, experience, of
which robots have none of the above. So people that are involved with intellectual capital are going to be the winners of the future. That means
of course most of humanity.
QUEST: Thank you very much, professor, good to talk to you. Thanks for putting it into perspective, I feel reassured on a Friday that I might
actually have a future, thank you, sir.
KAKU: Thank you.
QUEST: We will continue this evening. Whilst you -- how very appropriate after talking about DeepMind and "go" -- let us think, let us have "MAKE,
CREATE, INNOVATE."
[16:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:01] QUEST: Investors in China are awaiting key data to be released on Saturday. Its retail sales and the industrial production numbers, it's
all going to give the latest indication and the state of the Chinese economy, as are Asia Pacific Editor, Andrew Stevens, reports. The recent
slowdown is nowhere more obvious than in certain Chinese ghost town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN MONEY, ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR: Shenfu, New Town a city built on hope. A monument to speculation and cheap money. Born from the
construction boom fueled by China's $500 billion stimulus package in 2008. But the one thing missing here is people.
It's 8:30 in the morning in Shenfu, in any other city in the world that would be peak hour. Not here. The old saying is build it and they will
come, well they certainly haven't come yet. Shenfu is Liaoning province in Northeastern China. For a decade Liaoning and its two northern neighbors
were fastest growing in China. But this region has become a casualty of plunging commodity prices and stalling economic growth. It is not known as
the "rust belt."
Billboards around town show what Shenfu should have looked like. But this is what it is. Rows of stores locked up and empty. There windows
advertising what should have been there. And nowhere is that misplaced optimism more pronounced than the city center. The American architect who
designed this was asked to come up with a concept for the heart of the city, and this what he produced this so-called ring of life behind this
artificial lake. Well, I am sharing this view of the ring of life with just a couple of cleaners. And if you look in the buildings all around it,
most of them are either vacant or unfinished.
And it is proving tough to fill them, 56 year old Lee Fu stands by the side of the road for seven hours a day handing out leaflets advertising
apartments. They aren't many takers. At the showroom of her employer, Liaoning Tong Ching, it is also quiet.
(on-camera) So how much of this has been built?
(voice-over) "The sales agent tells me in something of an understatement that this a buyer's market." They say sales started falling in 2013 and
haven't turned around, but it is critical to China's economic growth plan that they do. Places like Shenfu and now a priority for Beijing as the
leadership bets on the property market to help fuel growth.
We spoke to provincial government officials about what their proposals are to try to rehabilitate these areas. They say they are still studying the
plan so the only concrete steps so far are coming from Beijing to turn the property market around. But in the "rust belt" that is going to be a
monumental task.
Andrew Stevens, CNN, Shenfu, New Town, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The South by Southwest Festival brings together some of the most innovative tech lines in the world. It's all about big picture thinking.
And Barak Obama gave the keynote speech there a short time ago. He got to the stage in Austin, Texas, he talked about how technology can get us all
involved and especially in the political process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARAK OBAMA, US. PRESIDENT: We want to make sure that we are using big data, analytics, technology to make civic participation easier. Voters
increasing voting rates and making sure that people are informed about who they're voting for. And why they're voting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, it's all very good to combine technology and politics. One can certainly help the other. But what if your most embarrassing political
moments caught on tape, clipped and then replayed again and again. Which is exactly what's happening to the presidential candidates in the U.S.,
technology and politicians. Here's CNN's.
[16:50:00] JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's happened again.
(VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ, U.S. REPUBLICIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not gonna happen, not gonna happen, not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Oh, yes, it did.
CRUZ: Not gonna happen, not gonna happen, not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Another campaign moment turned into an endless loop. Just like when that eagle pecked Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders danced his way on to
Ellen. The New York Times declared Political GIFs are the new sound bite this campaign season. GIF, Graphics Interchange Format, animated looping
images only seconds long.
(on camera) I know there's a never ending argument over how to pronounce the word. The inventor says it should be jiff, not GIF, jiff as in the
peanut butter. I was turned into a GIF in a matter of moments. Viola. No one's more GIF-able than this guy. GIFs in six second lines, Donald Trump
just did every emoji face on your phone, seven seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You wouldn't want, quote, such a hothead on with his finger on the nuclear codes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: The COO of a company called Giphy with a hard "g" says politicians are getting more savvy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM LEIBSOHN, COO, GIPHY: Candidates turning themselves into sort of like visual language. So like shrugging or finger guns or brushing your
shoulder off like Hillary Clinton did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Her campaign tweeted out a dismissive gesture from the Benghazi hearings as a response to what was said at a Republican debate. Reacting
to another GOP debate, she rubbed her temples.
Marco Rubio became a GIF when he desperately grabbed for a bottle of water. Then Donald Trump's imitation of Rubio likewise became a GIF. But don't
expect any context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: The Cruz moose ear moment came when he imitated his daughter reacting to a TV commentator saying it would be a disaster for Cruz if
Trump won Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ: Jumps up on the couch, sticks both fingers in her ears and goes, not gonna happen, not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: You can expect these to happen and happen and happen and live on in cyber space until the end of time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please clap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ: Not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS: New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ: Not gonna happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And I guarantee you we're going to see many more of those before this political season is over. One man's waste is another man's meal and
France has passed a new law that required large supermarkets to donate unsold food to charities and food banks. Our correspondent in Paris is Jim
Bittermann.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: This is probably not what you envision when you think of dining out in France. The free food
line at a homeless shelter in Paris. Yet food charities estimate that more than 2.5 million people in France depend on food handouts in one form or
another. At the same time, restaurants, food stores and French families dump tons of still edible food products into the trash each year.
Something that has produced what some say now is a sad and far too common sight, scavengers going through other people's discards looking for
something to eat. Some markets and stores have tried to discourage the scavenging. But now in part that is about to change. A new law here
requires larger supermarkets to strike deals with local food banks to donate unsold food to help feed those in need.
(on camera) It's estimated the French waste 7 million tons of food products each year. 700,000 tons of that is from supermarkets which typically throw
out food products when they reach their best before date. But best before does not mean spoiled. The food's still safe to eat. One large
supermarket chain which has fought against food waste for years applauds the new law, especially since it will clear up legal liability issues that
could arise from donating unsold food.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND SWIDERSKI, CARREFOUR: In fact, when you are, for example, 20 days to sell the products and if you did not sell the product after 15 days,
what you can do, you can cut the price and make an offer for your customer. Before two days before expiration date, you just have to donate it. It's
safe. It's the same product. But we are not allowed to sell the product after expiration date, after best before date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BITTERMANN: Food banks are expecting a 15 percent increase in donations because of the new law, a law that's drawing great praise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUES BAILET, PRESIDNT, FRENCH FOOD BANKS: The law will increase in terms of quantity but also which is very important in terms of quality and
diversity. We are currently in need of nutritional balance. We are currently facing a deficit of meat and a lack of fruit and vegetables.
Tomorrow, hopefully, this will help to push for these products.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BITTERMANN: Bailet and others here would like to see the French law duplicated across the European Union.
[16:55:00] But he says that the biggest food wasters are still individuals and families which account for nearly 70 percent of the damaged or out of
date but still edible food that is thrown away. Even so, the president of the French Food Banks calculates the new law will permit charitable
organizations to provide 10 million more meals each year to the needy in France. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: We'll have a Profitable Moment after the break.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's Profitable Moment. Tomorrow morning I start the trip around the world, #flywithQuest, as we go across ten airlines in nine
countries, eight days, and one journey around the world. And of course you'll be able to join me as well, as you follow #flywithQuest. Why are we
doing it? We are doing it because low cost carriers are now the backbone of so much aviation. And we want bring and show you how things have
changed, how things are different, how they are growing.
The new and different ideas that they are involved in. But you can get involved by telling me what it is you would like me to do. As we go to
Brussels, to Prague, to Dubai, to Sri Lanka, all the other places. @RichardQuest, set me a challenge, give me something to do.
Eat a local food, go downtown, see a tourist site, whatever it is, it starts tomorrow morning, it lasts for eight days. It's all low cost. And
it you're coming along for the ride. #flywithQuest.
[17:00:00] That's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I know it will be
profitable.
END
