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Quest Means Business

House Republican Report Blasts Biden And Harris For Chaotic Withdrawal From Afghanistan; GOP Accuses W.H. For Pursuing Afghan Withdrawal "No Matte The Cost"; House Republicans And Democrats Issue Dueling Reports Casting Blame For Mistakes In U.S. Exit From Afghanistan. Apple Unveils iPhone 16 with New AI Features; Google Goes on Trial Over Online Ad Dominance; Princess of Wales Announces End of Chemotherapy Treatment. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 09, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:11]

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: And that is the closing bell. That's Flavor Flav here ringing the closing bell with a member of the USA water polo team. That

will be music to their ears.

It has been a strong day for the markets trying to recover course from last week's sharp losses, you can see up more than one percent. Those are the

markets and these are the main events for you.

Apple announces a new iPhone built for artificial intelligence.

Catherine, Duchess of Wales, announcing she has finished her chemotherapy and plans to gradually return to public life.

And we are just over 24 hours away from the US presidential debate. Polls are showing a historically close race.

Live from London. It is Monday, September 9th. I am Isa Soares, in for Richard Quest. And of course, I too mean business.

Good evening, everyone.

Tonight, Apple is banking on artificial intelligence to revitalize its rather sluggish iPhone sales. The company just unveiled the new iPhone 16

during an event in Silicon Valley.

The iPhone is powered by chip designed to support Apple's new AI features. And here is a look of what the phone is supposed to do. Have a look at

this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In mail, it'll be easy to quickly survey your inbox. Instead of seeing the first couple of lines of your e-mails, you'll see

summaries that convey the most useful information and you'll be able to create new emoji simply by typing a description, giving you the perfect

response for your group thread.

If you come across a bike that looks exactly like the kind you're in the market for, just tap to search Google for where you can buy something

similar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Well, Apple has given customers little reason to upgrade since 2020 when it released, if you remember, the iPhone 12 with 5G, no wonder then,

their smartphone sales have been slowing down.

The problems being particularly acute in China, the world's biggest smartphone market. Apple has responded by aggressive civilly cutting prices

there.

Lance Ulanoff is editor-at-large of TechRadar and joins me now.

Lance great to have you on the show. Look, lots of new tweaks, upgrades, the current models, airports, Apple Watch, but clearly the star of the show

was this new iPhone 16 family. You were in the room. You were there. How exciting was the reveal?

LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TECHRADAR: Well, I literally just stepped out of the room, it is right behind me. It was exciting. There is a lot of

cool new features. They are more powerful, yes, big focus on Apple Intelligence, although we don't get every feature that Apple Intelligence

will bring, but the iPhone 16, the 16, the 16 plus, 16 pro, and pro max -- now all of these phones, one of the most interesting things to me is all of

them have this new camera control button. And I honestly think it is going to change the way people take photographs with their iPhone.

It says both press and haptic control, so it is really cool new feature that I think in some ways people get more use out of than some of the Apple

Intelligence features which they are going to have to, you know, to have to search little bit for writing tools. Do they want to remove Aunt Mary from

every photo with Cleanup? I don't know, but I think everybody takes photos with their iPhone.

So they've got new finishes. They look good. They are actually bigger, the iPhone 16 pro and pro max, just slightly bigger -- bigger screens and they

are more powerful, A18 pro chip on pro and max and A18 on the rest of them.

So all got an upgrade and by the way, what that means is they all support Apple Intelligence.

SOARES: That is very good news, of course, for all Apple customers and for poor auntie, isn't it? She always gets picked on it seems, but when it

comes to the photos, but look, let's talk about the capabilities, the AI capabilities because they think this is something that is revolutionary in

many ways. It is the first iPhone that has these AI built-in capabilities.

So just break it down for us in terms of -- we heard a little clip there, Lance, but just in terms of what it can do, can it send my e-mails, can it

write my e-mails? Can it write and send my messages? Just break it down for viewers.

ULANOFF: Well, yes, so Apple Intelligence does have -- if you go and you write an e-mail and you maybe don't know that the tone of voice is right.

Maybe it is not friendly enough, maybe it is not concise enough. Maybe it is not professional enough. Well, why think about that? Let Apple

Intelligence do it for you.

So, when you're writing the text and you're in there or you're writing the e-mails, you can select it and then you dig in and you find those tools.

They are not that well surfaced on the dais yet, and I think maybe that is because they were just trying it out.

On the photo front, obviously, yes, you can clean up photos quite easily. You will just go into edit. There is a new eraser tool and it is actually

useful if you took what you think is a perfect shot and there is a distraction in the background, you don't even have to pick it out. It will

find it for you and you'll tap and it will disappear. That is the thing.

[16:05:09 ]

It will also make memories with all the photos for you.

Siri got a massive update. It even looks different. It works different. It has got more of those the features on your phone to be able to sort of tell

it in a more kind of conversation away what you want.

But some of this I am talking about is sort of coming. They're not like, for example, integration of ChatGPT, I am not sure that that will be part

of iPhone 16 when it comes out later, in a couple of weeks, but it is coming.

SOARES: And look, Lance, it all sounds very grand. But my last guest, what -- two hours ago was saying to me that consumers care more about battery

life and their cameras. So will this compel consumers to go out and buy a new phone, which is what Apple clearly needs.

ULANOFF: Well, we have a better way -- some better cameras. We have a 48 megapixel ultra-wide, which is going to be good news for a lot of people.

You've got spatial photography which I think people will want, which is about both photos and videos that can be 3D depending on if you have the

right headset to view them.

You'll have the ability to create memories with your photos. And yes, battery life is going to be really about the efficiency of the system. So

these systems all have an A18 chip, either A18 or A18 pro, what's called the three-nanometer process.

The only reason you should care about that is when the nanometers gets smaller, the chips become more efficient and they sip more battery life

while remaining quite powerful and speaking of power, they are saying that these A18, these pro and pro max running the A1812 pro can run console

level games at a level we've never really seen before.

SOARES: Very quickly, we are running out of time, yes or no, Lance. Is this a game changer you think for Apple?

ULANOFF: It is an important entry into a vastly quickly developing space. They had to do this.

SOARES: Lance, really appreciate you taking the time from a very busy schedule to speak to us. Thank you, Lance.

Now, staying with the tech sector, Google is back in the US court on antitrust charges, this time over its advertising business. The case

focuses on Google's ad technology. The software that determines which ads load on your website.

The Justice Department accuses google of buying up rivals and bullying clients into using its system. It says the results are less choice and

higher cost.

The Justice Department is calling for Google to spin off its Ad Exchange. The company says online ad prices are falling and so is its share of the

market.

Domenic Romano is the founder and managing partner of Romano Law, and he joins us now.

Domenic, thanks very much for coming on the show. Look, this is a pretty blockbuster antitrust case against a pretty big tech company. So from what

we've heard so far, just talk us through the antitrust case and speak to the arguments here from both sides.

DOMENIC ROMANO, FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, ROMANO LAW: Well, last month, we had a big decision when it came to search. In that instance, the federal

judge found that Google was engaging in monopolistic behavior. And of course, the penalty is yet to be meted out.

So I think in ad-tech, we have a similar situation where the government is arguing that Google is abusing its market dominance, has bought up all of

these competitors, these ad tech companies, and now basically controls the production and distribution of the technology, creating such a high barrier

to entry that competition is stifled and prices go up for everyone.

SOARES: Let's speak to some of the evidence. One of the things as I was reading up on this, a Google executive basically wrote or asked in an

internal mail if the monopoly over online ad market presented a legal problem, he said, and I am quoting him here: "The analogy would be if

Goldman or Citibank owned the NYSE," referring of course, to the New York Stock Exchange.

I mean, is that, would you say Domenic, a powerful -- is that powerful evidence in your view of intent here?

ROMANO: I mean, look, we saw last month in search where Google controls 90 percent of search, 95 percent of mobile search is done through the Google

engine where the court determined in that case that there was more than enough evidence that Google was engaging in monopolistic behavior.

Hereto, I think with the stock exchange analogy, I think the case can be made strongly as the governments made it, that this dominance stifles, it

prevents innovation, it builds a moat so big the barriers to entry are prohibited for most companies.

I mean, in the first case, last month, evidence came out that Google has been paying Apple $18 billion a year and Samsung approximately $2 billion a

year according to reports to keep them out of search, to keep Google as the search engine.

[16:10:06]

In the package you showed a few minutes ago where the person photographed the bicycle, it went on to say and it will -- you know, you photograph the

bicycle and Apple's new operating system or new iPhone will then go to a Google search results.

So that kind dominance we are seeing it also in the ad tech, that's the argument the government is making that this prevents innovation.

SOARES: Right, so then, what then is the argument Domenic for Google, how does Google counter that criticism? What is it going to say?

ROMANO: Well, you know, Google has tried to say that in, for example, with regard to search by analogy, in Gen Z is searching -- 18 to 24-year-olds

are searching on TikTok, but even then it is not the dominant search. They're going and they are replicating those searches in other platforms

controlled by Google.

And I think in ad-tech, if you ask the brands that are engaging in that advertising space, how much, if you look at how much is being paid to

Google and how much Google is made is making from ad-tech and how much it contributes to its bottom line and how difficult it is for anyone to

compete in that market, I think you know, Google can perhaps rely on AI and the changing landscape to say, look we may be dominant today, but there is

no guarantee that we will be dominant tomorrow.

But that becomes a very difficult argument to sustain when you're keeping everyone else at bay.

SOARES: Yes, and Domenic, look, let's broaden this out because of course, the US is only just now joining the EU which has been cracking down quite

ruthlessly on that front for some time.

Why do you think we are seeing this now in the United States? Is the US catching up with Europe here?

ROMANO: Yes, it is interesting. The first case started during the Trump administration. It was continued now in the Biden administration.

I think that what we are starting to see here is an end of self-regulation for the tech giants. The end of self-policing and the EU really has been

one of those parts of the world that has been on the forefront with the Digital Markets Act.

Basically now, what you're seeing is not a uniform response throughout the world, but countries and these tech giants are having to adapt their

strategies in different countries.

And I think you're going to see maybe not a leveling of the playing field, but a reduction in barriers to entry ultimately. Ultimately, it is all

going to depend on what the penalty is, especially in the search space. We don't know what the penalty will be.

SOARES: All of this? What do you think it will be? Are we looking at a slap on the wrist here or are we looking at breakup of Google?

ROMANO: Yes, that's the question.

SOARES: I mean, how do you see this?

ROMANO: Yes. This is going to be --

SOARES: Because this -- if the DOJ then wins, Domenic, we could be looking at potential lawsuits on that front, too, right?

ROMANO: Great point. Great point.

Look, they are willing to pay $20 billion to two different companies, who knows if they're paying to other entities that's come out in the discovery

to remain dominant on Android and Apple platforms. Well, if $20 billion a year is the cost of doing how big does this fine have to be to make an

impact? Will it be a tip of the monopoly top hat, pass-go, pay $20 billion and keep going? Or will the government force Google and these other tech

giants to break up and allow competition and reduced their dominance?

SOARES: We shall see, yes, we shall see.

Domenic, really insightful. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak to us. Domenic Romano there in New York.

ROMANO: It's a pleasure. Thank you.

SOARES: Thank you.

Now, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will go head-to-head tomorrow in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. We will look at how they are preparing

for this crucial debate and what they hope to achieve, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:17]

SOARES: Well Catherine, the Princess of Wales, says she has completed her chemotherapy treatment and will gradually return to public life in the

coming months.

The announcement comes six months after she became the target of rampant speculation, you'll remember, of her health and whereabouts ultimately

leading her to reveal she had been diagnosed with cancer.

The princess shared more about her journey in a video released earlier. Have a look at this short clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE, PRINCESS OF WALES: Doing what I can to stay cancer-free is now my focus. Although I finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full

recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.

I am however, looking forward to being back at work.

To all those who continue their own cancer journey, I remain with you side- by-side, hand-in-hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Let's get more on this. CNN royal historian, Kate Williams joins me now. And you and I were talking the last two hours or so and it is really

moving.

I remember when I first saw the whole video, I was incredibly touched by her story and hearing her narrate it, just talk us through what she says

and what we can gleam in terms of future events where she will appear.

KATE WILLIAMS, CNN ROYAL HISTORIAN: Yes. This was three minutes. Kate talked to us. We saw her with the children, with her family, and she was so

open, she was speaking from the heart.

She told us, she said the cancer journey is complex, scary, and unpredictable. But as you're face-to-face with your own vulnerability, it

has been incredibly tough for us, for her family.

So, she really has told us how difficult it has been for her over these months. She started chemotherapy in late February. We were told in early

March, and this has been a terribly long period for her, and she has made clear, she has finished her chemotherapy, which is really fantastic news

here.

But she doesn't feel as if she is out of the woods yet. She is going to do everything you can to remain cancer-free. It is next stage of her recovery

and that she said she wants to focus on healing.

So therefore, its light duties for the rest of the year. So my expectation is we might see her at a few local engagements, say baby banks in Windsor,

something quite local.

We do expect she is definitely going to be at Remembrance Sunday at Cenotaph mid-November or early November, and then she is hoping to do her

beloved Carol Service in December, but other than that, I think she is the Royal superstar, but we won't be seeing her very much.

She is very much is still focusing on healing and taking things easy because Royal engagements are very tiring.

SOARES: And they take their toll, and clearly, she is very clear that she needs -- she wants to focus on our health and staying cancer free.

I mean, the style of the message, we are looking at this video now, seeing families together, incorporating the family, the intimacy, how rare -- I

mean, I have never seen anything like this put out in three-minute videos. I remember seeing the video of Kate sitting on a wooden bench, but this is

something completely different. Why do you think she did it this way? What was the decision?

WILLIAMS: This is totally different and you and I, we've been covering the Royals together for quite a few years.

SOARES: Yes, exactly. We normally get a statement, right?

WILLIAMS: Exactly. Statements. We've done the weddings, we've done the keynotes, and the coronations. I mean, as a historian, this is really so

different to what you normally see.

We weren't given updates about the queen's health or we were told Prince Philip was in good spirits. We only learned that the Queen was nearing the

end of her life, pretty much when it was actually occurring, so here is really this incredible level of openness.

And I think it is because Kate wants to be so open because as she says at the end of her statement, to all of those who are continuing their own

cancer journey, I remain with you, side-by-side, hand-in-hand and although she isn't telling us what cancer she has had or anything further for

details, I think what she wants is for all the many, many people across the world, I think one in two people will be affected by cancer.

[16:20:06]

She wants them to sort of see her as a beacon of someone who is talking to them about it. She doesn't want to hide it away, but this is a very new

Royal family.

This is -- you know 10 years ago, we wouldn't have seen this in the Queen, we wouldn't have seen this with Princess Ann or -- it is very, very

different and the video itself, it is not a statement outside the palace, it is not a statement in the Royal drawing room. It is in the forest, it is

in the coast in Norfolk and what Kate is really saying in this video is family is my focus and the children are my focus and this is where my

energy is allying.

SOARES: And everyone will respect that, I can imagine. Incredibly moving and vulnerable video.

Kate, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Well, the latest polls in the US presidential race show the candidates in a dead heat ahead of Tuesday's debate. A New York Times-Siena poll gives

Donald Trump a slight lead among likely voters, as you can see there, with no clear leader.

Nearly a third of the respondents said they still need more information about Harris. The Harris campaign appears to be addressing that issue by

putting more policy proposals on its website and it is also attacking Donald Trump using the words of those who served in his administration.

Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OVER: His national security adviser --

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Donald Trump will cause a lot of damage. The only thing he cares about is Donald Trump.

VOICE OVER: And the nation's highest ranking military officer.

GEN. MARK MILLEY, FORMER UNITED STATES CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: We don't take an oath to a King or Queen, or to a tyrant, or a

dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator.

VOICE OVER: Take it from the people well who knew him best. Donald Trump is a danger to our troops and our democracy. We can't let him lead our country

again.

KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am Kamala Harris and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: That's the new ad. Stephen Collinson is in Washington this evening and he joins us now?

So Stephen, let's talk about what's coming in this debate. First time they're meeting face-to-face. And it comes as we just showed viewers that

there is really tight polls. I mean, you've been following this, you and I have been speaking pretty much on a weekly basis. Are you surprised at to

all, Stephen, by the tightness of this race?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: No. I think over the last 25 years with a few exceptions, presidential races and congressional races

have always been tight. The control of the House and the Senate is always flipping back from one side to the other.

I think it shows a country that in many ways is disaffected with its politics. Every time you go outside Washington, you can travel 30 miles say

west, you immediately get confronted with the fact that Donald Trump remains an exceedingly popular figure for many Americans who believe that

he speaks for them.

Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is a vice president in an unpopular administration. So for all Trump's unpopularity with the people that don't

follow him, she still has a task to create an anti-Trump majority that will turn out and vote for her. So I think that is the reason why it is so

close.

SOARES: Yes, and we saw -- we played -- we showed you that little clip in terms of 28 percent of voters in that poll. And the New York Times-Siena

poll said they need more information about the candidate.

How do you think she will do that? What do you think undecided voters, for example, Stephen, what do they want to hear from her? It is more about

policy? Is it more about character here? Was it about shaking of Biden's shadow as you were hinting there, perhaps?

COLLINSON: I think what she has shown so far is that she understands what some of those voters want to hear. She has been talking a lot about high

grocery prices for example, far more than President Biden did when he was in the race.

She talks about how hard it is for young people to pay rent or even to get on the housing ladder. She is talking about giving people $25,000.00 for a

deposit for a first home if she is elected president.

So I think she understands the stresses that many voters are feeling and weren't necessarily addressed by Biden and in a more broad context, she is

saying that she is giving Americans the chance to escape everything that happened under the Trump administration, the bitterness, the division, the

chaos, the recriminations -- that is a dual message.

The question is, as someone who is in that administration, who is blamed by Republicans for a lot of these consequences, is she the ideal messenger to

be that candidate of change?

SOARES: And very briefly, Stephen, because we are running out of time. What do you think will be her biggest challenge then tomorrow?

COLLINSON: I think what she has to show Americans who are still undecided, that A) She has the plans to improve their lives, and that she is a

potential president and a commander-in-chief, that's still one of the greatest tests that you see in debates.

She went some way to meeting that test in the convention in August, but I think it still is a hurdle she has to clear even though she is running

against the most outlandish presidential candidate and former president in modern American history.

[16:25:06]

SOARES: Yes, not letting him get under your skin, but standing your ground. It should be interesting to see.

Stephen, appreciate it. Thank you.

Now, two-and-a-half years into its war with Russia, Ukraine's grinding fight is increasingly played by low morale, as well as desertions. So now,

the country is looking to a new kind of freedom fighter, convicts.

Our Frederik Pleitgen visits a battalion whose members went from behind bars to the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ukrainian troops sweeping into a village on the eastern front, but these

aren't career soldiers, they are ex-convicts who volunteered from prison, got some basic training and were thrust into battle.

Vitaly, 41-years-old, 10 years in jail for theft and violent assault now, assaulting Vladimir Putin's army.

(VITALY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: We have a goal. We have a task and we must do it.

We're never confused, always focused.

You need to be very quick there.

PLEITGEN (voice over): The ex-convicts are part of Ukraine's 59th Brigade. They are camped near the frontline, rudimentary, but a lot better than

jail.

Our conversations remain basic about survival or death.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: He who has a strong spirit wins.

He who has a weak spirit dies.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Many are dying here on both sides. The 59th Brigade gave us this video showing Russians fleeing a burning house as the ex-

convicts attack.

But Vitaly admits they are suffering casualties.

(VITALY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: We were moving into a position and my buddy was blown apart as soon as we went into the field.

He was dismantled. It's hard to watch, but what can you do? You can't help.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Their deal is simple, fight, survive and become free men.

(VITALY speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: I need turn the page of my life. I have five children after all. I need to think about my kids a little bit and about myself.

My life was a mess.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Company commander Oleksandr says his men performs some of the most dangerous assaults around here. Oleksandr was a jail

warden and many of those here, his inmates.

He recruited them and says the traits that put them in jail now keep them alive.

(OLEKSANDR speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: The convict subculture is used to surviving. They survived in very harsh conditions and they will make every effort to survive.

PLEITGEN (voice over): This unit is part of Ukraine's force defending the key logistic hub of Pokrovsk.

PLEITGEN (on camera): Pokrovsk is now one of the main frontline towns in the war in Ukraine. As you can see, the streets here are virtually

deserted. At the same time, the Russians are hitting this place with really heavy munitions, everything from artillery shells to large rockets.

PLEITGEN (voice over): After major advances, the Russians are knocking on the door here. Shells and rockets constantly impacting especially in the

evenings and that's when the medics from the 68th Mountaineer Brigade start receiving most of the heavy casualties.

They show us this video supplied max pro armored vehicle hit by a Russian drone. Two killed, four severely injured. Casualties in Ukraine's military

already badly outmanned cannot afford the medic who goes by the call sign "Barbarian" tells me.

("BARBARIAN" speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: There are fewer of us. One of us matches 20 Russians, but we lack training. The training period is very short. We lack equipment. They

took the initiative in the sky. I mean, drones.

PLEITGEN (voice over): And Russian drones are also lethal at night, so we leave Pokrovsk as darkness falls, Ukrainian troops heading towards the

front hoping to keep Putin's army away from this key city.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, POKROVSK, UKRAINE.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Our thanks to Fred and his team.

And this just in to CNN, we are learning that disgraced film producer, Harvey Weinstein was rushed to hospital on Sunday to undergo heart surgery.

Now, he was taken to Bellevue Hospital in New York, a source tells CNN, the procedure was completed and as of now, he is expected to appear in court on

Thursday. A New York grand jury is considering whether to hand down a new indictment against Weinstein for his sex crime charges. We will stay across

that story for you.

On the eve of the US presidential debate, House Republicans recent report blasting the Biden administration for the deadly US withdrawal from

Afghanistan.

We will bring you that story after this short break. You are watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:32:49]

ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, it's dueling documents on Capitol Hill as House Republicans and Democrats released contrasting

reports on what went wrong with the chaotic us pullout from Afghanistan. Republicans blame Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for demanding a U.S. exit

from the war at any cost, and Democrats point the finger right back, accusing Donald Trump of putting the withdrawal in motion with no real

plans.

Let's get more on all of this. Jennifer Hansler, CNN State Department reporter joins us now. Jennifer, good to see you. So, talk us through these

dueling reports, and really what stood out to you?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Lisa, there's not a lot of new revelatory information in the conclusions of either of these

reports. The more than 350-page Republican report does include some new details, for example, on the negotiations that were going on between the

U.S. and the Taliban about a power sharing agreement with the Afghan government.

Those negotiations were led by Zalmay Khalilzad who was the Special Representative for Afghanistan who was appointed by President Trump's

administration. However, the overall conclusion of the Trump or the -- excuse me, the Republican report, is that this was all on the decisions

made under Joe Biden, not under President Donald Trump. Now this is not a surprise. We have seen a number of reports and other conclusions that are

largely on party lines.

The Republican report is very blistering of its condemnation of the Biden administration. And the Democrats say that it is a partisan and cherry-

picked report, picking out facts over the course of this years long investigation, the Democrats are saying that this is down to the Trump

administration decisions made under them to broker this agreement to begin with, with the Taliban that deal was called the Doha agreement.

And they say if it were not for that, the Biden administration would not have had to choose to fulfill that full withdrawal that we saw there. So, a

lot of accusations being traded back and forth, but not a lot of new information here.

SOARES: Yes. Clearly very political. But look, we have Republicans claiming that Kamala Harris, of course, on top of the presidential ticket, that she

played a direct role in any decision making. I mean, is there any evidence there very briefly?

HANSLER: Well, Isa, you know, Harris herself said she was the last one in the room when Biden made this key decision about the withdrawal.

[16:35:04]

But there's very little evidence pointing to the fact that she had a substantive role in any of the decisions around the withdrawal. In the GOP

report, they clearly aim to implicate her. They say the Biden-Harris administration the reference for, I think, more than 100 times.,

But the Democrats say in their report that in thousands of pages of transcript interviews with officials, she was only mentioned three times,

Isa.

SOARES: Jennifer Hansler, appreciate it. Thanks, Jennifer. Now by the end of the decade, one in six people will be aged 60 or older, with more people

living longer, society will have to reconsider some of the ways it really operates. In the latest reading for succeeding Richard Quest explores the

world of Self-Help and how we can create an age in society that is healthier as well as more productive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): The humble Self-Help book dates back in some form or other to ancient Egypt. Today, in modern

times, Self-Help was brought into a new era with work like Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. The personal growth industry has

had no shortage of success. It's worth more than $10 billion in the U.S. alone in 2020.

We all know books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Think and Grow Rich and Self-Help has created its own

celebrities, Tony Robbins, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle. The insight that they offer is greatly valued by many, but there's also a view that says

it's all simply nonsense and that's what we're going to find out.

Healthier, happier and more productive lives. What if getting older was not a challenge but an opportunity to be embraced? It's the premise of the

longevity imperative. The latest book from the economist Andrew Scott, longer lives means society must reconsider the way we think about

healthcare, relationships, the economy, finances, the lot. To do so, the way current governments are set up and think the policies they follow need

to support a larger aging society.

The idea of structured retirements, pensions, can they survive? Scott argues, these changes can help us live not just longer, but healthier,

happier and more productive lives.

ANDREW J. SCOTT, AUTHOR, THE LONGEVITY IMPERATIVE: We've really got to adapt to just the fact, for the first time ever, the young can now expect

greater than 30 percent chance of living into a 10th decade, and we just haven't prepared ourselves to do that. We haven't got the individual

behaviors, the social norms, the health work institutions that can make sure that we don't just live a long life, but we live a healthy and

productive and engaged one.

QUEST: Where does that leave you and me, the next generation that has to experience older age, whether we've made proper financial provision for it

or not, we are facing many more years of retirement.

SCOTT: Well, that's an interesting question, are we or not? I mean, for instance, you know, in Denmark, the young are now expected to work to 74

until they get a state pension. For me, I think what's I see happening is more and more people are working for longer, but what they're doing is that

often-going part time as the last debate. So, for instance, in the 20th century, we sort of -- we decided that being old started at 65.

That's a kind of bit of an arbitrary choice. And then as life expensive got longer and longer. We just took more and more years of leisure after

retirement. I think what I'm seeing now is retirement is happening later. Every country around the world has an aging society. Birth rate's falling.

People are living for longer. And I know, Richard, how you feel when I say the word aging society where no one says, yes, great, we've got an aging

society.

But it really is one of the greatest achievements in the 20th century. So, we've really got to think about this as time. Because, you know, if your

day went from 24 hours to 32 hours, you'd say, great, I've got more time. And that is the mindset change that we have to do with longevity.

QUEST: As your book makes clear, that might be the thing we have to do, but everything in terms of existing structures, policies, procedures, militates

against that. All the real hard structures. Retirement age, pension age, they're all sort of militating not to create an environment for a longer

productive working life.

SCOTT: Now, completely I -- I can be agreeable, all governments are doing is raising the state pension, which does nothing to keep working for

longer. I think we're beginning to see countries wake up to it. So, let's take the United Kingdom at the moment. There's around three million people

unemployed because of long term sickness. And a lot of those people are age 50 to 65. In that situation, it's pretty pointless raising the state

pension.

[16:40:08]

It's saying work for longer when you got more and more and more people leaving the labor market. So, we're beginning to see in the high-income

countries, a recognition that if I keep people healthy for longer, they can work for longer. And that's not about 80s and 90s. That's from your 50s

onwards. You know, four out of five Brits and Americans working age 50. But at 65 which is two years before retirement, it's down to one in three, one

and four.

And that's not a choice. People drop out because they're ill. They've got to care for someone who's ill. Their skills are out of date, or just ageism

in the workplace. So, I think we're beginning to see things change. Because one of the statistics, I think, is extraordinary. The vast majority of

employment growth is now happening because of people aged over 50. In Europe, more than 100 percent of employment growth comes from people aged

over 50.

There's hardly any productivity growth in Europe. In other words, all GDP now is about keeping people working beyond the age of 50.

QUEST: What would you encourage people to do now? You know, if you're in your 30s or 40s or 50s, what would you encourage people to start to think?

What's the -- what is the mental hurdle that I have to leap?

SCOTT: Yes. So, I think one of the issues is we will sort of think about age chronologically, a number of years we've lived and sort of also very

important is how many more years you can expect to come. So just recognize that whatever your job is doing, you know, if you're sort of 30 or 40,

given current work trends, you're probably going to be working to your late 60s or early 70s. In other words, you've got more work to do than you've

done already.

So, that requires thinking, wow, is this the path I carry on? What would I do next? You also, I think, got to think very hard, because obviously money

is really important. If you're living a long life, you need more money. So, the only thing is, if you just work for longer, just to tackle the

financial challenge, you've also got to think about your health, you've got to think about your relationships, you've got to think about your skills.

And so, you've got to sort of think about a very broad portfolio of assets you start investing in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Plenty to speak to think about that. That does it for us. Thanks very much. Up next, Connecting Africa.

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