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Quest Means Business

Obama Makes Direct Appeal To Black Men To Support Harris; Trump Announcing Plan For Gang Member Removal Program; Musk Promises Ambitious 2017 Deadline For Robotaxis; Putin Hails Iran Ties As He Meets Its New President; One Person Dead, 23 Rescued From Colorado Gold Mine; Atomic Bomb Survivors Awarded Nobel Peach Prize. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 11, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:08]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST: All right, that is the closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Really, really strong finish to the week.

The Dow is up about 400 points because of strong bank earnings. Those are the market and these are the main events.

In the final weeks before the election, Donald Trump is betting voters care more about immigration than the economy. Tesla shares fall about eight

percent. Investors found the cyber cab launch underwhelming.

And changing tastes and new brands shake up the sneaker business We'll have the CEO of JD Sports joining us live.

Coming to you live from New York, it is Friday, October 11th. I'm Zain Asher in for Richard Quest, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Tonight, Kamala Harris seeks to capitalize as Barack Obama tries to help secure the US presidential race for her. The former president spoke at a

rally in Pennsylvania Thursday night. He gave some of his most forceful comments to date on this election, telling Black men, listen, it's not

acceptable to sit this race out.

It comes as the Harris campaign tries to win over more male voters. Obama says he thinks that people don't understand what strength actually is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump's behavior, the bullying

and the putting people down is a sign of strength.

Real strength is about working hard and carrying a heavy load without complaining.

Real strength is about taking responsibility for your actions and telling the truth even when it's inconvenient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: Eva McKend is in Washington for us.

I mean, obviously, Obama is the star of the Democratic Party. There's nobody bigger that I can think of, but he has been out of office for 10

years. You know, how will his message really resonate with Black voters, Black male voters, I should say, and will it translate to votes?

EVAN MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Zain, that is the question that Democrats are trying to confront right now, but I will say

historically, he has been deployed in the final hour of Democratic campaigns to juice up enthusiasm. He's great on the campaign trail. He's

still the most exciting Democrat in the party, many would argue, and that's why we see him on the trail now, not only in support of Vice President

Harris, but really participating in these down ballot contests as well.

But his comments specifically geared towards Black men, so before that rally, he made a surprise stop to the Pittsburgh headquarters for the

campaign, and he gave this stern sort of message to Black men to get involved in the process, to not sit on the sidelines and not be susceptible

to some of the sexism that we're seeing out here. And some said that that was the right moment, the right message for the moment.

But others even prominent surrogates in the Harris campaign, like the American actor, Wendell Pierce said, listen, Black men do not need to be

lectured to. We need to channel this message towards White women who will largely support the former president and that Black men, by and large, are

going to be supporting Vice President Harris, even though Republicans are making incremental gains -- Zain.

ASHER: And obviously, as much as Obama, is a great surrogate, a great ally, I mean, you know, as I said, you can't really have anyone better stumping

for you, but Harris also needs to sell herself by herself. I mean, she's only been in the game for a few months. Is she doing a good job of that?

MCKEND: Well, it depends on who you speak to. I would say the Democrats are still nervous, because the polling suggests, in particular, that she is

still underperforming President Biden's winning multiracial coalition. She has to do very, very well with voters of color.

Now, I think President Obama did above 90 percent with Black voters. No one is under the illusion that every single Democrat can compete with that or

match those levels, but she has to do well with Black voters in places like Georgia and North Carolina, so we assume her and the campaign doing very

targeted messaging in that regard.

Next week, she's going to do a big event in Detroit with the radio host, Charlamagne tha God focused on Black men, a town hall this weekend. There

are a host of Black focused surrogate events in barbershops, other spaces in Atlanta. And then the vice president is also going to hold a rally on

Sunday in Greenville, North Carolina, Zain.

So they are doing all that they can to reach as many voters that they can in these battleground states.

[16:05:07]

ASHER: Eva McKend, have a good weekend. Thank you.

All right, Larry Sabato is the director of the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia. He joins us live now.

You know it's interesting, because Barack Obama, when he was running for president he leaned into race so much more. I mean, Kamala Harris just

really isn't -- I mean, she's borderline avoiding talking about race and gender as much as President Obama did, and I do understand that strategy,

but when you're trying to win over young Black men, is that strategy a mistake?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: No, I really don't think it is, Zain. I think it's important for her to focus a

lot of the campaign on the successes of the Biden administration, which she can properly claim credit for. It isn't all about inflation, although some

days you'd think it was.

But the other part of it is, I think we're in a different time, and Donald Trump would use those opportunities when she was pointing to her race and

gender, he would use those opportunities to cause her problems, to attack her. We all know, he doesn't have any filters. He will say anything. He

will do anything.

And she has to keep the focus on her, what she can do, and also on the fact that Donald Trump is a tremendous risk for Americans to take for another

four-year term, I mean, it is that simple, and she can't let herself be taken off the trail too much.

ASHER: When it comes to polls, you know, saying to -- our previous guests in the last hour, that look, we really learned a really important lesson

from 2016, not to trust the polls, you know, to take them with a pinch of salt, because people will tell you they're voting one way. And then when

they get into that booth and the curtain is closed, they do something completely different.

When it comes to, you know the fact that you have a Black woman running for office here, how much is that a factor? I mean, do you think that there are

a lot of Democrats and Independents who are saying publicly that they're voting for Harris, but who might not, who might not, because of race and

gender secretly?

SABATO: There are always some. I mean, I've been around a long time, and I can remember Black candidates who were well ahead in the polls, even right

before the election, and then won by a whisker or lost entirely. And it turned out, the good studies that were done of that showed very clearly

that they told people they were voting for the Black candidate, but they got into that polling place and just couldn't manage to pull down that

lever.

So there's some of it. It's less certainly than it was in the 70s and 80s and 90s, but it's still there. Now how much of it there is, is open to

debate.

I tend to think that Trump is probably going to do one to two points better than he is polling. A number of pollsters that I check in with think that's

a pretty good guess that they've done as much as they can to get blood out of a turnip, that is to convince people to tell them the truth about who

they're going to vote for and they adjust the numbers, they weight it for new variables, like, do they live in a rural area where Trump tends to do

very, very well?

So they're doing what they can, but they still don't have it. They don't have it perfect. And you know what? They never will. These are imperfect

instruments, and when you have a race this close, you're not going to be able to tell precisely.

ASHER: Larry Sabato, always good to have you, my friend. Thank you so much for being with us.

All right, meantime, Donald Trump is speaking now in Colorado. The event is squarely focused on immigration. The former president is announcing he

would create a Gang Member Removal Program if he is re-elected.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the rally in Colorado.

You know, Donald Trump has depicted certain parts of Colorado as a war zone that is overrun by Venezuelan gang members. You know, obviously he is

trying to use immigration as a wedge issue. A lot of these claims are, of course, false. Just walk us through what we're hearing tonight.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, just remember that Aurora, Colorado has really served as the epicenter for this disinformation

campaign that we have seen from Donald Trump and his Republican allies when it comes to immigration foremost.

He has been saying that the city of Aurora has been overrun by Venezuelan gangs. And we have heard from the governor, from mayor, from local and

state officials across the board who have said that is grossly exaggerated, that it's simply not true, and you hear him today reviewing what happened.

Do you know that there was Venezuelan gangs within one apartment complex? That has been proven, but again, these local and state officials say this

is a gross exaggeration to say, the entire city, town, area has been taken over by these gangs.

In fact, the mayor actually went on to say, at one point that he thought, maybe the visit by Donald Trump would be a good thing to shine light on the

fact that there was no takeover by these gang members.

[16:10:05]

But if you're just here at this event, it would be hard to view it that way, given the fact that Donald Trump's rhetoric continues to increase, it

is fear based, and two, he is surrounded by posters that have pictures of people with mugshots that say gang member or illegal immigrant and says

where they are from. He is using this rhetoric to try and propel him to the White House.

And one thing to note is that it appears that it could be working. We have seen these recent polling that shows that this race is neck and neck,

despite the rhetoric, despite the pushback from law enforcement, and from local officials that say that this is incorrect, he continues to have a

very high number in those polls.

And I'll tell you, here in Colorado, this room is filled with thousands of people. This is a solidly blue state. This is not a state that's going to

go to Donald Trump, but it does show you that this messaging does seem to resonate with at least some voters.

So we're told that Donald Trump is not going to shy away from this fear based messaging in any way. Instead, he is likely to continue to double

down on it ahead of November.

ASHER: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you.

Elon Musk is promising a brave new world of Tesla technology, including these robots, which he says will someday cost less than a car.

We'll tell you all about his latest project, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Elon Musk says that Tesla's future lies in the production of robots and self-driving taxis. Investors, they are not buying it. Tesla shares

closed eight percent lower after Thursday's big announcement.

The We, Robot event in California featured prototypes of the cyber cab and Tesla's robot personal assistant. Musk promised low prices, ambitious

deadlines, and actually there are very little detail about how he would actually deliver them.

The CEO acknowledged that he has missed the mark before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: We expect to be in production with the cybercab, which is really highly optimized for autonomous transport, in probably --

well, I tend to be a little optimistic with timeframes, but in 2026 so yes, before 2027, let me put it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:15:02]

ASHER: Clare Duffy is in New York for us.

So prior to the event, Elon Musk had said that he thought that the robotaxi and cybercab would add trillions of dollars in value to Tesla's stock. But

analysts are saying that, you know, there's very little detail here. There's a lot more sort of showbiz and a lot less meat in terms of

financials, take us through it, Clare.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Zain, I think that's the big question here is how much of this is actually tethered to reality and

something we will really see within the next few years? The thing is that Musk has made these promises before. It was five years ago that he said he

expected his robotaxi fleet to come within a year, and now we're only just seeing them, and in this very controlled demo environment, whereas you have

competitors like Google's Waymo that are already driving people autonomously around major cities.

I was just in one in San Francisco a few weeks ago. So these cybercabs from Tesla, they look very cool. They have no steering wheel. You don't need a

gas pedal. You don't even need to plug them in to charge them. But you know you will hear him there saying, probably it will be in production by 2026.

But we don't have a sense of really, when we'll start to see these things on the road. There are going to be regulatory approvals that are needed.

And I think there are some questions about the design choices here. Why does it only have two seats? And you look at those butterfly doors, again,

it looks very cool, but will that work in New York City traffic? I don't know, Zain.

ASHER: So just aside from, you know, missed deadlines, just long term, long term, what is Elon Musk's vision in terms of how the robotaxi, cybercab,

will change how everyday people commute across the country?

DUFFY: He seemed to be saying that he thinks that, you know, most people won't need their own car in the future, they'll be able to take these

autonomous taxis. There will be a group of people, a number of people, who own a fleet of these cyber cabs. And he said, tend them like shepherds, and

the rest of us can just hop in them, and we won't need our own cars.

He said that because of that, they'll be able to turn parking lots into parks. There will be more public spaces that are opened up. But I do think

a lot of questions about how that actually ends up coming to fruition.

ASHER: And just in terms of competition. I mean, obviously you talked about Alphabet with Waymo. I mean, how much of an advantage, if any, does Tesla

have? And obviously Tesla does make cars. How much of an advantage does Tesla have over Alphabet and over Uber, for example?

DUFFY: I mean, I think when you talk about Waymo, when you talk about Google, Tesla does have the sort of production capacity in place to bring

these things and create them much more quickly and on a much bigger scale than perhaps Alphabet does at this point.

But again, it's a question of when Tesla will actually receive the approvals to start testing these things on the street, whereas Google has

been doing this for a while.

And when you talk about Uber and Lyft, I think the question is too how much will consumers really feel comfortable getting in a taxi that doesn't have

a steering wheel or brake pedals? You know, will consumers really feel safe rather than using a service that they know they're familiar with?

Often, people want to be employing humans, and not necessarily these sort of AI-driven systems. And so I think there's the question of, you know the

logistics here, when can they actually get them on the road, and how much consumer demand will there really be for these Tesla cybercabs?

ASHER: Honestly, I don't -- I don't know if I would feel safe if I am being honest. But I'm a slow adopter, so maybe that's just me.

Clare Duffy live for us there, thank you so much.

All right, Nike shares were essentially flat to finish the week as the company prepares for its new CEO, Elliott Hill, to take over on Monday.

Nike is trying to regain its footing as sales slip and its market share falls.

JD Sports is adjusting for Nike's struggles by turning towards a multi- brand approach. The retailer remains confident that will meet its yearly profit forecast.

Analysts warn, however, that Nike's underperformance will weigh on JD Sports' evaluation.

Regis Schultz is a CEO of JD Sports. He joins us live now.

Thank you so much. Good to be with you.

So as I understand it, Nike accounts for about 45 percent of your sales. I mean, obviously you have a plan in terms of this multi-brand approach, but

just walk us through how Nike's slump has up until this point, been affecting your stores?

REGIS SCHULTZ, CEO, JD SPORTS: Well, I think that Nike has been a great brand and a great brand that support us in our expansion across the globe,

and we believe Nike will be fine, and that it will do a great job.

ASHER: And just in terms of US expansion, I mean, obviously US expansion is a key priority for you, but it is a very competitive marketplace. Just walk

us through what your long-term strategy is in terms of making sure that that expansion is successful.

SCHULTZ: Yes, in the US we entered the market for acquisition. We acquired Finish Line in 2019 and we flipped the Finish Line brand to JD, and that

has been very successful.

And I think that, you know, we have been creating something new, something more modern, something more exciting for the consumer, and we create a

strong link around this fantastic product that is sneaker with our consumer.

[16:20:06]

And I think we continue to develop our different brands. We have JD, but we have Shoe Palace on the West Coast and DTLA on the East Coast, and we just

acquired a bit that will complement completely our network in the US and give us the access to all American consumer.

ASHER: You know, inflationary pressure here in the US has been subsiding, so you've got some good news on the inflationary front in this country, but

it has been problematic for retailers across the country.

How has inflationary pressure up until this point been weighing on sales as well?

SCHULTZ: I think for us, you know, our product is a highly desirable product if customer wants a new product and I think that the price is not

an issue. And when you look at the market, I think it's more on creating new, exciting story and bringing new product to the consumer.

ASHER: You know, obviously JD Sports is a UK brand. I mean, I grew up with JD Sports. I grew up going to JD Sports when I was a kid. You know, I've

lived in America for 20 years, but that was my go to store growing up. Now that you're trying to expand in the US, just explain to us how consumer

tastes really differ among British consumers versus Americans.

SCHULTZ: I think the main difference is around the culture as there is a strong as you know, football culture or soccer culture in in the UK, which

is building in the US, but doesn't exist; on the other way, there is no basketball or a very small basketball culture in UK, versus a very strong

basketball culture here.

So if you take that into account, that's a major difference, and that plays in our industry, because we all are about retro basketball, retro football.

So some of the trends that we have seen in UK, so for example, The Terrace brand, which is football inspired shoes, I remember, as a top -- as an

executive in in our US business, saying, well , this will not work in the US, and it is now the number one shoes for female in the US.

So we see more and more the same trends happening across the world. And that is really where we play global. We have different capital in different

key city across the world, and we understand better than our competitor and before our competitor, what is going to be the latest and greatest shoes,

and that mean we can leverage that across the globe.

ASHER: And final question, I mean, obviously, as you know, Hurricane Milton devastated parts of Florida. I mean, I know that JD Sports has stores in

Florida. Just talk to us about how your stores and how the business and obviously employees were affected by this?

SCHULTZ: Yes, the most important is the security of our people. Good -- the good thing is that, as of today, all our people are safe. Some are facing

some personal losses. We have a fund to help them. We have still four stores not been able to open due to a power outage, but we believe that all

our stores should be opened during the coming two days.

ASHER: All right, Regis Schultz, live for us. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

SCHULTZ: Thank you. Thank you so much.

ASHER: The devastation from Hurricane Milton, as we were just talking about, is being laid bare across Florida. The death toll has now reached 16

and more than two million homes and businesses remain without power. Rescue operations are ongoing, with around 1,000 people saved as of last night.

Brian Todd reports on the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): As rescue efforts continue across Florida, survivors still reeling from the destruction left by

powerful Hurricane Milton.

In hard-hit St. Lucie County, Shane Ostrander, his wife Nicole, and their dog had to scramble into a closet when a tornado hit them near Fort Pierce

on Wednesday. He describes, when the twister slammed into their house.

SHANE OSTRANDER, ST. LUCIE COUNTY RESIDENT, LOST HOME IN TORNADO: I heard two bombs, boom, boom -- ears ringing, insulation everywhere. It felt to me

about like 10 seconds. It was probably longer.

TODD (voice over): Shane says, when he opened his closet door, he realized he had lost everything.

OSTRANDER: I walked the dog this morning, and that's when it hit me, like when I see the neighbors with terrible damage. This whole neighborhood has

been devastated, and I haven't even left the street yet.

TODD (voice over): Robin Longtin lives in the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village neighborhood where at least six people died. She hunkered down and

held on as a tornado tore off the roof of her mobile home.

Robin was able to save her cats and two parakeets, but is still coming to grips with the loss of her home.

ROBIN LONGTIN, SPANISH LAKES COUNTRY CLUB VILLAGE RESIDENT, LOST HOME IN TORNADO: Devastating, scary, definitely life-changing.

TODD (voice over): Others in the same senior community could not escape. Sixty-six-year-old Alejandro Alonso's grandson tells CNN that Alejandro and

his girlfriend were killed. The grandson describes Alejandro as an amazing grandfather and a motorcycle lover.

[16:25:07]

CRYSTAL COLEMAN, ST. LUCIE COUNTY RESIDENT, HOME DAMAGED BY TORNADO: It was literally a tornado that was in my house.

TODD (voice over): For those who survived, it's still surreal. This woman hid in her bathroom as a tornado tore off her roof.

COLEMAN: It was very life-threatening. I feel like I was about to die.

TODD (voice over): Even the county sheriff's building was not spared.

SHERIFF KEITH PEARSON, ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA: As you can see here, it destroyed this building, crumpled red iron metal. Destroyed lots of our

vehicles.

TODD (voice over): St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told us the focus now is on rescues.

PEARSON: We're not going to stop until we're able to, you know, rescue or recover as many people as we can.

OFFICER: Where's everybody at?

TODD (voice over): East of Tampa, rescuers wade through knee-high waters to evacuate people inside homes in Dover, guiding them with a rope one by one

to safety.

OFFICER: I got you.

TODD (voice over): A 91-year-old woman carried out of flood waters in Lithia.

OFFICER: Got it, we're good.

TODD (voice over): This 77-year-old rode out the hurricane in his mobile home in St. Petersburg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the few years that I got left, I'd like to stay here.

TODD (voice over): And others slowly picking up the pieces.

RALPH GENITO, VALRICO RESIDENT, HOME FLOODED IN HURRICANE: I mean, I know it's material things, but I've got to start all over again, you know. I

just -- everything I had there is no good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: Brian Todd reporting there.

All right, still to come, we'll have a report from Israel.

And Richard Quest recently sat down with the Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that says he disagrees with how the West discusses the conflict in

the Middle East.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANWAR IBRAHIM, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: The only concern is the attempt by the discourse, particularly in the West, to erase the decades prior to

October 7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: Hello, I'm Zain Asher, and there's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when Richard Quest will speak to the Prime Minister of Malaysia

about the escalating crisis in the Middle East, and John King is speaking to Black voters in the swing state of Wisconsin, in the latest edition of

"All Over The Map" series.

Before that, though the headlines this hour.

At their first meeting together, Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he and his Iranian counterpart share a very close worldview. Mr. Putin and

Masoud Pezeshkian met at a regional summit in the capital of Turkmenistan. Putin says that Russia is working together with Iran in the international

arena.

Officials in Colorado are investigating home a 46-year-old man died inside a former gold mine. Nearly two dozen people had to be rescued from the mine

after its elevator malfunctioned. The group was trapped more than 1,000 feet or about 300 meters below ground for six hours. Officials say the

person killed was their tour guide.

[16:30:45]

A group of people who survived the atomic bomb attacks on Japan have been awarded this year's Nobel Peach Prize. They're members of Nihon Hidankyo, a

grassroots organization committed to ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Many of them were just children when the U.S. dropped the bombs on

Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Israel is nudging that it struck a U.N. peacekeeping base in Southern Lebanon on Friday. It is the second time the headquarters near the Israeli

border has been hit. A U.N. spokesperson says that one peacekeeper was badly wounded in Friday's explosion. Israel's military says it identified

an immediate threat and fired towards it. U.N. officials are also sounding a new alarm about conditions in Gaza.

They say that no food has ended northern Gaza since last month. The World Food Program estimates that one million people are at risk of starvation.

Nic Robinson is in Tel Aviv for us. So Nic, just give us more on the situation on the ground in northern Gaza.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. U.N. agencies are saying that the risk of hunger remains rampant and the threat of famine

persists. They say that no food trucks have been able to get in, any humanitarian trucks have been able to get into northern Gaza since the

first of October. And if you look at the numbers of humanitarian trucks getting into northern Gaza in August, it was 700. It went down to 400 in

September.

And now down to zero. And the situation so bad there that it really concerns U.S. officials who have warned their Israeli counterparts that

they need to abide by the International Humanitarian laws of war, which mean that a power like Israel in this situation is obliged to make sure

people have food, to make sure they have water, to make sure they have the humanitarian supplies like fuel that they need.

Hospitals in the north of Gaza are saying that they are running out of fuel. That they are under instructions from the IDF to move, to leave the

hospitals, but it's too dangerous to leave. Indeed, the military offensive that the IDF has picked up an increase in the north of Gaza is taking more

and more lives. This report, which contains some very graphic video, follows one of those strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Across a hospital floor, a Gazan hellscape. Layan Hamadeen, a 13-year-old girl, has third-degree burns is in shock. She tells

the medic her name, asks for his, then reaches out to hug him, asking, will I die? You won't die. You'll be fine, he reassures her.

What happened? She asks.

There is nothing wrong with you, he says.

What happened? She asks again.

She tells her there's nothing wrong with your body, except a few wounds, and then you'll heal.

Layan is one of the lucky ones. A survivor from an Israeli strike Thursday on a school-turned-shelter to thousands, which according to Gazan health

officials, killed at least 28 people. This day, those same officials announcing more than 42,000 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7 last year. The

IDF said they were targeting a terrorist command and control center at the school compound, displaced like the school they were sheltering in reduced

mentally broken.

This man with an angry message for Hamas. We don't want them, and we don't want their solutions. They sold us out long ago. Let their leaders come and

watch us as we search for bodies with our bare hands.

[16:35:05]

The unlucky this day disgorge from overstuffed ambulances, this death cycle repeated beyond anyone's wildest nightmare, day by day, sometimes hour by

hour.

My husband's name is Ahmed Abdul Hamuda (ph). Show me where he is. They killed him. He was my support, the support of his disabled daughters. God

is great. God is great. Her final goodbye here at the hospital, a starting point for a pain and suffering already dreaded and endured for more than a

year now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Now, Layan's mother has told CNN that she was in surgery today in the hospital, but as we heard there, the doctors do expect her to be

able to recover. And another strike today In Jabalia, which is the center of one of the IDF's offensives in northern Gaza at the moment, as they go

back in to tackle what they believe is the reemergence of Hamas in the north of Gaza.

More than 400,000 people there in the north of Gaza under evacuation orders to leave that area. And it's really creating the impression, along with the

lack of humanitarian aid getting in there, creating the impression among U.N. agencies that Israel appears to be intent perhaps on trying to

depopulate the north of Gaza, and perhaps put into place something that's been discussed but not -- certainly not put into announced effect by the

government to essentially take control of Northern Gaza and push all the people out of it.

Now the government here is not saying that, but that's a growing concern for humanitarian agencies as they look at the situation in northern Gaza

and realize they're no longer able, for now, to be able to get in and help people.

ASHER: Nic, thank you so, so much for that incredibly powerful piece. It was very difficult to watch, as you pointed out, but a worthwhile piece, of

course, nonetheless, just in terms of shining a light on what is happening in the north. Nic Robertson live for us there. Thank you so much.

All right. The Prime Minister of Malaysia says the West leaves out crucial context when discussing the Israel-Hamas war. Richard Quest sat down with

Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister, says it's important to account for years of Palestinian suffering.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANWAR IBRAHIM, PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA: I don't approve of any assassination of any political leaders. I don't approve of any violence,

and I think we take that moral high ground remain consistent.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: So, in the sense that you say you don't -- you say you don't approve of any political -- any violence, I

imagine that goes both for Hamas on October the 7th, as much as Israel's response.

IBRAHIM: Yes. There's no question. The only concern is the attempt by the discourse, particularly in the west, to erase the decades prior to October

the 7th.

QUEST: But the moment you -- the moment you import the events prior to the 7th, you are giving a quasi-legitimacy to the 7th which is, of course, the

problem.

IBRAHIM: Well, it is partly a problem, but then you must remember, it is a fight against colonization, the fight against dispossession. Don't deny

that. I mean, they went through all our battle for people, countries like us have been colonized. We know what anti-colonialism is. We know about the

battle against Imperial power. So, you don't talk about one, two incidences which we may not or necessarily approve.

But then the discourse in the West is when they only highlight these so- called excesses and forget them thousands and hundreds and thousands being killed. From (INAUDIBLE) Lebanon, in the West Bank and also in Gaza, there

is the only issue. There is no consistency. There's a contradiction. There's hypocrisy.

QUEST: But there is arguably equivocation by you in your answer when you don't unequivocally condemn the 7th?

IBRAHIM: Yes. I'm concerned about that. Although I see my position is consistently against any form of violence, fair. But then using my concern

is when this is being highlighted in. By the West, in the Western media, and at the same time condone, continued occupation and aggression and

genocide. That is our concern. If, for example, we have international community take a morally -- moral high ground consistent then I realized,

oh, yes, we must stop the excesses.

(CROSSTALK)

[16:40:06]

QUEST: But you would accept, A, Israel's right to exist.

IBRAHIM: Yes, yes.

QUEST: And B, Israel's right to defend itself.

IBRAHIM: Yes.

QUEST: Are you worried about a President Trump returning to the White House?

IBRAHIM: Let us offer the Americans to decide. Where we concern --

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: -- whether the Americans would decide. I asked whether you were worried.

IBRAHIM: We are concerned. Some of his statements concerning, it said that his position of human rights or democracy or banning Muslims, entering

United States, things like that, you know. But hopefully, as sanity would prevail and when you are holding office, probably hopefully you get good

advice and adjust accordingly.

QUEST: Why do you want to join the BRICS? As the BRICS has expanded, it's become more irrelevant. It is a group of countries of limited commonality.

IBRAHIM: Well, it's not political arrangement, it's more economic entry and we want to expand. Malaysia is a trading nation. I mean, we have benefited

immensely from our collaboration with the United States and Europe now growing with China and with BRICS, we think we are opening up the avenue

for increasing trade and investments.

QUEST: On this trade question, you may join the BRICS and then President Trump may get elected and introduce protectionism, increase tariffs on your

exports. That won't be good.

IBRAHIM: Whether we join BRICS or not, the protectionist policy will affect our (INAUDIBLE) huge microchips and supercomputer conductor chips export to

United States. 26 percent of production is exported United States. It will certainly affect us.

QUEST: There's huge confidence in the Malaysian economy largely brought about by the stability that your administration has brought about. But you

know as well as I do, stability is only here today and can be gone tomorrow. What do you need to do here to maintain that stability and that

growth?

IBRAHIM: I think stability for now and I think for the near future is quite settled. As far as we see in the last year of by elections have shown that

there is a shift of support, including the rural Malay Muslims to government parties now. But more than that, is to assure the public that

this stability is for them not to keep and entrench the elites in power through clarity of policies to efficient method in terms of enforcing

policies and issue of good governance and effectively combating corruption, I've said this is a crusade against corrupt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ASHER: A new poll shows the U.S. presidential election as close as ever in swing state. CNN spoke to black voters in Wisconsin about which candidate

they're backing. We'll have more on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:48]

ASHER: Birds of Prey, including hawks, falcons and vultures, help maintain healthy ecosystems by keeping other animal populations in check. Today, on

Call to Earth, we'll see how conservationists brought the fastest bird on the planet back from the brink of extinction and the risks they take to

keep tabs on them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Bluff Country, an area in the Midwest, U.S. along the Mississippi River known for its steep

cliffs and rugged landscape.

Part of the Mississippi Flyway, one of the largest North American bird migration routes, it's also where one particular keystone species had

almost vanished.

JOHN HOWE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, RAPTOR RESOURCE PROJECT: Monitoring raptors and specifically here peregrine falcons is very important right now. We've

basically succeeded and bringing back a population of raptors that was nearly gone from the continental United States.

There are other threats that are coming out right now. We've got climate change that's creeping up. Monitoring I think is key in making sure that

this population that we successfully brought back, is it doing well?

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): The widespread use of the pesticide DDT during the mid- 20th century was one of the biggest culprits in the decline of the

apex predator's population.

HOWE: DDT and its metabolite DDE led to the thinning of the egg shells and crushing of eggs before they could even hatch.

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): In 1970, the peregrine falcon was one of the first to be listed as endangered on the Endangered Species Conservation Act. And

two years later, DDT was banned.

In the 1980s conservationist Bob Anderson established the Raptor Resource Project and began to reintroduce the peregrine falcon to the Midwest.

HOWE: There was a breeding project where they released 18 falcons down at Effigy Mounds National Monument. It was from a rock-lined hatch box so it

was used to simulate the Bluffs that they wanted the falcons to come back and find.

So they did that 1998 and 1999.

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): The project was deemed a success and today the group is back to check on them.

HOWE: Were ready.

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): And hopefully place I.D. bands (ph) on the young falcons which can be a precarious task.

AMY RIES, STAFF, RAPTOR RESOURCE PROJECT: So, we're going down to find a young, get them, put them in a kennel and haul them up top to band them. A

little bit more safely than we'd be able to do on the cliff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

DAVID KESTER, FIELD RESEARCHER, RAPTOR RESOURCE PROJECT: He was such a good bird (INAUDIBLE). Had a marker band on it, which is like a social security

number for each bird, individually. And then we also put an auxiliary marker on it. it's just a way of knowing who is where as this population

has been growing.

CHATTERLEY (voice-over): Once banded, the babies are then returned back to their nest.

While the peregrine falcon was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999, continuing to monitor them helps to keep a pulse on the

surrounding ecosystem.

KESTER: They're like the canary in the mine where, you know, how things are going with the top of the food chain is telling you how everything is

going, you know, all the way through the system.

HOWE: It's one of the most amazing and successful recoveries of species and population right here in the U.S. So, we've made a lot of progress there by

helping people understand that they need to be careful and we need to be thoughtful.

That's a very important story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:50:02]

ASHER: And do let us know what you're doing to answer the call with the #calltoearth. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. This just into CNN. Boeing says that it's cutting roughly 10 percent of its workforce, which would amount to 17,000 jobs. The plane

maker says that will include executives, managers and employees. Boeing's been under a lot of pressure this year from safety problems, investigations

and a major strike that has been going on for about five weeks now.

Just today, a judge was scrutinizing the plea deal Boeing struck with the families of those killed in 2737 Max crashes. Vanessa Yurkevich is with us

now. Vanessa, what more can you tell us?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This was an e-mail sent from the CEO of Boeing to his employees. Kelly Ortberg

sending this e-mail just moments ago, telling his workforce that they are going to be cutting it by 10 percent. There's about 170,000 employees of

Boeing. So that means about 17,000 employees are going to be losing their jobs at some point over the next coming months, he says.

But he goes into just straight out, saying, this business is in a difficult position and it's been hard to navigate these challenges together. As you

said, there have been so many financial difficulties facing the company, starting with those two 737 Max crashes, those fatal crashes that happened

in 2018 and 2019. The company made a plea deal, a guilty plea deal, with the DOJ to pay out for some of those damages.

But just today, as you mentioned, a judge saying that maybe that's not quite good enough, and he's going to think about it and ask the two parties

to potentially come back together to make some sort of a better deal. And as you mentioned, also this strike that's been going on for about a month

now plaguing the company. There's no production of airplanes, Boeing airplanes in Seattle. We knew a few weeks ago that the CEO said that there

would be furloughs.

Those have started to happen, but he says now the furloughs are going to be put on pause because of these cuts. There's also going to be delays to one

of their airplanes, the 777X. That's going to be a delay to customers. But ultimately, this just shows what shaky ground Boeing is currently on, and

their finances are not looking good. And in order to move forward, in order to do the best work that he says for customers, they're going to have to

reduce their workforce by about 10 percent.

[16:55:04]

This is not going to be welcome news for a lot of employees, especially ahead of the holiday, Zain. As for workers still on strike, they may be

asking, well, hey, they're reducing employees within the company. What does that mean for me? Just so much uncertainty, but a very, very troubling e-

mail being sent to employees that many of them will possibly be losing their jobs in the next coming months, Zain.

ASHER: And Vanessa, just quickly. I mean, this CEO, Kelly Ortberg, I mean, he's been in the job for just under two months or so. I mean, he was

initially tasked to try to sort of restore Boeing after all these various crises. But the labor strike has really proven to be the biggest challenge

for him.

YURKEVICH: It has. And this is someone who has an engineering background. He did walk the floor of Boeing ahead of the strike, trying to understand

from union members exactly what they wanted to see in a deal. I also spoke to the union president, who says he doesn't blame Kelly Ortberg for what

happened in the past, but he does hold him accountable for what's happening now with the strike.

The two sides broke off talks earlier this week, have not come back together. They are very far apart on a deal. So now you have this workforce

reduction of 10 percent not including these union members, but now an ongoing strike that is potentially costing the company now billions of

dollars, Zain.

ASHER: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich live from us. Thank you. We'll have the final numbers from Wall Street right after this break. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. U.S. stocks hit fresh record highs today on strong bank earnings. The Dow soared more than 400 points to close the week at a new

record. It's risen nearly five percent in the past month. The S&P 500 closed more than half a percent higher, also at a fresh record as well.

Here's a big reason why J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo and BlackRock all topped expectations. You can actually see their shares all jumped on the news.

All right. That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Zain Asher for you in New York. "THE LEAD" with my colleague Jake Tapper start right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. This hour, ongoing efforts to save lives two days after Hurricane Milton slammed into

Florida. Ahead why the waters are still rising and FEMA's plan to combat fraud and scams and get people the help they need.

[17:00:02]

END