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The Rich and Powerful are Meeting in Davos; Failed Lunar Lander Heading Back Towards Earth; Travel Expert Explains Why Airline Passengers are Ditching Economy Seating. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired January 18, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, lovely people. It`s Thursday, January 18th. Welcome to the best 10 minutes in news, where I tell you the, "what"
letting you decide what to think. Happy Friday Eve. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10.
We start today by heading to the mountain town of Davos in Switzerland. It`s known for its ski resorts and the World Economic Forum, which is
happening this week. It`s an annual meeting of business, political, and academic leaders. More than 60 heads of state are meeting in Davos,
including Presidents of Ukraine and Israel. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Prime Minister of China, Li Qiang, Microsoft CEO Satya
Nadella, and Sam Altman of OpenAI are attending as well, among many other business executives.
So, what`s the goal of the World Economic Forum? Davos gives space for all of these powerful people from different countries and industries to meet in
formal and informal ways to share ideas and brainstorm solutions to the world`s biggest problems. What`s on the agenda? Global conflict, including
tensions between China and Taiwan, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The world leaders are also expected to talk about climate catastrophes and
pivotal elections happening this year in several major countries, including the U.S., India, and Mexico. Among other big topics are how artificial
intelligence will impact jobs, and the pandemic`s impact on the world economy that`s still in recovery.
CNN`s Richard Quest is in Davos and he`s found a pretty unusual way to explain the goals and ambitions of the event and the basics of the global
economy. He`s doing it through the sport of curling. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a scene of Alpyn Beauty, the landscapes of winter, the Davos, the peaks, the visitors, the snow. The
World Economic Forum`s theme this year, "Rebuilding Trust," where it aims to hit the target. That`s also the philosophy of the Davos Curling Club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when the skip says, here, you make the curl like that.
QUEST: So that`s why it`s called curling, because you curled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s curls. Yes.
QUEST: Think of these stones as being the economy, various governments, prime ministers, presidents, finance ministers, they set their course and
send it on its way.
So many factors threatened to sweep the economy. For starters, interest rates, central bankers have hiked them to the point where economies have
slowed down to kill inflation. And now they`re trying to hit that target 2% without them knocking themselves off. Global growth is expected to slow
this year. I hope it`s not going to spiral it all down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
QUEST: That did nothing, that did nothing. Because I wasn`t able to sweep enough out the way. And so the economy came to a stop.
(On camera): It is also the year of elections, political candidates charting their collision course for victory, hoping to knock rivals off the
stage.
AI is like a curling stone. Heavy, once set free may be difficult to control. And even if we do the right things, well, accidents can still
happen. It`s unbelievable.
The world of curling can teach us much about today`s global economy, having raised interest rates and then still trying to keep things going without
coming to a complete stop. And then when all set and done in a competitive environment, you want to knock your competitors to one side, but you don`t
want to completely ruin the game. Richard Quest, CNN Davos.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
What year was the latest space mission in which humans successfully landed on the moon?
1959, 1969, 1972 or 1970?
If you said 1972, you are correct. That was the last time humans set foot on the moon during the final lunar landing mission in NASA`s Apollo
program, Apollo 17.
Last week, the U.S. launched its first Lunar Lander mission in more than 50 years, there was no crew on this craft, but the moonshot, this time was not
successful due to a critical fuel leak, the Peregrine spacecraft had to turn back from the vicinity of the moon and head back towards earth.
Astrobotic, the company that built the Peregrine Lander under a 108 million contract with NASA said the spacecraft was about 218,000 miles from the
earth. There were options to crash land the Peregrine on the moon or leave it to the Cosmos. But Astrobotic decided that the safest option would be to
turn the spacecraft back and allow it to smash into the thick atmosphere of the earth at high speeds. If the Peregrine`s mission had been successful,
it might have become the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since Apollo 17.
All right, we possibly have some good news for air travelers. The airline industry is set to have its first quote, "normal year since the pandemic.
Airfare is at a 15-year low and more passengers are now ditching the economy seats and upgrading to more premium seating arrangements, did you
know?
CNN has been speaking with a travel expert, who`s giving predictions on what`s next for airlines and passengers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATY NASTRO, TRAVEL EXPERT & SPOKESPERSON, GOING.COM: If I had to pick one word to describe travel in 2024, I`m going to have to say, normal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After years of pandemic related disruptions, 2024 is set to be the first full year of relative normalcy for air travel since the end
of the pandemic was declared last year. So we asked travel expert, Katy Nastro, to share her crystal ball with us.
NASTRO: Airfare is 12% lower than it was a year ago. It`s almost 25% lower than it was in 2019. Airfare hasn`t been this cheap since 2009.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While inflation might have consumers worried about price increases at the grocery store, Nastro doesn`t expect airfare to skyrocket
like it has in recent more volatile years when the pandemic may travel unpredictable.
NASTRO: Without these sort of spikes that we saw over the last two years, we`re likely to see 2024 mirror those years in 2019, 2018. Cheap flights
are so available. And the amount of people looking and wanting to travel is not going to go down, it`s likely to go up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course not all airlines survive the pandemic. And some airlines amidst continuing financial struggles, proposed mergers last
year to make their businesses more competitive, they claim. But Nastro warns the opposite could be true for travelers.
NASTRO: The single biggest factor for why we see cheap flights is competition. So even if you never fly on a budget carrier like a Spirit, we
want those carriers in the mix because it actually places downward pressure on the legacy carriers like a Delta, an American in United. And so
basically when we hear of mergers between airlines, that`s the first thing that comes to mind, less competition. And that means less availability of
cheap flights for consumers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story getting a 10 out of 10 is proof that some ambitious travel plans don`t even need a plane ticket. Briana DeSanctis, a hiker from
new England has decided to hike the entire United States. Her goal is to be the first woman to complete the American discovery trail. It spans more
than 6,800 miles of hiking and biking route.
On her journey, Briana said she encountered wild animals. She hiked through a temperature drop at one point where it went from 22 degrees to just two
degrees in a 40-minute time span. She said, people don`t really get outside that much these days. So she`s determined to push herself in hopes of
inspiring others.
I hope some of you out there are finding a path that might inspire others along the way. Remember you never know when or how or for whom, but you
will be the light that someone needs someday. So shine bright baby.
It`s shout out time now. Thanks to all of you, who`ve subscribed on our CNN 10 YouTube channel. We`re creep up on a million subscribers and that`s when
I`ll have to do a challenge set forth by one of you. dunk tank, polar plunge in the lake. What will it be?
All right. This shout out goes to Blackmon Road Middle School in Columbus, Georgia, rise up. Keep flying high, Eagles.
And this shout out goes to Flasher High School in the City of Flasher, North Dakota, rrr. We see you Bulldogs. See you tomorrow, lovely people.
I`m Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.
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