BUSINESS-01
Reseverse Unlocking Order; UN: Civilians "Facing Abyss" on Eve of
Ceasefire; Court; Hlaf of Calais Migrant Camp to be Demolished; Greece
Recalls Ambassador Over Migrant Crisis; Tensions over Migrants Put Strain
on E.U.; Halliburton Cuts 5,000 Jobs; Energy Executives Meet at CERAWeek
Conference; GE: "Digital Transformation" for Energy Sector; Zimbabwe Evicts
Diamond Miners; Is a Psychic Behind the Biggest Con in History?. Aired 4-5p
ET - Part 1>
Black, Jim Acosta, Clare Sebastian>
says Jose Manuel Barrosa, former head of the European Union. Greece
recalled its ambassador after Austria held a meeting on the migrant crisis
and Athens wasn't invited. Steve Bolze, President of GE Power, says over
1.2 billion people in the world are without electricity. Bolze added that
long-term energy project need to be funded by both governments and private
markets. Zimbabwe has ordered all the diamond mines to shut down and will
not under any circumstances renew their licenses to continue operating.
Who is Maria Duval and why is she part of one of the biggest scams in
history? These self-proclaimed psychics have targeted the elderly and
financially desperate bilking people out of millions of dollars.>
Technology; Crime; Elderly>
[16:00:00]
(BELL RINGING)
RICHARD QUEST, HOST: We are up more than 200 points as trading comes to an end. I've got a good feeling about this one. I think we're going to have a firm robust - ahh look at that, that's one way of doing it. Trading is brought to an end on Thursday, it is the 25th of February.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Tonight, Apple launches its legal fight back against the FBI. Court documents have just been released, we will be reading them. OPEC's president tonight tells us $50 oil not far away. You'll hear our exclusive interview on this program. And the psychic who's the face of one of history's biggest scams; a CNN Money special investigation we have for you tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: I'm Richard Quest, we have an hour to together and of course I mean business.
Good evening. Tonight, Apple is demanding that a U.S. Court throw out the government's order that told the company to break into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists. The company's motion filed just a few moments ago, and a copy of which we've got here, some 60 odd pages long. According to the motion, it says this is not - in fact the first line -- the very first line of the motion says this is not a case about an isolated iPhone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Rather this is a case about the Department of Justice and the FBI seeking through the courts a dangerous power the congress and the American people have withheld. The finding gives a glimpse of how the company will defend its position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Apple is to argue that the code is protected first of all by its First Amendment right to free speech and then by its Fifth Amendment, Right Against Liberty.
The Director of the FBI and Apple's General Counsel are to testify before congress on March the 1st.
As CNN Money's Laurie Segall and Jose Pagliery have been covering this in some detail.
Let's start with the legal side from you even though we were talking technology more than normal. What do you make of this? We always knew they were going to have a rebuttal to the claim but from your quick and early reading of it?
JOSE PAGLIERY, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Sure, so we knew that Apple was going to argue that this ancient law, "The All Writs Act" wasn't going to apply, that it was never meant to be used in a technology case. But what's interesting about this filing is that Apple is saying that the government can't conscript, I love this language, conscript and commandeer Apple as a company to work on behalf of the government. And so it's claiming a Fifth Amendment right that it doesn't have to be forced to do that. Alternatively, it's also saying it has a First Amendment right that code is free speech and Apple's code says something about the company, it expresses security and the government can't take that away.
QUEST: Right, just to our viewers who may not be familiar, the First Amendment of course is the right to free speech in the United States, and the Fifth Amendment we usually think of being as against the right against self-incrimination but it is actually also the amendment that deals with due process and prohibiting the government to compel you to do something self-incrimination or indeed liberty.
PAGLIERY: Right, and so what's interesting here is which argument is going to hold up. Courts before have said that code can be free speech but I mean this is -this is a really bulky heavy argument here.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: And going off the Fifth Amendment right, I mean they're saying essentially I was just on a call with Apple executives and they say in this case, it would be developing software that would undermine their own security mechanism so that would be in violation.
They also on this call made a very interest reference to what they calling and this is software they want to build they're calling it "government os" "gov os". So they're almost putting kind of a technical name and saying that this would be almost an FBI lab at Apple where they would have to do this. And then they talk about the technical burden of this in this filing. They say that because this isn't one isolated case, that this would be multiple cases and how many --
QUEST: The burden of repeated requests. The novelty of the government requests. The process of -- they've even got an Affidavit here of somebody who is a code writer. I have been writing computer code for 30 years this person writes. "Writing code is an exceedingly creative and expressive process requiring a choice of language."
PAGLIERY: Now expressive as it might be, there's an interesting little detail in this court filing which said that actually Apple can do what the FBI's asking. It would take six to ten engineers 2 to 4 weeks to pull off.
QUEST: That's not very long.
PAGLIERY: No, it's not.
QUEST: That's not very long at all.
PAGLIERY: No it's not.
SEGALL: But it's the fact that how many other cases will there be. You know, I thought it was pretty interesting, I want to actually read you part of what they said in the filing because I feel it is important. They said "Apple will continue to support the efforts of law enforcement in pursuing justice against terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEGALL: They go on to say but the unprecedented order requested by the government finds no support in the law and would violate the constitution."
I mean this is really unprecedented that a tech company is taking this this far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[16:05:08]
QUEST: Yes, but I mean it was inevitable wasn't it? This was - this was a fight that was going to happen at some point. Now we know Microsoft has had other fights. Microsoft has had fights in other parts of the world, Google has had fights in China. This was a fight that was going to happen.
SEGALL: it was absolutely a fight that was going to happen and it's been years in the making. Ever since the Snowden revelation you know you had tech companies and the government kind of going in opposite directions. I do think another part of the filing that was interesting is they said that this will be bad for American companies, it will be bad for competition, if this, in fact, does happen. And you'll have adversaries going overseas to encrypted devices.
PAGLIERY: The question - the question we have now, and this is something we see in the filing, is whether or not this is going to be something that's determined in a court, a judge, a single judge, or a few judges will determine this, as opposed to congress, as opposed to having politicians who represent --
QUEST: It's going to end up in a court, I mean it's in a court at the moment. And by advancing these constitutional issues, it's got every prospect of ending up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
PAGLIERY: Absolutely.
SEGALL: That's the point here. I will say it, that was a big part of the filing. They say this should not be decided in individual courts, this should be decided in congress.
QUEST: All right, thank you very much indeed. What a day it was on the markets. The U.S. stocks rose very sharply.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And if you take a look at the Dow Jones Industrials. It's really quite impressive. Having tootled along not doing pretty much for most of the day then all of a sudden, they're boosted by a rise in oil prices, a rise in durable goods orders. Point to recovery in manufactures and the market roars up 212 points at the close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: In fact I'm looking at the graph and that is the best of the day. There's a glut of oil in the market. That much you know. But OPEC says it's time for a freeze. And even sees crude prices perhaps doubling by the end of the year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The President of OPEC speaks exclusively to CNN. Quest Means Business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: The never ending saga of oil prices continues as once again they went up. They're headed up over the period of time a message from OPEC's President who said speaking exclusively to CNN, Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada predicted that oil could hit $50 a barrel within a year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: And he said prices would benefit from a freeze in output. And the fact that some oil producers obviously a reference to the United Sates, being pushed out of the market. Now if you look at the way oil prices have moved. Well obviously you know we were up over the last year $60 but then it comes right the way down, that's its low point, it's recent low point down at about $26, $27 and change.
But back up again, 2% on Thursday. Overall, give or take, if you take today's rate at $30, $32, it's lost about 50% in the past year alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now low oil prices have already put major finances of the oil producers at risk and deepened the divisions between the various OPEC members. So let's look at who stands where at the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Five OPEC members have agreed a freeze. Now remember, we're not talking about a cut, we're talking about just freezing at existing levels. You've got Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, and Russia has signed onto this as well.
[16:10:06]
QUEST: Significant amounts of oil we are talking about here. But it is a freeze, it's not a cut. And Saudi Arabia has led the opposition to reducing output. They'll freeze but they won't reduce. The problem is those two producers who actually want to raise output. And here you're talking about Iran, who has called the freeze ridiculous and Iraq, coming back into the market after sanctions were lifted. Iraq is also trying to boost production to rebuild the economy. That's the scenario. And in this environment, it's not surprising that the market, the market believes production remains at very high levels.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTL Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada is the President of OPEC and Qatar's Energy Minister. He spoke to CNN's emerging markets editor John Defterios who asked whether Saudi, the OPEC member most opposed to production would back down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMED BIN SALEH AL-SADA, PRESIDENT OF OPEC: At the moment, the best possible feasible proposal is to freeze at the level of production of January, but I'm sure Saudi Arabia like any other country is watching the market closely and of course they would act appropriately.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: But you have four players that have agreed, plus another two, Kuwait and the UAE firmly committed, but I don't see any producers stepping up and saying we support your efforts to freeze.
AL-SADA: In fact the meeting in Doha was extremely successful where we had that agreement of getting a proposal put on the table of everybody's like OPEC and non OPEC. (inaudible) and we think that it will gather more and more approval because it is to the interest of all parties.
DEFTERIOS: Is it really fair to ask Iran, which was out of the market for four years because of sanctions, to be a signatory to a freeze realistically?
AL-SADA: We met with the Iranian minister and he was very supportive of any measures to stabilize the market though they asked for special consideration with regard to their situation.
DEFTERIOS: Special consideration means that they don't want to be participating. He actually said the proposal is ridiculous in his words, so does he get the special dispensation to stay out?
AL-SADA: That is their position of course and we respect their position and of course it will be -- it's a sovereign decision and it's looked at by other countries, OPEC and non-OPEC.
DEFTERIOS: Isn't the wild card that demand will drop? We've all been focused on the over supply but if China goes pear-shaped in the second half of the year it changes the game.
AL-SADA: Although this may affect the demand but the level of demand will continue increasing at least 1.2 million barrel a day. That increase we need to plan for it, we need to think rationally and responsibly to meet it and we need a fair price so that we are able to meet such a demand.
DEFTERIOS: At this level that we're at today, February 2017, could we actually see a $50 floor through this natural falling out of non-OPEC production because of the low price?
AL-SADA: I would not be surprised if this is the situation and we even cross the $50 price per barrel then.
DEFTERIOS: Because of the 600,000 barrels that's coming out of the higher cost production, it's forcing the players out?
AL-SADA: Yes. I agree, that the drop is going to be sharper and becoming a few months because the credit lines open for many companies, smaller companies, is not there anymore and they cannot sustain losses for long. And by the way, the current price is not sustainable for conventional oil, let alone non-conventional oil, so the situation is absolutely not a sustainable one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: So Richard, Mohammad Al-Sada believes that a freeze alone can get the price of crude to $50 or higher this time next year, but clearly challenges remain with Iran coming back into the market. Back to you.
QUEST: John Defterios in the Gulf. Now Russia is heavily dependent on the income it gets on producing and exporting oil. And the crash in crude prices is forcing the Russian government to make major adjustments to its budget and with that to its spending plans. Russian workers are certainly feeling the pain. Phil Black shows us the human face of this oil crisis in Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[15:15:00]
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (inaudible) like most Russian cities openly wears evidence of its Soviet past. These local communists still yearn for it largely because of the boom/bust economic cycle that's followed. Russia's latest recession means people here are once again struggling financially.
Its future was built on one industry, one product, the Lada, an enormous source of Soviet pride. Simple affordable cars that didn't really change for decades. The latest Lada's are still being made here but now along with models from Nissan and Renault foreign producers invested heavily in Russia during rosier economic times because they saw huge potential. But that's proving elusive. Last year the Russian market shrunk 36%.
The churning hum of productivity can only be heard at this sprawling complex four days a week now with Russia's oil dependent economy in crisis, new car sales have plummeted so workers here have had their hours slashed.
25-year-old (Leona) works at the car plant as a mechanic. That's where he met his wife, (Natalia). They're expecting a child. They say the new four- day working week will reduce their income by more than 20%.
He says his monthly wage was 20,000 rubles. Now it's around 15,000. That's less than $200. This couple was in trouble even before the huge forced pay cut. They couldn't afford rent so they moved into a two-bedroom apartment with three other relatives. They say their income covers food and utilities, that's it. (Inaudible) says service businesses like cafes are closing, young people are moving to find work in other cities, and apartments sit empty. While crime is up and people are drinking more. He says the city's economic and social decay is blamed on something beyond their control.
"People only talk about oil in this country," he says. "It feels like our country is nothing but one big oil pipeline."
Economists have long warned Russia's economy is dangerously reliant on oil exports. Today's cheap prices are a key part of Russia's economic storm. Sanctions over Ukraine, a tumbling ruble, high inflation, especially on food, the result is a shrinking economy that's yet to bottom out. (inaudible) future remains bleak. Fewer people buying cars. More people like (Leona and Natalia) carefully counting out coins just to get by.
Phil Black, CNN Money, Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: There's a big day upcoming for the beautiful game. The body in charge of world football is to choose a new leader on Friday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Why FIFA is hoping for a fresh start.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: As Apple fights the U.S. Government for the right not to break into a locked iPhone, it's also taking part in meetings held by the justice department on other anti-terrorism initiatives where they can cooperate with the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: It's been called a Madison Valleywood Project and it's a meeting of minds from Madison Avenue. It includes publicists and Adelman from Silicon Valley. You've got Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, and from Hollywood, you have MTV, hence the Madison Wood.
[16:20:16]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: News of this meeting was first reported by Jim Acosta. Jim tonight is in Texas for the CNN Republican debate. But Jim, first of all, congratulations for bringing us that story on the talks. How much - how much common ground is there between government, Madison Avenue, Hollywood and Silicon Valley?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think they're trying to find that common ground right now Richard. We know from looking at this issue for several months now going into the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, there's been a frustration inside the White House. They have felt for a while now that these social media networks and the companies and the high-tech executives who run those companies just have not been doing enough to thwart these lone wolf attacks by making sure that ISIS messaging is not getting across through places like twitter and Facebook and Apple, and Snap Chat, and so forth. And so what they've tried to do is bring these companies together.
And what we saw yesterday happening at the justice department, to my knowledge, this is the largest gathering of high-tech executives, counterintelligence officials, justice department officials, White House officials, and so on to take on this subject. And it is obviously as you know Richard, something that has to be dealt with because ISIS is Al Qaeda with very effective social media. They've been able to inspire lone wolf attackers in the United States through social media. And because of the proliferation of this technology now you have Snap Chat involved. You have all of these other social media apps and websites that the Obama administration and future White Houses I would imagine are going to continue to be concerned about this.
QUEST: Jim, at tonight's debate, would you expect anything in the Apple arena to come up? I mean is there any blue water between the Republican candidates on this particular issue? We know Donald Trump basically says open - to Apple, get on with it and open the phone. Is there any other views that are likely to be expressed?
ACOSTA: That's right. I mean it was striking that Apple was involved in this yesterday. They say that the meeting yesterday and their participation was solely about this issue about social media. And as you know Apple is essentially saying through Tim Cook that you know what they're going to try to make this as difficult as possible for the U.S. Federal government to get through this encryption.
As you mentioned Richard, Donald Trump has been hitting this issue hard. We follow Donald Trump everywhere he goes and he goes after Mexico. He goes after China. But this is sort of a new target for Donald Trump in this campaign. He's been saying Apple needs to open up these iPhones and allow federal investigators to get at this information. I suspect he'll probably talk about it again tonight because it's very much in the news. And Donald Trump, as we all know, has shown sort of an adeptness for being able to rip news from the headlines and inject it right into his campaign rhetoric and create headlines of his own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: So I suspect you'll hear more of that tonight. And I think on the law and order front, you know Ted Cruz is very much in the same vein as Rand Paul was. He's very much a libertarian, a constitutional guy first, and so I think he would be very much - I would imagine he would be very much against some of what the federal is trying to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Primarily because he has been saying that American privacy rights should be respected. So you're going to have perhaps both ends of the spectrum tonight.
QUEST: Jim Acosta at the debate which we'll be watching closely tonight. Jim, thank you sir.
Now that debate starts in just over three hours from now. Wolf Blitzer is the moderator, and you can see it all at 1:30 on Friday morning in London. There's a special program, "America's Choice." We'll have all the highlights at noon time in London.
Tonight on the eve of another eagerly awaited election, this time it's taking place in Zurich and it's FIFA that's hoping for a fresh start. Finally members of the world's football governing body to choose their new leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: These are the five men all standing for the job of leading FIFA. Not just out of its immediate crisis but putting and setting it on a road to the future.
One of the favorites of course is Gianni Infantino and has been telling CNN that unlike some of the people who have steered the FIFA ship in the past, he will never be arrested or suspended. Our Clare Sebastian has pieced together what has to be, by any definition, a terrible saga.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN MONEY REPORTER: In the series Homeland this is how the CIA unravels the most complex of cases. The scandal engulfing FIFA is just as complex.
[VIDEO CLIP]
[16:25:03]
SEBASTIAN: Racketeering, wire fraud.
We need to start on May 27, 2015 in New York, the day everything came to a head. We'll trace the strands back to this point in a moment. They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer.
[VIDEO CLIP] This really is the world cup of fraud.
SEBASTIAN: The web of alleged corruption spanned the globe from the sports marketing companies in Miami, and the British Virgin Islands which pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks for the marketing rights to tournaments to the allegation Jack Warner, the former ahead of CONCACAF FIFA's confederation in the Americas accepted a $10 million payment for backing South Africa's 2010 World Cup bid. Warner denies this allegation and the news plunged FIFA into turmoil.
SEPP BLATTER, SUSPENDED FIFA PRESIDENT: I will call in extraordinary congress and put at disposal my function.
SEBASTIAN: To understand how we got to this point, we need to go back to 2010 and the announcement that Russia would host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar the 2022 tournament.
Accusations of foul play had already started to swirl. By May of 2011, Jack Warner and Mohammed Bin-Hammam, a candidate for the FIFA presidency had both been suspended over alleged corruption in the awarding of those bids. Both denied any wrongdoing. Both have now been banned from football related activities for life.
Around the same time over in the U.S., the FBI had started to look at this man, Chuck Blazer, then second in command at CONCACAF. His lavish lifestyle was the stuff of legend. He even famously rented a $6,000 a month apartment in New York's Trump Tower for his cats.
CARLOS GIRON, FORMER CONCACAF STAFFER: He'd walk around with $100 bills, you know, with his pocket literally filled with $100 bills
SEBASTIAN: The IRS was after Blazer for failing to pay his taxes. According to the "New York Daily News," the FBI and the IRS got together and gave him an ultimatum. Go to prison for tax evasion or help with the FIFA investigation. He opted to help, even reportedly wearing a wire in a car key chain at the London Olympics in 2012.
Chuck Blazer's evidence was crucial to the FBI. These are court documents dating to 2013 unsealed in June last year. They showed Blazer admitted to accepting bribes and kickbacks including in relation to South Africa's World Cup bid.
He mentions also that other officials were involved in that. Remember the Department of Justice's allegation about Jack Warner and that $10 million. We're looking for Jack. CNN tracked Warner down in Trinidad in June. He's still there fighting extradition to the U.S.
RICHARD WEBER, U.S. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE: This case has been nothing short of one of the most complex worldwide financial investigations ever conducted.
SEBASTIAN: 41 individuals and corporations have so far been charged. 14 have pleaded guilty. Investigators say they traced hundreds of millions in funds through accounts in at least 40 countries. Their work is far from done.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The machinations of FIFA.
Britain is on the brink of leaving the E.U. If it votes on June the 23rd to so do. E.U. Ambassadors are embroiled in a bitter dispute over migrants. And the Europe Union is facing crises on multiple fronts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: A Former President of the commission, (Jose Marmol Barroso) is next on "Quest Means Business."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:00] RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment.
When Austria and Greece are having a diplomatic row over migrants. And I'll speak to the Former Commission President, Jose Manuel Barrosa to ask how serious the crisis is now facing the E.U. We'll be live in Harare where Zimbabwe's government has shut down a number of diamond mines.
But before all of that this is CNN and on this network the news always comes first.
The U.S. is calling for drastic new sanctions on North Korea. It's unveiled its resolution of the United Nation a short time ago. The proposed sanctions are a response to recent detonation that Pyongyang said was a test of its nuclear material. Including inspections on all cargo to and from North Korea for sanctions as well as tighter restrictions on banking activities.
Apple has asked the U.S. court to reverse an order telling the company to unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple's filing is a glimpse of how the company will defend its position. Apple will argue its code it's protected by the rights of free speech were tried in the first amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
UN officials are warning that Syrian civilians are facing the abyss. The alliance could depend on whether a cease-fire actually takes hold. The abstention of hostilities is due to take effect in a little over 24 hours from now. ISIS and al-Nusra Front and of course they're not a part of any such deal.
A French court has upheld the decision to demolish half of an informal camp near Calais that's home to thousands of migrants. It's known as the jungle. French authorities say hundreds of people who live there will be moved from tents to containers on the northern side, so that the southern side can be torn down. With overcrowding you can expect that others will have to move to different camps.
Tonight diplomatic relations within the European Union are under ever greater stress and strain. Greece is recalling its ambassador to Austria over the migrant crises. It's just a day after Vienna held a meeting with the Balkan states on the situation, and Athens wasn't invited. Even though most migrants heading to Europe come through Greece.