BBCNEWS — Business Today
20261012 013000 UTC
242 transcript segments
Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced)
Data courtesy of The GDELT Project (https://www.gdeltproject.org/), from the Internet Archive TV News Archive.
Machine transcription. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a verbatim quotation record.

[00:00:05] Live from Singapore now on BBC
[00:00:09] News, Business Today. Oil prices
[00:00:17] prices fall as global energy markets markets brace for more Russian supplies
[00:00:20] supplies after US President Trump Trump said Kyiv and Moscow had agreed
[00:00:23] agreed to an energy ceasefire. And
[00:00:26] And as Microsoft CEO calls for emergency emergency brakes on advanced AI,
[00:00:30] AI, BBC sits down with the company's company's president, who warns artificial
[00:00:33] artificial intelligence is moving
[00:00:34] moving faster than the speed of safety.
[00:00:41] safety. Hello and welcome to Business Business Today with me Steve Lyon.
[00:00:45] Lyon. Now to our top story this hour. hour. Oil prices are dropping on
[00:00:48] on the hope of some relief on the the global supply crunch after President
[00:00:51] President Donald Trump claimed Russia Russia and Ukraine have agreed to
[00:00:54] to an energy ceasefire. Both countries countries have been trading major
[00:00:57] major strikes on energy infrastructure infrastructure for weeks now. On On Friday, President Trump also said
[00:01:01] said that Russia had agreed to supply supply diesel to global markets in
[00:01:04] in an effort to lower fuel prices
[00:01:07] prices after the US temporarily lifted lifted sanctions on Russian fuel.
[00:01:09] fuel. Brent crude is trading near
[00:01:13] near the $103 mark as a barrel, while while WTI, the primary benchmark
[00:01:16] benchmark for US oil, is around $90
[00:01:19] $90 a barrel mark. However, global global energy markets remain on edge
[00:01:22] edge after strikes from the Houthis Houthis on Saudi Arabia's main airports
[00:01:25] airports raised concerns that the the escalation could exacerbate supply
[00:01:29] supply risks. Well, for more we can can go to Andy Lipow, president of
[00:01:32] of Lipow Oil Associates. Andy, get get to Saudi Arabia in just a moment.
[00:01:35] moment. But first, the reaction to to oil markets we're seeing as a a response to what President Trump
[00:01:39] Trump has been saying, that may not not necessarily be what's happening
[00:01:41] happening on the ground. Well, I
[00:01:44] I think that oil markets are hopeful hopeful that something will come
[00:01:48] come of the energy ceasefire. But
[00:01:49] But we saw President Trump on September
[00:01:52] September 14th announce a similar similar ceasefire on energy assets.
[00:01:55] assets. And following that, we continue
[00:01:57] continue to see Russia attack Ukrainian
[00:02:00] Ukrainian energy facilities and Ukraine Ukraine do significant damage to
[00:02:04] to Russian refineries and terminals
[00:02:06] terminals as Ukraine views the Russian
[00:02:09] Russian war as an existential threat.
[00:02:12] threat. And the fact that Trump has
[00:02:14] has sort of released or relaxed, relaxed, I should say, sanctions
[00:02:17] sanctions on Russia, is that encouraging encouraging for oil markets? Well,
[00:02:21] Well, I think some people think so. so. But this is happening at the
[00:02:24] the same time that Russia has banned
[00:02:27] banned diesel exports in October,
[00:02:30] October, as well as the fact that that a year ago Russia was exporting
[00:02:34] exporting 800,000 barrels a day of of diesel. Today it's zero due to
[00:02:37] to all the damage that Ukraine has has inflicted on the Russian refining
[00:02:41] refining system. So I'm pretty sceptical sceptical that we're actually going
[00:02:44] going to see large amounts of diesel diesel fuel coming out of Russia
[00:02:47] Russia to supply the world market. market. And what about the vulnerability
[00:02:51] vulnerability of Saudi Arabia and and its oil industry at the moment moment following these attacks on,
[00:02:55] on, on its airport and infrastructure? infrastructure? Well, I think these
[00:02:58] these attacks show that the Houthis
[00:03:00] Houthis are trying to damage the
[00:03:02] the Saudi reputation of being a safe safe place to do business with. And
[00:03:06] And certainly if they can hit the
[00:03:08] the Riyadh airport, they can go after
[00:03:11] after Yanbu, which is really strategic strategic for the Saudis going into
[00:03:14] into the Red Sea along with their
[00:03:16] their five refineries along that that coastline. So by compromising
[00:03:20] compromising Saudi Arabia, how big big an impact will this have on the
[00:03:22] the broader oil industry? Well, what
[00:03:25] what we've seen Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
[00:03:28] Kuwait, Iraq, the Emirates, they're they're all hiring supertankers vlccs
[00:03:32] vlccs to shuttle oil from the Persian
[00:03:35] Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman. Oman. Taking on the risk themselves
[00:03:38] themselves to sell their oil rather rather than having the customer take
[00:03:42] take the risk. And that, of course, course, is driving up freight costs
[00:03:46] costs and ultimately the delivered delivered price of oil. Andy, always always good to get your expertise.
[00:03:50] expertise. Thanks very much. Andy Andy Powell there, president of Powell
[00:03:52] Powell Oil Associates and Microsoft Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya
[00:03:56] Satya Nadella has called for advanced advanced artificial intelligence intelligence systems to be built
[00:04:00] built with an emergency brake. And And that lets people pause or shut
[00:04:03] shut down a model mid task. His comments comments come after warnings from
[00:04:06] from top tech executives that the the technology is moving too fast,
[00:04:10] fast, with limited guardrails. Conversely, Conversely, President Trump has dismissed
[00:04:14] dismissed AI risks. Speaking speaking speaking to the BBC for the Big Boss
[00:04:17] Boss interview, Brad Smith, the President President of Microsoft, says AI is
[00:04:20] is moving faster than the speed of
[00:04:22] of safety. When you look at AI agents
[00:04:26] agents that have escaped human control, control, when you look at models
[00:04:29] models that are so powerful that that they're putting the world's
[00:04:33] world's cybersecurity at risk. I I would say, look, the moment has
[00:04:36] has arrived. Let's speak calmly,
[00:04:39] calmly, maybe even softly but firmly,
[00:04:42] firmly, and start to bring people people together. I hope that's the
[00:04:44] the role we can play as a company. company. I hope that's the role the
[00:04:47] the UK can play as a country. So So there was this accord that came
[00:04:51] came out at the White House, wasn't wasn't you were notably not one of
[00:04:54] of the signatories as a company of
[00:04:56] of that, but that was all about and and I'm quoting the President again again here, tremendous self-regulation.
[00:05:00] self-regulation. It sounds like from from what you're saying to me, without without putting words in your mouth, mouth, you don't think self-regulation
[00:05:04] self-regulation actually goes far far enough. There should be one body
[00:05:07] body somewhere that people are compelled. compelled. Forced. What is it legally
[00:05:10] legally forced to put their models models through to test? I would say
[00:05:13] say two things. First, I applaud, applaud, I applaud, we applaud as
[00:05:16] as a company that statement and we're
[00:05:19] we're happy to sign it. It's a good good step. It's a necessary step.
[00:05:22] step. And fundamentally what it does does is it says companies should
[00:05:25] should have internal controls. It It should have its internal auditors
[00:05:29] auditors looking at things like AI AI safety. We've been doing that
[00:05:31] that since almost a decade ago, and
[00:05:33] and there ought to be some external external evaluators as well, all
[00:05:37] all to the good. It's necessary.
[00:05:40] necessary. I don't think it's sufficient
[00:05:42] sufficient any longer because the
[00:05:45] the challenge for any self-regulatory self-regulatory regime is if it's
[00:05:48] it's left to the industry alone, alone, frankly, the good companies
[00:05:52] companies will do what you want. want. It's the companies that are
[00:05:55] are not as responsible that you need need to worry about. We should always
[00:05:59] always worry that regulation can
[00:06:00] can become too heavy-handed. It can
[00:06:03] can slow innovation. And I think think President Trump is right to
[00:06:06] to remind us to think about even
[00:06:09] even worry about those concerns.
[00:06:11] concerns. But right now I'd argue
[00:06:13] argue that AI is moving forward faster
[00:06:16] faster than the speed of safety.
[00:06:18] safety. That's not good for the protection protection of the public. It's not
[00:06:21] not even good for the industry itself.
[00:06:24] itself. And usually what happens happens and you take I'll just say,
[00:06:27] say, our Congress in the United States, States, if a product moves faster
[00:06:30] faster than the speed of safety accidents
[00:06:34] accidents happen and then Congress Congress moves faster than the speed speed of thought, and then you just
[00:06:38] just end up with a dynamic where where everything comes to a halt.
[00:06:42] halt. I don't think that should be
[00:06:44] be our goal either. AI is an extraordinary
[00:06:46] extraordinary resource to grow the the economy, to solve societal problems,
[00:06:50] problems, or at least help. Let's Let's strike the right balance. Let's
[00:06:53] Let's take a look at some other stories stories making the news. South Korean
[00:06:56] Korean container ship Pan star Arco Arco has completed the country's
[00:07:00] country's first ever commercial round round trip to Europe via the Arctic.
[00:07:04] Arctic. On Sunday, president Lee Lee Jae myung has made Arctic shipping
[00:07:07] shipping a priority, and officials officials are hoping to launch this
[00:07:10] this service by 2030. The route runs runs to the Russian Arctic coast,
[00:07:13] coast, leading to challenges with with Western allies as they hope
[00:07:15] hope to keep Russia isolated during
[00:07:18] during their. Due to the ongoing ongoing war with Ukraine, Amazon
[00:07:21] Amazon is in talks to purchase AI AI Start-Up Descartes. That is. That
[00:07:25] That could be worth up to $7 billion
[00:07:28] billion and Descartes Lucy model model backed by Nvidia can edit live
[00:07:31] live video in real time. It is also
[00:07:33] also developed Oasis, a model that that generates simulated environments
[00:07:36] environments to train and test robotics robotics and autonomous driving systems.
[00:07:40] systems. Descartes has was valued valued at nearly $4 billion back
[00:07:43] back in May. Our US President Donald
[00:07:46] Donald Trump's August financial disclosure
[00:07:49] disclosure shows that he bought as as much as $25 million in Meta stock
[00:07:53] stock and as much as $5 million in
[00:07:56] in SpaceX debt, and that purchase purchase was just two days before
[00:07:59] before he signed a national space space transportation policy calling
[00:08:03] calling for the US to support more
[00:08:04] more than 1000 launches and re-entries re-entries annually by 2030. SpaceX
[00:08:08] SpaceX is a major Pentagon contractor, contractor, putting it in a prime
[00:08:12] prime position to benefit from policies policies aimed at expanding the US
[00:08:16] US commercial launch market. Well, Well, let's get more on this with
[00:08:18] with Richard Painter, former chief chief White House ethics lawyer for for President George W Bush. He's
[00:08:22] He's now currently a law professor professor at the University of Minnesota.
[00:08:26] Minnesota. Richard, really good to to be able to talk to you about this this today. Is there anything illegal
[00:08:29] illegal here or is this more a question
[00:08:30] question of ethics and appearance?
[00:08:33] appearance? Well, it's not legally legally impermissible for the President
[00:08:36] President of the United States to to be buying and selling stocks while
[00:08:40] while in office. But Donald Trump
[00:08:41] Trump is the first president in American
[00:08:44] American history to be buying and and selling a significant number
[00:08:46] number of stocks during his presidency.
[00:08:48] presidency. And indeed, even during during his first presidency, Donald
[00:08:52] Donald Trump did not buy a lot and
[00:08:54] and sell a lot of individual stocks
[00:08:57] stocks in his second presidency. presidency. He's bought and sold
[00:09:00] sold an enormous number of shares.
[00:09:03] shares. And the problem is that most
[00:09:05] most of these holdings conflict with
[00:09:07] with his official duties. And you
[00:09:09] you would think that if the President
[00:09:11] President wanted the public to believe believe that he was impartial in
[00:09:15] in his decision making and not trying trying to serve his own personal
[00:09:18] personal financial interest, he would would simply buy a mutual fund or
[00:09:22] or broadly diversified mutual fund fund like most other Americans do,
[00:09:26] do, rather than being in and out
[00:09:27] out of the market constantly with
[00:09:30] with thousands, thousands of purchases
[00:09:32] purchases a year at this point. So
[00:09:35] So it is quite troubling for most
[00:09:37] most of the American people who aren't aren't really able to afford much
[00:09:40] much by way of savings. And again, again, to the extent that Americans
[00:09:44] Americans are able to save, almost
[00:09:46] almost all of us have our money in
[00:09:49] in diversified mutual funds. So aren't aren't trading in the market or.
[00:09:53] or. The White House says that outside outside managers make these trades
[00:09:57] trades without the President's input. input. Do you buy that? And would
[00:09:59] would that be a valid enough argument?
[00:10:01] argument? Well, that's an argument argument against the accusation that
[00:10:04] that he's trading on the basis of of government information. So if
[00:10:08] if true, if the outside advisers advisers are making the purchases,
[00:10:11] purchases, then the President couldn't couldn't be charged with criminal
[00:10:14] criminal insider trading because because certainly if he were trading
[00:10:16] trading on non-public government government information, that would
[00:10:19] would be a criminal offence. But
[00:10:21] But that's the only part of the debate.
[00:10:24] debate. The other concern is the
[00:10:27] the conflicts of interest. If a president
[00:10:29] president has a large portfolio of of defence industry stocks, including
[00:10:32] including a lot of defence contractors contractors with the United States
[00:10:36] States government and then requests
[00:10:38] requests a $1.5 trillion defence defence budget in, in America start
[00:10:41] start to wonder where all the money
[00:10:43] money is going from their taxes. taxes. If it's going into companies
[00:10:46] companies the President owns stock
[00:10:49] stock in, then we start to wonder
[00:10:50] wonder is the President himself profiting profiting from the enormous military
[00:10:54] military threat the. United States States really does certainly raise raise a lot more questions. I'm afraid
[00:10:58] afraid we're out of time to try and and get some answers from you. Richard Richard Painter, their former chief
[00:11:01] chief White House ethics lawyer, lawyer, now professor at the University
[00:11:04] University of Minnesota. I'll be be back shortly at the top of the
[00:11:08] the hour. MUSIC
[00:14:22] going to be with us for years to to come. We're going to have to learn
[00:14:25] learn to live with it, but will not
[00:14:26] not see our lives dominated by it.
[00:14:35] it. MUSIC
[00:14:43] Being able to inspire someone
[00:14:45] is always the greatest joy. I saw
[00:14:48] saw Souza one time at the Grammys Grammys and she said that she studied studied some of my songs for their
[00:14:52] their songwriting, and I thought thought that that was the biggest
[00:14:54] biggest compliment ever. My support
[00:14:56] support for Ukraine is unwavering.
[00:15:00] unwavering. It is 100%. When the
[00:15:01] the big names talk, they talk to
[00:15:05] to us. On BBC News, a round up of
[00:15:08] of the day's sporting action plus plus talking points analysis and
[00:15:11] and original journalism. BBC Sport.
[00:15:22] Sport. Hello, I'm Tanya Arnold with with your latest sports news. Manchester
[00:15:26] Manchester City's first game since since being found guilty of breaching
[00:15:30] breaching Premier League financial financial regulations ends in victory
[00:15:32] victory as they outclass Liverpool. Liverpool. Red Bull's Max Verstappen
[00:15:35] Verstappen secures his first win win at the Singapore Grand Prix to
[00:15:38] to take his second victory within
[00:15:41] within a week and Alexander Zverev Zverev hits another milestone in
[00:15:45] in his standout season to notch his
[00:15:47] his 60th tour level victory of 2026.