Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Small Decline In U.S. COVID Cases, Warning Of Upcoming Rise From Variants; Cheney Keeps Her Rank, Taylor Greene Gets Admonished; Aung San Suu Kyi Charged, Military Blacks Out Internet; Yellen Wants Regulators to Meet on Market Turmoil; Activists Call for Beijing 2020 Boycott over Uyghur Camps; Italy's Draghi Now Trying to Rally Parliament to End Crisis; Australian Open Players Isolated after COVID Case in Hotel; Pandemic Making it Hard for Families to Mourn Loved Ones. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 04, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: All around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Hello, everyone, I'm John Vause.
And ahead this hour.
Is it the peak or the calm before the storm? As the daily number of infections continue to fall, experts warn new mutations could easily trigger another wild surge.
With the military takeover in Myanmar, the country goes dark online.
And how we handle grief has changed for many during the age of COVID. We take a look at the way some families are finding comfort after losing a loved one.
It's been just over a year since the coronavirus was declared a public health emergency by the WHO. And since then, we've seen the number of infections, the number of deaths surge, we've seen economies tank.
But as America's top infectious disease experts have been saying, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Infections are falling in many parts of the world which has been happening for a few weeks now. You can see where they're down, green, holding steady there in yellow although we've seen declines before, they have later been squandered.
But worldwide confidence in vaccines is rising. A survey by the Institute of Global Health Innovation found that 54 percent of respondents in 15 countries would get vaccinated. That's up from 41 percent in November.
And the U.K., launching the world's first study on whether coronavirus vaccines can be safely interchanged, for example, a first dose of AstraZeneca, a second dose of Pfizer BioNTech.
If that works, it will allow much more flexibility in deliveries and distribution. Results expected in a few months.
Meantime, England's chief medical officer says the U.K. is likely past its current peak of the current coronavirus pandemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WHITTY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER FOR ENGLAND: Yes, I think that most of my colleagues think we are past the peak. Now that doesn't mean you can never have another peak but at this point in time provided people follow the guidelines, we're on a downward slope of cases, of hospitalizations and of deaths in all four of the nations of the United Kingdom.
So, I think we do think, at this point, this peak, at least, we are past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And in the United States, the COVID death toll has now surpassed 400,000 -- 450,000.
States are starting to report deaths believed to be linked to the variant first detected in the U.K.
Meantime, California opening two mass vaccination sites to boost the number of available doses, part of a federal pilot program to open 100 locations nationwide.
Some lawmakers, though, say more needs to be done to ensure undeserved -- underserved communities, rather, have equal access to vaccines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RAUL RUIZ, (D-CALIF): It's just not working and it's disproportionately harming underserved populations and communities of color.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that in Mississippi, black people account for 15 percent of the vaccination while accounting for 42 percent of the deaths. In Nebraska, four percent of vaccinations are to Hispanic individuals even though they make up 23 percent of the cases.
So this is not only a moral failure, this is prolonging the pandemic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As states continue to struggle with the vaccine rollout, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention says up to 84,000 more Americans could die from the virus by the end of the month.
CNN's Erica Hill has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZIENTS, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: We are at war with this virus.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That war is also a race against time.
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION CORONAVIRUS ADVISORY BOARD: We're getting a breather. And if this U.K. variant continues to spread as predicted here in the U.S., we are in for some very tough months ahead.
HILL: More vaccinations could help stop the spread. A boost in supply and access clear moves in the right direction.
All teachers in West Virginia over age 50 are now vaccinated; in New York City a push to prioritize restaurant workers.
But with just 2 percent of the population fully vaccinated, the country still has a long way to go.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you want our society to get back to normal you have to get about 70 to 85 percent of the population vaccinated.
HILL: A new study in the U.K. finds AstraZeneca's vaccine which is not yet authorized in the U.S. may also help stop transmission. The study has not been peer viewed.
RICK BRIGHT, FMR. DIRECTOR, U.S. BIOMEDICAL ADVANCED RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: This is encouraging, and it's not actually totally surprising. It is what we would expect from most of our vaccines.
HILL: The numbers continue to move in the right direction. Good news that comes with a warning.
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, U.S. CDC DIRECTOR: Although we have seen declines in cases and admissions and a recent slowing of deaths, cases remain extraordinarily high. Still twice as high as the peak number of cases over the summer.
[01:05:00]
HILL: Meantime, new findings on who is spreading the virus. In the U.S., that dubious honor goes to younger adults. Researchers in London estimated 20 to 49-year-olds account for more than 75 percent of new transmissions through mid-August.
So should that group have vaccine priority?
DR. UCHE BLACKSTOCK, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: Absolutely not. What we need to do is just get the vaccine into the arms of people who are at highest risk for doing poorly if they are infected.
HILL: As more areas loosen restrictions on activities like indoor dining --
GOV. PHIL MURPHY, (D-N.J.): We believe that we can make this expansion without leading to undue or further stress on our health care system.
HILL: What the experts and officials are not encouraging? Superbowl parties.
WALENSKY: Not wearing masks and participating in in-person social gatherings have contributed to the variant's spread. Please watch the Superbowl safely, gathering only virtually or with the people you live with.
HALL: We just learned that opening day for Yankee Stadium is tomorrow -- for vaccinations, that is. That is 15,000 appointments will be available through the first week -- now those are for Bronx residents only. Which is part of an effort to not only just address the fact that the Bronx has the highest positivity rate of all the boroughs in New York City but also to address issues of inequity.
HILL (On Camera): In New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips is the chief health officer at the Providence Health System. She is with us from Seattle.
And it has been a while, welcome back.
DR. AMY COMPTON-PHILLIPS, CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER, PROVIDENCE HEALTH SYSTEM: Thanks so much, John.
VAUSE: OK. We'll start with, I guess, the good news Russia and Sputnik vaccine. The editor-in-chief from "The Lancet" says despite some initial concerns, it actually is as advertised and possibly then some. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD HORTON, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE LANCET": They've taken a very original approach. They have two doses of the vaccine but the two doses are different. They use a different adenoviral vector. And the idea is that will give a super-strong boost to the immune response. And it looks like it did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that's Sputnik V not 5. This is a very original approach they took because the Russians approved it first and then they carried out the tests.
Still it seems, in terms of cost and ease of distribution, Sputnik may end up being a vaccine of choice for a lot of countries.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And the good news is they did the proof later. The unusual thing, particularly as you mentioned, worldwide confidence in vaccines is declining. And so, the fact that they approved the virus [sic] first is one of the things along with antiviral misinformation, anti-vaccine misinformation, that impedes confidence in vaccines. So it is great news that the vaccine works, it's great news that they did the science -- and then, maybe next time, they'll be comfortable enough that they can do the science first and then approve the vaccine.
VAUSE: That would be kind of a good way of doing things. I think they've worked out that attorney actually is effective.
There are some questions though over AstraZeneca and its vaccine and its reduction in transmission.
Researchers found a reduction of the number of people with the virus as a result of being vaccinated, argued that would equate to a reduction in the spread. Other experts have said hey, that's just kind of a big leap, hold on there.
Like Carlos del Rio from Emory University School of Medicine who told Status News --
"The study showed a decrease in viral shedding, not transmission. The bottom line is, no, one cannot draw a conclusion or a straight line" -- from that to the reduction in transmission.
Our experts had similar thoughts on this. Would you say it's still good news, just not as good as first thought?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I would say it's definitely in the 'this is better news than we could've hoped for' column.
But it doesn't mean -- because what people really want to do is once they get the vaccine, stop wearing a mask, right?
VAUSE: Right.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: So this does not give you permission to do that. This says that there probably is less shedding of virus after you get a vaccine but that still wearing a mask until everybody else is vaccinated is the right thing to do.
Because you're still shedding less, you're still shedding virus. You can, if you happen to get exposed, pass along to somebody else who hasn't been vaccinated. And so that is the bottom line.
Better news to have less virus in circulation but getting nobody else infected with virus is really the right answer.
VAUSE: One of the issues I still have at the moment is when it comes to this information which is sort of being publicly put out there, it seems like the wording on the emphasis isn't quite right.
When we say this new variant is no more deadly than what was previously known "at this point," I just think that's kind of misleading.
It's also like what the AstraZeneca folks have done here too about the transmission, possibly able to slow the spread of the transmission as well. Yes, it's possible.
But it just seems like there not misinformation but misguided information perhaps?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: I do think we need permission to say we don't know yet.
VAUSE: Yes.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: And I think that is really what we have to be able to say is we're going to have to study the different variants of the virus and see whether or not any of them are more lethal than other versions.
And right now we just don't know that answer, we need to study it and figure it out. And unfortunately, that takes a little while.
[01:10:00]
VAUSE: Yes, I think we have to be very honest. If we don't know, we just don't know with this stuff. And it can go either way.
There is, however, relatively good news. We're getting vaccines. And with that in mind, here's Dr. Fauci reminding us what the goal actually is. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: If you can get people protected and get an umbrella of what we call herd immunity, the level of infection is going to go very, very low down in community and in society and, at that point, the entire community can start getting back to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Anthony Fauci went on to say 70 percent of vaccination for herd immunity.
Yet there's a new poll put out by Monmouth University that found 24 percent of Americans will avoid vaccines if possible. Add into that the people who won't go , the people who forget and you're getting beyond that 70 percent mark.
So, given all the sacrifices so far, all the staggering loss of life, it seems to be kind of cruel to see herd immunity denied by those who are just simply opposed to vaccinations because of misguided and misinformation?
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: We need to work on that, obviously. The last year has been really interesting and misinformation has skyrocketed and some of that misinformation was coming from what should be sources of truth.
And so with the new administration here in the U.S., with locking down misinformation on social media sites, I'm hoping we can actually get the real story out.
That combined with the people have gotten the vaccine, telling their friends, telling their neighbors that they're actually protected now, it's not making them sick, it's making them well can really help turn the tide, I hope.
Getting that number who actually want to get the vaccine from 54 percent up into the levels we need for herd immunity.
VAUSE: Yes. Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, thank you so much. We appreciate your time, take care.
COMPTON-PHILLIPS: Always a pleasure.
VAUSE: They call it the Grand Old Party, a reference to a Republican Party which saved the Union during the American Civil War with Southern Confederates.
But now it seems civil war has erupted within the ranks of the modern- day Republican Party. And this war is a choice between old conservative values like the rule of law or a full-on immersion in crazy conspiracy theories.
And it was a split decision late Wednesday. On the one hand, the third highest-ranking Republican Liz Cheney kept her leadership role, despite a vote to impeach Donald Trump.
But party officials also refused to strip committee assignments from the new congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a conspiracy theorist who said school shootings were all staged and space lasers caused the wildfires in California.
House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, says Greene has actually apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN MCCARTHY, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER: So I think would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us, denouncing Q-on (ph) -- I don't know if I say it right, I don't know what it is. Any from the shootings, she said she knew nothing about lasers or all the different things that have been brought up about her.
And so, from that perspective, she's now a member. If we are now going to start judging what other members have said before they're even members of congress, I think it's going to be a hard time for the Democrats to place anybody on committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He doesn't know QAnon, honest. Well, for more on what comes next, here's CNN's Ryan Nobles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It took four hours but the house Republican conference on Capitol Hill has ironed out at least some of their issues.
They voted overwhelmingly to keep Liz Cheney as the third ranking member of the house leadership. Now this was an important vote and it tracks back to the impeachment vote where Cheney joined nine other house Republicans in voting to impeach former President Trump.
The former president still enjoys a lot of support from house Republicans and there were many angry that Cheney took that vote and they demanded for her to be removed from her post.
That led to this meeting which got heated at times where many members stood up and yelled and angrily complained about Cheney voting to impeach President Trump.
But when the ballots were cast -- and they were all cast secretly -- Cheney held up holding onto her post comfortably. A vote margin of 145 to 60 to one of congress that voted present.
Now that wasn't the only problem that the house Republicans were dealing with. They're also dealing with freshman congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia and those past comments that she's made that have been very controversial that's led to Democrats calling for her to be removed from the house education committee and the house budget committee.
Now Republicans attempted to try and bridge some sort of compromise; take her off the education committee, maybe put her on a different committee but house minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, could not strike a deal with the house majority leader, Steny Hoyer, so Democrats are going to move forward.
As a result, Republicans plan to do nothing to hold Greene accountable for her actions. That vote will take place on the house floor on Thursday.
It is likely that even though she will have Republican support that there will be enough democratic votes to remove Greene from those committees.
NOBLES (On Camera): Ryan Nobles, CNN. On Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Scott Jennings is a CNN political commentator and former special assistant to president George W. Bush. He's with us from Louisville in Kentucky. So Scott, thanks for taking the time.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you for having me.
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Sure. Look, at this point, maybe best to review where the Republican Party stands.
Congresswoman who voted to hold Trump accountable for inciting insurrection at the Capitol, this would be Liz Cheney, survives a vote to remain in a leadership position.
Meantime, the congresswoman who harasses teenage survivors of school shootings, yelling it was all staged as a part of gun reform control and 9/11 was not an Al-Qaeda terror attack and Democrats are pedophiles and speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, should be hung for treason -- the party leadership will not remove her from committees but Democrats look set to do so on Thursday.
That seems like that's how it should be.
But here's how Trump supporter and Republican Matt Gaetz sees all of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MATT GAETZ, (R-FLA.): Tonight, the Republicans decided to keep Liz Cheney, tomorrow the Democrats will boot Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees. I think both decisions reinforce the power of Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What is interesting is that it seems there's two sets of facts here yet an entirely different point of view from, I guess, the traditional point of view and then how the Trump supporters or these new members of the Republican Party see things.
JENNINGS: Yes, Matt Gaetz is interesting. Just a few hours before the vote, he was on a podcast on radio claiming that they had the votes to get rid of Liz Cheney and that he was worried about an establishment plot to prevent a vote from happening at all.
And, of course, Liz Cheney herself, according to reporting, stood up in the meeting and said I want to have a vote. And she did, and she did more than survive, she crushed the people who were trying to get rid of her. Which is great.
And I know Liz Cheney and I think she is terrific and she's a great conservative Republican. It is a disgrace that it came to this, in my opinion. Liz Cheney did what she thought was right and some people wanted to throw her out over it.
And I just think right now, there are a lot of Republicans who are practicing the politics of subtraction instead of the politics of addition and the folks trying to subtract Liz Cheney were wrong. I'm glad they're defeated tonight.
VAUSE: Well, in the addition column, there's Marjorie Taylor Greene. And this seems just all one great big campaign money spinner in one way. She tweeted out --
"$135,000 on the day!!!"
She was also telling the "Washington Examiner" about Democrats -- "They don't even realize they're helping me, I'm pretty amazed at how dumb they are." So there's a couple of things here. Clearly, there are a lot of people who like her kind of crazy, hence it appears to be a good way of raising money. And with those two facts, she's going to be around for a while.
JENNINGS: Well, we'll see. Georgia, like the rest the states, will have to go through some amount of redistricting next year, and we'll see what her district looks like. Because I think there could be changes in Georgia and we'll see if she still has the same district that she has.
But what I would just say about her. In this meeting tonight, supposedly she stood up and renounced these views and apologized to her colleagues and that's what led her to her survival for now, at least among her conference.
I would have to say, though, I won't believe it until I see it on Sean Hannity or Tucker Carlson. Marjorie Taylor Greene can say whatever she wants in private -- and a lot of folks do say things in private to save their own bacon -- but until you go out and say it to the people who would need to hear it which is the audience -- So "Fox News" and Hannity and Tucker and others, then to me it's meaningless.
So color me skeptical until I see it on television in front of an audience that needs to hear a message.
VAUSE: Yes. The issue with the Republican Party leadership failing to stand up to the people like Greene and these other members of sort of the QAnon conspiracy club, 50 years ago the Republican party had a similar problem, it had sort of far-right wing extremists and conspiracy theorists who were taking over the party.
But the difference compared to then is that the Republican leadership forced the Birches out. Why hasn't there been a similar measure taken against the current lot of crazy conspiracy theorists who are causing a lot of damage with Republicans?
JENNINGS: Well, Greene is one of the first people who, I think, aggressively believe in things that are so far out of bounds. She was even on the whole Rothschild Jewish space laser crazy conspiracy theory having started the California wildfires. She has been dabbling in some really weird stuff.
And there have been other Republicans that have believed things -- by the way, there have been some Democrats who have believed some pretty aggressively stupid conspiracy theories.
And I think the party leadership, both parties over the years, have said well, this is the minority view, they don't really have any power so if we just ignore it, it'll either go away or it won't matter.
But for the Republicans, we saw the consequences of letting it fester on January the 6th.
And so -- I'm the first to admit, I was slow myself to understand the pervasiveness and the corrosiveness of the conspiracy theory culture that exists in the United States right now, especially on the right. And when January 6th happened, it open my eyes, frankly, to just how bad it can be.
And so that's why I have been advocating that the Republican leadership take an even stronger position against this.
[01:20:00]
I think it is a dead end for the party, I think it's limiting politically, I think it will relegated the Republican party to national minority status if we continue to let conspiracy theorists have as much power and influence as they do.
So I hope Marjorie Taylor Greene takes her private comments public and I hope she says that not a single other person should believe this because I was wrong. Until she does that, I just don't know -- I don't know what we gained out of this whole episode except another conspiracy theorist in our ranks.
VAUSE: Yes. I guess it could be a long time before we get that, but we should all wait and hope.
Scott, thank you. Good to see you.
JENNINGS: Thank you.
VAUSE: The military tightens its grip in Myanmar with charges filed against Aung San Suu Kyi. And the Internet goes out.
The latest developments in a moment.
coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(CNN HIGHLIGHT)
ANDREW MCUTCHEN, FOUNDER, TIME & TIDE WATCHES: In 1917, Cartier came upon his breakthrough, revolutionary by far most famous design, the Cartier Tank.
Now the inspiration for this design was, as the name suggests, a British Mark-4 tank.
JACK FORSTER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, HODINKEE: For much of its history, it was an extremely exclusive watch. The Tank was made in very small numbers until the mid-1960s.
Cartier Tanks from before the 1960s especially are tremendously collectible, it's an absolutely iconic design.
MCUTCHEN: This became an elegant symbol, a very desirable watch through the ages.
We have Jackie Onassis wearing this watch, we have Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, Duke Ellington, Jeff Goldman. Team Tank is a stylish team indeed. It's a rectangular case and it
has the very identifiable, vertical sidebars called brancards.
You can recognize a Tank across the room.
(ENDS)
VAUSE: Well, days after the coup in Myanmar, Internet and new services are still disrupted in what appears to be an effort to prevent protesters from organizing.
But -- protesters have been limited but doctors are pledged to going on strike, despite the pandemic. Medical workers in Yangon wore red ribbons in a civil disobedience campaign.
Meanwhile, de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi now stands accused of violating import-export laws in connection with walkie-talkies found in her home, eight in all. Along with other party leaders who were detained, she remains under military control right now after the military seized power on Monday.
Larry Jagan has spent more than four decades covering Southeast Asia. He's the former news editor for the BBC World Service, also former Burma correspondent. He joins me now from Bangkok in Thailand. Larry, thank you for being with us.
I guess the latest news and the latest concern is what is the fate of Aung San Suu Kyi now that she is facing these charges from the military?
LARRY JAGAN, JOURNALIST & INDEPENDENT MYANMAR ANALYST: Yes. It's no doubt that it is a rather worrying step that the military has taken but they to find some kind of pretext so that they could oust her and the president from their current positions.
I think the real concern is that if she's convicted of these crimes then not only will she face three years in prison, although I suspect that will be house arrest, she will be disqualified from standing in the elections, if they are in fact held, in 12 months' time.
And I think that is the real importance of these -- law case against her. It is an attempt to silence her and really end her political career.
VAUSE: The charges relate to the possession or illegally importing eight walkie-talkie radios. Surely, if they want to add some legitimacy to these charges or the detention of her, they need to do a bit better than that, don't they?
JAGAN: Well, I think it's probably true that, legally speaking, in the terms of details, they may have been imported without the proper licenses. After all, the Myanmar system is incredibly bureaucratic. The military do not make mistakes in terms of detail so I think there is some credibility to these charges.
[01:25:00] The thing is, they're rather spurious. It's quite clear they're essentially trumped up charges so that they can end her political career.
VAUSE: Aung San Suu Kyi has also called on her supporters to resist the military takeover. There have been a few protests, virtually banging of pots and pans at night.
What level of tolerance will the military have for any protest?
JAGAN: Well, I think the military are rather worried and they're ambivalent about what to do. I don't think it's just a small protest, there have been major protests in Yangon in particular last night.
Nurses singing outside the hospital, pots and pans being banged, really all through town. It was an amazing sound. And on social media, these pictures are being broadcast throughout the
country.
The military has already moved to try and quieten the protest. They've stopped -- they've banned Facebook effectively for the next seven days in an attempt to really silence this civil disobedience social media campaign.
VAUSE: Apart from demanding an end to the coup and for authority to return to the civilian leadership, we've heard from the U.S. secretary general who's also been critical of a close relationship between Aung San Suu Kyi as well as the military.
This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Aung San Suu Kyi, if we can accuse her of something, is that she was too close to the military, is that she protected too much the military namely, in relation to what has happened with the dramatic offensive of the military army against the Rohingyas that led to this massive exodus of the Rohingyas -- of the Rohingyas to Bangladesh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: We're almost out of time but Aung San Suu Kyi would often reply to that criticism by saying she's not a human rights activist, she's a politician, she doesn't have the luxury of being an idealist, she has to deal with reality and she needs to be a pragmatist. But in hindsight, did she make the wrong decision?
JAGAN: Well, it's very difficult even with hindsight to say she made the wrong decision. I think there's a lot of truth in what the U.N. secretary general says.
And many people, those who have been close to her in the past, have also worried that, in fact, she has become too aligned and really complicit in what went on in Rakhine. But actually, whether she has said and her people have told me is that they had no real option, they couldn't confront the military because they had to work with them.
After all, the military still had a strong role within politics, they had 25 percent of the parliamentarians so she felt that she was actually handling them. And I think that was the mistake.
She felt confident after winning the election for the second time with over 80 percent that she had the moral authority to be able to assert that she was the one who was in control of the country. And that obviously angered the military and they have acted.
And so one suspects that maybe she's regretting how close she allowed herself to become to the military in that period.
But I think that the thing to remember is that she, I believe, was going to try and increase the division and separate herself and the civilian government from the military in this coming five years. And that is what the military feared most.
VAUSE: OK. Larry, we're out of time. But thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
JAGAN: Thank you.
VAUSE: Just ahead. Financial markets restart after the GameStop chaos. What the U.S. treasury secretary wants to do about all that turmoil.
Also to come. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are just a year away. That is, of course, if everything remains on schedule.
It's not just the pandemic that is putting these games at risk. And we'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:31]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. stock futures mostly down at this hour, now it's actually slightly up. Nonetheless, it's a sign Wall Street is recovering from the recent GameStop turmoil when Reddit users worked together to send stock prices soaring.
The new U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wants to address concerns over volatility. She's calling for regulators to meet and discuss better protection for investors.
Let's go to CNN emerging markets editor John Defterios live this hour for us in Abu Dhabi. This is a tricky one. This meeting could take place today, I think, in the coming hours but this idea of, you know, trying to rein in day traders and hedge funds. Governments don't like to go there?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: No, it is very tricky territory as you're suggesting uncharted waters, John is another way to put it because you're trying to regulate 21st century social media vis-a-vis one of the most revered institutions in New York and that is the New York Stock Exchange which has been around since 1817 with better than $20 trillion of market cap.
And what's tricky for the regulators is you don't want to have a heavy hand on the day trader in favor of the hedge fund. So how do you strike that balance?
So Yellen is bringing together the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Federal Reserve which is the central bank and other institutions to take a look and the statement put out by Treasury was saying to protect the integrity of the market.
And how do you do that? but one of the things is the volatility, John. Looking back at GameStop, it was trading at less than $5 when this started. It went up to nearly $500 -- and you heard me correctly. And yesterday it finished up in normal trading hours at around $92 a share.
So some people are making a fortune doing this and some are getting clobbered on the way down, right. And this is what Yellen is trying to get to the bottom of. And I think they're going to explore Reddit, number one as a social media platform; Robinhood which is the trading platform which halted trading not just for hours but for a few days and a very limited trade on certain stocks and why is that the case?
And we understand from Bloomberg that even the regulators are going to be looking at social media post to determine whether it's manipulation in the stock market by putting things out on the market and then buying that stock before you post it, right?
So again, get very tricky stuff, but this is the start of the process to regulate it.
VAUSE: Also this weekend, what, it's Super Bowl Sunday, which is a showcase for American football but this year could be a platform for one of the companies at the eye of the trading storm and a chance to repair a little bit of the damage which has been done.
DEFTERIOS: Yes, an American tradition as you know with the Super Bowl having lived in the United States, of course. as you do. And it's also a platform to kind of either correct an image or to get attention if you're a new company. I think this is more of the former for Robinhood, the trading platform.
It's got this advertisement going out basically saying we represent the common person, the person who's trying to raise a family, or a student that's trying to take a break and make money on the side.
But the reality is, it has a class action lawsuit against it because of that halt of trading that I was talking about. It needed to raise better than $3 billion to survive.
This is not the first time we've seen companies do it. Wells Fargo during the financial crisis, Facebook, Uber when they had challenges with their drivers and regulation -- all took to the Super Bowl. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's seen as overdone, John.
VAUSE: And sometimes, well, every time it just cost a whole lot of money. Very expensive way of reaching an audience.
DEFTERIOS: It does. Yes.
VAUSE: Good to see you. Thanks to John Defterios there in Abu Dhabi.
DEFTERIOS: Thank you.
[01:34:55]
VAUSE: Well, the president of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee is apologizing after saying women talk too much during meetings. Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, made the offending remarks at an event for Olympic board trustees.
Just one year from now, can you believe it, the 2022 Winter Olympics meant (ph) to kick off in Beijing. Some of the venues (ph) are well construction is well underway. The coronavirus pandemic is of course casting a shadow over both the upcoming summer and winter games. But in Beijing 2022's case activists are calling for a boycott because of China's treatment of the Muslim Uyghur minority.
CNN's Steven Jiang live for us in Beijing. It was only 2008 when they had summer games and had similar calls for boycotts and also similar action against the communist government there. None of it happened. Will it happen this time?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: That's right, John. You know, you were here in 2008 covering all the controversies so it must be like a deja vu.
You are right. You know, back then the IOC's rationale for giving Beijing games was to make it a catalyst to improving China's human rights record but according to these activists in the form of an open letter released by more than 180 rights groups around the world, that did not happen.
The opposite actually happened. They say the prestige of the games in 2008 has emboldened the communist authorities here to further suppress political dissent within its borders.
So they're basically telling the international community, let's not make the same mistake twice. But so far, of course, the IOC has largely ignored their demand. And for the Chinese, as you probably have heard that cliche, the 2008 games was their country's big coming out party on the global stage.
But that happened before the era of Xi Jinping. So the current strongman leader of China seems determined to have his own games to be part of his legacy and also to showcase, to show off his government's success in containing this COVID virus within its borders, dazzling the world with more huge spectacles, and also of course, scoring another major propaganda win. Now, to that end, state media has been drumming up its coverage on the preparations for the 2022 games, especially after Mr. Xi made a very high profile inspection tour last month.
In Beijing, for example, all the construction and renovation for the venues have completed. And now they're starting these ice-making, snow-making trials. And another cluster of venues, of course, is in the neighboring province of Hebei.
Now, to that end, they have built a brand new high speed railway link and they're cutting down travel time from four hours drive to just under an hour of train ride.
So -- but the challenges facing authorities here and (INAUDIBLE) human rights concerns, of course, is still COVID because many experts think by next February it's very unlikely this pandemic will be fully under control on the global stage -- in a global scale.
So how does this government which has largely sealed borders to most foreigners, they deal with an influx of visitors even in a smaller scale than Tokyo remains to be seen, John.
VAUSE: In some ways having that pandemic in a smaller guest list or smaller number of tourists arriving to visit the games, can actually suit Beijing quite nicely. It's less people to control.
I remember back in 2008, there were (INAUDIBLE) these parties and big TV screens in they were canceled (INAUDIBLE). There were no fun games. So can we be looking at something similar for 2022?
JIANG: Well, that's something I think on the minds of many people. How are they going to stage these games. But of course, you know, this is a top top-down power structure, it's for the most part much easier for them to just set a goal and make it happen.
But as of now, they are not giving a lot of details other than saying they're determined to stage these games as successful as possible and also of course, to make it at the top and on schedule, John.
VAUSE: They'll be the no fun games again, I'll put money on it.
Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang in Beijing. Appreciate it.
Alexei Navalny's wife speaking publicly for the first time since he was sentenced to two and a half years in a Russian prison.
Yulia Navalnaya say supporters were protesting despite a harsh crackdown and mass arrest by riot police. Her husband has been a frequent critic of Vladimir Putin, exposing alleged corruption by the Russian president and his cronies or associates.
Navalnaya says I realize how many good, strong and right people support Alexei and me and that we don't need to be back -- we don't need to back down rather or to be afraid. We will win in any case. In Italy now, a political crisis. Mario Draghi, the man widely credited with saving the Eurozone from collapse in 2012 has accepted an invitation from the Italian head of state to form a new government.
CNN's Delia Gallagher now explains what's behind the crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Italy is set to have a new prime minister Mario Draghi. The former head of the European Central Bank accepted the invitation from Italy's president on Tuesday to form a new government.
It's a solution which will avoid Italians having to hold new elections during a pandemic, something which the president said was not advisable.
[01:39:45]
GALLAGHER: The government's crisis came about when some members of former prime minister Giuseppe Conte's coalition, withdrew their support from him criticizing him for his handling of the pandemic and Italy's economy.
Mario Draghi made some brief comments to the nation on Tuesday in which he said it is a difficult moment for Italy which has to overcome the pandemic, roll out their vaccine plan and relaunch their economy.
Draghi's appointment does not become official until a vote of confidence from the parliament in the coming days. While many people in Italy are happy with the announcement of Mario Draghi, a well- respected economist nationally and internationally, the real question here is just how well he'll be able to govern given the deep divisions amongst Italy's political parties.
Delia Gallagher, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, it dates like humans, mates for life. How great crowned cranes escaped the illegal pet trade in Rwanda.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Call to Earth is a call to action for the environment to share solutions to critical issues like global warming, deforestation or plastic waste.
This week it's all about endangered species and those working to protect them. Today we head to Rwanda where dwindling populations of the great crowned crane are making a miraculous recovery thanks to conservationist and Rolex Awards Laureate, Olivier Nsengimana.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not your typical love story but in the LUSH grasses of this Rwanda nature reserve, romance is in the air.
OLIVIER NSENGIMANA, CONSERVATIONIST: Crane (INAUDIBLE) is a process like humans do. They will date, dance for each other and if they like each other they will stay together, sometimes for life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great crowned cranes are an endangered species facing threats from an illegal pet trade and the destruction of their wetland habitat for agriculture.
To help protect these birds, in 2014 the Rwandan government set up an amnesty program for pet cranes kept in captivity with the help of this man, Olivier Nsengimana.
NSENGIMANA: We've lost about 80 percent of the population and in 2012 we estimated the population to be around 300 remaining in the wild. I told myself someone has got to do something about it.
We could listen to the breathing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trained as a vet, Nsengimana is the founder of the Rwandan Wildlife Conservation Association.
NSENGIMANA: Hello buddy. It looks like he'll have a little injury on the toenail.
[01:44:52]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His organization has rescued over 200 cranes from captivity and more are bred in their facilities like this juvenile.
NSENGIMANA: These are flight feathers, they're really in good shape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But many kept as pets have had their wings broken to prevent their escape and are unable to survive in the wild, finding sanctuary at the organization's nature reserve at Umusambi Village.
NSENGIMANA: Cranes in Rwanda, they're seen as a symbol of wealth and the longevity. So what we've done is really to educate people tell them, hey actually you could still love them but have them in their natural environment.
But if we keep taking them, our kids or grandkids might not be able to see them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nsengimana remembers his own childhood in a rural village was filled with cranes.
NSENGIMANA: We didn't have TV. We didn't have like toys. So everywhere we went, you would see like animals and the one of the biggest was the crane. We really took time to watch them, wanting to fly like them. Growing up as a young boy I had that love for nature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love he has shared through his work with schools and local community groups since 2014. Educating and inspiring others to protect their environment, he wants Rwandans to feel like the country's wildlife belongs to them. NSENGIMANA: We come from this community. We have that kind of power to
really connect with them and recreate that kind of love and the ownership and pride that people have in the animals.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That love has taken flight. Nsengimana says there are now over 800 cranes estimated to be in the wild in Rwanda, putting the country's most romantic bird on the path to recovery.
NSENGIMANA: This is really huge success story that we share with all Rwandans that if we work together, if we can bring everyone on board, we can achieve the unachievable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We'll continue showcasing inspirational stories like that one as part of an initiative at CNN. Let us know what you're doing to answer the call with listen to what you're doing to answer the call with hashtag calltoearth.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: In Germany, dogs are being trained to sniff out coronavirus infections. Apparently those who do get infection have a unique odor. Trainers say the dogs can identify symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not the virus sending out the odor, but when the virus infects the cell, the metabolism changes and the cell releases different substances than a healthy cell -- and this is very, very specific.
And these released substances of the cell -- that is what the dog can smell and shows us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Those canine noses are right more than 90 percent of the time.
Government official would like more tests to be carried out to see if those dogs can actually be used in public.
Now one confirmed case of COVID-19 has sent more than 500 players, officials and staff at the Australian tennis open into isolation just days before play was set to begin.
Angus Watson live in Melbourne with the very latest.
The draw (ph) was set for 15 minutes from now, or 10 minutes from now. It's now being delayed because of this case of COVID-19 and there are growing calls to actually just cancel the whole thing.
[01:49:57] ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: That's right John. For the moment the message from Tennis Australia and the Victorian government is that the show must go on. This one new case has popped up in a hotel in which 507 people connected to the tournament were staying at including 160 players, some top names like last year's winners champion Sofia Kenin and Stefan Wawrinka as well in there.
But what they have done instead is chosen to test all those players over one day trying to get negative results for them and only have a slight delay to the tennis and go ahead with this on Monday, John.
It seems to important to the government and Tennis Australia to get that going, John.
VAUSE: One concession there (INAUDIBLE) tinker with some of these -- some of the lead in events at least work with the format to try and make some changes here to make this all work a bit better?
WATSON: That's right. So the players have had to quarantine when they arrived for 14 days to make sure that they didn't bring the coronavirus in with them. In fact, 10 people amongst this cohort of over a thousand people traveling into Australia for the Australian Open did test positive for coronavirus.
But Tennis Australia has set a lot of measures to try to make sure that the communities safe through this. And at the moment in the view of the Victorian Government and Tennis Australia, it is safe to go ahead.
So they have delayed these warm up matches for today. They want to get them rescheduled to tomorrow but the main event on Monday should still be on, John.
VAUSE: The show must go on even if it is tennis.
Angus, thank you. Angus Watson, live in Melbourne.
Well, a round of applause from around the U.K. in honor of Captain Tom Moore, the British World War II veteran who raised millions to fight COVID.
Moore's family joined the prime minister for the nationwide clap on Wednesday, he died Tuesday after battling pneumonia as well as COVID. The 100-year-old became a global inspiration after walking laps in his garden to raise money for the National Health Service.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken more than 2.2 million lives worldwide and those left behind are unable to grieve their loved ones properly because of the contagious nature of the virus.
CNN's Phil Black looks at how some are trying to get closure.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like all of us now, Trish and Peter Skinner find comfort in family video calls. Here they're connecting to dozens of people across England and the U.S..
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your boys are so grown up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BLACK: For a brief moment there is joy seeing all those loving faces. But the feeling is quickly crushed as the screen shows why they have come together.
They're watching live images from a grey, windy cemetery near England's southern coast where Trish's father is being buried.
Herbert John Tate (ph) died from COVID-19. He was almost 104 remembered as the strong willed patriarch who held his family together for generations.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was granddad. And I loved him.
BLACK: The pandemic means only a small number of young people can be there to mourn him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's once more with his sweetheart.
BLACK: Trish can only watch and listen and hope.
The shaky image on a small screen is a limited window to the ceremony honoring her father's long, meaningful life. And then it is over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a beautiful funeral. Hey, really lovely.
BLACK: But for a grieving daughter who longs to be with family, it is not enough.
TRISH SKINNER, DAUGHTER OF COVID-19 VICTIM: The saddest thing now is that we are all going to leave.
BLACK: Grief in a time of COVID is made worse by loneliness.
SKINNER: Can't possibly be the same. There is no interaction physically. And that's the biggest thing that is missing during this terrible time.
EDWINA FITZPATRICK, WIFE OF COVID-19 VICTIM: He was like my best friend.
Felt like I knew him forever.
BLACK: Edwina Fitzpatrick also knows that pain. She and her husband Nick Devlin (ph) have both caught the virus. Nick deteriorated quickly.
FITZPATRICK: I wheeled him through with (INAUDIBLE) to the hospital and we went in and that's the last I saw of him. Breathing through window. Blowing kisses to each other.
BLACK: Edwina was abruptly alone with her grief. Locked down in the home they'd shared surrounded by evidence of their life together.
(on camera): How dark did it get for you?
FITZPATRICK: I did think very strongly and seriously about committing suicide that first weekend.
[01:54:47]
BLACK (voice over): Instead Edwina chose to live, to ensure Nick's first novel was published and to help others. She set up COVID Speakeasy (ph), video support groups for those experiencing the pandemic's unique power to inflict trauma through grief and isolation.
FITZPATRICK: We don't want to tell (ph) people just how terribly we're feeling both physically and mentally.
SAMIE MILLER, DAUGHTER OF COVID VICTIM: I've never felt pain like it because I couldn't be with him. I couldn't hold him.
Sorry. I could not say bye to him.
BLACK: Samie Miller is describing what it was like losing her father to COVID-19.
This was David Miller only a few months before he died, 66 and healthy, loving, and loved. Samie says everything about grieving him is harder because of the pandemic.
MILLER: I'm waiting for bereavement counseling because -- I don't know how to live without my dad.
BLACK: To find closure she turned to London's St. Paul's Cathedral. For centuries, a building focused on remembering loss and sacrifice. Samie added her father's image to the cathedral's permanent online memorial, a project to help people cope with the specific challenges of confronting grief in the time of COVID.
MILLER: I just think it is a beautiful feeling that St. Paul's Cathedral has done. And I just want to keep his memory alive.
BLACK (on camera): He's not just a number?
MILLER: He's not just a number. He's my dad.
BLACK (voice over): David Miller, Nick Devlin, John Tate -- just three among the millions lost. A tiny sample from the pandemic's infinite pool of grief.
Phil Black, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. thanks for watching everyone. CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment with my colleague and friend, Rosemary Church. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:59:51]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world.
I'm Rosemary Church.
Coming up, America's Republican Party is at a crossroads over one of their own, conspiracy theorist and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The Democrats are vowing not to wait any longer for the party.
