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WHO Says It Was Slow To Warn COVID Was A Pandemic But Not Too Many Were Listening; Top Ranking Civilian Government Officials Die Two Days After Detention By Myanmar Military; Palace's Brief And Nuanced Response To Harry And Meghan; Migrant Numbers At Border Highest In Five Years; Crisis Or No Crisis?; Brazilian Virus Out Of Control, 2,000 Deaths Per Day; Israel's Vaccine Rollout Smooth, Palestinian Hospitals Overflowing; Palace Watchers Compare Meghan & Diana Interviews; WHO: 1 in 3 Women Subject to Physical or Sexual Violence; Venezuelan Women Losing Access to Affordable Contraception; Approval for U.S. COVID Relief Expected in Hours; Russia and China Plan to Build Lunar Base. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired March 10, 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: This is CNN NEWSROOM live around the world. Hello, everyone, I'm John Vause.
And coming up this hour. An out of control COVID mutation is leaving record numbers dead in Brazil and there are growing concerns it might soon become a global crisis.
The sixty-one word, to the point at times questioning response from Queen Elizabeth to allegations of racism raised by her grandson Prince Harry and wife Meghan.
And later, from the day Joe Biden was sworn into office, migrant numbers at the U.S. Mexico border have been surging. By why, why now?
We will officially be living with this pandemic for a year this Thursday. March 11th, 2020; that's when the World Health Organization officially stopped using the term "outbreak" and declared a global pandemic.
A year like no other filled with fear, uncertainty, an unthinkable amount of pain, suffering and death.
More than 117 million people have been infected, over two and-a-half million are dead.
Looking back, the WHO says it could have done more to warn about the dangers of COVID but adds many countries just didn't listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION EMERGENCY HEALTH PROGRAMS: Perception of risk is very much about the perspective you have about how much risk you're at. Unfortunately, if you're in a valley and the dam bursts you know
you're at risk and you take action. If you're standing on the mountaintop, you don't feel the same level of risk until the waters rise.
And I fear too many countries thought they were standing on a mountaintop watching the waters rise to consume and overwhelm others. And what everyone didn't realize was the waters rose to consume them.
We have to ask ourselves, yes, maybe we need to shout louder but maybe some people need hearing aids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Since the start of this year, much of the world saw dramatic declines followed by plateaus in daily COVID infections and with that, a falling rate of hospital admissions.
There is, however, one stark notable exception, Brazil where almost 2,000 people are dying every day from COVID-19, the highest death toll since the pandemic began.
The virus spreading faster than ever before, hospital admissions have reached record highs. And every day it seems that is more suffering, more grieving, more loss than the day before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAMELA GABRIELA OROZCO, DAUGHTER OF COVID VICTIM (Through Translator): Every minute, a family member's lost. This is not normal, this cannot be trivialized. We are paying the cost for the selfishness.
Now, more than ever, people have to understand the seriousness of this. Unfortunately, every family is paying for the irresponsibility of others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: To Sao Paulo now and with us this hour is Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, professor of Neurobiology at Duke University but he spent the past year in Brazil tracking the pandemic.
Thank you for taking the time to be with us. We appreciate it.
DR. MIGUEL NICOLELIS, PROFESSOR OF NEUROBIOLOGY, DUKE UNIVERSITY: My pleasure, thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Well, Brazil's health care system, it was seen as one of the best in Latin America. It was all publicly funded; there are more hospitals in Brazil than the United States, for example.
And yet the ICU wards for the most part are maxed out, many hospitals are being pushed to the very brink of collapse there.
Does the current crisis have more to do with that new variant which is a lot more contagious or is it just the ongoing sort of criminal incompetence of a president who's refused to take the pandemic seriously? Or a combination of both?
NICOLELIS: Well, the variant that you're talking about is a late component, a late parameter to the crisis in Brazil right now.
We are experiencing this near total national collapse of the health system because of the lack of any real true action by the federal government throughout the first year of the pandemic.
And by last year, around the beginning of November, after the national elections, we started seeing all regions of Brazil synchronizing in terms of growing of cases. And that was just the first fire that we noticed across the country of the second wave.
Then at the end of the year, the Christmas parties and then Carnival and that's how we got this point near the collapse of the entire national health system.
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: And even the national vaccine rollout which Brazil has done in the past quite successfully, this time though there's confusion, there are delays.
But there is some good news. It's coming from Pfizer with a new study -- found their vaccine is effective against the variant in Brazil.
The problem though is -- correct me if I'm wrong -- the same cannot be said for the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine, and that's the one which is being used the most in Brazil. Is that right?
NICOLELIS: Well, in fact, Coronavac is being used here. And that one, we just saw a study today, preliminary study, showing that the vaccine -- the antibodies the vaccine uses can neutralize the Amazon variant. So that was good news in the national press here in Brazil this morning. So.
But we cannot handle this just with the two vaccines that the federal government have procured for Brazil, we need many more.
And we have been waiting for an agreement with Pfizer since last year. And the president of Brazil has delayed, personally, has delayed this agreement for reasons that nobody can understand clearly. And now Brazil finds itself in this paradox.
It's one of the best countries in terms of national campaigns for vaccination for a series of things; measles, polio -- it's a global case of success for the World Health Organization. But now the country is virtually vaccinating 10 times less than it should and it could.
VAUSE: Yes. I think it's important to stress that the more this virus spreads, the more likely the chance it will mutate again and again and again.
I want you to listen to the White House medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He had a very succinct explanation of how this all works and what the problem is.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The fundamental tenet of virology is that viruses don't mutate unless they replicate. And the more spread that you have in the community, the greater chance you're going to have of the initiation of and propagation of variants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You've warned that this virus is so rampant, so out of control in Brazil it could mutate into a different virus, a new virus? And what happens in Brazil will not stay in Brazil.
NICOLELIS: Oh, absolutely not. Doctor Fauci just gave a 101 lecture on Virology and that's what I have been trying to say here in the Brazilian press since I was heading the scientific task force of the northeast states of Brazil.
That the more cases we have -- and we are about to have crossing 80,000 cases a day for the first time this week -- the more we give the chances to the virus to mutate and more new variants to show up.
And eventually, you could get a completely new virus, a coronavirus, a COVID-3 out of Brazil. And since the borders in South America are very porous, very open, it could quickly spread to South America, Latin America and then to the whole world.
So that's the reason I'm saying that the Brazilian problem is not a problem Brazilians only, it's a global problem.
VAUSE: And on top about a problem which is a global problem, there's a head of state in Brazil who had this message to a nation which is suffering unprecedented number of dead and dying as well as incredible economic hardship.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIR BOLSONARO, PRESIDENT, BRAZIL (Through Translator): We have to face our problems, enough fussing and whining. How much longer will the crying go on? We have to confront our problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was last week. But it's still an incredible thing for a president to say in the midst of this crisis. Especially when it appears he's doing all he can to thwart any attempt at containing the pandemic.
So with that in mind, what would be your message to the rest of the world, what should they be doing right now about Brazil? NICOLELIS: We have appealed in the past two weeks to the congress of
Brazil and the supreme court together with the governors of the 27 states to take control of the country, to create a national task force and to work with international community to take care of this pandemic. Because it's out of control.
So that's my message. The bottom line is the world needs to put the pandemic down in Brazil.
VAUSE: Professor Miguel Nicolelis, thank you so much for being with us. And it's a good message to finish on. Thank you, sir.
NICOLELIS: It was a great pleasure. Thank you very much.
VAUSE: An incredibly fast rollout of the COVID vaccine in Israel is now seeing restrictions being lifted and life beginning to look a little more like the days before COVID.
But the neighboring Palestinian territories remain in the grip of the pandemic. Hospitals and intensive care units are overflowing with patients.
The Reuters news agency reports facilities are at 100 percent capacity in some parts of the West Bank. Many Palestinian cities remain under lockdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. AMJAD KHADER, WORKS AT WEST BANK HOSPITAL DEDICATED TO COVID-19 PATIENTS (Through Translator): Currently, the biggest problem we are facing is that we have 28 beds and all of them are full.
We have six beds intensive care and we have a lot of patients that need intensive care in other departments. And we try to find them space other places but usually that is hard because all COVID-19 institutions in the West Bank are full.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:00]
VAUSE: Russia's Sputnik V vaccine will soon be made in Europe.
The Russian direct investment fund says it has struck production deals with a number of European powers.
In yellow, you can see all the countries in this map which are using the vaccine including Europe which unilaterally made that authorization but the European Medicines Agency has yet to actually to do so. That review is still underway.
CNN's Matthew Chance has details from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, production of the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, is set to begin in Europe this summer after Russian officials telling CNN deals have been struck with facilities in Italy, Spain, Germany and France.
The Italian Russian Chamber of Commerce has welcomed the deal which will see Italy become the first E.U. country to produce Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine which has now been approved by at least 46 countries around the world.
Has not yet been formally registered for use by the European Union although several E.U. countries where there are vaccine shortages have independently given it the go-ahead.
E.U. officials have expressed concern that the Kremlin is using Sputnik V as a political tool to sow divisions in European. One European medical official recently comparing emergency approval of the vaccine to playing Russian Roulette. Russian authorities have demanded an apologies for that.
Moscow says its vaccine which has been shown to have been one of the world's most effective is important in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHANCE (On Camera): Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Just 61 words. It was short, direct, blunt, did not mince words. A statement on behalf of the Queen saying the whole family is saddened to learn how challenging the past few years have been for Harry and Meghan.
It also their allegations made during an interview with Oprah about racism are very serious and will be addressed by the family privately.
CNN's Anna Stewart live this hour. Early morning live (Inaudible) in Windsor. Thank you for getting up to be with us.
It was 61 words but boy, the Queen threw some shade in there sort of questioning the veracity of the claims that Meghan made and a whole lot of other stuff as well. What did you make of it?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, I think it is a typical palace statement. It is succinct but it is absolutely loaded with meaning. And I think we need to do a bit of -- I don't know -- royal translation for you, John.
So this kicks off saying, as you said, saying the royal family is saddened to learn the full extent of what Harry and Meghan have gone through. The idea that they're learning about it from that interview suggests they certainly weren't aware fully of everything that was going to be said.
It goes to say the issues raised particularly that of race are concerning. So they are recognizing that the claims are very serious.
But then I think it's the next line that -- as you say -- throws a little shade -- "While some recollections may vary, they are taking very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."
That is a very diplomatic way of saying that perhaps not everything that was said whether it's regarding certain events or conversations were true and they want to deal with this privately, not on a public stage.
And so, as a result of that, I wouldn't expect any further statements than this even probably if further clips do emerge. We know there's an additional two hours of that interview that did not make that cut.
Now it ends saying -- "Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members." It leaves the door open for some reconciliation there.
But certainly will this be enough to quell some of the outrage around the world? This is not an apology, is it? This is very much an acknowledgment. John.
VAUSE: Yes. A grudging one, at best. This is also a story which has had a number of other side issues here.
A side issue to the story has been Piers Morgan who went after Meghan Markle quite ruthlessly on Monday, which he's done many times in the past. He's now looking for a job.
STEWART: Yes. So Piers Morgan really railed against this story. He was doing it in defense of the Queen -- he made that point quite a lot -- really pitting the whole story as the Sussexes versus the Crown.
But he also went after Meghan with something of a character assassination. He faced off not just with guests but with fellow presenters, including the weather presenter, Alex Beresford, yesterday.
Have a watch of this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEX BERESFORD, WEATHER PRESENTER, GOOD MORNING BRITAIN: (...) you continue to trash her.
PIERS MORGAN, CO-ANCHOR, GOOD MORNING, BRITAIN: OK. I'm done with it.
BERESFORD: No, no, no.
MORGAN: Sorry. No --
BERESFORD: Do you know what?
MORGAN: Sorry.
BERESFORD: That's pathetic.
MORGAN: You can track me, mate. But not my own clip (phonetic). See you later. BERESFORD: No, no. No. I'm being --
MORGAN: Sorry, can't do this.
BERESFORD: This is absolutely diabolical behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Well, he left the set and now he has left the show for good.
Now Ofcom, the media regulator, has said they're going to launch an investigation into "Good Morning, Britain." That was following 41,000 complaints -- that was just by Tuesday afternoon so that's just yesterday afternoon.
In the statement that ITV released it said Piers Morgan decided it is time to leave "Good Morning, Britain."
He doesn't appear to regret it. His latest tweet says "#trustyourgut."
John.
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Oh. Anna Stewart in Windsor. By the way, the chairs at Costco have sold out, the ones they did the interview on. All gone. Just thought you'd like to know.
STEWART: All gone? Damn it.
VAUSE: All gone. Thanks, Anna.
Well, while Queen Elizabeth has promised to take the issues of racism seriously, the treatment Meghan says she experienced after the royal family is not surprising for many British people of color.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPRAH WINFREY, HOST, CBS THIS MORNING: Did you leave the country because of racism?
PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: It was a large part of it.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: It's the interview stirring emotions across Britain.
Reactions ranging from shock to vitriolic rants by a popular white TV host --
PIERS MORGAN, CO-ANCHOR, GOOD MORNING BRITAIN: This is a two-hour trash-a-thon. They portrayed the royal family as racist.
UNKNOWN: They didn't say -- MORGAN: And it's a very incendiary charge. And I don't think it actually is fair to the royal family.
ABDELAZIZ: -- to angry and protective tabloid headlines. So why does the mention of racism provoke such defensive reactions in Britain?
In the months after Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior members of the royal family, Britain seized its own moment of racial reckoning.
UNKNOWN: Say his name.
CROWD: George Floyd.
ABDELAZIZ: Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. spread to the U.K. Tens of thousands directed their anger at the country's elite institutions of power.
CROWD: Shouting.
ABDELAZIZ: Toppling icons of British colonialism that ignited a national debate.
Yet the topic of race is considered culturally awkward, if not outright taboo.
DIANE ABBOTT, FIRST BLACK FEMALE BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: The British like to think of themselves as quite liberal with a small 'l.' And the British are quite offended if they're accused of racism.
There's something about black women, I think, that some people in this country find particularly trigger. I don't know why. But it's a combination of misogyny and racism and they're triggered. And Meghan came into that in spades.
ABDELAZIZ: From the moment Meghan's relationship with a member of the royal family became public, her race became the subject of constant tabloid fodder and discontent.
During the couple's engagement, the Queen's cousin's wife apologized after wearing a controversial broach many considered racist when she met Meghan for the first time.
The couple's multicultural royal wedding offered hopes of societal change. But soon after, the racist backlash continued.
Meghan endured attacks for things as mundane as avocados while her white sister-in-law, by comparison, was praised. When Meghan became pregnant with her first child, a wave of racist online abuse followed from social media trolls.
After her son was born, one television presenter was fired for likening him to a picture of a chimpanzee.
Through the barrage of racist attacks against his wife, Harry says he came to terms with his role in an historically white institution. PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: My upbringing in the system in which I
was brought up in and what I'd been exposed to, it wasn't -- I wasn't aware of it. As sad as it is to say, it takes living in her shoes.
ABDELAZIZ (Voice Over): There is only one person in the world who knows what it means to be a British royal of color, Meghan.
MARKLE: Growing up as a woman of color, as a little girl of color, I know how important representation is. I know how you want to see someone who looks like you in certain positions.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come. Myanmar's military now turning its attention to railway workers who are on strike.
The deadly outcome of an intensifying crackdown on those opposed to the military coup.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:00]
VAUSE: From one nun, a defiant act of courage trying to stop the violence in a northern town in Myanmar. There she is. She knelt down in front of police officers begging them to stop shooting protesters.
They told her they were just clearing the road but gunfire started moments later. The nun and other witnesses say at least two protesters were killed, several others were injured.
Another elected member from Aung San Suu Kyi's political has died. That's two members of the National League for Democracy to die in detention in two days.
CNN's Paula Hancocks following the story for us from Seoul in South Korea.
And I guess, one thing that just happened -- we don't know the cause of death. But Human Rights Watch says at least in the second case -- or sorry, the first case rather, the injuries sustained by that member of the party were consistent with torture.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And it's something similar that we are hearing in the second case as well, John.
At least from a Burmese NGO, AAPP (ph), which is looking after political prisoners and looking for these kind of incidents. And they have said both cases, they see there is evidence -- at least they have been told there is evidence -- of torture.
Now we know that the first individual, the NLD member from the National League of Democracy, Khin Maung Latt, he has already his funeral, his family have buried him. And what we know about the second incident is that the family are
still waiting for the body from the military hospital. So they haven't even been able to pay their respects at this point, according to a family friend that we have been speaking to.
Now we know that in the second case -- this is Zaw Myat Lynn -- it was 1:30 in the morning on Tuesday morning that he was arrested. Similar to the first case when that was in the middle of the night as well, this is when the military likes to make its key arrests.
And we understand that later that day the family was told that individual had died. Even though when they were arrested there was nothing untoward, there were no injuries to that particular individual.
So this is a real concern to members of the NLD who are not already in prison. We know that dozens of them were rounded up really in the first round, straight after that coup happened on February 1st. Dozens are currently behind bars.
And perversely, really, what we're hearing from state media is that the military itself is feeling that the police, the security forces, are using minimal force.
So, in "The Global New Light of Myanmar," the state-run media, they are saying that it is clear what they are using is minimal force. Something that protesters, activists, many around the world would simply not agree with.
John.
VAUSE: One of the campaigns or one of the tactics which the protesters are using against the military here is this campaign of civil disobedience. Part of that are these labor strikes which are happening all over the country.
The railway workers were part of that but we've had these reports that the military has now surrounded some of these rail workers and -- what essentially is the latest on that front?
HANCOCKS: These railway workers were among the first really large groups to go on strike and to go out into the Civil Disobedience Movement. So this happened this -- early hours of this morning, again 5:30 in the morning.
We understand that the military used stun grenades to close off certain roads as well close to these areas. There were certain railway stations and housing of railway workers that they actually were searching.
Now it's unclear how many have been arrested, whether there have been injuries -- this is information we're still trying to get hold of. But it just shows that systematically the military are trying to crack down on certain elements of the CDM, this Civil Disobedience Movement.
We also know that they're trying to control the narrative as they have really from day one.
[01:25:00]
A couple more of the independent media outlets have been -- had their offices raided as well, all five of them, the independent outlets, had their licenses stripped yesterday, on Tuesday. And now many of them have had their offices raided as well.
We know that journalists have been a target.
John.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks with the very latest there from Seoul. Appreciate it.
Well, the number of migrants on the U.S. Mexico border has reached a five-year high for the past month and most were single adults but there was also a spike in the number of children and families.
CNN's Ed Lavandera spoke with some of them who are now seeking asylum.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: Joe Biden.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a tent city near the U.S. Mexico border, Leah Gisele Amador Sabala (ph) waits with her two children. She says she left Honduras nine months ago to seek asylum in the United States.
Leah says she jumped the border two times illegally because of desperation to find work. Both times, she was sent back to Mexico. Now she says she'll wait for a legal way to cross.
The anticipation spreading through this tent city in Tijuana, Mexico speaks to the hope these migrants have that the Biden Administration will be more receptive to their plights.
Sandra Cabaljero (ph) says she has spent a year sitting on the border's edge with her husband and three children. She says they left the endless crisis of violence in Honduras to seek asylum.
Sandra tells us she hopes President Biden will open the door to the border because we need a better future for our children.
The increasing surge of migrants on the southern border is reaching emergency levels for the Biden Administration.
U.S. authorities have arrested and encountered more than 100,000 migrants in the four weeks before March 3rd, the highest levels for that same time period in at least five years.
And new data reviewed by CNN shows there more than 3,400 unaccompanied children in the custody of Customs & Border Protection. Federal immigration officials are scrambling to make room.
We're here in the town of Donna, Texas on the Mexico border. And CBP has just opened up this massive tent facility.
This temporary processing site for migrants was open just over a month ago. A homeland security official told CNN that the facility is significantly overcrowded, mostly with children.
Republicans and some Democrats say the Biden Administration isn't moving fast enough to keep the migration crisis under control.
GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R-TEXAS): They are completely unprepared for what is going on on the border now and they're going to be even more unprepared for what will be happening in the coming months.
LAVANDERA: The Biden Administration says the majority of migrants are being turned away at the border and refused to describe the situation as a crisis.
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I don't think we need to sit here and put new labels on what we have already conveyed as challenging, what we have conveyed as a top priority for the president.
LAVANDERA: But many more families are being allowed to wait in the U.S. for their immigration court dates.
We met Jose (ph) at a Church shelter. We were asked to protect his identity. He says desperation and fear is driving them to the border. He left Honduras with his son three months ago.
JOSE (Speaking in Foreign Language)
LAVANDERA: Did you see a lot of children traveling by themselves?
JOSE (Speaking in Foreign Language)
LAVANDERA: Jose tells us he saw many children along the way begging or cleaning windows for money. He says not all of them will be lucky enough to make it.
LAVANDERA: Critics of the Biden Administration say that the president is not acting fast enough to get the migration situation under control on the U.S. southern border.
President Biden and his team insist that what they're trying to do is develop a much more humanitarian approach to immigration here in this country.
LAVANDERA (On Camera): Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come. Two interviews separated by a quarter of a century. But yet, the similarities are striking. Two women who married into Britain's royal family.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:27]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
We have more on one of our top stories.
Many royal watchers are now drawing comparisons between Prince Harry's wife Meghan Markle's claims and those made by Princess Diana more than 25 years ago. There are striking similarities as well in the interview that both women gave, separated by that time.
Now CNN's Max Foster has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When they joined the ranks of monarchy through their world-famous marriages, one was a wide eyed young British girl of 20, born with an aristocratic pedigree who barely had any worldly experience. The other, an American biracial divorcee in her thirties, an independent career woman in her own right, an actress who had already had her fair share of the limelight.
But whilst the journeys that led Diana, Princess of Wales and Meghan Duchess of Sussex to give the two most shocking interviews about the royal family are quite different, Diana, already separated from her husband Prince Charles; Meghan, with her husband Prince Harry supportively by her side, the sit-down expose filmed 26 years apart are hauntingly similar in describing how their lives changed after becoming part of the firm, both admitting naivete on the lives they've chosen.
DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES: At the age of 19, you always think you're prepared for everything and you think you have the knowledge of what's coming ahead.
MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: I didn't fully understand what the job was.
FOSTER: Both sharing the weight of being the constant focus of tabloid fodder.
PRINCES DIANA: And I seem to be on the front of the newspaper every single day, which is an isolating experience and how the media puts you, plays you is the bigger the drop.
MARKLE: I'm everywhere, but I am nowhere. And from that standpoint, I continue to say to people, I know there's an obsession with how things look, but has anyone talked about how it feels? Because right now, I could not feel lonelier.
FOSTER: The sense of loneliness and isolation leading to a deterioration of their mental health. Diana opening up about bulimia and self-harm; Meghan to thoughts of suicide, leading to one overarching feeling for both -- shame.
PRINCESS DIANA: I didn't like myself. I was ashamed because I couldn't cope with the pressure.
MARKLE: I have said I was ashamed. I'm supposed to be stronger than that.
FOSTER: At their darkest moments, detailing a lack of support from the firm.
PRINCESS DIANA: When no one listens to you or you feel no one's listening to you, all sorts of things start to happen.
MARKLE: I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help because I never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution.
FOSTER: Both interviews noting a curiously specific similarity, that the women's tours of Australia led to a rise of jealousy within the royal family. Even more alarming, the accusation from both women that the institution was not only not helping, but actively working behind the scenes to hurt them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you really believe that a campaign was being waged against you?
PRINCESS DIANA: Yes I did, absolutely. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
PRINCESS DIANA: I was the separated wife of the Prince of Wales. I was a problem, full stop. It never happened before. What do we do with her?
MARKLE: The narrative about, you know, making Kate cry, I think was the beginning of a real character assassination and they knew it wasn't true. And I felt if they are not going to kill things like that, then what are we going to do?
[01:34:56]
FOSTER: And yet, both women ending on a note of optimism despite the turmoil.
PRINCESS DIANA: I sit here with hope because there is a future ahead -- a future for my husband, a future for myself, and a future for the monarchy.
MARKLE: We've actually not just survived but are thriving, you know? This? I mean these miracles. And this is in some ways just the beginning for us.
FOSTER: And while the world watched as Diana's story ended in tragedy, Meghan's chapters are still being written.
Max Foster, CNN -- Windsor, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Diane Clehane is royals editor for the online magazine "BEST LIFE". She's also our returning champion back for another round. Glad that you could make it back for another day.
DIANE CLEHANE, ROYALS EDITOR, "BEST LIFE": Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Ok. Well, you know, it took almost two days to come up with 61 words which did not address Meghan's issues of mental health and the issues of suicide, and even on the allegations of racism there was this line.
"While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."
Ok. So casting doubt it seems over the claims from the outset but also why are allegations of bullying leveled at Meghan worthy of an internal investigation and yet allegations of racism will be resolved privately by the family?
CLEHANE: You know, it's really very interesting. I think a lot of this that is happening -- obviously the family is very involved because this is at the core, very personal.
But I think it's a lot having to do with the individual staff of Charles and William and, you know, the whole senior royal lineup and they all have their own staff. And from the looks of it, and from the sound of it -- very much like what Meghan said, there were people in the palace that were working against her, allegedly.
So I think that, you know, it's something that was controlled not personally by the Queen or Charles. I think that the staffers worked on this as well. So it's -- it was a big deal for them come out and do this, but they really had no choice.
VAUSE: Yes, it's interesting because you have these royal insiders and the aides to the senior royals. Because the senior royals themselves are not speaking out. They're maintaining their silence --
CLEHANE: Yes.
VAUSE: -- but behind the scenes there is a sort of tit-for-tat going on.
CLEHANE: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that was -- maybe it was a warning shot, the bullying allegations when they came out, or maybe in some instances I've been told that they wanted to sort of get something out there before the interview to sort of possibly even it up.
I don't think anybody expected the explosive revelations that were in that interview. So they were playing small ball and Meghan was hitting it out of the park, as they say in baseball.
VAUSE: The statement also had this one line which really stood out to me. "Harry, Meghan, and our Archie will always be much loved family members." You know, so that was kind of touching. But it also, you know, this controversy followed Harry's father Prince Charles as he went to a vaccination clinic on Tuesday. Here is the clip.
CLEHANE: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, can I ask what did you think of the interview?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, some reports claim the Prince of Wales was seen leaving with a tear or tears in his eyes. You know, all of this is a stark reminder that, you know, they live in a gilded cage, but they are a family. Maybe a dysfunctional one, but -- you know, we all have their issues and they are a family after all.
CLEHANE: Yes. No, absolutely. I mean this really goes to the heart of it. When Harry was talking about how Charles stopped talking to him and that he was hurt by his father and he expected him to be more sympathetic because he had gone through similar circumstance, it can't get more personal than that.
That really -- I think struck a chord and it also had echoes of what was done to Diana. So I imagine that that relay hit right to the heart.
VAUSE: And it seems that, you know, there still is this threat that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have that, you know, they could name the alleged royal racist. That would be what -- like a nuclear strike?
CLEHANE: I think that they are really in crisis mode right now. I mean they had no choice but to do the -- to send out the statement, but that was very, very small, that was really nothing.
But I think what we see is that Harry and Meghan had a spokesperson come out and say that they were not going to reply to the palace's statement. So I think what might be happening now is there is some kind of an uneasy truce. And so still, I think Harry and Meghan have the advantage.
The claims of racism, you know, leveled at the palace, and, you know, they were very clear it came from a family member -- that's not going away. So that's -- that is nuclear. I think it is already nuclear.
VAUSE: Well, there is now the sort of guessing game of, you know, which royal was it.
CLEHANE: Right.
VAUSE: And just by pure coincidence, Clarence House has put out a lot of new photos of Prince Charles meeting people of color.
CLEHANE: Oh my. Really? VAUSE: That's pretty subtle.
CLEHANE: A little heavy-handed, yes.
VAUSE: Just a little.
I mean this is why they should leave the social media to Meghan, I guess.
CLEHANE: Either that or they should hire someone that's just as savvy. I mean the royals have no business trying to figure out social media. But they are going to try.
[01:39:55]
CLEHANE: I think that, you know, with Harry and Meghan now the princess and prince of the United States, which they absolutely are, make no mistake, you know, they really have very little control.
I mean, I don't know how they didn't expect this to be that bad if in fact all of these things, you know, came about the way that Harry and Meghan said that they did and there's no reason to not believe.
So they should have been prepared. But honestly, I don't really know what they could do except for put out a statement. They're not going to do some kind of confessional interview and send Kate and William out there to say well no, that didn't happen. They have the disadvantage where they have to stay silent.
They can't keep coming out and addressing this. They had to make one statement and that's it. And I don't think you will hear another word again.
VAUSE: Never complain, never explain.
CLEHANE: You're right.
VAUSE: Diane Clehane, thanks so much lot. Good to see you again.
CLEHANE: Good to see you. Thank you.
VAUSE: An extensive study, possibly the largest ever, into violence against women has found one in three women worldwide had experienced physical or sexual violence. The report released by the W.H.O. says violence starts at an alarmingly young age. It says one in four young women who have already been in a relationship have experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they reach their mid- twenties.
An estimated 37 percent of women in some of the poorest countries were subjected to violence at some point in their life. Some places, that number is closer to 50 percent.
These findings have been described as horrific. The author says it is a wake up call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUDIA GARCIA-MORENO, WHO DEPARTMENT OF SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: Prevention entails actions at many different levels and in many different sectors. And we need to address women's access to education and economic empowerment and access to paid employment.
We need to address the acceptability of the violence in many places and the gender inequality that kind of underpins this violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Women's lives are put at risk every day in Venezuela because of a lack of access to health services. Affordable birth control is difficult to find. The worsening economic crisis is leaving many struggling to care for their children.
CNN's Rafael Romo has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Women start lining up very early in the morning.
"It's just impossible to find contraceptives elsewhere," this woman says.
What all of them have in common is that they are seeking subsidized women's health services at this independent clinic in Caracas affiliated with the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
In the Venezuela of the oil boom and even during the first few years of the Hugo Chavez mandate, who declared himself not only as socialist, but also feminist, the government offered free women's health programs. Contraceptives, condoms, and other birth control methods were offered at no cost.
But after several years of a deep financial crisis, the current situation is dire, according to this administrator at the women's health services clinic.
"For example," she says, "we now have more unplanned pregnancies which are happening to younger women. We are also having higher rates of maternal mortality."
Scarcity of birth control methods reached a level of a whopping 90 percent in 2018, and it has since improved to 50 percent according to a report by the Venezuela Association of Alternative Sexual Education. But scarcity is not the only problem.
"We don't have money to pay for them," this woman says. "Minimum wage is not even enough to buy food, much less contraceptives or other kinds of birth control."
Contraceptives that used to cost 5,000 bolivars the local currency are now around 20 million, some $10.60 at the official exchange rate. According to Freddy Ceballos (ph), president of the Venezuelan Federation of Pharmacies.
And since 95 percent of pharmaceutical products are imported, the industry depends on the U.S. dollar, a currency that has gone through the roof in the last few years.
"Couples and women have to decide between buying food and getting contraceptives. That's the reality," Ceballos says.
CNN recently visited several conventional pharmacies and also checked online and found that condoms cost between 2 million and 8 million bolivars bars, from $1 to $4, Contraceptives between 24 and 36 million from $13 to $19 and IUDs is as much as 260 million or $115.
For most women, those are unaffordable prices, especially considering that the monthly minimum wage is 1.2 million or 65 cents of $1 according to the official exchange rate at the Venezuelan Central Bank.
[01:44:54]
ROMO: This situation means women's health in Venezuela is as bad as it was several generations ago, according to this expert.
"We could say that we are in the same situation our grandmothers and great grandmothers were. And what are the implications for women? Number one is that they end up trapped inside the home," Leon says.
(on camera): Not that there is anything wrong with being a mother or a housewife, she adds. The problem is the lack of choice and the risks that women are exposed to. According to Leon, effective women's health programs were replaced a few years ago by seasonal campaigns whose reach is insufficient.
(voice over) An official at the Venezuelan health ministry contacted by CNN recognized the government has indeed had difficulty getting enough birth control supplies, but blamed U.S. sanctions saying that they also have had negative effects on importing food and medications.
Meanwhile at the Caracas clinic, women keep waiting, hoping that one day they won't have to stand in line to get pills to avoid unplanned pregnancies and get the health services they need to live safer lives.
Rafael Romo, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The $1.9 trillion COVID relief package now just hours away from approval in the U.S.
Coming up, how President Biden's relief plan will impact the global economy.
[01:46:15]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: In the coming hours the U.S. House is expected to give final approval for President Joe Biden's nearly $2 trillion dollar COVID relief plan.
The Senate passed a version of the measure over the weekend with some changes, notably a narrow eligibility for stimulus payments, smaller federal boost to unemployment, and no increase of the federal minimum wage. Republicans are united in opposition to the measure.
Because of the stimulus and the vaccine rollouts, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has boosted its forecast for a global economic growth.
Let's get more on that. Let's go to Abu Dhabi, CNN's John Defterios.
So, you know, there's been a lot of focus on just getting this thing approved and getting it through. Now that it's imminent, what are the numbers here? What are they looking at in terms of worldwide economic boost?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, I will tell you, it's pretty eye-popping, John, in terms of what's coming out of the OECD in Paris. It's called the American Rescue Plan, but it could be called the global stimulus package indeed.
As you were suggesting here, we're getting that acceleration of the vaccine rollout in the United States and another what -- $1.9 trillion here. So it's going to give a nice lift not only to the United States but to the world and in particular the G-20 developed economies.
If you take a look here at the U.S., it's more than doubling from 3.2 percent to 6.5 percent in 2021. And that global uplift is 1.4 percent, which is very solid to 5.6. And extraordinary for the G-20 to get a growth of 6.2 percent.
As I say, John, this one is a tip of the hat to the United States.
Here is Catherine Mann, the economist from Citi.
[01:49:53]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHERINE MANN, GLOBAL CHIEF ECONOMIST, CITI: The U.S. Really is the only one that is contributing to global growth through the trade channel. China for example, is running a bigger surplus in order to get its economy going. That's not contributing to global growth. The Euro area is kind of flat.
But when we look at all the other countries, there is no one else who is in the position of exporting some of the benefits of its domestic stimulus program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIO: I like the way she puts that, exporting the stimulus to around the world, John.
Now, there is a downside risk here according to the OECD, and in fact, I chaired a panel this week for the World Governments Summit in Dubai and we had both the UNICEF and also the World Health Organization.
There is no support for the global vaccine rollout. They had a target of $8 billion. They have $6 billion so far, John. When you're looking at $1.9 trillion package, most of the support is coming from the U.S. and the U.K. We don't see the other G-20 countries supporting it.
As a result, we could have the virus live longer and then also hurt the recovery and hospitality, the retail sector, transportation, which all falls disproportionately on women, youth, and minorities.
So this is the risk going forward to those target numbers that I laid out for you.
VAUSE: Yes. There still seems to be this reluctance to recognize that this is a health crisis and an economic crisis --
DEFTERIOS: Yes.
VAUSE: -- and you've got to get the numbers up -- first.
Do the numbers here because there has been an incredible amount of money -- or stimulus whatever you want to call which has been approved by the United States. But what are we looking at here in the past year also ?
DEFTERIOS: Yes, it's a good question, John because everyone seems to focus oh, this is the $1.9 trillion dollar package from Biden. We forget what Donald Trump did in the onset of the pandemic and then that stimulus package that was passed at the end of 2020 through the Senate that's about $900 billion.
You add it all up, it's $6 trillion of stimulus from the United States. And that's better than a third of the GDP. The GDP shrank in 2020 with that recession of better than 3 percent.
It is unheard of in modern times. You can point back to the global financial crisis and say, yes, we had to step in as the G-20 to stimulate the global economy.
We're looking now again, $1,400 checks for 90 percent of the U.S. population. $300 a week unemployment benefits extending through September as well. And then you have rental and mortgage relief packages going through September.
Janet Yellen the Treasury Secretary and Jerome Powell the U.S. Central Bank chief said we have inflation under control. And by the way, the OECD concurs with this, despite the fact there are no Republicans so far in the House and the Senate supporting this measure.
VAUSE: The inflation thing will be interesting, especially with the yield on the bonds and the 30-year mortgage as well.
DEFTERIOS: Yes.
VAUSE: Yes, I'm trying to refinance my mortgage right now and they keep going up.
John --- but good to see you, John Defterios in Abu Dhabi, thank you.
DEFTERIOS: Thanks.
VAUSE: Well, coming up, a new partnership in space exploration. We'll have details on Russia, excuse me, and China plans for a lunar research station in space.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Russia and China have announced plans to build a space station orbiting the moon which will be open to all countries and interested international partners. It might be a sign Russia is ready to move on from its partnership with the International Space Station.
[01:34:54]
VAUSE: CNN's Will Ripley is live for us in Hong Kong.
What are the details on this? Can you get -- when is this thing going to be up and working?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're in the preliminary stages now. Roscosmos, which is the Russian space agency that is celebrating their 60-year anniversary this year of putting the first human in space, now announcing that they're going to be teaming up with China's space agency, the CNSA, to build this facility that basically is on the surface of the moon or orbiting the moon or both. And it's going to be really ambitious. In fact, China's most ambitious international cooperative space project today. They are throwing a lot of money at this and they've been keen for quite sometime to cooperate with the Russians who have a long history in space and a long list of achievements.
But in recent years, certainly post Soviet years, have really struggled to keep up with the United States and more recently with China. And the U.S. of course, they have their Perseverance rover on Mars sending back pictures and audio. And you know, they are competing with China which sent back rock and soil samples from the moon for the first time in 40 years last year.
So all of these three countries trying to get their way in and then you have private companies like SpaceX talking about flying members of the public to the moon in a couple of years. The United States wants to send the first woman to the moon in 2024 and the next man to the moon as well.
Obviously the United States was first -- the first man to step on the was Neil Armstrong, John. So it's a very interesting time to see this space race kind of unfolding at a time that there is also so much negativity happening here on earth. So many issues that the world is facing. Maybe this will be a welcome distraction to see what happens over the next few years.
VAUSE: Let's try a little negativity in. Are they equal partners? Because Russia and China, you know, in the past haven't always gotten on, you know. And each brings different things to the table, if you know what I mean in this deal.
RIPLEY: Beijing brings the cash. Russia brings the experience and the legacy. And they have been keen. Beijing has been keen to cooperate with the Russians for quite some time. Obviously their governments are a little more of a natural fit for this kind of partnership as opposed to Russia and the United States which have had tensions, you know, hitting very high levels, perhaps the highest since the height of the Cold War.
This area of space was the only area that Russia and the U.S. were cooperating but when Russia decided that it wasn't going to sign the Artemis Accord for lunar exploration led by the U.S., that plus losing their monopoly on flying people to the International Space Station kind of signaled the end.
VAUSE: Yes. Das vedanya (ph) to NASA, it looks like. Will, thank you. Will Ripley in Hong Kong.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues after a short break with Rosemary Church.
See you tomorrow.
[01:57:45]
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