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Several Asian Countries Continue AstraZeneca Rollout; U.S. Intel Report Warns of Rising Domestic Terrorism Threat; U. S. Federal Reserve Boost Economic Forecast for 2021; New Pipeline Battle Fires Up in Minnesota; Japan Opens Super Nintendo World After Multiple Delays. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 18, 2021 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to all of you watching here in the U.S., Canada and around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber and you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Well even though many European nations have suspended using the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine out of concern about possible side effects, several Asian countries aren't hesitating. The World Health Organization says the vaccine's benefits outweigh its risks and at least one Asian leader is taking the W.H.O. at its word.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): To the sound of snapping cameras, Thailand's prime minister becomes the first person in the country to get AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine. His shot in the arm kicks off its use across the nation.

PRAYUTH CHAN-OCHA, THAI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I've been ready to get vaccinated for quite a while. I'm thankful for all the medical staff who have been working to get the vaccine for the Thai people. Today, I'm boosting confidence in the vaccine for the general public.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Thailand is continuing AstraZeneca's rollout after a brief pause following European reports of bleeding, blood clots, and low platelet counts found in a small number of those who receive the vaccine. While it's been suspended in more than a dozen E.U. countries, most of Asia seems to be deeming it safe.

Indonesia is the region's only nation to say AstraZeneca's vaccine is currently suspended. But from Thailand to India, to South Korea to Australia, vaccinations continue in the fight against coronavirus.

PAUL KELLY, AUSTRALIA CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: In any large vaccine rollout, we do expect to see unusual events, and we monitor very closely and carefully for those. But this does not mean that an event that happens after vaccination has been given, is indeed due to that vaccine. So we do always take it seriously. We do investigate.

But in this situation, I can absolutely say that I remain confident in the AstraZeneca vaccine, that it's safe.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): AstraZeneca, meanwhile, is doubling down on the safety of its vaccine. It says that, of the 17 million people vaccinated in the E.U. and the U.K. so far, blood clots were, quote, much lower than what would be expected to occur naturally in the general population.

The World Health Organization said in a statement Wednesday that it believes, quote, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks.

That may be especially true in countries like India, where COVID deaths continue to rise and a pandemic that's claimed more than 2.5 million lives, worldwide.

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BRUNHUBER (on camera): The U.S. intelligence community is warning the threat of domestic terrorism could rise in the coming year and a new report says racially or ethnically motivated extremists are most likely to carry out mass killings against Americans. CNN's Brian Todd has details.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Top U.S. security and intelligence officials are again warning Congress and the public of the threat posed by extremists, including white supremacists, like many who were at the Capitol on January 6, attacking police and causing destruction.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Right now, at this point in time, domestic violent extremist, the lone wolf, the loose affiliation of individuals following ideologies of hate and other ideologies of extremism, that are willing and able to take those ideologies and execute on them in unlawful, illegal, violent ways is our greatest threat in the homeland right now.

TODD (voice-over): That threat assessment ordered by the White House in January was just produced by the Department of Homeland Security, the director of national intelligence and the Justice Department.

The assessment says racially motivated extremists and militias are the most likely groups to conduct mass casualty attacks against civilians, law enforcement or government personnel. FBI Director Christopher Wray recently told senators this is a threat he has made a top priority since 2019.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We -- I elevated racially motivated violent extremist, the vast majority is of which you would call white supremacist violence, to our highest threat priority, where it has stayed.

TODD (voice-over): And following the Capitol insurrection, one Anti- Defamation League official told us some extremists may be more energized to become violent in the future. OREN SEGAL, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: It will likely animate them moving forward. When you think your election is stolen, when you believe that you are the only thing to protect the American people from a tyrannical government, right, those are the types of narratives that inform people and, frankly, animate them to action.

TODD (voice-over): This comes the same day as the Anti-Defamation League is out with a new report saying there were more incidents of white supremacist propaganda across the United States last year than it's ever recorded before, that incidents of that propaganda nearly doubled from the number reported in 2019. The ADL says there were an average of 14 of these incidents a day last year.

[04:35:00]

JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO AND NATIONAL DIRECTOR, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: These extremists have been able to penetrate the public conversation, and they've moved really from the margins to the mainstream.

TODD (voice-over): The ADL says their propaganda included distribution of racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ flyers, stickers, banners, and posters across America. The ADL's top executive says we shouldn't make the mistake of believing that propaganda itself isn't dangerous.

GREENBLATT: It starts with propaganda and name-calling. It escalates to harassment. It then extends to vandalism. It then amplifies into violence.

TODD: This comes as there are new concerns about extremists including white supremacists being in the ranks of the U.S. military and law enforcement communities. In recent days, a U.S. Capitol Police officer was suspended after anti-Semitic reading material was discovered near his work area.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Federal Reserve sees signs of hope that we're turning the corner on the pandemic. It's dramatically increasing its forecast for economic growth this year while pledging to keep interest rates near zero. Wall Street responded with new record highs on Wednesday.

So let's turn to John Defterios in Abu Dhabi. John, I thought this was clever, and "The New York Times" put it something like this, if the economy turns into a giant party Jerome Powell promises not to take away the punchbowl -- rephrasing the old fed punchbowl metaphor. Decode this for us.

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN BUSINESS EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it's not easy to decode sometimes in this case, Kim, because you want to kind of keep the markets guessing and keep them off balance. That's what "The New York Times" is talking about, keep the punchbowl on the table. But Jay Powell has built up a lot of trust that he wants to be more transparent with the goals by the U.S. Federal Reserve and, therefore, the U.S. Treasury Department at the same time. Goal number one is job creation. We still have better than 9 million jobs lost since the start of the pandemic, the unemployment rate at 6.2 percent. They want to get that down to 3.5 percent by 2023. So they'll continue to buy bonds, keep the interest rates low and look for hard evidence when it comes to jobs. Let's take a listen.

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JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: We will want to see that the labor markets have moved -- labor market conditions have moved, you know, have made substantial progress toward maximum employment and inflation has made substantial progress toward the 2 percent goal. That's what we're going to want to see. Now, that obviously includes an element of judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEFTERIOS (on camera): And the judgment by investors here is continue buying because interest rates will remain low, and they think inflation under control. We had the Hong Kong and Tokyo lead the way in Asia. U.S. futures are up across the board earlier, they turned south along with U.S. markets, nothing dramatic but the Nasdaq futures are down better than .8 percent -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: But is there an asterisk here?

DEFTERIOS: That's a great way to ask it and the asterisk is this, they're giving indications that will keep interest rates low until 2023. But -- underlined -- we're watching inflation. These are the two key players on that front, Jay Powell of the Federal Reserve, Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank. Over the last week both said inflation will go up, Kim, and the U.S. example, to 2.4 percent in December. That's above the target.

But both the ECB and Federal Reserve says it goes up and then in early 2022 it comes back down again. And that's why they're confident they can keep rates where they are. The "but" is if it goes up, they're ready to act and that's the signal to the markets.

BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll see. Thanks so much John Defterios in Abu Dhabi, appreciate it.

DEFTERIOS: Thanks.

[04:40:00]

BRUNHUBER: There is a new fight over an oil pipeline here in the U.S. But is it already past the point of no return? We'll show you when we come back. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: 21 U.S. states led by Texas and Montana are suing the Biden administration over one of the very first things the president did when he came into office. They're suing because he revoked the permit for a controversial pipeline project, the Keystone XL pipeline, it would carry Canadian Tarzans crude oil into the U.S. President Joe Biden revoked the permit to help fight climate change.

And there's another pipe over pipelines under way, this one in Minnesota. CNN's Bill Weir speaks with indigenous activists camping along the frozen Mississippi River where parts of the new pipeline are supposed to cut through.

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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Way up north where the mighty Mississippi is a twisty ribbon of ice this is the new front in an old fight. It is called Enbridge Line 3, a Canadian pipeline set to run through the woods, wetlands and wild rice of Minnesota. Setting up another natives versus goliath clash over energy, sovereignty and our life-threatening addiction to fossil fuel.

WEIR: So how much of this fight for you is about the immediate concerns of a leak that would spoil the water and land, and how much is it about stopping man made climate change?

TARA HOUSKA, TRIBAL ATTORNEY: For me it's all the things at once. So it's the spills, right, which always happen with pipelines. It's the disruption itself of just the pipeline going into 800 wetlands and 200 bodies of water. Then there's the climate change piece, the emissions of this, 50 coal fire plants, absolute insanity.

WEIR (voice-over): Line 3 starts in the tar sands of Alberta where forests are replaced with open pits and toxic lakes so big you can see them from space. Since it is scraped and steamed into a thick sludge, tar sand oil takes tremendous amounts of water and energy to push through a pipe and one study found Line 3 will contribute as much planet warming pollution as 50 coal fire power plants.

WEIR: What is Enbridge's position overall on the climate crisis.

MIKE FERNANDEZ, CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, ENBRIDGE: We agree, climate change is an issue, and in fact, almost as our name implies, right, Enbridge, we're very keen about trying to build a bridge to the energy future.

WEIR: So at what point in order to break this addiction do we say, you know what, we're going to start with the worst -- we're going to start with the black tar heroin as we detox our way toward being clean.

FERNANDEZ: Yes, I mean, I think the real challenge here is that we have a demand for energy and the reality is even as we see great growth in renewables, we're still going to need some fossil fuel for years to come.

WEIR (voice-over): After president Biden pulled Trump era permits and killed the Keystone XL, those who lost the battle at Standing Rock found fresh hope.

[04:45:00]

The tribes and their allies who failed to stop the Dakota access oil from flowing, just watched the first native-American interior secretary get confirmed. And now they pray that the president or a judge will stop Line 3.

WEIR: But that's a much bigger ask. Unlike Keystone XL, which was starting from scratch, Line 3 is a replacement and of the 340 miles that will cut through Minnesota, 40 percent of it is already in the ground.

WEIR (voice-over): To outrace a court or White House order Enbridge is working as fast as the thawing ice and growing protests will allow.

HOUSKA: There have been over 130 people that have been arrested so far in the last few months, there have been people crawling into the pipeline themselves, that have been chained to the machines. I mean, it's an all-out struggle for mother earth that's happening here.

BARRY SIMONSON, PROJECT DIRECTOR, ENBRIDGE LINE 3 REPLACEMENT PROJECT: We do respect everyone's view on the project. We respect safe protesting, what we don't want is individuals to become unsafe or trespass. And we ask our workers for de-escalation. Don't engage. Because it goes back to safety, integrity and the last one, respect.

WEIR: The truth is that the carbon emissions aren't coming from pipelines, they're coming from cars. And so if you really wanted to go directly to the source, you could protest car dealerships, you could protest gas stations.

When you compare a job on a pipeline compared to a job building turbines or solar panels or drilling for geothermal, does it pay the same?

SIMONSON: That's an excellent question. In Minnesota because of the work we've done over the past few years our laborers working on the pipeline and our laborers working building wind turbines are making the exact same money.

WEIR (voice-over): For one side of this fight it all comes down to supply and demand. While the other demands a supply of energy that doesn't come with thousand mile pipes, droughts, floods, fires and rising seas. It's a debate that will define the 2020s and beyond.

Bill Weir, CNN, Palisade, Minnesota.

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BRUNHUBER: One of the most popular old school video games finally debuts in Japan as a life sized theme park after the pandemic caused many delays. So we'll take you live to Super Nintendo World right after the break. You'll want to see that too.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BRUNHUBER: After several delays because of the pandemic Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan is now open. The amusement park is a bigger than life sized replicas of the company's most favorite games featuring characters like Mario and Yoshi. The Universal executive promises, quote, an experience that can be found nowhere else in the world.

Our Selina Wang is outside Super Nintendo World in Osaka, in what is clearly the assignment of the day. So getting a whole bunch of people together during a pandemic always seems iffy. How are we trying to keep people safe there?

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kim, even with the mask wearing and the COVID restrictions there is just so much energy and excitement here. It almost feels like a pre-pandemic sort of atmosphere. The crowds have been pouring in all day.

Now, this park was supposed to open a year ago before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, like the Olympics, it was anticipated to drive a lot of economic growth and influx of tourists, but capacity here is limited on top of several other restrictions. But none of this, Kim, is stopping the excitement that people are feeling today.

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WANG: Here we go. Entering Super Nintendo World through the Warp Pipe, follow me.

And here we are, a life sized replica of Nintendo's most popular games. You've got Yoshi's Adventure, Bowser's Castle, Peach's Castle and all the iconic characters.

After nearly a year long delay because of COVID-19, this theme park in Osaka's Universal Studios Japan is finally open to the public. We're getting a sneak peek before the big crowds come in.

But this is how things look during COVID. Your temperature is taken at the entrance. Hand sanitizer is everywhere. Masks are required at all times except for in mask free zones.

Konnichiwa. Konnichiwa.

So I can interact with Mario and Luigi but there are rules against touching. And one of the few places in this whole park where I can take my mask off or in this photo-op area with Mario and Luigi.

And actually on the ground here there are markers to prove that I need to be a certain distance away from them. So I am being socially distant from Mario and Luigi.

Park officials say that this all cost about half a billion dollars to construct and more than six years to develop. Now the gaming industry and Nintendo Especially got a big boost during the pandemic, as more people were stuck at home inside, playing Nintendo games. Games that become real life in this park. The whole park is interactive, you can even compete against other people here. And just like in the Mario video games. I've got this power up band on my wrist and I can just punch up on these blocks and I get points in the Mario app on my phone.

And this is what many fans are most excited about, Koopa's Challenge, a real life Mario kart race through Bowser's castle.

All right, I'm about to get on a real life Mario Kart ride. I've got to put on the augmented reality headset here, clip it in. All right. Let's go.

The augmented reality headset got a little bit of getting used to, but I was racing through the Mushroom Kingdom, next to Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi. I'm not great at the video game version of Mario Kart. I think I might have a faired slightly better in the real life version.

For Nintendo, this is an important step beyond its core business of video games and consoles. It's cashing in on its treasure trove of intellectual property and iconic characters. Here in this store, and in the restaurant, Pinocchio's cafe, we're here in the Mushroom Kingdom and Mushroom themed food is everywhere. It looks like a cartoon food, but it's edible.

[04:55:00]

WANG (voice-over): She told me when I saw all this, I got emotional. I've been playing Nintendo game since I was small. It's not exaggerating to say that Mario games raised me. This is all beyond my expectations, she told me. I feel like I'm in the Mario world. I get worried about COVID when I take off my mask to eat, she said, but the park is taking safety protocols, so I feel safe.

WANG: Japan's borders are still closed so international travelers aren't allowed in this park yet. But there are plans to open Super Nintendo World in Florida, California and Singapore.

WANG (voice-over): Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, says he wants the whole world to come visit when the pandemic is over.

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WANG (on camera): And Kim, this opening today is happening as the global theme park industry has been struggling. Parks around the world are opening in a patchwork. And in fact, plans to open Super Nintendo World in Orlando have reportedly been delayed until 2025.

Now earlier today I asked the CEO of Universal Studios Japan what other games they plan to turn to life of Nintendo. He didn't give specifics but said they are going to continue to invest in this park -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Our Selina Wang punching up for us in Osaka, Japan. Appreciate it. Well magic will soon be returning to the so-called happiest place on

earth. Disneyland and its sister theme park the California Adventure are both scheduled to reopen in Anaheim with limited capacity on April 30th. They've been closed for more than a year because of the pandemic. New safety measures include mandatory masks, social distancing and a new ticketing system to help manage capacity.

Looks like fun. All right. Thanks. That wraps this hour of CNN. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "EARLY START" is up next.

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