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Suez Canal Authority Confirms Ever Given Mostly Free; U.S. President Biden Calls Situation in Myanmar "Outrageous"; Students in Turkey Have Lost Contact with Parents in China; Dozens Killed and Missing After Militants Besiege City of Palma; U.S. Covid Cases Rise Even as More People Get Vaccinated; Rising Concerns for Teens as Covid Restrictions Ease. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired March 29, 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]

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Container ships. So this has really exacerbated that. So we're not going to see an end to trade delays and cost of business for some time, I think.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, your so right. The timing of this just horrible. Anna Stewart bringing us the very latest on that angle of this story from London. Many thanks.

Well meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now. Pedram, we are waiting on that predicted and imminent high tide to help in this effort to release the bow of this massive cargo ship and release it, hopefully. How likely is that do you think? When you look at the numbers.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know we're about 70 minutes away from finding out. That's when the highest high tides here, the king tide or the spring tide, as known, is typically observed here during a full phase of the moon which happened in the past 24 hours. And this is what officials are counting on.

There's some high wind here giving us a little bit more of a tug and increasing the tides just a little bit more than you typically would see it there. In fact, we expect it to continue possibly over the next two to three days. So we see this observation of a massive ship that's been locked in place. Officials say they've already made quite a bit of ground.

You know, they've dredged out about 30,000 cubic meters of sand. The bow area that did not have any water underneath it, has water underneath it. The propeller at no point was able to get into motion over the past several days. Finally being able to see some movement on the propellers. So a lot of good news coming out of this region. Kind of now waiting on mother nature here to do its part and give us the upper hand at 11: 42 in the morning local time. Which again, is or so about an hour and ten minutes from right now is when we expect the high tide to take place, which would put the water at about 6.8 feet or a little over 2 meters. And within a six hour period, Rosemary, the water does drops right

back down to one foot and then within six hours after that, shortly after midnight into Tuesday morning there, local time, we do expect waters, to their once again, maybe slightly higher at about 6.9 feet. So again, we get multiple rounds of possibilities here for officials to see what they can do as far as getting the ship to be free.

And as far as weather is concerned, of course, we know how he ended up here. Sandstorms gusty winds about a week ago, certainly didn't help visibility and the concerns across this region. But there is a disturbance on approach right now across the Black Sea, eventually around portions of the eastern Med. That's around Wednesday morning. So once we get this system to close in on this area, we could see winds once again pick up in intensity. But right now we've got the best window so far in the last seven days to make this happen. So hopefully everything goes as officials hope in the next couple of days.

CHURCH: Yes. It's a small window of opportunity. Hopefully, they can do it. They've got all experts on this. Meteorologist Pedro Javaheri, many thanks for explaining all of that, appreciate it.

And still to come, they were supposed to be starting a new life with their families in Turkey. Instead Uyghur children haven't had contact with their parents back in China in years. Their stories next.

[04:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden is weighing in on the worsening situation in Myanmar. More than 100 civilians were reportedly killed Saturday during protests against last month's military coupe. Here's what the president told reporters on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's terrible. It's absolutely outrageous. And based on the reporting I've gotten an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ivan Watson is following this from Hong Kong. He joins us now live. So Ivan, the U.S. is trying to figure out how it intends to respond to what President Biden calls an outrageous situation there in Myanmar. More protesters, though, are dying at the hands of the military. What is the latest on this?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The violence is escalading and what was particularly obscene about this is that Saturday was this holiday in Myanmar, Armed Forces Day, where the military threw itself a parade. The military dictator who declared himself ruler of the country after the coupe of February 1, reportedly hosting a black-tie dinner that night. And during that same day, there was savagery out on the streets of more than 40 cities and towns across the country.

The United Nations' top officials there accusing the military of gunning civilians down of, quote, widespread lethal, increasingly systemic attacks. The U.N. special rapporteur to Miramar calling it a mass murder. More than 100 people killed in a single day, according to local media.

And the violence spread to the border areas, an ethnic enclave controlled by the Karen National Union -- the KNU -- where in the morning their armed fighters that attacked a military post. And according to their claims, captured and killing a number of Myanmar soldiers and that night the Burmese military carried out air strikes and then continued on Sunday carrying out air strikes in that border area. Now driving some 3,000 people across the border, across the river into neighboring Thailand.

As the situation spins out of control in Myanmar, the specter of refugees going to neighboring countries is growing of internally displaced people. That is growing as people are fleeing to the ethnic enclaves for safety. And on top of this, the economy in Myanmar is frozen shut, basically. You've got a civil disobedience movement that has paralyzed large sectors of the economy since the coupe and we're hearing that treatment, testing, vaccination for COVID has all but stopped now. You have the makings of a major disaster that one of the ethnic militia leader of Shan State described Myanmar as a failed state since the coupe -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: It is an unacceptable situation. Ivan Watson joining us live from Hong Kong, appreciate it.

While hopes of starting a new life turned to sorrow. Boys at a Uyghur school outside of Istanbul now find themselves left on their own. Their fathers traveled to China with the promise they would return to Turkey with the rest of their families. But instead, their whereabouts remain unknown. Their sons now left stranded.

CNN visited the school and heard the harrowing tales of these boys. China faces growing criticism of its policies in the Xinjiang region where up to 2 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities have been arbitrarily detained in vast government camps, according to the U.S. State Department.

[04:40:00]

But Beijing has vehemently denied allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang. Calling the camps vocational training centers designed to stamp out religious extremism. Arwa Damon has the Uyghur boys story from Istanbul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There is a sorrow far beyond their year emanating from some of the boys at this Uyghur school just outside of Istanbul. It hovers over those who are here on their own in a foreign land, whose parents are missing in China. Mohammad is just 11 years old, brought to Turkey by his father when he was just five. With his older brother, Abdullah who was seven at the time. Their father left them with a Uyghur woman promising he'd be back with their mother and younger siblings in a month. He never returned.

"My mother spoke to us and said that they took daddy's passport," Abdullah tells us. She told us that he won't be able to come, but that we'd see each other again soon. Mohammad adds, "my mother also told us that daddy was in the camp."

That was the last time they heard from her, six years ago. We cannot verify the fate of their parents. They have not heard either of their parents' voices or received news of them since then.

This school also doubles as a home for the children who are missing both parents. Around 20 out of the 140 or so students here. They share similar stories. Those who have passports are brought over by their fathers, who leaves them to return to China to get the rest of the family, and then is either barred from travel or believed to be thrown into China's so-called re-education camps.

In response to CNN, China disputed this saying, the Chinese government has never restricted the freedom of movement of any citizens including the Uyghurs. All citizens regardless of their ethnicity or religion can enter and leave the country freely as long as they are not restricted from leaving the country for suspected crimes.

But many in the Uyghur community say that just practicing their religion, Islam, is suspicion enough.

Hassan, now 15, has been on his own since he was 11. He vaguely remembers his parents being afraid to send him to school. How the pressure was mounting on Uyghur families. "When my father went back the situation had become even worse," he remembers. Travel outside of China was banned for Uyghurs. "I tried to call but there was no way. Communication was entirely cut off."

He struggled to speak of the past of his parents, his siblings. It feels like the words are stuck in his chest, too painful to articulate.

DAMON: That's the only photo he has of his family. He just has a photograph of his father, that's it, nothing from his mother, nothing from his siblings, nothing from his past.

DAMON (voice-over): The memory of his mother's face has faded over time, nearly gone.

"I'm afraid to not recognize one's family, to not remember one's family, it's horrible," he says. The brothers dream of a day they know might not come of being reunited with their family. If he could speak to his parents now Abdullah would say, "we want one of you to be with us." Mohammad would tell them, "I love you very much."

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH (on camera): And for more on this, I want to bring in CNN's Arwa Damon who joins us live from now Istanbul in Turkey. And Arwa, their story is so distressing. What does the future hold for these boys?

DAMON (on camera): Unless something changes, Rosemary, they'll end up growing up in Turkey with no more contact with their parents. And as much as the administrators at the school will try to comfort them, give them some sort of a sense of support, that's not really comparable to loving embrace of one's father or mother.

And you heard the younger brothers there talking about what they would say to their parents with one of them saying that he would tell them I wish one of you was with us. And it's almost as if it was too much for him at that stage to wish that both of them were actually with them. They're too young right now to be able to fully comprehend what their future is going to hold for them.

Hassan, on the other hand, the older brother who we spoke to, says that eventually at some stage, he wants to try to go find his parents after he's finished his high school education, perhaps. But that is also potentially very risky for him and may not be something that he's going to be able to undertake. And so there is this realization among these children that they are entirely on their own.

[04:45:00]

And that's something that's terrifying and understandably terrifying. They don't have parents to comfort them when they have nightmares, when they're upset, when they're sick. They don't have that family that is around them to provide them the kind of love and comfort, and support that only a family can. And that is what they're going to have to continue to learn to live with, Rosemary, again, unless something, somehow changes.

CHURCH: Horrifying situation for those boys. Arwa Damon joining us live for Istanbul, many thanks for that report.

Still to come, COVID restrictions being eased in parts of the U.K. But with that, authorities see a need to keep teenagers safe from gang violence. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: We are getting a better sense of the carnage of the days long terror attack in Mozambique. A military spokesman said dozens of people are dead and dozens more are missing after Islamists militants attacked the city of Palma. The fatalities reportedly include locals and foreigners working in the region.

[04:50:00]

Mozambique's military says they are trying to secure the city. The terror group, which is believed to be affiliated with ISIS, attacked Palma on Wednesday. Witnesses say many people died of trying to evacuate. We do want to give you a quick update now on the COVID-19 in the

United States. Health experts are warning of a new surge in cases, and this comes as restrictions are being eased and more Americans are on the move. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 51 million people have been vaccinated. That is roughly 15 percent of the population. Health officials estimate somewhere between 70 and 85 percent of the population must be protected to reach herd immunity.

Now earlier I spoke to epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant about the likelihood of reaching herd immunity. He explained why he was skeptical.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I don't think it's mathematically achievable. If you think of herd immunity as 80 percent we'll all get vaccinated and all have full immunity, that's going to be tough to do in the number of years that this disease is going to be around, and then the rest of the world it's going to be impossible.

But just one more vaccine, one more arm, one more vaccination going from 15 percent immunized to 20 to 25 to 50 is wonderful. It's -- it may not be enough when we have variants that are arising from all over the world, and a dozen animal species that now have COVID.

And I worry that -- in addition to vaccinating everybody, we have to go back to the basics and get contact tracing and testing and isolation really in a good place. And there's money in the stimulus package for it, but we can't forget about that.

CHURCH: Right. You have said that we can get COVID-19 under control with vaccinations, advanced testing, and contact tracing, but you've also said all this will prepare us for the next pandemic. What do you think that will be? Are you talking about flu or another type of coronavirus?

BRILLIANT: Every year three to five novel viruses jump from animals to humans. The majority of these are bird flu, they're in the influenza category, many of them are respiratory diseases like COVID- 19. I am concerned that just as we've had for the past 20 years, for the next 20 years, we'll be constantly meeting novel viruses. Not all of them will be as pernicious as COVID-19, but we have to stay on our toes.

And that's why I'm hoping we will continue to build up our ability to find outbreaks quickly and respond to them quickly and not only vaccinate. We have to do both. They are both really important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant speaking to me earlier.

When Britain began to emerge from its first COVID lockdown last summer, knife crimes surged. Now authorities are worried teens may never return to full-time school or afterschool activities. And that could lead them vulnerable to grooming by violent gangs. Nina dos Santos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It has been an agonizing lockdown spent worrying about the capital's vulnerable children, but finally, Lorraine Jones is ready to reopen. For more than seven years she has poured her life into this boxing gym since her 20-year-old son Dwayne lost his.

LORRAINE JONES, CEO, DWAYNAMICS BOXING GYM: It was one stab wound and that went right through his heart, and later on a message came to me that the man was actually remorseful of what he had done.

DOS SANTOS: Senseless, isn't it?

JONES: Very senseless.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Lorraine has made it her mission to keep local kids off the south London streets amid a wave of knife crime in the U.K. that hit a 10-year peak before the pandemic.

JONES: If you are going to carry a knife you've got a potential to kill somebody or be killed.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Knife crime has also left parents desperately anxious as their children are now finally given more freedom.

JONES: There's a saying that idle hands get up to no good, and it left to do nothing, what will happen to them? Sadly, knife crime has gone up.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Leigh Channer has four sons. She's signing 5- year-old Canon up early but is on edge each time his older siblings venture out.

LEIGH CHANNER, LONDON MOTHER: I'm always worried. My son that's 21 I'm constantly worrying every time he leaves the house. Because I just don't know where he's going. What he's doing. If he's actually going to return home. It's got to a point where I want to take them away and leave. But where do I leave?

[04:55:00]

DOS SANTOS: As part of the U.K. access to their first lockdown last summer, knife crimes spike 25 percent and hospital admissions for stab wounds also soared. With so much disruption to education and after school activities, the fear is that as life gets back to normal that trend will soon return.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Former Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield says that knife crime is just a symptom of a broader problem with stark inequalities and a powerful gang culture, veering every younger minors into its clutches often to deliver drugs.

ANNE LONGFIELD, FORMER CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER: You've got that ruthless criminals who will be looking for young people as a commodity of choice. You have quite young children who will be targeted, started on the edges of some of this activity but then brought in over time.

And of course, the more they see, the more they are involved in, the more the gang leaders have over them. And the risk, of course, is for those kids who have been out of school for a good part of the year now.

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): London Mayor Sadiq Khan has proposed stationing extra police around schools to protect children, and more money for programs like Lorraine's where Officer Danny Shannon already lends his support as a coach.

DANNY SHANNON, METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICER AND BOXING COACH: I've seen children from ages like 12, 13-year-old carrying knives. I've actually held kids that had been stabbed down the street. The pandemic has definitely changed the way things are. People have become lost, people that would normally been in this gym are not here, so where are those people now?

DOS SANTOS (voice-over): COVID brought the past year to a standstill, but it hasn't cured London of its knife crime epidemic. As these empty streets fell up once more the futures of many children hang in the balance.

Nina dos Santos, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. "EARLY START" is up next. You're watching CNN. Have yourselves a wonderful day.