Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Crisis In Myanmar Deepens, Civil War A Possibility; China Makes Example Of Hong Kong Activists In Controversial Conviction; Pfizer BioNTech's Revolutionary Facility Aims For 100 Million Vaccines A Month By End 2020; Vaccine News Round Up: France, Germany, Austria, U.S.; New Police Body Cams Shown At Chauvin's Trial; Witness Express Regret and Helplessness; Putin Critic Navalny Goes on Prison Hunger Strike; Peru to Enter Nationwide Lockdown through Easter; Australians Stranded Abroad Asking U.N. for Help; Biden Unveils $2 Trillion Infrastructure Plan. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 01, 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]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead. Guilty verdicts. Nine pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong just convicted of authorized assembly could wind up in prison for years.
Plus, a dire warning. The United Nations special envoy on Myanmar says a bloodbath could happen soon.
And stranded. Why the COVID pandemic has thousands of expatriate Australians struggling to get home.
And we start with a chilling warning from U.N. special envoy in Myanmar that a bloodbath is imminent.
Her message was delivered to the U.N. Security Council in a private meeting Wednesday but it ended with no sign of agreement for more action.
In the coming hours, Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to appear in court. She had her first meeting with one of her lawyers Wednesday via video.
Meantime, the military has declared a cease-fire of sorts but it doesn't apply to the pro-democracy protesters.
Ivan Watson has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The deepening crisis in Myanmar is starting to spill across borders, thousands of civilians crossing the river between Myanmar and Thailand to escape airstrikes carried out by Myanmar's warplanes.
They're from a region controlled by the Karen National Union. It's the oldest of dozens of armed ethnic militias that have fought off and on against the military in Myanmar for generations.
This is a patchwork of just some of the militias that operate in Myanmar's border regions.
Two months after the coup, the deadly crackdown on anti-coup protesters in the cities have sent people fleeing to these militia enclaves including the one controlled by this man.
YAWD SERK, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, SHAN STATE ARMY (Through Translator): We stand with the people. If they are in trouble and run to us seeking help, we will take care of them.
WATSON: Yawd Serk is the leader of the Shan State Army. In an interview with CNN, he denounced the coup.
SERK (Through Translator): If the military continues to shoot and kill people, it means the junta have simply transformed themselves into terrorists.
WATSON: In the cities and towns of central Myanmar, the death toll amid the anti-coup protesters continues to grow.
Do any of you have the training or background to lead a grassroots political protest movement?
ANTI-COUP PROTEST LEADER (Off camera, voice over): No, none of us. I work in an office, I was department head.
WATSON: This man, who asks not to be identified for his safety, is the leader of the protest movement in a neighborhood of Yangon.
In just two months, it's gone from organizing festive but passionate gatherings with costumes and signs to desperate efforts to defend barricades from heavily armed security forces.
The protest leader says he's hearing growing calls for armed attacks.
Do you support violent attacks on the military?
ANTI-COUP PROTEST LEADER (Off camera, voice over): No, not at all. Because, like I said, it won't accomplish our goal.
WATSON: He says some demonstrators have made largely unsuccessful attempts to carry out what they call car wash operations.
ANTI-COUP PROTEST LEADER (Off camera, voice over): A car wash operation is throwing Molotovs at a moving or stationary vehicle whether there's army personnel in it or whether it's an empty truck.
WATSON: Demonstrators in Yangon tells CNN there are some efforts being made to arm anti-coup protesters and to send activists to receive combat training in enclaves run by militias like the Shan State Army.
SERK (Through Translator): If they want to have training, we will train them.
WATSON: Myanmar's military doesn't want to keep fighting these well trained rebels. Instead, on Wednesday, it called a unilateral cease- fire for one month.
No such mercy for civilian protesters who soldiers and police continue to kill with impunity, driving ordinary people towards radicalization.
ANTI-COUP PROTEST LEADER (Off camera, voice over): When ordinary civilians like us, office workers like us, started taking arms and get makeshift training for like six months and start shooting people, I guess civil war would be unavoidable.
WATSON (Voice Over): Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
CHURCH: And next hour on CNN NEWSROOM, a closer look at the situation in Myanmar and what can be done to ease tensions there.
Well, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and eight other opposition activists have been convicted of authorized assembly in the 2019 protests. They will be sentenced on April 16th. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Our Will Ripley is in Hong Kong with details. He joins us now. Good to see you, Will.
So what more are you learning about the convictions, the possible sentences, and how much of this is about making an example of these activists?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is 100 percent, Rosemary, about making an example of these activists.
Because even though they are not charged in this particular case under the national security law, jimmy Lai, even though he's been granted bail in this case will stay behind bars as he has for months now because on NSL charges, people are not automatically allowed to leave.
And so for participating in a March at Victoria Park -- I remember it was packed inside the park that day, there no cell service, it was muggy, it was raining and then everybody walked out of the park and they marched through the city. And they had this momentum and this feeling that they were going to accomplish something.
But today, it's ending right here. Just a couple of dozen reporters, no protesters, and a city changed forever.
A father figure for a so-called leaderless movement. Jimmy Lai, mega- wealthy media mogul revered by Hong Kong's youthful pro-democracy protesters. Targeted by Beijing's draconian national security law devised to silence them.
Do you feel that some aspects of the pro-democracy movement have pushed China too far and lost?
JIMMY LAI, FMR. CHAIRMAN/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & FOUNDER, NEXT DIGITAL: It's always the right thing to do is to fight for your freedom because without freedom we have nothing.
RIPLEY: Last year, the publisher of the "Apple Daily" was frog- marched out of his own newsroom, the Cantonese pro-democracy publication turned over by 200 Hong Kong police.
LAI: A lot of people are being intimidated. I think the law's intimidating effect is very effective.
RIPLEY: The catch-all national security law bans sedition as well as collusion with foreign powers, a charge often levelled against Lai. Violators can face life in prison.
And as the imposition of the law led to mass arrests and the gutting of Hong Kong's legislature --
UNKNOWN (Captioned): What's the point of taking part in any more legislative council elections?
RIPLEY: -- the maverick media mogul publicly appealed to the U.S. for support.
Before that, his ties to the U.S. won him a Washington meet and greet with the Trump Administration.
LAI: They see the logic, they see the righteousness in it. And that's why we have such great support from the international community.
RIPLEY: Lai has always acted with a sense of righteousness. Once a refugee from Communist China, he's courted controversy as a tabloid owner. Always a thorn in Beijing's side, his lengthy rap sheet a badge of honor.
LAI: When there's democracy in Hong Kong, I will give up.
RIPLEY: Jimmy Lai is still playing the long game.
You want to movement to continue but at what cost to the young people who are not you, who don't have you have?
LAI: We have to believe that we are on the right side of the history. Given enough time, we will win. Time is our weapon, not violence.
RIPLEY: Time, many here worry, is running out.
Lai and six others all found guilty. As they await their sentencing, some of them have been granted bail.
There are other notable defendants here. Hong Kong's father of democracy, Martin Lee, ex-lawmaker Albert Ho -- some of them will be walking through these doors in front of the cameras, but not Jimmy Lai.
At 72 years old, he was denied bail in this national security law case and he still has an addition to that trial, two more trials inside this courtroom for other unauthorized assemblies that he is accused of leading in the summer of 2019.
Rosemary, he's 72 years old. This charge alone carries a maximum five years in prison.
When I spoke to Jimmy Lai last year after his arrest, I asked him about the very real possibility that these charges could keep him in prison away from his media empire, from his home, from his family, they could keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
And he said he's at peace with that. Because he believed in what he was fighting for here in Hong Kong even if it appears, at least at this stage, they lost the war.
CHURCH: It is a very troubling situation. That it's come to this is extraordinary.
Will Ripley, joining us from Hong Kong. Many thanks.
[01:10:00]
Well, French President Emmanuel Macron says his country risks losing control over COVID-19 so he's ordering of another nationwide lockdown, even though he had been trying to keep the country open.
He also says that the biggest challenge now is to speed up France's vaccine rollout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (Through Translator): In the coming weeks we will further accelerate the number of doses we get and we'll gradually become the first continent in the world in terms of vaccine production.
This will build our independence. It will guarantee that if additional doses are needed, we will no longer depend on others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Well, much of the E.U., as you know, has been dealing with a number of issues on the vaccine front.
CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: A third nationwide partial lockdown. That's what the French president had to announce on television on Wednesday night, Emmanuel Macron also announcing that French schools will be closing for the next three weeks.
The new measures that had applied to a part of France's -- 19 French departments had already been under partial lockdown, including here in the greater Paris region -- that has now extended to the whole of metropolitan France from the Saturday.
This, of course, in the face of those rising COVID-19 figures that have been driven in that third here in France, as elsewhere in Europe, by those new variants, and in particular, the one first identified in the United Kingdom.
The French president speaking to that and explaining that that was what was behind now the need to get people back under partial lockdown. Emmanuel Macron saying that more than 5,000 people are currently in ICU being treated for COVID-19, 44 percent are below the age of 65.
For several weeks now, French doctors and heads of ICUs had been calling for fresh restrictions and warning that once again France's health system stood on the brink.
BELL (On Camera): Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, when the pandemic began, the challenge wasn't just coming up with a COVID vaccine, it was also making hundreds of millions of doses.
And Pfizer and BioNTech have worked together to make that happen.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us inside a Pfizer manufacturing facility. His exclusive report just ahead.
Plus regret, guilt and helplessness. Witnesses of George Floyd's death describe what they felt when they saw him dying at the hands of police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, Johnson & Johnson says it will supply 200 million COVID vaccine doses to European countries this year. That would give a major boost to the E.U. which is still struggling with its vaccine rollout.
[01:15:00]
Austria is seeking additional help from Russia. The chancellor says they will likely order 1 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine as early as next week.
Germany, though, is limiting the use of another vaccine. Officials there say the AstraZeneca shot will only be given to people age 60 and over after a few reports of blood clots.
Now this comes even as the World Health Organization insists the vaccine is safe and effective.
And in Italy, officials are making vaccinations mandatory for health care workers. The government says the move is meant to protect the most vulnerable.
Well, meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech have come through with the news many parents have been waiting for.
Trial data shows their vaccine is 100 percent effective in preventing severe illness in children ages 12 to 15. The companies plan to submit to U.S. regulators as soon as possible to expand the emergency use authorization.
A separate study of these vaccines in children ages six months to 11 years launched last week, but those results are still months away.
Doctor William Schaffner is a professor at Vanderbilt University's division of infectious diseases. He joins me now from Nashville.
Good to have you with us, Doctor. And thank you for all that you do.
DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: My pleasure to be with you.
CHURCH: So early trials have shown the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is 100 percent effective on kids 12 to 15 years of age. And this news follows recent results that show the first dose of
Pfizer and Moderna offers 80 percent efficacy and the second dose takes that up to 90 percent efficacy in real world conditions.
What is your reaction to all this good news and what could it mean going forward? Even though we're looking at a surge in cases.
SCHAFFNER: Yes. Well, Rosemary, you can see me smiling because it is indeed good news.
First of all, that the vaccine that we have been using, that we'd studied in the careful, controlled environment of a trial actually works just as well out in the field. That's wonderful because there's usually some diminution in effectiveness. But this is a stunningly good vaccine.
And now we have new data, not large but very conclusive, that it works also in adolescents 12 to 18 years of age. And it works excellently.
So we look forward to these data being presented to the Food & Drug Administration here in United States and we hope approval so we can start vaccinating these adolescents in preparation for school.
Teachers will be smiling, parents will be smiling and the children will be saying ouch, but that's OK.
CHURCH: It is great news for all parents and teachers, as you say.
And Doctor, Germany has stopped offering the AstraZeneca vaccine to anyone 60 years of age or younger despite a very successful rollout of that very same vaccine across the United Kingdom.
Why does AstraZeneca keep getting such bad press compared to the other vaccine options and how detrimental could this prove to be for the overall vaccination effort?
SCHAFFNER: Well, AstraZeneca seems to have found most of the bumps in the road. We'll see.
The German decision is a very conservative one, they're focusing the use of this vaccine. I emphasize, they're continuing to use this vaccine in people aged 60 and older, they're the people most seriously affected.
But they're being cautious about people, for the meantime, people who are younger than age 60.
AstraZeneca also be going through our Food & Drug Administration. And if that organization with its tough review gives it approval, I think that will smooth the troubled waters around the world and ministers of health around the world will start being comfortable using that vaccine.
CHURCH: All right. That is good news too. And Doctor, the leaders of France and Germany are in talks with President Putin to use Russia's COVID vaccine, the Sputnik V but that vaccine hasn't even been approved by the E.U.
So how is it more viable than AstraZeneca or is this just more about supply?
SCHAFFNER: I think it is about supply and it is about negotiations, trying to get another vaccine into the market.
Of course, the Sputnik V vaccine will have to go before the European medicines agency. And we look forward to seeing all those data -- I've seen hints but I really haven't seen the data laid out. We would look forward to that.
CHURCH: Yes, indeed we will. And, of course, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has hit another snag with quality issues at the plant delaying about 15 million of those vaccines.
How problematic could this prove to be, do you think?
[01:20:00]
SCHAFFNER: Well that's also a pain in the neck, for sure. But at the moment we have plenty of vaccine -- Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson -- so at least our vaccination programs will be able to continue.
But the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has proven to be very, very popular here in the United States. Lots of people enjoy one and done.
CHURCH: They do, they do. All right. Dr. William Schaffner, thank you so much. We appreciate you. SCHAFFNER: My pleasure.
CHURCH: Well, Pfizer and BioNTech have a global goal of producing two-and-a-half billion vaccine doses by the end of this year. Their total so far, 232 million. These are among the places where their vaccine is already being administered around the world.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes us inside the Pfizer factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Here's his exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One year ago, the process you are watching didn't even exist.
And for Mike McDermott, Pfizer's president of global supply, a novel virus meant he needed a novel approach to vaccine manufacturing.
MIKE MCDERMOTT, PRESIDENT, PFIZER GLOBAL SUPPLY: This has been an amazing 12 months, like nothing I've experienced in my career.
GUPTA: Remember, until the end of last year, no vaccine using mRNA technology had ever been authorized.
And now I'm getting an exclusive look here in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at how Pfizer in partnership with BioNTech has produced million of these vaccines.
MCDERMOTT: Sixty million doses are surrounding us, hugging us right now. Imagine the impact that this room will have, just the doses sitting here today on U.S. citizens and patients around the world.
GUPTA: Now that gives you goosebumps.
While Pfizer has more than doubled its output from a month ago, now producing at least 13 million doses a week, it's still not enough for McDermott.
MCDERMOTT: By the middle this year -- we're at 13 million doses, we'll be at 25 million doses in a couple of months.
GUPTA: So 100 million a month?
MCDERMOTT: 100 million a month.
GUPTA: And he's doing that by continuing to look for novel solutions. Even seemingly simple ones.
They found that their suppliers couldn't provide enough dry ice so they decided to produce their own.
GUPTA: High-vis jackets so we can see each other. Hard hat.
It also means that you are now seeing things that President Biden didn't see when he was here just five weeks ago in February.
MCDERMOTT: This is our new formulation suite.
GUPTA: Here's part of how they scale up so fast. These pre-fab formulation suites, they're all built in Texas before being brought here.
MCDERMOTT: If we built it wall by wall onsite, it would have taken us a year. By doing it modularly, we can cut that in half. If you want to get on one side, I'll get on the other.
GUPTA: And yes, as I found, it really is as easy as pushing it into place.
Man, that's amazing.
MCDERMOTT: That is pretty smart.
GUPTA: But for McDermott, it really all came down to this key part of the process.
MCDERMOTT: There's never been a commercial scale mRNA vaccine. So everything you see here is custom designed.
GUPTA: Remember, what makes up Pfizer's vaccine is basically mRNA housed in four different lipids which is really just fat. And this tiny tool, called an impingement jet mixer, makes it possible.
Now this is going to sound too simple but here goes. On one side, mRNA is pumped in, on the other side, lipids. And they are forced together with around 400 pounds of pressure.
Out comes a lipid nanoparticle which McDermott says is the perfect package to deliver mRNA to your cells. That's the vaccine.
GUPTA: When you started to really scale up like that, how confident were you that was going to work?
MCDERMOTT: So the first time somebody showed me this impingement jet mixer, I said you can't be serious. How could you put billions of doses through here?
So my confidence level was actually quite low. Not that it could be done, I knew it worked at this scale, but how could you multiply it.
GUPTA: Not only did McDermott crack that code and is now on his way to producing billions of doses for the world, his life has now come full circle.
MCDERMOTT: Because as a kid, my dad worked for NASA. He was lucky enough to be in mission control in Houston when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, right, that amazing moment.
NEIL ARMSTRONG, ASTRONAUT ON MOON LANDING: -- one giant leap for mankind.
MCDERMOTT: And the day when we shipped the first doses out of the sites, it rushed over me like that was -- that was our moonshot. GUPTA (Voice Over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Kalamazoo, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: And what a journey it has been.
Well, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention now projects the country's total COVID death toll could hit 585,000 in the next three weeks. That's some 30,000 more than the current death toll.
[01:25:00]
CHURCH: But those projections have been declining in recent weeks. By April 10th, the country is expected to have 7,000 fewer deaths than previously expected.
Well, coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM. Emotional testimonies from witnesses of George Floyd's death. Why some spoke of guilt and regret after what they saw.
And while another major Australian city ends its lockdown, Australians stranded abroad are begging to come home. And taking their case to the U.N.
MICHAEL CLERIZO, AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, WALL STREET JOURNAL MAGAZINE: Usually, when we talk about iconic watches, we talk about watches from brands that were founded 100 or even 200 years ago.
In 1999, French watchmaker Francois-Paul Journe moved from France to Geneva and set up his own brand there. In the year 2000, he launched his first watch.
And the sound everybody in the watch world heard were jaws hitting the floor.
Inside every mechanical watch is a balance wheel which swings back and forth and helps to keep the watch accurate. Inside Journe's watch, the Chronometer A Resonance are two balance wheels and they swing back and forth but in near perfect unison.
They cost about $106,000 to oh, around 110,000. But that's not much when you consider that you're getting one of the newest icons in the watch world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church here at CNN Center.
Well, prosecutors in Minnesota have released more footage showing how George Floyd died at the hands of police last year.
One video shows former officer Derek Chauvin defending his actions shortly after the deadly confrontation.
CNN's Omar Jimenez has the details. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former officer Derek Chauvin heard for the first time since his murder trial began.
DEREK CHAUVIN, POLICE OFFICER (Voice Over): That's one person's opinion.
JIMENEZ: His voice audible on newly-released police body camera footage as he defends his treatment of George Floyd to an onlooker.
CHAUVIN (Voice Over): Trying to control this guy because he's a sizeable guy.
UNKNOWN: Yeah. And that's -- get in the car --
CHAUVIN (Voice Over): And looks like --
UNKNOWN: -- get in the --
CHAUVIN: And looks like -- looks like he's copping out (ph) out something.
JIMENEZ: The video shown during witness testimony may be the first and last time the court hears from the man charged with killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck if he doesn't testify.
UNKNOWN: Put your (bleep) hands up right now.
GEORGE FLOYD: Please, don't (inaudible) it.
JIMENEZ: New video dominated testimony Wednesday including this police body camera footage showing the initial moments of George Floyd's arrest.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible) the gun.
JIMENEZ: Prosecutors also introduced this dramatic footage as George Floyd is pinned to the ground.
UNKNOWN: Hey, (inaudible) back. Get out the car.
JIMENEZ: The prosecutors began the day showing the events that led up to George Floyd's arrest.
This surveillance video made public for the first time today shows Floyd in a black tank top walking through Cup Foods convenience store.
Nineteen-year-old Christopher Martin was the cashier that day. He testified that Floyd was calm and friendly but appeared to be high when he came in to buy a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill.
CHRISTOPHER MARTIN, WITNESS: When I saw the bill, I noticed that it had a blue pigment to it, kind of how a $100 bill would have. And I found that odd so I assumed that it was fake. JIMEREZ: After telling his manager and trying unsuccessfully to bring
Floyd back in the store, one of Martin's co workers called the police. When asked to describe how he felt about what happened that day, the teenager said.
CHRIS MARTIN, CHAUVIN TRIAL WITNESS: Guilt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, why guilt?
MARTIN: If I would have just not taken the bill. This could have been avoided.
JIMEREZ: 61 year old Charles McMillian testified he saw police pin Floyd to the ground and tried to convince him to cooperate.
Leading with Floyd as officers try to force him in the police car.
CHARLES MCMILLIAN, WITNESS: Not trying to get him to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So were you trying to just help him to ...
MCMILLIAN: Make the situation easy.
JIMEREZ: Instead, the situation got worse. And seeing it again was overwhelming.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. McMillian, do you need a minute?
MCMILLIAN: I feel helpless.
JIMEREZ (on camera): And that feeling of helplessness, what could I have done differently has been shared by so many of those that have testified in this trial, many of them young that 19 year old cashier was the fifth teenager or younger to testify in this trial over just the past three days alone.
Now court is expected to resume Thursday morning with more testimony from witnesses. But we also learned that the man who was initially in the car with Floyd when the officers first approached it outside of cup foods has filed court documents saying, he plans to plead the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination if he is called to testify. Omar Jimerez, CNN Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: And earlier we spoke with two legal analysts about the latest testimonies from witnesses and the impact they could have on the outcome of this trial.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA COATES, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: You're hearing the testimony of teenagers, somebody as young as nine. Imagine if the 61 year olds breaking down like that on the stand. What is the trauma that is being associated with the nine year old, with the now 18 or with the 19 year old is also talked about this, the firefighter as well, the mixed martial arts fighter who spoke about these issues, all of this is the culmination of so much. And these words are going to be churning around in jurors' minds.
And the question that's going to come out of this is looking towards Derek Chauvin, the defendant in this case, why didn't you move? Why didn't this move you the way it obviously moved so many other people, it really is almost forcing the hand of the defense counsel to try to consider whether he will have to take the stand because the prosecution is doing no favor to try to answer that question for him and obviate the need for him to take the stand.
CATHERINE FLYNN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I would certainly want to try and do that. I mean, one of the real benefits of being able to put your client on the stand is to be able to person, humanize him to the jury. And if he can come across as personable and human, that can be very effective. And I certainly think all of the jurors are going to want to know what was going on in his mind. I mean, the defense, obviously is going to be focusing on the fact that this was all in compliance with the training that he received. That seems to be what they were suggesting in their opening is that they're setting this up, that this was -- that what the officer was doing was perfectly reasonable, and in line with his training. And I certainly think having him testify as to exactly what was going through his mind. I mean, obviously, there was some suggestion that there's a perceived threat from this crowd. And I think that might have been undercut by quite a few of these civilian witnesses, who didn't really seem all that threatening, and the worst they did was swear at the officers. So I think having the officer customers can testify from his perspective to establish the reasonableness of his decision making would be helpful if he can be successful as a witness. I mean, obviously, the cross examination has to be pretty withering.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, to Russia now, Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny says he's not getting the medical care he needs in prison. So he's going on a hunger strike. CNN's Matthew Chance has details now from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the plight of this Russian opposition figure continues to draw international attention. First, he was poisoned with a suspected nerve agent, then he was arrested in jail now Alexei Navalny has announced he's on hunger strike to demand doctors are allowed to visit him at the penal colony where he's serving two and a half years behind bars.
I have the right to call a doctor and get medication. They give me neither. He wrote on an Instagram message which was posted by his political team. The back pain has moved to a leg parts of my right leg and now my left leg have lost sensitivity, he added, Images of a letter sent by Navalny to the head of the penal colony also shared by Navalny's team on social media, in which he said that his hunger strike would continue until he is seen by a doctor from outside.
[01:35:16] Navalny, of course, has been a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, focusing attention on allegations of rampant corruption among Russian officials, organizing mass anti-Kremlin protests. In August last year, he fell seriously sick on a plane from Siberia and was eventually medevac to Germany, where he was treated for suspected nerve agent poisoning. Russian officials lay any involvement in that incident.
Navalny returned to Russia earlier this year where he was arrested and convicted on charges. He says were politically motivated and sent to prison. Russian prison authorities say Navalny is being given all necessary medical attention and treated just like any other convict. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is appealing to his right wing rivals to help him form a government. The final count in Israel's election gave the Prime Minister's Likud party 52 seats in parliament. Mr. Netanyahu urged two former allies Naftali Bennett and Gideon Sa'ar to "come back home." Sa'ar said he'd keep his campaign promise not to serve with Mr. Netanyahu who is on trial on corruption charges he denies. Bennett's Yamina Party was non committal.
Australians have been living under some of the strictest COVID measures in the world, so strict that some citizens stranded abroad are not able to get home. I will speak with one of them just ahead. Plus, America's roads and bridges need an upgrade and President Joe Biden has a plan. How much it will cost and how he intends to pay for it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Peru is hoping to curb a surge in New COVID-19 infections with some drastic measures just in time for Easter weekend. Journalist Stefano Pozzebon on has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Peruvian government has imposed a new nationwide lockdown as a way to try to curb the spread of a resurgent coronavirus in the Andean nation. Among the measures imposed according to a statement by the Peruvian Council of Ministers published on Wednesday are a total ban on the use of private vehicles and a 24 hour curfew. Domestic flights and interprovincial public transportations are also to stop. This comes as Peru is experiencing an uptick of new cases just days ahead of the first round of presidential elections that are scheduled for Sunday April 11, despite the resurgence of the pandemic the Peruvian presidency announced that the elections will take place as scheduled. For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon. Bogota (ph).
[01:40:24]
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: India's latest wave of the coronavirus is coming at an especially challenging time. Huge crowds just celebrated the festival of Holi this week marking the advent of spring and a major religious festival is now underway with millions in attendance. It kicked off the same day India recorded more than 72,000 new COVID cases. Its biggest daily spikes since mid-October. CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now live from New Delhi with more on all of this. Good to see you Vedika. So what's the government doing about these challenges and how is its vaccination rollout progressing at the same time?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: Good to be with you again, Rosemary, but I don't bring with me good news because we've just got the figures in of the number of cases reported in the last 24 hours for India and inspiring for more than 72,000 cases. We're talking of more than 450 deaths. Now both these numbers are the highest being the number of cases and the fatalities that we are witnessing in this year in 2021 worrying figures according to medical experts India is seeing its second wave of the pandemic and even the ministry of health that has been holding a press conference every week says, this is an extremely sensitive situation and extremely serious situation. Let's just listen to what they have to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VINOD KUMAR PAUL, SENIOR INDIAN HEALTH OFFICIAL: Last couple of weeks, few weeks, the situation is becoming from bad to worse and the serious cause for concern. In some states in particular there is a huge cause for worry but I think no state and no part of our country, no district, no (inaudible) should be complicit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUD: The situation is turning bad to worse, those are words all Indians should really remember coming straight from the health ministry at this point in time. Rosemary, many reasons for the spike this is a wedding season here in India. There are several people getting married. Also the Hindu festival of Holi was celebrated, the festival of colors and despite the request by state governments and also the order of big congregations not taking place in most of the states, there were celebrations that were witnessed across India also at this point in time the different variants of COVID-19 especially the U.K. strain that medical experts believe has led to the rise in case.
Also, the election rallies taking place there are five states that are going to elections, you know, the voting has already begun and most of them and will continue in different phases but politicians have been visiting those states, they've been addressing the people of those states and they've been massive gatherings another cause for worry, Rosemary, also like you mentioned the Camilla which happens you know once in 12 years in four different cities on a rotation basis is going to save billions of people congregating that begins today and the worry is that that could turn into a super spreader however the state government has been strict guidelines in place they've asked for COVID-19 test to take place 72 hours before the arrival of visitors to this venue. Also there will be random tests conducted to ensure that people do not suffer from COVID-19 and spread it across the place more than 7000 security personnel will be stationed across this venue where millions of people will be gathering. So yes this is something that's worrying. India the second phase of COVID-19 is here and is worrying not only the health ministry but medical experts who are also worried about the state of hospitals of these cases rise any further. Rosemary.
CHURCH: A lot of things to worry about here, Vedika Sud bring us the very latest from New Delhi, many thanks.
SUD: Thank you.
CHURCH: A group of Australians who say they are stranded abroad asking the United Nations for help. Members of the group say Australia strict COVID related caps on incoming flights is making it hard for them to return to the country. They've also created a website Stranded Aussies.org to help them connect to other stranded Australians and to spread the word about what's happening.
Jason is a member of the group and says he's stuck in New Jersey. He's asked that we're not used his last name because the group's efforts are not about individuals, but about the 10s of 1000s of Australians they say cannot return home. Thank you, Jason for talking with us.
[01:45:10]
JASON, STRANDED AUSTRALIAN: Hi, Rosemary. Thanks for having me on the show.
CHURCH: Now you are one of 40,000 Australians stranded abroad filing legal action at the United Nations over your inability to return home. What are you hoping to achieve with this U.N. petition?
JASON: Well, you know, at the end of the day, I'm just a regular Australian, who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when the pandemic hit, right? So, you know, in the end, we're really in -- I'm one of 40,000, as you mentioned at the beginning, but I'd like to point out within that, that there's also 5000 of the Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have actually classed as being vulnerable in this situation. People are out of jobs, they're out of money, they're out of visa status, you know, people need to come home, they've got sick families that they have not seen now, and are not able to see in any meaningful timescale in the future. So really, what we want to see out of this is, and I'm not legal, and I'm a political, but I would like somebody with the authority to be able to fix this problem, and basically address the inadequate level of quarantine capacity that we see back in Australia, so that all Australians who are in need to come home to do so.
CHURCH: Just clarifying here, though, you're not talking about a single flight home, just to check on sick relatives, you're talking about people being able to relocate the whole family furniture back to Australia, with everyone willing to quarantine for the required 14 days in a hotel, right?
JASON: Frankly, that's the most pressing need. There are some people who do now desperately need to come home, and don't have the ability to be able to even book flights to be able to come home. So I think it is a really important need for us to get those people back to Australia. But why are we having to make a kind of a cue on this situation? You know, everybody has needs to stay connected with the home country, everybody has needs to stay connected with family. That's a kind of a basic fundamental part of being a human. And if anyone who's listening the show puts themselves in a situation, how would you feel about not being able to come home for a year and see loved ones, and not be able to come home for a substantial period of time longer, and to see loved ones simply because you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when a pandemic that surprised all of us hit the world.
CHURCH: Right. But there's nothing to stop Australians returning home on a flight to check with relatives, but then they would have to come back to whichever country they're in?
JASON: I don't I don't believe that that is the situation, right? I think that people have the ability to come home and to follow all public health care guidelines, right? I mean, I'm a microbiologist, I understand the severity of what COVID could do. We lived in it here on the east coast of the U.S., around New York. Never want to see that coming home to Australia. But at the same time following proper public health guidelines, getting vaccines as I have, not fully vaccinated, testing before getting on flights, wearing masks all the way home attending proper quarantine, we present no risk to the Australian public by coming back into Australia. And that might be and is going to be needed to be for absolute repatriation for many people. So I think that's the most important place that we need to start is to get Australians who are in need back home, because they're in trouble.
CHURCH: Jason, thank you so much for talking with us. We wish you the very best with this.
JASON: Thank you, Rosemary. Thanks for time, and thanks for giving the platform.
CHURCH: Absolutely.
Well, meantime, Australia's third most populous city Brisbane is done with its three day lockdown. The Queensland Government lifted it a few hours early, after the state reported just one new COVID case in the community, part of the reason to give people time to prepare for Easter weekend travel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA PREMIER: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. There have been 34,711 tests another record. So that is good news for Queensland and Easter is good to go. So the lockdown has been lifted in greater Brisbane but we're not out of the woods yet. So I'm asking Queensland as all Queenslanders for the next two weeks if we all do the right thing, we can get through this together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And some Queensland restrictions will remain in place like wearing masks indoors and restricting gatherings to 30 people.
Well, a powerful tribute to remember COVID victims is going up in London, a campaign group for bereaved families is drawing nearly 150,000 hearts by hand on a wall near the British Parliament's it will stretch for hundreds of meters, outsides St. Thomas hospital were Prime Minister Boris Johnson was treated when he got COVID last year. The group has called for a public inquiry into the U.K. his handling of the pandemic.
[01:50:11]
Just a short break to come but just ahead, fixing America's roads, bridges and other infrastructure, Joe Biden unveils what he calls a once in a generation investments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the Suez Canal Authority says shipping is back to normal levels in the vital trade route. Meanwhile, divers are inspecting the hull of the massive container ship that ran aground last week holding up traffic for days. Egypt says losses from the blockage could reach a billion dollars. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports from Cairo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENRIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been more than two days that the Suez Canal is fully operational, but the saga of the ever given goes on. The massive container ship remains anchored in the great bitter lake where it has been inspected for seaworthiness. Wednesday afternoon Egyptian investigators boarded the ship they're particularly interested in gaining access to the vessels voice and data recorders. It's so called Black Box. Tuesday the ship's owners promise to fully cooperate with the investigation into the Ever Given's grounding. Failure to cooperate could have dire circumstances. The chief investigator told Egyptian TV that if the Ever Given does not respond to our requests, this will turn into a civil suit. There will be an order to seize the ship and its cargo. Ben Wedeman, CNN Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, Joe Biden has his sights set on fixing America's crumbling roads, bridges, even the aging power grid, and he's got a $2 trillion plan to make it happen. Mr. Biden says upgrading U.S. infrastructure will create millions of new jobs, grow the economy and shift the country toward greener energy. He plans to pay for it with a hike in corporate taxes and by eliminating tax breaks for fossil fuels. Republicans are already balking at the plan. But Mr. Biden is enthusiastic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: It's not a plan that tinkers around the edges. It's a once in a generation investment in America. It's the largest American jobs investment since World War II. It's big, yes, it's bold, yes, and we can get it done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Emerging Markets Editor John Defterios joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, John. Yes, it is big and bold. But Republicans and all kind of like the tax hike. Where's all this going?
JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, I tell you, Rosemary, it is an ambitious plan. It's the American jobs plan is what the label has on it. And it's living to the spirit of what Joe Biden was suggesting build back better. He's talking about creating 30 million jobs. And what's very interesting about this, Rosemary, because it targets 75% of those who do not have a four year degree and those that work in labor unions. He's saying we need to rebuild the middle class while rebuilding America. Let's take a listen.
[01:55:12]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It's time to build our economy from the bottom up and from the middle out, not the top down. It hadn't worked very well. For the economy overall, it hadn't worked -- because Wall Street didn't build this country; you, the great middle class, built this country. And unions built the middle class.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: And that is a political pledge by Joe Biden here to rebuild the base of the democratic party at the same time, that's the unions, but Rosemary, the investment has been lacking in the hard infrastructure of America, most everybody that travels back to the country, including yours truly, is quite amazed at the fact that the roads, the bridges, the rails are not up to European or Asian standards for that matter. And at the same time, he's talking about the broadband or high tech infrastructure as well. He thinks that America does well in Silicon Valley in the MIT basin, they're around Massachusetts. But through the heartland of America, the technology and the hard infrastructure has been lacking. He wants the government to play a bigger role.
CHURCH: Yeah. And he's right. I mean, there are parts of America that look like the 1950s. The infrastructure is so bad. So talk to us about how President Biden will pay for this. Is all about the taxes?
DEFTERIOS: Well, you know what I was thinking about the context, Rosemary, it's more in the European model, if you think of France or Germany, where the government has a role here to build out the infrastructure and then shift the burden to corporations, not to overweight them, but to wipe out the Donald Trump tax cuts that took it down to 21%. He's saying the corporate taxes go up to 28%. And something we've talked about in the last 24 hours, the two of us is closing the loopholes for U.S. corporations overseas as a lot of assets that get parked in Ireland or a Singapore and never repatriated back to America. They don't pay the corporate tax rate of 28%. He wants to tighten that up. He did not target Americans making $300,000 a year or more, that may come, Rosemary, in the second package. He wants to put up another $2 trillion to close the inequity gaps in America at the same time, again, very controversial with Republicans. But we see that Asian markets overall been rallying because they think this is a good idea to rebuild America. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yeah, maybe the Republicans will be looking at those numbers. John Defterios, many thanks joining us from Abu Dhabi. I appreciate it.
I'm Rosemary Church at CNN Center here in Atlanta. I'll be back with more CNN Newsroom in just a minute, so stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
