Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Coronavirus Pandemic; Kidnapped In Haiti; January 6 Investigation; Tigray Conflict. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 20, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:24]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again I'm John Vause. Coming up this hour in CNN Newsroom. It was delivered. A Senate investigation in Brazil says Jair Bolsonaro did not bungle the pandemic response, but rather deliberately makes decisions to make it worse and has accused the president of mass murder.
A million dollars ahead, the criminal gang in Haiti, which kidnapped 17 missionaries has made their initial demands. And when pandemic rules in the UK went away in July, it seems the Coronavirus did not. And now infections are once again soaring towards record highs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Ever since the pandemic began, the president of Brazil has been widely criticized for a bungled failed response, which left his country with the second highest death toll in the world. But an investigation by Brazil Senate has found it was not incompetence, but rather intention, accusing Bolsonaro of implementing policies with the intention of allowing the Coronavirus to spread like wildfire in a failed bid for herd immunity.
According to legal experts raised 1,200 page draft report, decisions made by Bolsonaro and other high ranking government officials are to blame for more than a half of the 600,000 pandemic deaths in Brazil and recommends charges of mass homicide.
The report describes the government's approach as reckless, which exposed Brazilians to a concrete risk of mass infection, while alleging an intention to immunize the population through natural contamination.
Brazil Senate expected to discuss possible charges in the coming hours. The final text could still be changed before then. But it approved by the full Senate, no matter goes to the Prosecutor General. Bolsonaro appointee will decide if the president should be charged.
Stefano Pozzebon following this, like first live this hour. So Stefano, I guess, where does it all go from here in terms of a criminal matter. And there's also the politics surrounding this as well.
STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Of course, John, and I think it's important to distinguish the two plates here on one side the political future of Jair Bolsonaro, rather his legacy as he approaches the end of the presidential mandate. And on the other side, a potential criminal investigation on the Brazilian President.
Right now in Brazil, there is a lot of skepticism on these second potentials and the potential for seeing Bolsonaro actually charged because, as you said, there are still a few steps. One thing about Brazilian justice is that it takes a lot of time to act. And in this case, in particular, the highest concern is the fact that the attorney general so the person in charge of this potential investigation is a close ally Bolsonaro himself. Another option is that the final reporter by that we will be voted in the upcoming hours by the Brazilian Senate could have a little change in the wording maybe drop or potentially the mass murder allegation and just leave a reckless conduct.
These does not take away any weight of the stain that will forever be on Bolsonaro's political legacy for his handling on the pandemic that has been certified on paper, black on white by these inquiry by the Senate and that he will be probably very much discussed in the next few months and in the next year, as Brazil will head to the elections once again. And Bolsonaro will try to obtain a second mandate, John.
VAUSE: Yes, the election will be very interesting in the coming months, but Stefano thank you. Stefano Pozzebon live with us there with late details. Well, the COVID death rate in Russia has hit a record high and seniors are especially vulnerable. People older than 60 make up almost 90 percent of all deaths in the Capitol Moscow. City officials have now announced a four month stay at home order for anyone over 60 and unvaccinated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TATIANA GOLIKOVA, RUSSIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We strongly recommend to all Russian regions to immediately make decisions about whether unvaccinated pensioners should be told to self-isolate at home and going out only in case of emergencies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A week long workplace shutdown could also be in the works in the Kremlin again, urging vaccinations.
[01:05:05
Just three months ago, the British Prime Minister ended all legal pandemic restrictions which had been in place for more than a year. While the rules have gone the Coronavirus has stayed. In fact, the latest numbers from the UK show the highest infection rate in Europe right now. Nearly 50,000 new cases reported Monday the highest level since July.
Dr. Eric Topol is a cardiologist and Professor of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research. He joins us now from La Jolla in California. Welcome back. Good to see you.
DR. ERIC TOPOL: PROFESSOR OF GENOMICS, MOLECULAR MEDICINE, SCRIPPS RESEARCH: Good to be with you, John. Thanks.
VAUSE: OK. At the time, the restrictions were lifted in the UK most expected the infection rate would climb pretty soon after that. But, you know, successful vaccine rollout was given the credit for, you know, preventing that from happening immediately. But now those vaccinations, which began in December last year, that means millions have been vaccinated for more than six months. Is there a suggestion here that waning immunity is playing a fairly significant role in this concert?
TOPOL: Right. Well, you mentioned one of the factors, of course, is the lack of real mitigation. But added to that now we have the waning issue. The countries that got the earliest start, like the UK, Israel, the US are having the most waning. So that's part of it. It's also the story of getting the teens vaccinated which the UK is low on compared to other countries in Europe.
And so you know, the other thing, of course, to note is still at 66 percent of the population of the UK that's been vaccinated. The most successful countries around the world are at least 80 percent. So there's many different reasons that could contribute to the problems we're seeing in the UK. And they're probably going to be replicated in other countries.
VAUSE: There's also this new variant, which received a lot of attention over the weekend after the former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted this, he talks about a new Delta variant, AY.4 with a mutation in the spike, which is it's pretty close to UK. He called for urgent research to figure out this Delta Plus is more transmissible or has partial immune evasion.
We should note, it's not a variant of concern yet, but it has been detected not only in the UK, but also in India. And now, first case of new data mutation diagnosed in Israel. What are your concerns here about this mutation? And are we moving fast enough to identify and determine the level of risk? It could pose?
TOPOL: Right. Well, is a AY.4.2 which is a Delta sub-lineage. So it's basically some evolution from the original Delta strain, it isn't clear that it's a worry. It's, as you mentioned, about 10 percent of the sequences in the UK, it's been seen for months now, it doesn't seem to have nearly the aggressive growth as delta, and we're not even sure it competes with delta.
So, right now, it's may just be the drag of the infections and more transmission. And until we have functional data that tells us not just about the mutations that we know, but whether they have any significance. It's really up in the air.
VAUSE: You know, Britain, for the most part, it was living life, like it was 2019 all over again, the pubs are open, nightclubs are packed, fewer and fewer people were actually wearing face masks. And whenever there is an easing off of pandemic restrictions, the mitigation measures take a backseat, somehow the virus makes a stunning comeback. And I guess the question is, is this ever going to end? Are these pandemic restrictions, mitigation efforts ever going to go away?
TOPOL: Well, you know, that's a really important point you're making. There are countries that are fully back to baseline, and they're not having and they are open, like Spain, and Portugal, Denmark, you know, they're not experiencing the same increase in spread.
So it isn't clear yet whether those countries are going to declare this later, because they didn't start with their vaccinations as early as the UK and the US, you know, only time will tell, but some countries have really achieved remarkable stability with very high 75, 80 percent of their population fully vaccinated.
VAUSE: But when we have those pockets where there have been success overall, it's just an ongoing problem, which, you know, wait two years into this now. And I guess, you know, we'd have those mitigation efforts out, at least, you know, behind us.
TOPOL: Sure. Well, you never know how much of it is behavior, the mitigation versus the virus. But, you know, I think we are going to continue to make progress. Like for example, even though there's a lot of cases in the UK, still being kept at, you know, 90 percent suppression of fatalities, 80 percent suppression of hospitalizations compared to the alpha variant peak. So there's a lot of good signs here. We don't want to lose the sight, the sense of progress.
VAUSE: The gloss is still harmful.
TOPOL: Right.
VAUSE: Eric Topol.
TOPOL: Sure.
VAUSE: Take care.
TOPOL: You too. Thanks.
VAUSE: How much is the life lost to COVID really worth? India about $670. That's as much as the government says the closest relative of every victim of the Coronavirus is entitled to claim.
[01:10:05]
Based on India's current death toll that's a total spend of around $300 million. But it's never as simple and filling out complicated paperwork could see many families miss out on their $670. Here's CNN's Vedika Sud.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): The tears haven't stopped. It's been six months since Pooja Sharma lost her husband to COVID-19. Manmohan died gasping for breath in New Delhi Hospital in the peak of India's devastating second wave. POOJA SHARMA, LOST HUSBAND TO COVID-19 (through translator): Why was there no oxygen? When you know there's a problem and everyone is troubled? Why weren't there any facilities?
SUD: A compensation program by the federal government allows payment of approximately $670 to the next of kin of COVID-19 victims. This will provide immediate soccer to families. But many Indians can prove their loved ones died from COVID-19.
RAMANAN LAXMINARAYAN, SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well the main challenge was to show that your family member died of COVID and unless they had had a COVID test or the cause of death is related to COVID. And for the latter, you need the former, they are not going to get the compensation.
SUD: The Indian government has promised no families will be denied compensation if death certificates do not mention COVID 19. A mother of two, Pooja paints urban lamps and stitches bags for a living. She barely makes $60 a month. She showed us Manmohan's death certificate with cites COVID-19 as cause of death, but Pooja finds the application process intimidating.
SHARMA (through translator): I will definitely apply but they need to ensure that we got it.
SUD: Realtor Sunil Maggon who is a member of the country's main opposition political party, lost his parents and brother to COVID-19 within a span of just four days.
SUNIL MAGGON, LOST THRE FAMILY MEMBERS TO COVID-19 (through translator): My brother need a ventilator which wasn't available. Three family members couldn't get oxygen. My mother we needed oxygen for one day. We just didn't know how to get it.
SUD: Maggon has COVID-19 reports to prove his family members were infected. But he says he won't apply for compensation, the loss, the anger against the system still to roll, he says.
MAGGON (through translator): Why do I need $670 from them? Take double from me. Take 10 times from me and give me my family back.
SUD (on camera): According to a report published by the USB Center for Global Development in July this year, India's excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic could be 10 times higher than the official death toll.
(voice-over): One reason for this as many states have attributed fatalities to comorbidities instead of COVID-19. India's health minister has gone on record to say the government has no reason to hide deaths.
While state governments are in the process of advertising details and setting up grievance redressal committees, experts say the immediate need is to make the process less complicated and more empathetic. Vedika Sud, CNNcnn New Delhi.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: If tennis right Novak Djokovic wants to compete at the next Australian Open he needs to be vaccinated. The world number one has not revealed his vaccination status. But Australian authorities are adamant. All travelers to Australia must be fully vaccinated, even though it's returning to defend their titles of next year's open.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ANDREWS, VICTORIA PREMIER: The vaccine doesn't know, the vaccine doesn't care what your tennis ranking is, or how many Grand Slams you've won, or sorry, the virus does not care. That's completely irrelevant. You need to be vaccinated to keep yourself safe and to keep others safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Djokovic recently told Serbian media he has yet to decide on competing in Melbourne, says his vaccination status is a private matter and it's inappropriate to ask. Last year he said you're getting Facebook chat he's personally opposed to vaccination.
Well, criminal gang in Haiti is demanding a million dollars for each hostage they kidnapped over the weekend. Up next, new details on the military operation the US is planning should negotiations fail.
Also had new details on North Korea's latest submarine launched ballistic missile, we're in Seoul after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[1:17:00]
VAUSE: Well, been a flurry of recent weapons test, North Korea is now claiming to have fired a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile. State media released pictures of the smaller thinner missile. Pyongyang claims to have developed new advanced guidance technology. CNN's Paul Hancocks following all of this live this hour from Seoul. And the fact that is from a submarine makes us a particular threat if in fact what the North Koreans are saying is true.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, John. They do claim that this was fired from a submarine. Now in the past, we know that they have also fired these launches from an underwater platform or a barge. They do claim that back in 2016, they carried out one of these test launches from a submarine although experts at that point doubted that was actually the case.
So if this is the case this time around, then that could be significant. But of course, we do just have North Korea's word for it at this point. They say that they have launched it though from a submarine. We've been hearing in in recent years that North Korea wanted to develop this particular technology, this launching a missile from a submarine clearly very useful from a defensive and offensive point of view. And what we have seen also from North Korea, as you say in recent weeks, a flurry of new weapons tests. The submarine-launched ballistic missile itself that was one back in January at a parade in Pyongyang that was unveiled and also one last year that was unveiled. We don't know exactly which one was test fired on Tuesday.
But there have been a number of other missiles and weapon systems which Kim Jong-un himself has said that he wanted to showcase and that would need to be tested. So since they have been unveiled, we have been expecting some of them to be tested. And certainly in the past couple of months. That's exactly what we have seen, John.
VAUSE: What we've also seen from the North Koreans is this sort of rebuff of offers from the United States to sit down and hold these negotiations but a very different approach when it comes to dealing with Seoul, what's the latest to that?
HANCOCKS: It's right yes, it's quite surprising at the same time is they're carrying out all these weapons tests. They are still talking effectively to solve just last month or earlier this month, I should say, they reopened these military hotlines and other hotlines with South Korea.
In fact, on Tuesday, just a couple of hours before this submarine launched ballistic missile launch, they did have the 9:00 a.m. call with South Korea they said nothing untoward. There was nothing unusual about that phone call but they have one in the morning, one in the afternoon just to make sure there is no misunderstanding, miscalculation, anything that could increase tensions. So that was seen as a move forward.
They have said that they would be willing to reengage with South Korea. If South Korea were as they said in their words, stop being hypocritical, saying that South Korea is pushing forward with its own submarine-launched ballistic missile for example, and other weapons testing and yet at the same time is criticizing North Korea for doing the same.
[01:20:03]
Now of course it's worth pointing out that when South Korea uses this kind of technology, ballistic missile technology, it's not UN Security Council resolutions as it is when North Korea does it. And on that note, there's also going to be a Security Council meeting on Wednesday at the United Nations to discuss what is happening with North Korea at the moment. John?
VAUSE: Paul, thank you. Paula Hancocks live for us this hour again, in Seoul, we appreciate that. Thank you.
What could be the beginning of a long negotiation with demands is $17 million from the criminal gang in Haiti, holding 17 missionaries, one Canadian, the rest Americans, five of them children. The US government has a long standing policy of not paying ransoms. Nonetheless, negotiations are said to be ongoing, with the FBI and Haitian police reportedly in contact with the kidnappers. CNN Joe Jones reports now from Port-au-Prince.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the State Department and the FBI worked behind the scenes to free the American missionaries and five children who were snatched in Haiti, a new warning about paying the $17 million ransom the gang behind the kidnapping is demanding.
LAURENT LAMOTHE, FORMER HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: It wouldn't be very unfortunate for the $70 million to be paid because that would only reinforce the gang and that would only finance further kidnappings. And so the solution is to short-term send, you know, experts, security experts to help the police in this particular situation.
JOHNS: The missionaries were believed to be staying at a compound in the village of Titanyen outside Port-au-Prince. On Saturday, they were kidnapped by a group of armed men while driving back from visiting a nearby orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets. Haitian officials say the gang 400 Mawozo is responsible.
We took a ride in a helicopter today to get a better view of the area.
(on camera): I've been on many of these roads outside of Port-au- Prince 10 years ago, but it's very different now simply because of the kidnappings. It's not safe for a foreigner to drive on the roads. That's why we're in the helicopter.
400 Mawozo is Creole for out in the country, outside the city. And that's where this group comes from, an armed gang that has grown larger and larger and more powerful, particularly over the last several months since the assassination of the president of Haiti. They control the roads in many ways. The police need help.
(voice-over): Kidnapping and robbery has become a part of life on the roads outside Port-au-Prince. But what's different this time is the massive amount of money being demanded in ransom, $1 million per victim. 400 Mawozo started small for stealing livestock, then cars and eventually becoming bold enough to carry out individual kidnappings. Now, groups of people or collective kidnapping.
Authorities blamed the lack of law enforcement response for the group's sudden growth.
(on camera): There's a real reluctance from government authorities as well as many people who are part of the electorate to have another peacekeeping force on the ground to restore order. But if they don't want that to happen, the question is, how can Haiti succeed without getting control of the situation on the ground? Joe Johns, CNN, Port- au-Prince, Haiti.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
VAUSE: -- CIA operative. Welcome back, Bob.
ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Good evening, John. VAUSE: OK, so this demand, $17 million ransom. Is this an ambit claim the opening offer and negotiations? It could ultimately settle for a much lower dollar amount if it gets that far?
BAER Well, this group is settled before it'll take less money but the US government isn't going to pay it. It's not going to encourage anybody else to. What they're doing now is trying to negotiate that's why the FBI is there talking to the Haitians. But the problem is Haiti is a failed state. This situation is extremely unpredictable. We don't know how violent this group could become whether the hostages lives are in danger. So right now there are contingency plans at Fort Bragg to have some sort of military rescue.
VAUSE: Right, so are they on standby? Are they ready to go? What's the current status?
BAER: They're always on standby. They do mock ups. They get helicopters in place, it's not wouldn't be a long raid. They're right now collecting intelligence with drones any way they can, trying to find out at the hostages are all in one place. What's the structure of the building, some buildings are very difficult to breach and the rest of it's very standard. There used to this from Iraq and Afghanistan. Completely capable carrying out this mission but there's always a risk.
[01:25:00]
And right now it's a contingency. If the negotiations fall apart, and this group decides to execute a hostage, it will be implemented.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to the US Secretary of State on the efforts underway to find these hostages. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have any in the administration been relentlessly focused on this, including sending a team to Haiti, from the State Department, working very closely with the FBI, which is the lead in these kinds of matters in constant communication with the Haitian National Police.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So when he says the FBI has the lead here, is that every aspect of the operation right now, I mean, how does this work?
BAER: No, they don't -- well, they won't touch the military side of it, it just because it's a violation of American law to kidnap Americans abroad. And the FBI always takes the lead, identifying the kidnappers, guiding (ph) them, overseeing the negotiations, helping the Haitians where they can, and they'll -- they could have intelligence teams on the ground to tracking cell phones and the rest of it. But ultimately, if the military has to be brought in, it's going to be done completely differently with a Joint Special Operations Command. VAUSE: The Haitian Justice Minister told CNN the kidnappers have been warned about harming the hostages, and what may be the consequences for them if that were to happen. But they're not swayed by those warnings. That's not surprising that they're not swayed by a warning coming from a Haitian official.
But if American hostages were harmed, you all -- as you suggested to, you know, we don't want this happen, obviously, but in the event that one of them is killed, would there be consequences from the US with this gang directly from United States?
BAER: Oh, absolutely. The military would be sent in. This White House could not avoid that. And it's the right decision to send it in. And let's not forget, we're dealing with a rural group. It's not very sophisticated, and they don't really know what they're up against. It's not like going up against Hezbollah in Lebanon, who you wouldn't want to run a raid against because they're so -- they could defend against it. But this small guerrilla group is badly armed, badly organized, and not particularly aware how the world works. So it would come as a surprise to them.
VAUSE: In August, the US issued a red alert for he advised Americans to avoid trouble there because of rabid kidnapping and other crimes. You know, I hate to say this, it's not as if these missionaries did not know what they're getting into. And yet they turned up there with kids. I mean, they were taking a very big risk being in Haiti in the first place.
BAER: Oh, absolutely, John. That was -- it was a bad decision, of course, and what the government should do, the State Department has just outlawed travel to Haiti at this point. If there's no state to protect American citizens, what choices there and we've done this in the past and other countries just can't go. It's illegal. And that's probably what -- that should happen. I can't tell you what's going to happen.
VAUSE: Well, thank you. We appreciate you being with us. Bob Baer, CNN national security intelligence analyst. Thank you, sir.
BAER: Thank you.
VAUSE: The US House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, as formally approved criminal contempt charges against what a Donald Trump's closest allies, Steve Bannon. A source says the full House expected to vote Thursday on referring charges to the Justice Department. Both Bannon and Trump have claimed executive privilege in refusing to cooperate with the committee.
But committee member Liz Cheney says their tactics suggest Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of the uprising.
UN says Ethiopia's airstrikes in the Tigray regions Capitol on Monday, killed three children and wounded 10 others. One official calls it at alarming escalation of the year-long conflict. CNN's Larry Madowo has details.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The Ethiopian government initially denying having carried out airstrikes in Mekelle in the north of the country is not surprising. This follows a similar cycle we have seen throughout this conflict. I witnesses told CNN that they have seen civilian casualties. And now the United Nations is confirming what a lot of evidence was already pointing to on Monday after this report first came out.
JENS LAERKE, SPOKESMAN, UN OCHA: Health Workers Local Health Workers in the hospital in Mekelle, on the ground, confirmed to us that three children were killed, and one person injured in the airstrike on the outskirts of Mekelle yesterday morning, local time. A second airstrike in Mekelle town, reportedly injured nine people and caused damage to houses and a nearby hotel. So that was later in the day.
MADOWO: The last time Mekelle was hit by an airstrike like this was back in November 2020 at the beginning of this conflict. Now, as we come up to the first anniversary of this operation in Tigray, it has spilled over into neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. The United Nations, the United States, the European Union, other international partners have all been calling for the same thing as cessation of hostilities, investigation of any atrocities that have been carried out since November and access for humanitarian workers that badly need to get to people who need aid.
[01:29:49]
In some cases, we're hearing that at least 400,000 people are in famine-like conditions. The situation, instead of getting better, appears to be getting worse.
Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, Australia rolling out financial incentives to help victims of domestic violence leave their abusers. But is this enough?
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
In Germany, the trial now underway of a 96-year-old woman who worked as a secretary at a Nazi concentration camp. The case was delayed for weeks when Irmgard Furchner was a no-show for her first court appearance last month. She worked at the Stutthof Camp in Nazi- occupied Poland where 65,000 people were murdered during World War II. Furchner is accused of aiding in the killing of more than 11,000 prisoners from 1943 to 1945. Italy is once again dealing with its fascist past, all sparked by anger over a COVID green pass. And in the coming hours, parliament will debate dissolving the extreme right-wing Forza Nuova party.
Barbie Nadeau has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice over): Tens of thousands of Italians gathered in this square in central Rome to demonstrate against fascism.
Leon da Rivera (ph) tells the Italy of today is anti-fascist. He says fascism can't go forward.
Recent attacks blamed on neo-fascists in Rome have sparked a debate on a topic many Italians would rather not discuss.
Here, in Rome's Jewish ghetto, more than a thousand Italians were rounded up by the Nazis and taken to concentration camps during World War II.
SIMON MARTIN, HISTORY PROFESSOR: Because fascism never really went away in this country. Despite the constitution banning the reformation of the fascist -- of the Fascist Party attacking the --
NADEAU: Simon Martin is a professor of history who has written books on Italian fascism.
MARTIN: Italy has not confronted its past. It hasn't confronted its Italian fascist past.
NADEAU: Italy's right wing alliance is anchored by the country's most popular party, the Brothers of Italy, currently led by Giorgia Meloni.
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini's granddaughter Rachele is one of the party's members winning the highest number of votes in Rome's recent city council election.
[01:34:50]
NADEAU: Meloni's party is often tied to fascism. CNN asked her why that is. She tells us her party is not a breeding ground for such a regime.
Here in Rome there are remnants of Italy's fascist past everywhere. This floor mosaic is at the entrance of the train station Mussolini built to welcome Adolf Hitler to Rome. An almost 60-foot tall obelisk with Mussolini's name still stands in front of Rome's main soccer stadium.
Italians spent two decades under Mussolini's iron fist. But almost 80 years later, the debate over his fascist legacy rages on.
Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN -- Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Poland and the E.U. are locked in a legal dispute which could see Warsaw leave the bloc. The prime minister say Poland will follow its own constitution, not E.U. treaties, which Polish courts have called incompatible. The president of the European Commission says the bloc could take legal action, cut Poland's funding or suspend its voting rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: Honorable members, the European Commission is at the moment carefully assessing this judgment.
But I can already tell you today I am deeply concerned. This ruling calls into question the foundations of the European Union. It is a direct challenge to the unity of the European legal order.
MATEUSZ MORAWIECKI, POLISH PRIME MINISTER: If I were to hear about a constitutional court and another member state had declared E.U. treaties null and void, I would certainly be surprised. But above all I would focus on understanding the actual ruling of the court.
And it is, among others, with the same that I am speaking in this debate in order to present to you the factual subject of the dispute and not to continue spreading tales for political reasons about a PolExit or why it's on the subject of a rollback of the rule of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
E.U. leaders are expected to discuss this dispute at a summit in brussels on Thursday. Most member states have been critical of Poland but Hungary has come to Poland's defense.
Police are looking for a missing four-year-old girl who disappeared from a campsite in western Australia on Saturday.
Clare Smith (ph) was last seen around 1:30 in the morning by her parents. They woke up hours later and noticed she's vanished along with her sleeping bag. The family had been campaign in the (INAUDIBLE) -- 48 kilometers from their home town. The parents say any small detail may help bring their daughter home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIE SMITH, MOTHER OF MISSING CHILD: Everyone asks us what we need and really all we need is our little girl home.
If you see something, report it. It doesn't matter if it is small or big or if you are sure or not. Like we want our little girl home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Police have searched shacks along the coast as well as nearby bodies of water but have not turned up any he signs so far. And they're asking anyone who stayed at that campsite to please contact them.
Well, first it was pandemic restrictions. Then as the lockdowns eased across Australia, property prices surged. Two very separate events which together have had a multiplier effect on levels of domestic abuse.
The Australian government is now offering victims of family violence a one-off incentive payment of $5,000 Australian -- around $3,700 U.S. -- to help leave an abusive partner.
Mary Crooks is executive director of the Victorian Women's Trust. She joins us now live from Melbourne. Mary, thank you for being with us.
MARY CROOKS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VICTORIAN WOMEN'S TRUST: Pleasure John.
VAUSE: So Australia like many other countries, saw an increase in domestic abuse during the pandemic. There's also that horrendous reality that many victims were locked down with their abusers.
And even though restrictions have eased out a bit, if they can get away, the cost of housing now has surged to record highs. Rental vacancies are I would read in some cities, below 1 percent. And the vast majority of these victims are women with children.
So what are their options right now?
CROOKS: Well, their options are to stay at home if it is safer in a weird kind of way to stay at home. Or to be able to leave. And this proposal, this action now, of some sort of monetary help is a good beginning. But it is only a beginning.
And it is not going to be a complete answer to the problem. And I might add this has been exposed and grown as a problem since COVID. But in fact, it has been a real scourge in our country for decades and decades, leading up until this day.
VAUSE: No one contends that at that moment but this payment to $5,000 Australian, the ACTU, the Australian Council of Trade Unions, put the cost of escaping an abusive relationship at $18,000. It takes 141 hours. How they got that number, I'm not so sure but it kind of makes sense.
So not only is it a few dollars short, but all the onus here is on the victim. The woman has to leave the family home with the kids. The abuser gets to stay.
CROOKS: Yes. And that is why I said, you can't knock it as an initiative. It's a good start. It is insufficient. Because when a woman flees, she most commonly has to flee with children, young children. She has to find some kind of accommodation, either in a refuge, or there's not in a refuge, in a motel room. She has to find new schooling for the kids.
[01:39:58] CROOKS: She might not have any transport. She might not have actually worked in a paid employment situation. So the costs are actually very significant.
I see this payment as the beginning of a new chapter in debate in our country about the extent of the level of violence towards women in particular and children. And the fact that we're going to have a much greater national response in the years to come.
VAUSE: Where do you want to see that debate heading? In what direction?
CROOKS: Well, I think you flagged it yourself, in that far too often, the focus is on the woman fleeing the relationship or in the relationship. And we have to have much more focus on investment on the people who are actually perpetrating the violence and the abuse.
And in most parts, in our country, that is mainly men perpetrating violence towards women. So we have to think much more deeply about how we make accountable the perpetrators of violence.
How we also support them, I might add, how we support them to change their behavior, to find a new direction in their lives where violence and abuse is not the first resort or the second or the last resort.
So we have to recalibrate, I think, the priorities around violence and abuse. And we have to do much, much more to make the perpetrators accountable for their actions.
VAUSE: There is a whole lot of data out there which shows Australia lagging way behind in gender equality. The Global Gender Gap Index, measures equality across health, education, economy and politics. Australia comes in 50th, way behind the United states, the U.K. as well as way behind New Zealand.
While the number of women who are CEOs of major corporations of Australian companies has declined to 5 percent in 2020. You know, 7 percent in 2018. How much of all of this is being driven by a culture which says, you know, the father is the head of the household, mom comes in at number, but dad's the one in charge. It's the blokes who call the shots.
CROOKS: It's still very much -- Australia is very much a man's world. When you made that slip of the statistical tongue and saying 500th in the world, you know, sometimes -- sometimes it feels like that in this country.
I guess what you put your finger on, is that it is not simply about women in boardrooms and those kinds of headline statistics.
The thing is, you will have less violence and abuse towards women and children, and towards other men when you have more equality. Because the simple proposition is that when you have a genuine respect and regard for another person, you don't desire to harm them. You don't desire to control them or dominate them. And the recognition we have been coming to slowly, in this country, over the decades, is that the root cause of violence is inequality. Gender inequality.
And when men feel that they can call all the shots, when they can set the terms of the relationship, when they can dominate the relationship and control a woman's life, that is the toxic mix that leads to violence and abuse. Not just physical either. But emotional and psychological. So the answer is to achieve much greater equality between men and women.
VAUSE: Yes. It's all about respect. Mary, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time.
CROOKS: All about respect.
(CROSSTALK)
CROOKS: Thank you.
VAUSE: Respect.
CROOKS: Thank you very much.
VAUSE: Take care.
Pleasure.
Still ahead here on CNN, the snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be a thing of the past. Tens of millions of lives are at steak. A new report outlines the extreme consequences of global warming in Africa. That's up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This report is a call to action at the time we need it the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:43:45]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: After days of heavy rain and flooding, army helicopters have been deployed to help with rescues and evacuations in northern India. At least 34 people have died and this comes as many are visiting the region for a Hindu pilgrimage.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins me now with the very latest. So (INAUDIBLE) busy time of year and some very, very bad weather to go with it.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI: Yes, you know, we've had it from the southern portion of India, now back across the north here. And of course, as you know John, the monsoons here typically bring in parts of India at least, 90 percent of their annual rainfall. A lot of it is beneficial. Unfortunately, once you get to month of September into October, the tail end of the monsoon as it begins to retreat here, we've seen so much rainfall that the soil really cannot take it.
So once you get an additional round of heavy rains as we've seen in recent days, some of these scenes can play out very single year. And this is exactly what's happened here with as much as 300 to 500 plus millimeters. I really cannot overemphasize the impressive nature of this rainfall for really anywhere in the world.
In India, this just happens on an average day when it comes to the monsoons. But that amount of rainfall that we saw in Bahari (ph), 540 millimeters, that is almost the amount that London would in an entire year.
This happened in just 24 hours. So you bring this down anywhere in the world, you're going to have significant damage and devastation. And unfortunately that is the case.
But look at this perspective. This is the water vapor imagery that shows you the moisture content in the middle and upper levels of the atmosphere, very dry air locked in across the west as the monsoons begin to gradually shift away from that region.
But the moisture laid there, locked in on the eastern periphery of the continent, even as far as the south here. And here you go, hash lines indicative of where that moisture is currently locked in place and follow it. You'll see it.
And that's in northern and eastern India. That is precisely where the floods have been in place.
Good news though, over the next several days, notice that region of northern and Eastern and India. We do see conditions actually improve, but it is back towards the south, back near Karalla where we've seen significant flooding that we talked about earlier in the week, John. That's where rainfall is going to resume at least over the next several days, John.
VAUSE: Pedram, thank you. Pedram Javaheri there with the details from India. Appreciate that.
Well, the consequences of global warming for Africa will be catastrophic with the U.N. Climate Change Agency saying by 2030 almost 120 million people will face worsening drought, floods and extreme heat.
And Africa's rapidly melting ice caps will signal the threat of irreversible change.
CNN'S Eleni Giokos has details now reporting in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Elephants roamed the African playing against the backdrop of Mount Kilimanjaro, breathtaking images that are disappearing before our eyes.
The mountains few glaciers are melting at a rate higher than the global average. And scientists say they could be gone within two decades.
PETTERI TAALAS, WMO SECRETARY GENERAL: We can see that there's been a major loss of the C-ice (ph) area and also C-ice mass. And if the current trends continue, we won't see any glaciers in Africa in 2040s.
GIOKOS: A new report from the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization points to Africa's disproportionate vulnerability when it comes to climate change, finding that 118 million extremely poor people on the continent are threatened by intensifying effects of the warming planet.
The U.N. climate agency warns that if measures aren't put in place now, many Africans will be exposed to further severe droughts, floods, and extreme heat by 2030.
The study draws attention to Africa's increased food insecurity, poverty, and displacement last year brought on by the climate crisis and impacts of the COVID pandemic.
And even thought the continent accounts for just 4 percent of global emissions, climate change could have dire consequences for Africa's economy.
[01:49:50]
JEAN PAUL ADAMS, U.N. ECONOMIC MISSION FOR AFRICA: Adapting to the impacts of climate change is costing African economies an average of 5 percent of their GDP.
And if warming continues at the rates projected in this report, these costs will increase exponentially within the next decade.
GIOKOS: The WMO partnered with other agencies to publish the report which comes ahead of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland next weekend. The authors of the report found that investing in climate adaptation to mitigate the crisis will cost $30 billion to $50 billion each year over the next decade. But says it's a small price to pay compared to the even higher costs of the disaster relief, not to mention the irreversible damage the climate crisis will likely cause if nothing is done.
Eleni Giokos, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come, advances in space taking center stage at the Dubai Expo. Those hoping to be the next big name in space are using technology in unexpected ways.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The Olympic flame has arrived in Beijing, host city of next year's Winter Games. The welcoming ceremony was held at the Beijing Olympic Tower after the flame arrived from Greece.
This comes after three human rights activists protested the torch lighting in ancient Olympia. They held up a banner which read "no genocide games" and called for a boycott.
A drone rescue is being planned to save three dogs stranded on La Palma. They've been there for weeks surrounded by lava and ash. Small drones have dropped food supplies for them but they are still hungry and they weak.
It's too dangerous to fly helicopters, so instead, a 50 kilogram drone with a big net will try and trap the dogs one by one and then fly them out to safety. But they'll have to move quickly so the drone does not lose power while flying over the lava.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIME PEREIRA, CEO, AEROCAMARAS (through translator): For us, we either get them out or they stay there. So if there is another option to get them out, go ahead. If there isn't and it's the last option, we're going to go rescue them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: After carrying out a number of test flights, the drone operator says the mission now all depends on how the dogs will react. Good luck.
Dubai Expo is celebrating icons and legends, not just from the early days of space travel, but also the newcomers still in the early stages of their space programs.
CNN's Scott McLean has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When it comes to space, it seems some of the biggest countries have the most astronomical ambitions.
China just sent its second crew to its newly launched space station. The Russians just wrapped shooting the first movie in space. The Americans made a 90 year old Hollywood astronaut into a real life one. And the Emiratis are planning their own colony on Mars.
All of them have been keen to use Expo 2020 to show off their past accomplishments and future plans. But they are hardly the only ones with goals out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Asteroids contain valuable resources, and maybe one of these days, some of you will develop the technologies to extract and use these resources.
MCLEAN: That's the goal of Luxembourg, a state with the population of a city, but the space ambitions of a large country.
(on camera): Most people can't locate Luxembourg on a map. Why on earth does it have its own space agency?
[01:54:58] MATTHIAS LINK, LUXEMBOURG SPACE AGENCY: Luxembourg has been active in space since many decades. We started in the 1980s in the satellite communication industry. And since then actually the space sector in Luxembourg has grown year by year.
MCLEAN (voice over): Today, Luxembourg has no launchpad and no astronauts, but it's home to some 70 space-related companies totaling roughly 2 percent of the national economy.
Five years ago, it set out to be a leader in mining resources in space to refuel satellites or build structures and solar panels, all with materials found in space.
(on camera): You guys are really playing the long game.
LINK: We think that in the next year, we will see resources on the moon, which is basically driven by all these different plans that boost private and public (INAUDIBLE) to develop a more sustained and permanent presence on the moon, which is very much into the exploration. And then in the 2nd step recently also try to use resources from asteroids .
MCLEAN (on camera): Other small countries are not letting small budgets get in the way. Rwanda just launched its space program earlier this year, not to look for life on other planets, but to improve life here on earth by using satellites to monitor crops and illegal mining.
In Gabon, they are using satellite images to protect the forest.
TANGUY GAHOUMA, GENERAL DIRECTOR, GABON SPACE PROGRAM: What we want is that when a tree is cut, we can see it, you know, on screen. And we can see if it's legal or illegal. This is very important for us.
MCLEAN: Otherwise it's difficult to do that?
GAHOUMA: It's impossible. You know, the forest is about 23 million hectares and Gabon is about 2 million population . The satellite is the only way that we can do that now.
MCLEAN (voice over): But have those 2 million people, about one-third live in poverty.
(on camera): A lot of people might be looking from the outside in and thinking, doesn't Gabon have better things to spend its money on?
GAHOUMA: Yes, of course. We hear that a lot of the time, but this is because I think that people cannot understand the vision. Because today, for example, one of the most value for Gabonese forest. But if tomorrow you cannot prove that your wood is legal, you cannot sell it. We can prove to the world that our wood is s legal.
MCLEAN (voice over): Gabon's space program is growing, but it has no plans to send anyone to Mars.
Scott McLean, CNN -- Dubai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Not yet, anyway.
Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues after a very short break with my friend and colleague, Rosemary Church. I'll see you tomorrow.
[01:57:30]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
