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Poland-Belarus Standoff; New COP26 Draft Agreement Expected Soon; Judge Ends Britney Spears' Conservatorship. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired November 13, 2021 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. Appreciate your company. I'm Michael Holmes.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a CNN exclusive from the border between Belarus and Poland, where the humanitarian crisis grows worse by the day.

Plus, the COP26 summit in Glasgow goes into overtime. We are live in Scotland with the latest on the negotiations.

And more than 20 months into the COVID pandemic, lockdowns are returning to Europe.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: The situation on the border between Poland and Belarus is growing increasingly dire. Belarus and its main ally, Russia, seem to be escalating things with military posturing, the two holding paratrooper drills, on Friday near the Polish border, performing a number of combat training maneuvers.

Right now, Belarusian officials say, there are about 2,000 people waiting to cross over, into Poland. And they warn, that number could double in the next week if the crisis isn't resolved. For weeks, migrants from places like Iraq, Syria and Yemen have been moving into the area, hoping to make it inside the European Union.

Polish police say, the body of a young Syrian man was found in the woods, near the border, on Friday. No word yet on cause of death.

For those who do make it to the border, the struggle is far from over. The weather is freezing and getting colder. There is little to no shelter and not much food. Our Fred Pleitgen has the latest from Poland. But first, an exclusive report from our Matthew Chance, inside Belarus, with the migrants hoping to cross the border.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the desperate, trapped on the front line of Europe's latest refugee crisis. We've gained exclusive access to the burgeoning camp at the Polish border in Belarus.

"Help, help," this little boy shouts.

But there's barely enough here to keep everyone alive.

Already, people have died in the cold as Polish forces stand guard on the other side.

You can see how close we are, just across this razor wire fence are Polish security forces on polish territory keeping a close eye on the situation, trying to prevent refugees, migrants from this camp here in Belarusian territory from crossing over that line. You see there are thousands of people here.

Two thousand now say Belarusian officials but with migrants still flooding in from the Middle East and Asia, it could be 5,000, they told CNN, in just another week. For Europe, that's a threat.

Sit down.

You're warming your children's gloves here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: Most have already paid big money to traffickers or Belarusian travel agents just to get this far.

You're telling me you've paid $2,000, which is a lot of money, right, to come from Iraqi Kurdistan to here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: Do you think you're going to get through?

Do you think you will go to Germany?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHANCE: You do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are. We are. Our people want to go to the Germany.

CHANCE: Yes, but do you think it will happen?

You'll try?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll try. We don't want to stay in Poland.

CHANCE: The more migrants arrive, the more desperate their plight. We witness these refugees frantically scrambling for firewood, essential supplies as temperatures here drop. With Belarusian aid workers arriving with food and water, the scenes are even more --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm hungry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know, I know. I hope you get some food.

CHANCE: You can see these are pretty extraordinary scenes. You've got Belarusian military forces essentially trying to push back the crowd of migrants that's gathered around this distribution of aid.

They're just giving out bottles of -- plastic bottles of water but the people here are so desperate for any kind of nutrition, any kind of food, water, shelter.

Look, they're being asked to kneel down in front of the Belarusian security forces. And when they kneel down, look, some of them are being allowed to go through.

[03:05:00]

CHANCE: Who's this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is Aji (ph).

CHANCE: Hello, Aji (ph). Are you good?

You speak English, too?

Shohan (ph) and her 4-year-old son traveled to Belarus from Iraqi Kurdistan to help her child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came here for my son. He needs an operation.

CHANCE: He needs a operation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, big operation in the back.

CHANCE: Oh, no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he can't walk without this --

CHANCE: Oh, I see, he's got this splint on his leg.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, he can't walk without his shoes.

CHANCE: Why didn't you do this operation in Kurdistan?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because not very good. Maybe he fails, the operation fail and we need to go to Germany. Everyone -- the doctor told me that the operation in Germany very good.

CHANCE: But now, Germany looks a long way off. With Belarus and the West blaming each other for this crisis, it's these people stuck in the middle who are paying the price -- Matthew Chance, CNN, at the border between Poland and Belarus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poland, certainly, said it will not be backing down in this matter, despite some of the criticism it's been getting from international organizations.

Now essentially, what Poland has done, is beefed up the presence, at the border, with around 15,000 soldiers and border officials, as well. Then, of course, building that massive, barbed wire fence and said, it wants to build a wall as well.

Now one of the things that has led to a lot of criticism is, apparently, what has been going on, is that some of the people who are trying to get across, here into the E.U., have actually made it across the border. They, apparently, have been pushed back by Polish border guards and some, cases by the Polish military, as well.

Now of course, internationally, that is a big problem with the universal declaration of human, rights and the United Nations Article 14, of which, stipulates, people who enter a territory of the nation, have to claim asylum there.

Poles deny this is going on. Essentially what they've done is they've made a, law, making legal to push people back. And there has been big criticism, of, that also, internationally, for instance with Human Rights Watch.

But actually, today the spokesperson for the Polish foreign ministry, coming out to say, Poland, he believes, has the right to defend its border and also has a right to say who gets in and doesn't get into the country.

So, the criticism is there however if you look within the European Union, right now the other countries, they are doing more to support Poland, rather than utter that criticism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Nada Bashir is joining me now, live, from London.

It is, clearly a difficult situation for the E.U. There are talks planned next week.

What are the leaders they are hoping to achieve?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The E.U. leaders are studying whether European allies, Poland and Lithuania, but all eyes will be on Brussels, on Monday, where European foreign ministers are expected to discuss the situation on the border between Poland and Belarus.

In particular, what we heard from the German foreign minister, is that they will be focusing on expanding sanctions on Belarusian companies and officials, they believe, to be involved in human trafficking and in causing the situation that we are seeing on the border.

We heard the strong words, from the German foreign minister, saying that they could be looking at something like economic sanctions on the Belarusian companies and individuals they believe to be involved.

We also heard from the European Union, representatives of the U.N. Security Council, earlier this week, accusing the Belarusian government of manufacturing this crisis on the border or trying to distract attention away from human rights abuses and to cause disruptions for their European neighbors.

Now there are serious diplomatic talks ongoing; German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in just over the few days, speaking with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is a strong ally of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko.

She believes that he has the ability to influence the situation. But also they are trying to bring under control the transit situation. European leaders have been speaking to both airlines and transit countries, in an attempt to bring this situation under control.

We have heard, in the last few days, talks are beginning to yield some results. And we have heard from Turkey, who has announced that they will halt flights for nationals from countries, including Syria, Iraq and Yemen, attempting to travel from Turkey to Belarus, in an attempt to, really, stem the spread of the numbers we see at the border, thousands, at this stage.

Of course, many of these refugees and migrants we see on the border, are from the Middle East and Asia.

[03:10:00]

BASHIR: And of course, they are living in dire conditions at the moment, as we saw in Matthew's reporting there. Freezing conditions, shortages of essential items like medicine and food.

So, there is real pressure, coming from charities and human rights organizations, calling for more action to be taken.

So, while European leaders will be looking at the political and geopolitical situation on the ground, there is a real sense of urgency. Something needs to be done immediately on the humanitarian front for these refugees and migrants, caught in the middle of this political standoff, unable to advance into Europe as they hoped to do and unable to return home -- Michael?

HOLMES: Nada, thanks, Nada Bashir in London with the latest. Thank you.

Now earlier, I spoke with Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on foreign and defense policy. I asked her if Belarus is weaponizing migration and what would be the potential risks, if that were the case?

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ELISABETH BRAW, SENIOR FELLOW, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: The first thing that can go wrong is that the countries on Belarus' border. So, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland don't let the migrants in. They're going to be in Belarus, which is what is happening at the

moment, with the humanitarian crisis unfolding, because migrants can't get across the borders.

The second thing, though, which I think is potentially even more dangerous and explosive, is that the forces that are now amassed on both sides of the border, especially in Poland and Belarus on the other side, is that the tension between those 2 sides escalates.

Somebody miscalculates; let's say, the Belarusian forces shoot another blank round in the direction of the Poles and the Poles don't realize it is a blank round. They think it is live ammunition, which is possible, because they are going to have all kinds of crazy ideas yet. Then, that situation, could escalate dramatically.

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HOLMES: Braw later predicted that the situation at the border will continue to escalate in what she described as a potentially dangerous direction.

Climate talks going into overtime in Glasgow, the latest on negotiations of the COP26 summit, as countries hash out what should go into the final agreement.

Also, still to come, protesters in the Netherlands turning out in force to reject a return to a partial lockdown. Just ahead, we will have a live report in Rome, on Europe's escalating COVID crisis.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

A new draft of the COP26 climate agreement is expected, literally, at any moment. It will give a better sense of whether the summit will live up to its ambitious goals on tackling the climate crisis, such as plans to cut down on emissions, end financing for coal and provide funds to protect developing nations.

[03:15:00]

HOLMES: Now so far, the drafts have already been released, including the aim of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre- industrial levels. Also, language on phasing out fossil fuels, subsidies and that has been included.

Now there are fears that it could be further softened, this communique, or taken out altogether, this language on fossil fuels.

Also, nations are deeply divided on how much money should go to developing nations. Phil Black, joins me now, live from Glasgow to discuss. Phil, as we wait, this could come out in a minute, what are the

expectations when it comes to the communique?

How concerned are some that it will not go far enough?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, it could come out in any moment. We've been refreshing the U.N. website every few seconds, for the last 15 minutes or so. It is, late, like every other aspect of these proceedings so far. Very soon, we will learn whether or not this text is going to live up to minimum expectations.

It won't be a breakthrough moment for the battle against climate change. What we are hoping, at the very least, is that it will provide a timetable and a way forward, reflecting the urgency of the scientific advice.

The advice that says, we have until the end of this decade to cut emissions, globally, by 45 percent. That is urgent, because, at the moment, emissions are still increasing. So we are nowhere near achieving that goal.

The individual commitments, met by countries, are nowhere near close to getting there. So we are, looking for a key line in this test, telling countries to go away, come back next year, with tougher, stronger emissions cuts for this decade.

For that to be there is crucial, if the world will have any chance of delivering on what the science says is necessary, avoiding the worst of climate change in just the next few years.

Beyond that, we are hoping for, I guess, incremental progress, on a few points; not breakthrough stuff, again, but we know that the first two drafts included references to phasing out coal. That has never been included in these documents before. It's quite extraordinary, when you think about it.

So that would be a significant, unprecedented development, if that makes it through, to the final version. And, also, the drafts, so far, have included some strong, scientific descriptions on why 1.5 degrees must be considered the goal, in terms of limiting global warming.

That would also be significant because, according to the draft, it goes a little further than the Paris agreement wording, talking about well below 2 degrees, preferably, closer to 1.5.

We know, both of those 2 points have opposition from some countries, who are under pressure. They may not necessarily make it through to the final version, but we also know there are ambitious countries, that want to see it there. Also, some of the most vulnerable countries, the countries that are living with the impacts of climate change already and who can see that climate change and certainly anything beyond 1.5 degrees to be an existential threat.

They're desperate to see it in the final text. So, if it gets there, as I say, incremental but hard-fought and significant wins. Michael?

So many there say incremental simply not enough. Good to see you, Phil Black, there in Glasgow.

I spoke earlier with Alden Meyer, a senior associate of the climate change think tank, E3G. Here is what he had to say about the changes needed to address this crisis.

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ALDEN MEYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, THIRD GENERATION ENVIRONMENTALISM: We need transformational change right now. The latest report from the United Nations says we are on track to see emissions of greenhouse gases increase by over 13 percent by 2030.

And the science says that we need to cut emissions 45 percent to have any chance of avoiding the worst impact of climate change. So we don't need incremental change; we need wholesale transformation of our vehicles, our electric utilities, our heavy industry, agriculture systems, everything.

And that's the daunting point about this. It's a huge challenge, requiring radical, transformational change and not incremental change.

HOLMES: Wealthy nations, they threw billions of dollars at the COVID pandemic but nowhere near enough toward mitigating climate change.

How disappointing is that, when powerful nations aren't doing what is really, really, required?

MEYER: It is very disturbing, actually. They have actual spent trillions of dollars in the last 20 months, trying to recover their economies from COVID. Yet, the developed countries, the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia and others are struggling to meet $100 billion per year commitment they made 12 years ago, to help developing countries on this.

So really, it is a misperception of their self economic interest.

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MEYER: because the impacts of climate change are going to be far more expensive than investing in the clean energy technologies to avoid it.

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HOLMES: Alden Meyer there with the climate change think tank, E3G.

The World Health Organization is addressing the surging COVID crisis in Europe, on Friday highlighting the nearly 2 million new infections across the continent, in just the last week.

While some countries consider reimposing lockdown restrictions, the WHO director general says that vaccines alone will not stop the pandemic.

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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: COVID-19 is surging in countries with lower vaccination rates in Eastern Europe but also in countries with some of the world's highest vaccination rates in Western Europe.

It is another reminder, as we have said again and again, that vaccines do not replace the need for other precautions. Vaccines reduce the risk of hospitalization, severe diseases and death. But they do not fully prevent transmission.

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HOLMES: For more on the escalating COVID crisis in Europe, CNN contributor, Barbie Nadeau. Joining us, live from Rome.

Barbie, we keep hearing it is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

How concerned are European nations, especially given the surge is happening before winter has even arrived?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a great deal of concern. Nobody wants to go back into that lockdown that was so difficult for the economy. But looking at Germany, that was doing well, now looking at 50,000 new cases a day and they have a very high vaccination rate.

Many said that this comes down to the fact that people are not taking the attention they were before, not wearing masks, not socially distancing. We've seen protests, all over Europe and these are superspreader events.

All of those things adding to the concern, that things are supposed to get bad right now, as people go indoors.

We've had outbreaks in schools across Europe as well, all against the backdrop of the fact that the booster program is not in full force yet. There are many countries that don't have 75 percent of their people vaccinated yet some of those people should be getting their boosters and it's not happening yet -- Michael.

HOLMES: We are seeing a sort of protest video there in The Hague, Netherlands. You mentioned restrictions, perhaps being brought back in.

Will they be the sorts of restrictions, lockdowns they saw last year?

NADEAU: No, I don't think that anybody is going to be in a blanket lockdown. In Austria, they're going to lock down people who are not vaccinated. Across Europe, you are seeing those targeted lockdowns and targeted restrictions.

In Italy every province and region is characterized by a color, a zone. It will probably go back to that sort of a restriction if numbers get high and that means limitations to how many can be inside a restaurant, on certain venues that are open like theaters and dance halls and things like that.

Of course, if they can do them lightly, at first, that will avoid a major lockdown but until everyone's vaccinated and gets their boosters, it is a concern going forward. Michael?

HOLMES: Barbie, thank you. Barbie Nadeau, in Rome, for us.

Now officials in Russia are blaming low vaccination rates there for the current surge in COVID cases. On Friday, they recorded more than 1,200 deaths. That is just shy of the record total, set earlier this week.

And, here in the United States, a source says the Food and Drug Administration will likely bypass outside vaccine advisers when it comes to considering whether to authorize Pfizer's COVID booster shot for all adults. Pfizer applied for emergency use authorization earlier this week. If it passes, the CDC will still need to sign off on its use.

The daughter of the Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is running for vice president next year. Sara Duterte Carpio, seen here with her father, filed for her candidacy on Saturday. Until now, she has been giving mixed messages on running, despite favorable political polls.

President Duterte is not allowed to run for reelection, but some experts say, he wants to have loyalists, in high places, to shield him from possible legal action over his brutal war on drugs, that has left thousands of people dead.

Coming up, on CNN NEWSROOM, Free Britney has long been the rallying cry for her fans and now, she finally is. We will explain, after the break.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Britney Spears' long battle to win her freedom is now over.

Fans of the pop star celebrated outside of a Los Angeles court, on Friday, after a judge terminated her 13-year conservatorship. The singer has fought a lengthy legal battle with her father, Jamie Spears.

Up until last month, he oversaw her estate and controlled much of her personal and professional life. Spears has called the conservatorship "abusive" and claimed she was forced to perform, use birth control and take medication.

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HOLMES: Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I appreciate it. I'm Michael Holmes, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @HolmesCNN. Kim Brunhuber will be with you at the top of the hour. And meanwhile, "AFRICAN VOICES CHANGEMAKERS" is up next.