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Novak Djokovic Detained ahead of Australian Visa Hearing; Ukraine Hit by Cyber Attack after High-Stakes Talks End; Investigation into Downing Street Events Is Underway; Former Danish Defense Minister Charged with Leaking State Secrets; France Reports Record Number of Classes Canceled on Friday; China Temporarily Shuts Down Two Hospitals after Strict COVID-19 Protocols Imperil Patients. Aired 2-2:45a ET
Aired January 15, 2022 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, appreciate your company, I'm Michael Holmes.
Coming up, one final court decision just hours before the Australian Open begins, Novak Djokovic set to see whether he stays or goes.
Talks between Russia and Ukraine hitting a dead end. Why the U.S. says the crisis may now be moving into a dangerous phase.
And China's zero COVID policy, eliminating the virus at all costs. We will have a report.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Serbian tennis star, Novak Djokovic, fighting to stay in Australia, to compete in the Australian Open, after his refusal to get vaccinated against COVID contributed to the second cancellation of his visa. He's now being held in a Melbourne hotel, being used as an immigration detention facility.
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HOLMES (voice-over): This is video of him, arriving, there earlier. An appeal hearing, on Sunday, will be the top ranked player's last chance to avoid deportation.
Meanwhile, fellow tennis star Rafael Nadal, speaking to CNN's Phil Black and says, the focus should be on the sport, not Djokovic.
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RAFA NADAL, TENNIS PRO: It's important to come back to tennis conversations, in my opinion, nowadays. Nobody in the history of our sport more important than the sport by itself. You know, Novak, Roger, myself, McEnroe, Borg, Connors, nobody is more
important than the sport because the players, we stay here, then we leave. Tournament stays, the sport stays and the Australian Open will be great with or without Novak Djokovic.
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HOLMES: CNN's Scott McLean is in Belgrade, Serbia.
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HOLMES: Let's turn to you, Scott McLean, in Belgrade, Serbia. Speak to the reaction of the Serbian government, essentially the president accusing Australia of ignoring the rule of law, playing politics to win elections.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's interesting here, Michael, is that yesterday, the office of the president told us, essentially, he wouldn't be putting out a statement about the Djokovic situation, even after his visa was revoked for a second time.
Then, at some point yesterday, something changed because he put out this video statement that was quite scathing.
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MCLEAN: He said that the attacks and the pressures had reached such proportions, such a fever pitch, that he had to say something to defend Djokovic. Certainly, the statement will not do much for Serbian-Australian relations.
The president made it clear, if you go against Djokovic, you go against an entire country and an entire people. I want to play for you part of it. And this is the part where he is responding specifically to the fact that a politician in Australia has overturned the decision of the Australian judicial system. Take a listen.
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ALEKSANDAR VUCIC, SERBIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am amazed at the fact that such decisions can be made by the executive and after the valid decisions of the judiciary.
They often preach to us about what the rule of law is.
Why do you mistreat him and make fun of him?
Not only him but also with his family and an entire nation that is free and proud.
Do you need it to win some elections?
Do you need it to please your public?
(END VIDEO CLIP) MCLEAN: The Serbian government, in a bit of an awkward position. On the one hand, they need to be seen to be supporting Djokovic and they are. But by extension, they are also supporting his right to not take the vaccine at a time when vaccination numbers here are stubbornly low.
They would very much like to make those higher; the spokesperson for the prime minister's office saying, if Djokovic took the vaccine, he believes the numbers would be a heck of a lot higher.
HOLMES: Yes, interesting. And as you have been reporting, the questions about the timing of his positive test, when he received the result, what is the latest on that?
MCLEAN: Remember, he took a PCR test on December 16th. On December 17th, he went out and did an event with children, maskless and said, only after that event, did he receive notification that he tested positive.
Yesterday a Serbian health official and a spokesperson for the prime minister's office said, look, there is no way Djokovic did not receive a notification until the next day. The system is automated; the time stamp on his certificate showed that the result was generated around 8:20 pm so, within minutes, they say, he should've had the result.
The only question for Djokovic is, did he check his text messages?
Did he check his email?
Really, only he knows the answer to that.
HOLMES: Thank you for all the reporting. Scott McLean, appreciate it.
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HOLMES: Justin Quill is a partner with a major Australian law firm, Thomson Geer. He joins me now.
Thank you for doing so. The federal court is going to hear oral arguments Sunday. Djokovic is meant to be playing tennis on Monday.
What are his chances of having the decision overturned or perhaps, stretching the process out until tennis is over and it doesn't matter anymore?
JUSTIN QUILL, PARTNER, THOMSON GEER: That is really all Djokovic needs. He needs a temporary injunction, a temporary injunction for two weeks. He hopes to be in the finals in two weeks' time.
There is a chance this could be before the full court of the federal courts. So, three judges, not one. Djokovic's team supported that move and the minister's labor team opposed that.
So, Djokovic's team think three judges will be better for them than just one so we wait to see whether the constitution of the court will be one or three judges. HOLMES: Right.
QUILL: As for his chances, I think he has a reasonable case. I think, ultimately, if there were no timeframes on this, the minister would ultimately win. But all Djokovic has to do is, delay and get an interim or temporary injunction. That is all he needs. That is effectively a win.
Once the Australian Open is over, no one will care about this.
HOLMES: There is this provision, isn't it?
If the visit is canceled by the minister, you could not be able to come back for three years.
Is that in play?
QUILL: Yes, the way that operates is this is automatic but can be overridden. So, yes, if he ultimately gets his injunction, plays in the Australian Open but ultimately loses the case, I don't think the Australian government would want this case to continue at that point.
Let's say that happened and let's say he either misses his temporary injunction or later on he loses the case, he is automatically banned from Australia for three years but that can be overridden. I have to say, it's an election year in Australia, of course.
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QUILL: And we might have a new government or if we don't, I think this government, if COVID is under control by then, I think this government will not want a repeat of this. They'll want the number one player in the world back for the Australian Open and I could imagine them overriding that.
I know people are talking about it but I don't actually think it's a big deal in the scheme of things.
HOLMES: Quickly, if you can, what is going to be his legal team's argument?
Do they have to show legal error in the decision?
QUILL: That's exactly what it has to show. The judge would come up to a different decision. They have to show a legal area in the process or the reasoning of the facts that were taken into account by the minister.
They need to show an arguable case, only that there is a serious case to be tried or a decent argument, that they might win on that point.
If they can show that, it then comes to the balance of convenience and that is who is going to be worse off if their rights are unjustly denied. On that point, Djokovic definitely wins the government can boot him out in March, but he can't win the Australian people in March. So, is this an arguable case?
I think he gets a temporary injunction. I think it's 60-40 to be playing in the Australian Open.
HOLMES: Is it fair to say this has highlighted some flaws in the Australian immigration system, where visas can be granted?
Really, the paperwork is only checked when you get here, which is what happened with Djokovic. That seems a bit odd.
QUILL: Absolutely. And here you have a state government, telling him and Tennis Australia, of course, but a state government saying you're welcome to come and we'll give them this exemption. Then, when he turns up, we have the federal government, which is on the other side of politics -- one is Labor, the other Conservative.
On the other side of politics and, arguably for political point scoring, he turns up and they say, we are going to deport you.
When it was announced by the Victorian government, he had this medical exemption, there was overwhelming objection to that decision, in a heavily vaccinated country, something like 93 percent for people 12 years of age.
People are really riled against the idea that Djokovic had come. So, I think the federal government saw political point scoring and that is the way it proceeded. Frankly, to the world at large, I think no one takes notice so much of the federal government versus state governments. It's just Australia.
And it makes us look very bad and I, for one, am embarrassed with the way this is going down.
HOLMES: Justin Quill with the firm, Thomson Geer, really appreciate it. Thank you very much, fascinating.
QUILL: Thanks, Michael.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up, tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalate just days after the failed talks over their shared border. The latest in Moscow, coming up.
Also, the close look at the aftermath of antigovernment protests in Kazakhstan. CNN looks inside a government building that was set ablaze during the demonstration.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: Ukraine says it was hit by a cyberattack just days after high
stakes talks between the U.S., NATO and Russia ended with no real progress. Scores of Ukrainian government websites were targeted with a threatening text warning, quote, "Be afraid and wait for the worst."
Ukraine's foreign ministry says Russia was most likely behind the attack. Officials report no personal data was compromised.
Meanwhile, the U.S. says Russian operatives are in place to set up the pretext for an invasion. An American official telling CNN, there is evidence Moscow will stage a false flag attack on its own proxy forces to justify an offensive against Ukraine.
Ukraine's defense ministry made a similar allegation. Have a listen to what the Pentagon said on Friday.
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ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We have information that they've preposition a group of operatives to conduct what we call a false flag operation, an operation designed to look like an attack on them or their people -- or Russian speaking people and Ukraine, again, as an excuse to go in.
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HOLMES: But Russia says those allegations are unfounded. CNN's Matthew Chance has more for us from Moscow.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russians have categorically denied the allegation that they were organizing some kind of a false flag operation in Eastern Ukraine to justify an attack against that country from the tens of thousands of troops they've got gathered there in the east.
The fact that that allegation was made and put out there by the United States was a pretty dramatic end to a week of intense negotiations, which has ended, I think, on a pessimistic note; at least that's what's the message you get is, if you listen to Sergey Lavrov, saying at the end of those negotiations -- he's the Russian foreign minister -- that he wants a written response that with -- in detailed explanations about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in terms of Russia's core demands that the main demands, of course, to halt a further expansion of NATO eastwards toward Russia's borders.
There have been a number of compromises that have been proposed by Western officials and the United States as well that it's hoped could perhaps keep the Russians at the negotiating table and perhaps satisfy their security concerns.
But Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, ruling that out, saying they didn't ask for their demands, only to settle for something less. They take those core demands about NATO's expansion very seriously. And that is what they say they are continuing to focus on. And even when it comes to the construction of Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov
said, it doesn't become part of the NATO alliance, the fact that countries like the United States and Britain are helping build military bases in the country is also a threat to Russia's national security, the Russian foreign minister said.
Back to that idea, though, of a false flag operation, actually, Sergey Lavrov is saying that it's the West that is using this crisis in Ukraine as a pretext for a buildup and for a strengthening of their forces of their own. Take a listen to what he had to say.
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SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We have reason to believe that those statements made with great pomp in the West, that if Russia does not submit to the West, to the Western demands about what it should do with its own troops in its own territory, which is absurd, then, in the next two or three months, the West will step up its rapid response force and its operations next to our border.
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CHANCE: In terms of what Russians are going to do next, it's a big question that's unanswered for the moment, because Vladimir Putin, the man who will decide what course of action Russia will take -- will it go for more negotiations.
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CHANCE: Will it continue to rattle the diplomatic tree and see what falls out in terms of compromises -- or will he process the button of what he calls a military technical response?
We still don't know.
He hasn't made any pronouncements on that yet. But again, it is the Russian president in the Kremlin, who will decide what the next steps will be -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
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HOLMES: CNN's Fareed Zakaria spoke exclusively with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said that the accusations by the U.S. are absolutely false.
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FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: There are also some reports that Russia is planning some kind of military escalation or attack on Ukraine.
Can you definitively say that that is not happening or going to happen in the near future?
DMITRY PESKOV, PUTIN SPOKESPERSON: You can see that this is not happening, this is number one. Number two, we have heard yesterday, yesterday night, a statement by
Mr. Sadivon (ph) and he promised to publish the proofs of that accusation within 24 hours, if I'm not mistaken. So we are still waiting for the proofs.
You know, we are living in a world of fake accusations, of fake news and in a world of lies. And until it is proved somehow, by something, by something visible or something understandable, we will continue, we will continue to presume that it is fake news and that it is as false accusations.
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HOLMES: And you can watch the rest of that interview on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" on Sunday at 3 pm in London, 11 pm in Hong Kong.
And we want to give you a firsthand look at the aftermath of deadly antigovernment protests in Kazakhstan. CNN, the first media organization to gain access to the mayor's office in Almaty, which was torched during the violence. Fred Pleitgen went there.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Inside the charred carcass of the Almaty Mayor's office, a massive cleanup is now underway. By hand and by machine work has started to repair the damage caused by violent protests that gripped Kazakhstan.
DNM is the first media outlet allowed inside to survey the extent of the damage.
PLEITGEN (on camera): The authorities have brought in dozens if not hundreds of workers to clean up the aftermath of what were those street battles here in Kazakhstan's largest city of Almaty.
And it's really remarkable to see the full scale of the destruction here in the mayor's office. As the authorities here say rioters entered this building and set fire to all of it.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kazakhstan's officials say they were dangerously close to losing control, not just here Almaty but other places across the country. Kazakhstan's president said protests that were originally against high fuel prices were hijacked by what he calls "terrorists."
He issued a shoot to kill order and summon an international Military force led by Russia.
KASSYM-JOMART TOKEV, KAZAKHSTANI PRESIDENT: We prevented dangerous threats for our country security as part of the counter terrorist mission. We are trying to identify people who committed those crimes.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The government says things are now largely under control and there is evidence of that across the city life he's almost back to normal. The Russian led Military force has started its withdrawal although that process is set to take another nine days. But authorities say their crackdown will continue.
Around 10,000 people have been detained and more than 160 killed. Opposition activist Zhanbolat Mamay was at the protests.
He says things started peacefully but then he, too, was beaten by what he called provocateurs.
He provided us with this video seeming to show what happened. And these photos of what he looked like after the attack. Mamay says he believes the rioting was a pretext for a violent crackdown.
ZHANBOLAT MAMAY, OPPOSITION ACTIVIST: As the government decided to slaughter their own people and then one greater problem, I think that it was done not only with the help of Kazakhstani security forces but with the interference of Russian troops.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Kazakhstan's leadership denies attacking peaceful protesters and says they've launched a full investigation into who was behind the violence that erupted.
Meanwhile, the country's president has vowed to improve people's living conditions and rebuild the sites damaged as fast as possible -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A growing scandal for the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, over parties held in COVID lockdowns. We will tell you why he is apologizing to the queen herself. We will be right back.
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HOLMES: The British prime minister Boris Johnson apologizing once again for gatherings held at 10 Downing Street while COVID restrictions were in place. But this time, he is apologizing to Queen Elizabeth herself, after a new report described a boozy and boisterous party held the night before Prince Philip's funeral. Salma Abdelaziz with the story.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More apologies from 10 Downing Street from prime minister Boris Johnson.
This time, the "I'm sorry" is for the queen, for Buckingham Palace, for a party that took place inside 10 Downing Street the night before the queen's husband's funeral, the night before Prince Philip was put to rest at a time of national mourning, at a time when this very iconic image was snapped of the queen, following the rules, sitting in the chapel by herself, with no one beside her. She kept that funeral to just 30 people, because those were the COVID
restrictions at the time. But the night before, those rules were apparently being broken inside 10 Downing Street.
Prime minister Boris Johnson's top communication chief was departing; apparently this warranted a party in April of last year, a party so boozy, in fact, that "The Telegraph" newspaper here is reporting that one attendee was sent out with an empty suitcase to go get more booze, a suitcase full of booze.
"The Telegraph" also reporting the festivities went late into the night; there was dancing. But one member of prime minister Johnson's team trying to tell the public they should move on. They should talk about something else. Take a listen to what Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said.
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LIZ TRUSS, FOREIGN MINISTER, UNITED KINGDOM: He has apologized. I think we now need to move on and talk about how we are going to sort out issues.
I have spent the last 24 hours with the E.U., talking about sorting out the situation for the people of Northern Ireland. And we now need to get on with that and, of course, wait for the results of the Sue Gray inquiry.
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ABDELAZIZ: But it's highly unlikely, with headlines, like "Suitcases Full of Booze," that the public is going to move on, that the scandal is going to end anytime soon for prime minister Boris Johnson because there is still an investigation underway into all of these allegations, of multiple parties now spanning across multiple lockdowns, multiple periods.
And the fear for prime minister Boris Johnson right now is potentially there could be something that implicates him. Regardless, this simply does not fly in the court of public opinion. Overwhelmingly, now, the government is being viewed unfavorably; the prime minister suffering the lowest favorability ratings since he took office.
His critics essentially accusing him of being a party boy -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: Former Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is negotiating a possible plea deal in his corruption trial. That's from two sources involved in the matter, who spoke with CNN.
Under the deal, the most serious charge against Netanyahu -- bribery -- would likely be dropped. The sources say the biggest stumbling block is a possible sentence; if it is longer than three months, he could be barred from politics for seven years. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing. Denmark's former defense minister has been charged with leaking state
secrets.
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HOLMES: Officials have not released details on those charges. But in a statement, the current opposition lawmaker says he's being charged for, quote, "violating the limits of my freedom of speech."
He added that he only spoke out on a political issue and nothing that would harm his country. This comes days after Denmark's former spy chief was charged and arrested for similar allegations.
A quick break here on the program. When we come back, Beijing on high alert as China's outbreak of the Omicron variant threatens to disrupt the Olympics. Ahead, how Chinese officials are desperately fighting to contain the virus.
And even as COVID rages across the continent, how one European nation is easing up on restrictions.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to viewers all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes, this is CNN NEWSROOM.
The latest on the pandemic: France says a record number of classes were canceled on Friday due to soaring cases among students and teachers. The country has seen record high numbers of new cases this week.
Spain reporting nearly 1 million new cases in the past week and the second highest number of new daily cases since the pandemic began, more than 162,000 cases reported on Friday alone.
The Netherlands now relaxing some of its COVID restrictions. Nonessential stores, hairdressers, beauty salons and other service providers will be allowed to reopen on Saturday. The prime minister says it's a big step but also a big risk.
Melissa Bell, joining me live from Paris.
Good to see you. Much going on in France where you are. These classes canceled. Mask mandates challenged. Bring us up to date.
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What you just mentioned with regard to the Netherlands a sign of European authorities trying to grapple with the long term, highly contagious Omicron, which is now the dominant strain.
It is the speed with which it has spread, its sheer level of virulence, contagiousness, that is making it difficult for authorities to deal with. On one hand, you're seeing authorities trying t o live with, getting used to having this long term -- hence the Netherlands trying to reopen some of its businesses, hence the example of France, last Monday changing rules in classrooms to make it easier for kids to stay in school, despite the spread of this variant.
Here, in France, that led to protests from schoolteachers on Thursday. And then this announcement that we reached a record number of school closures.
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BELL: On Friday, more than 14,000 classrooms closed. We hadn't seen that kind of figure since the very start of the pandemic, in the initial lockdown in March of 2020. What that tells you it is teachers are getting sick, children are getting sick.
And despite those efforts to keep children in school, the Omicron variant simply making it difficult in classrooms for that to happen.
More protests expected this Saturday against government moves to try to harden the vaccine pass, to try and get more people vaccinated. On one hand, they're trying to keep the economy open and on the other, encourage the recalcitrant to get vaccinated or get boosted, because, crucially, a lot of people are coming up for that date.
Now here in France, this leading to anger on the streets, more protests here in France today against those efforts to make very hard for the unvaccinated to get access to anything at all here in France. Michael?
HOLMES: Looking more broadly in Europe, how are things generally?
BELL: Similarly, all across the continent, you mentioned that figure from Spain, more than 1 million people infected in one week. There are alarming figures all over the continent as that dominant strain, the Omicron, becomes dominant.
We see records set, twice, in Germany this week. We have seen a fresh record set in France this week, in terms of the number of new daily cases. When you look at the figures, they are absolutely astonishing.
We are talking about nearly 370,000 people infected in a single 24- hour period on Tuesday. That is astonishing, Michael. Consider it in the context of previous waves, when it used to get to 50,000. And that was considered alarming. That is how fast Omicron is spreading.
Go back to the example of Spain, it is confirmed that fewer people end up in hospital, in ICUs. So again, authorities dealing with a much wider spread but with far fewer serious consequences, in terms of its impact on the health care system.
In France, we will wait to see if the next two days bring the peak, authorities saying by month's end we should see peak hospitalizations and entries into ICU. Michael?
HOLMES: Still pretty dire. Melissa Bell, in Paris, thank you. Now the Omicron variant spreading to more cities in China. Neighboring
cities announced on Friday that eight new COVID cases were identified as Omicron. This raises the number of cities reporting the highly transmissible variant to at least five.
This news, of course, comes with the Beijing Olympics less than three weeks away. The opening ceremony taking place on February 4th in National Stadium.
China had hoped the Beijing games would be an opportunity to showcase its success in the battle against COVID-19. But the Omicron variant, poses the greatest challenge yet to the country's zero COVID strategy. CNN's David Culver reports.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cities across China are back in wartime mode, scrambling to identify and isolate cases of COVID-19. Recent outbreaks have some 20 million people under strict lockdowns, confined to their homes.
Officials are conducting multiple rounds of mass testing and shuttling tens of thousands of residents to centralized quarantine. State media showing these makeshift encampments built within days.
It is eerily reminiscent to the start of the COVID crisis. But now, authorities know what they are looking for. And they are tracking those of us living here through our cell phones to go into most places, you have to scan, and they can flag us should we come into contact with a confirmed case.
China is proud of its zero-COVID approach. That is, one case is one too many. And the months that followed the initial outbreak in Wuhan, it seemed to work -- though, brutal at times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This strategy has indeed been effective until very recently.
CULVER: This latest surge is most concerning and perhaps embarrassing given its timing. We are three weeks from the start of the Winter Olympics. Beijing hoped this -- the second pandemic Olympics -- would be a chance to showcase its success over COVID.
The games are, in part, why the capital city is so heavily protected, a fortress with many restrictions to get in and out. At one point, the biggest concern was cases brought in by arrived athletes, Olympic personnel and media from around the world.
It's for that reason, they have created a closed-off system, which will include the area that we are in right now. No physical contact between those coming in and those of us already here in Beijing.
But the virus is now spreading outside the Olympic bubble. And images like these are surfacing on Chinese social media, people packing in to get tested in nearby Tianjin. Some quarantined residents complaining about food shortages. Two hospitals in Xi'an were ordered shut for three months by municipal health authorities.
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CULVER (voice-over): Hospital employees were accused of putting COVID protocols above basic healthcare, in one case, refusing to admit a man who later died of a heart attack.
In another, a woman eight months pregnant initially turned away because she did not have a valid COVID test. She later suffered a miscarriage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Asking ordinary Chinese, asking about the necessity of that zero COVID strategy. I think the public support to that strategy remains very strong.
CULVER: State media showing a far more orderly public response to the strict containment measures. Most here trusting the policies.
In Zhengzhou, this woman's awkward lockdown experience going viral. She posted videos on social media, explaining how a blind date, supposed to last a few hours, suddenly, stretched several days, when new confirmed cases forced everyone in the neighborhood into a snap lockdown, both trapped in his home.
She told local media, because we don't really know each other, it's awkward. All he does is cook, clean, work; he doesn't talk much. In the three weeks until the start of the Winter Games, China may still prove effective in containing the virus, returning to a COVID free country, at least officially.
But for how long? -- David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
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HOLMES: North Korea says it test-fired two ballistic missiles on Friday. According to state media, they were launched from a rail car and hit their intended target in the water off the Korean Peninsula.
It's the first of a series of missile tests in recent days. U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken condemned the launch, saying it violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. North Korea says it will be forced to take a, quote, "stronger reaction" if the U.S. chooses to take a confrontational stance.
Finally, travelers who went to visit the Notre Dame cathedral will not have to wait until it reopens in 2024, thanks to virtual reality. A new immersive experience in Paris, allows visitors who wearing 3D headsets to experience Notre Dame's history, from its construction to the fire wrecking the landmark in 2019, through its reconstruction.
Created by the virtual reality start-up Emissive, the project took two years to complete and lets visitors dive into a 45-minute trip full of visual and sound effects.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It is quite impressive. I would say you're a bit anxious at the start and then you completely forget about the fact you are in an enclosed space because the environment is absolutely magnificent. You'd better not be afraid of heights, however. It gives quite an unusual feeling.
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HOLMES: The exhibit, opening to the public today, about $34 per person. More locations expected to pop up later in other cities, across the world.
What a great idea. And what a beautiful place.
Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I'm Michael Holmes, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, home CNN. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA," starting after this short break. I will see you in a few minutes.
