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Tension Between Ukraine and Russia Deepens; Help Is On Its Way to Tonga; Boris Johnson Felt No Rules Violated; 5G Networks Interrupt Flights. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 19, 2022 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead here on CNN Newsroom, the White House is warning a Russian invasion into Ukraine maybe imminent, as more than 100,000 Russian troops gathered near the Ukrainian border.
An unprecedented disaster in Tonga after a massive volcanic eruption. Entire communities are said to be destroyed and toxic ash is hampering aid and rescue efforts.
And some international airlines are canceling flights to the U.S. amid a controversial 5G rollout. Which flights are impacted, and what is being done to get 5G cleared for takeoff?
UNKNOWN: Live from CNN center, this is CNN newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, the White House says the crisis between Russia and Ukraine has reached a dangerous new level where Russia could launch an attack at any point. But it's not giving up on diplomacy just yet.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kiev just a short time ago for talks with Ukraine's president. On Friday he will meet his Russian counterpart in Geneva.
A Ukrainian intelligence assessment shared exclusively with CNN warns that Russia has almost completed its military buildup around Ukraine, deploying more than 127,000 troops. Russia's foreign minister says other countries have no business telling it what to do with its troops. But Germany's top diplomat had a different assessment during her visit to Moscow. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Over the past few weeks, more than 100,000 Russian troops, equipment, and tanks have been deployed to Ukraine for no reason. It's hard not to see that as a threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): A shipment of anti-tank weapons from the U.K. has arrived in Ukraine. And sources tell CNN the U.S. is considering more military aid to resist a potential Russian occupation.
So, let's go live to Moscow now and CNN's Fred Pleitgen. Good to see you, Fred. So even as tensions rise diplomatic efforts continue but hope appears to be fading that war can be averted here. What is the latest.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While the diplomatic initiative certainly continues, and they certainly seem to be ramped up. But you are absolutely right, Rosemary, some of the things that we have been hearing over the past 24, maybe the past 18 hours they certainly seem to indicate that right now things aren't necessarily looking like de-escalation, especially if you look down into that area that we are talking about, the sort of area rounds Ukraine, the territory of Russia. And in some cases, the territory of Belarus as well.
One of the things that we learned from the Russians yesterday is that they have already started moving troops into Belarus. And we have that map on our screen right now, and if you look at it, the Russians are saying that they want to do exercises with the Belarusian forces in the sort of early stages of February and the southern border of Belarus is of course the northern border of Ukraine.
And so, the Ukrainians are saying they are feeling more and more encircled by an ever-growing force of Russian troops, and of course, in some cases, of Belarusian troops as well. So that is certainly something that is of great cause for concern.
Nevertheless, you do have the diplomacy continuing, you had that meeting yesterday between the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and the German foreign minister. One of the interesting things that we heard there from the German foreign minister is for the first time the Germans sort of put that pipeline, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline project between Germany and Russia, very important for both countries, she put that into play and said of course that project would be affected if there was a further aggression by the Russian federation.
Russia, meanwhile, keeps reiterating its position, they say that they are the ones who are being threatened, they say that this is about their security and not Ukraine security. They of course have put forward those demands that we have been here so much about including a halt to NATO enlargement, written guarantees of that, and Ukraine never becoming a member of NATO either. Sergey Lavrov in his press conference yesterday with the German
foreign minister he once again reiterated that the Russians want some sort of response from the U.S. in written form. He said Russia's patience for that is running out.
But I think that if there is sort of some hope that diplomacy could prevail, there is a little bit of that in the form of that meeting that is set to take place on Friday in Geneva between the Russian foreign minister and the U.S. foreign minister.
[03:05:06]
Because one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that after that last round of talks, especially the ones in Geneva between the U.S. and Russia, the Russians came out of that very disappointed, and said they were not sure whether or not further talks would be something that would be in their interest or be something that could lead anywhere.
And now we do see that there are going to be further talks and that those further talks are going to be on an even higher level between those two foreign ministers, so certainly that's something that could possibly be interpreted at least as a good sign that all sides are trying to find a way out of this in a diplomatic arena, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes, so important. We'll continue to watch the story very closely. Fred Pleitgen joining us live from Moscow. Many thanks.
A second flight from New Zealand is headed to Tonga to survey the impact of Saturday's volcanic disaster. New Zealand's defense force says it expects the flight to return in the coming hours, and they will share the images with other countries to help recovery efforts.
Tonga's government says they are facing an unprecedented disaster following the massive volcanic eruption and tsunami. It's now declared a state of emergency and the death toll there has risen to three. In this video you can see the tsunami waves tearing through the island as people try to escape the floodwaters.
The Tongan government says tsunami waves reached 15 meters high destroying nearly all the homes and businesses in some places. Evacuations and recovery efforts are ongoing, but many lost everything.
And CNN's Phil Black joins me now live from Melbourne. So, Phil, images coming out of Tonga are disturbing. What more are you learning about the devastation and of course efforts to get much needed aid to the region?
PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, aid groups are saying it's only now, say three or four days after that massive eruption that they are hearing in any detail just what people on the ground actually need. But they say the need is great.
The complication of course, initially is the fact that the country blackout in a communication sense all at once pretty much. Both domestically and internationally because the only cable, the only underwater cable connecting Tonga to the rest of the world has been damaged and will take weeks to -- weeks to fix.
Mobile phone communication also went down. Some basic 2G, some pretty patchy service has been cobble together using local satellite dish, but we're also told that satellite phones are struggling because of all the debris in the atmosphere.
So, there is still those communication problems which means it's still very difficult to get a sense of the actual impact, particularly on some of the outer islands but what they are hearing is that the acute need is for water.
Water resources in Tonga have been contaminated by both ash and debris from the volcano, but also from sea water from the tsunami. So, getting that in there and getting that to people is the urgent need. The New Zealand navy is sending two vessels at the moment due to arrive on Friday with water supplies and desalination equipment.
And all of this, this aid could be complicated by another issue. And that is the pandemic. Tonga is, has very or it is COVID free and it has very strong quarantine rules. People -- any arrival has to -- anyone arriving has to stay quarantine for three weeks.
So how they manage that going forward is going to be key, it would seem likely that aid deliveries are going to be dropped off but the people dropping them off are not going to come ashore, or they are not going to stick around, it would be left to local people to distribute. Because you would think logically that staying COVID free is pretty important while dealing with a crisis of this scale, Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, Phil Black joining us live from Melbourne. Many thanks.
Jonathan Veitch is the U.N.'s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Tonga and the surrounding region, he joins me now live from Fiji. Thank you so much for talking with us.
JONATHAN VEITCH, RESIDENT AND HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR, U.N.: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: So, in the wake of this devastating eruption and tsunami your job of course is made all the more harder because of the toxic ash hampering any aid efforts. What are you doing right now to try to get aid to the region?
VEITCH: Yes, exactly. As Phil said it's been very difficult few days since last Saturday when the eruption happened. It's a kind of unique situation where you're in a very remote part of the part and you have no access to the country for the reasons that Phil gave because it's one of the few countries in the world that is COVID free. And also, your comms is down, so you got very little information.
[03:10:00]
So, it's been difficult to get all the information together, but now we're getting a sense of the needs on the ground and things are moving. I'm happy to say that as your correspondent said those ships are on the way from New Zealand, another very large vessel will be moving from Australia, the Adelaide and we've managed to put a lot of humanitarian supplies onto that vessel as well.
And the New Zealand ships will be arriving soon. And the good news is that the airport seems to have been finally cleared of ash. So, it hasn't been given permission to land planes yet but we hope that this will happen tomorrow morning sometime.
CHURCH: That is critical of course, and what is the biggest need at this point apart from the obvious clean water, because the toxic ash has basically contaminated any water people would have had access to otherwise.
VEITCH: Well, water is the biggest use, so I mean, that's the most important lifesaving issue. And thankfully, the New Zealand vessels are carrying a huge amount of water and also desalination plants so they are able to treat salty water and make it potable.
But the most Tongans are reliant on rainwater, so the sooner the ash clears and we are able to then get clean rainwater coming again the better. Until that time we need to rely on bore holes and underground sources. So, we are looking at that and seeing how many there are, and there may be a need to move populations about so that they are closer to groundwater sources and not so reliant on rainwater because it's been very toxic over the last, over the last days.
CHURCH: And of course, this will be a massive operation getting aid to the region, but the other problem as our correspondent Phil Black mentioned, is the fact that Tonga is a COVID free and has worked very hard to get to that point. And now of course there is the problem of aid being and the possibility of infection going into the region. How do you work around that when you are bringing aid in?
VEITCH: We have to be innovative and think of different ways of doing it. We'll be working directly with the government. There are very -- they have very competent authorities that the disaster management office and many of the ministries have seen loads of cyclones in the past, they've been good at managing these crises before.
We've got more than 20 U.N. staff who are living in Tonga who are on the ground, they will have to adapt and do different things and cover the whole gamut of our operation, and we'll be using local organizations and international NGOs as well.
But as you said, Tonga has done a really brilliant job. They have very high COVID vaccination rates and there is no way that any of us can threaten the safety of their population by bringing in a new variant there. So, we'll be extremely cautious and take the advice of the government and WHO in that.
CHURCH: And so, of course as you mentioned, some really good news there about the airport. It looks like they're starting to clear it and they should be able to receive planeloads of aid soon. So how quickly once you get the go-ahead for that, how quickly could you get all that's needed there into the area? And how many people are we talking about here that you need to have aid provided for?
VEITCH: Well, the government estimates that 80,000 people are affected, so it's a large proportion of the population. The population is just over 100,000 in Tonga. But we don't actually know the situation in some of the outlying islands. I talked to the authorities this afternoon, and asked them whether they've managed to reach all of the most remote settlements, and they said no, not yet.
So, there are about 10 other islands in the Ha'apai group to the northeast of where the volcano erupted where the navy and army haven't reached yet. And it will be important to determine how many of those people are in the stress and need support and need to be evacuated.
So that continues, but I think as soon as the airport is open the aircraft already loaded. I know in New Zealand there are several aircraft that are ready to take off.
CHURCH: All right, let's hope that can happen sooner rather than later. Jonathan Veitch, thank you so much for talking with us, and of course for all your efforts with this. I appreciate it and appreciate you.
[03:14:56]
Well, Tonga's Olympic flag bearer is helping raise money for those impacted by the devastating eruption and tsunami. The GoFundMe page has raised more than 300,000 U.S. dollars. The campaign says the money will go toward those in need along with repairing schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure.
Flagbearer Pita Taufatofua said on Wednesday that his family is on a main island and their home is safe but he's still waiting to hear from his father and other family members in the lower islands.
While the British prime minister has a new response to the controversy around the lockdown defying parties, he didn't know he was breaking the rules. Boris Johnson says no one told him a gathering held in the garden of 10 Downing Street in May 2020 was a potential breach of COVID restrictions. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Categorically, that nobody told me and nobody -- nobody said that this was something that was against the rules. It was a breach of the COVID rules that we were doing. Something that wasn't a work event. Because frankly, I don't think I can't imagine why on earth would have gone ahead, why it would be allowed to go ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): But remember, he is the prime minister, and he imposed the social distancing rules. Here's what he said just days before that party.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHNSON: You must obey the rules on social distancing, and to enforce
those rules, we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): Now the prime minister is battling calls for his resignation of the so-called party gate sandal. For more on this, let's bring in CNN Salma Abdelaziz who joins us live from London. Good to see you, Salma.
It is an incredible excuse, isn't it? He is the prime minister. He says that nobody told him he would be in breach of COVID-19 regulations here. So, talk to us about how likely it is that he can hang on in the midst of this.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Rosemary, the prime minister pleading ignorance is really not flying on the court of public opinion. I mean, this event on May 20th was an event organized by one of his top aides, in an e-mail that was sent out to nearly 100 Downing Street staff members, he invited them to the Downing Street Garden to bring their own booze, exclamation point.
Really it baggers belief here to accept that the prime minister simply didn't know that a place where dozens of people were in attendance with food and booze on the table during a lockdown broke the rules. And today, the prime minister will be facing questions on that. He's going to be back in parliament for the regularly scheduled PMQs.
Remember the course over the last week so far, he has apologized to the queen, he has apologized to the parliament, he has apologized to the public. But I think I'm sorry, I'm sorry might not be enough here.
So, what should we watch today? Well, the prime minister is really going to be trying to convince his own, his own party members that he is still holds authority. That he can still continue to win votes. Because remember that's what kept Prime Minister Boris Johnson in power, it's his popularity, it's his charisma, it's his charm, it's his appeal to a certain section of society, to a conservative section of society.
He's the man that got Brexit done. He has been likened to Trump in that sense. That type of appeal he has. So, he wants to convince conservative lawmakers that he is still the winner, he still holds authority, but there is no denying that he is on shaky ground here.
Already we know several conservative lawmakers are looking at the potential of triggering a no confidence vote, by no means is that imminent, but it means that at least there is an undercurrent in his own party of people willing to mutiny against him are willing to trigger a no confidence vote and potentially he could lose his seat if that happens. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, Salma Abdelaziz joining us live from London, many thanks.
Well, the push to improve U.S. cell phone service hits a snag. Coming up, the warnings about 5G and aviation. We'll explain.
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CHURCH (on camera): Some international airlines are canceling flights to the U.S. over concerns about the potential 5G interference with critical airplane technology. Emirates, Air India, Nippon Airways, and Japan Airlines all announced service cuts at certain airports. And that follows urgent warnings from top U.S. airline executives about the impact of flight restrictions because of the 5G rollout.
Pete Muntean has details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Major airlines call it the latest issue affecting your safety in the sky. They say new high speed 5G cell service could cause errors in crucial information that pilots need to land.
In a new letter to the Biden administration, 10 airlines including Delta, American, and United insist that could lead to as many as 1,000 flights diverted, delayed, or canceled each day. A situation they call, economic calamity.
Airlines say 5G signals can disrupt radar altimeters, instruments that bounce a radio beam at the ground to give a hyper accurate reading of height.
Pilots like Captain Dennis Tajer of the Allied Pilots Association called the system essential when they need it most in poor weather when it's hard to see the runway.
DENNIS TAJER, CAPTAIN, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION: This one instrument, if it gets bad data, sends it to a collection of other systems, flight controls, auto throttles, windshield protection, stick shake, I could go through 17 items. Each of those, if they get bad information in, they are going to do bad things.
MUNTEAN: In the simulator or a regional airliner, I saw what happened when a radar altimeter fails. Automatic warnings could stop, and flight displays get confusing, mismatched readings.
UNKNOWN: You just go around and that --
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Right. And figure it out.
UNKNOWN: -- would cause a bottleneck.
MUNTEAN: Verizon and AT&T have now agreed to delay their rollout near certain airports. AT&T which owns CNN's parent company says airlines and the FAA have not utilized the two years they've had to responsibly plan for this deployment. Verizon says officials figured out how to make 5G safe and fully
operational in more than 40 other countries. Even still, United Airlines fears interference would impact operations at some of its busiest destinations. Houston, Newark, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.
EDUARDO ROJAS, PROFESSOR, EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: It is critical specially to make sure that the airplane doesn't crash to the ground.
MUNTEAN: Professor Eduardo Rojas is researching 5G interference with radar altimeters at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.
ROJAS: It is one of the most critical systems in the aircraft and helicopters. Especially because it helps to land.
MUNTEAN: Low visibility and a malfunctioning radar altimeter led to a fatal 2009 Turkish airlines crash just short of an Amsterdam runway. The flights autopilot acted like it was landing, but in reality, it was more than 2,000 feet up.
Captain Tajer says there must be more time to review the data on 5G, because when it comes to paying passengers, there is no deadline on safety.
TAJER: So, get this right, test it, get it done, we want 5G to come, but we're not going to do it while jeopardizing the margin of safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: Even after AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay this rollout, the FAA says they could still be flight cancellations on Wednesday. Just not as many as they once thought. Airlines say they've still not yet seen the details of this new delay, and that means in some cases airlines are already canceling flights.
International carriers like Emirates, Japan Airlines, ANA, and Air India have canceled at least some of their flights coming to the U.S. on Wednesday. They are all citing their concerns over the 5G rollout.
[03:25:04]
Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: And CNN's Anna Stewart joins us now from London with more on all of this. Good to see you, Anna.
So, let's look at the impact this is having on international flights and also, too, I wanted to ask you why has the 5G rollout in other countries, some 40 or so, happened without any aviation disruption?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: I think that has caused a lot of frustrations for airlines but also with the telecoms. But to start with the interesting sort of chaos we've had in terms of international airlines, lots of disruption despite the fact that the 5G rollout is not happening near major airports. That was the decision from Verizon and AT&T yesterday. But of course,
many Asian airlines, particularly those long-haul flights probably had already made other plans given this was coming down to the wire. And it's certainly felt like there was some chaos between regulators and what was being said in the U.S., airlines warning of catastrophic disruptions.
So of course, many have suspended flights, many have switch aircraft as well including Japan Airlines and ANA, switching out some of their 787s for triple 7's, sorry the 777. And that's what we are seeing in Europe as well.
I've just had somebody from Lufthansa European Airline, they are cancelling one connection today, they are also swapping out a 747A, that's a Boeing plane for 747 400. Austrian Airlines swapping out aircraft as well. And this is related to the fact that the FAA have approved the use of some 45 percent of commercial aircraft whose radio altimeters wouldn't be impacted by the 5G rollout.
It does feel like a lot of these decisions have been fairly chaotic. And I think for the network, there has been a lot of frustration here just in terms of what has been said. They've already delayed this rollout twice. They believe the FAA, the aviation regulator, could have come to a better decision sooner. They have plenty of time they say to implement safety checks.
They believe it would have been safe the rollout 5G today, but of course given the news from all those airlines, it's unsurprising the decision that was reached there. Rosemary?
CHURCH: Yes. All right. Anna Stewart joining us live from London, many thanks.
Oil prices rose to a new seven- year high Tuesday. And one Wall Street Bank predicts prices will go even higher. Brent crude topped $87 a barrel for the first time since October 2014. U.S. crude also had its highest close in more than seven years. Goldman Sachs now expects oil prices to hit $100 a barrel later this year. A signal that higher fuel prices are coming.
Meanwhile, it was rough day on Wall Street with growing concerns about higher lending rates. The Dow closed down one and a half percent, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ lost even more.
All right, coming up, France and Italy are seeing COVID cases surge. We will have the latest in a live report from Paris.
Plus, Japan prepares to tighten COVID restrictions after reporting a record increase in new infections. We are live in Tokyo with the latest.
[03:30:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Welcome back everyone. Well, the Omicron variant is fueling a record rise in COVID cases across parts of Europe. Italy reported its highest record of daily COVID infections since the start of the pandemic in the past day.
A similar situation in France which reported a record daily high of more than 464,000 new COVID cases. But even as cases climb, a new study published by the French Council of Economic Analysis shows the health pass used in Europe has saved lives.
Since its adoption last, year it prevented nearly 4,000 deaths in France, and more than 1,000 in both Germany and Italy. The World Health Organization chief says everyone must remain vigilant amid this latest surge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Omicron continues to sweep the world. In some countries cases seemed to have peek which gives hope that the worst of this latest wave is done ways, but no countries are out of the woods yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Jim Bittermann is following development and joins me now live from Paris. Good to see you, Jim. So talks to us about the latest on Omicron infections across Europe, and of course, how the various countries are dealing with this.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well in fact, Rosemary, it came as something of a surprise that in all three of the country as you mentioned, Germany, Italy, and France, have a sudden spike in a number of cases after some days of people thinking that perhaps the number of cases had stabilized and the situation was about to improve.
That is not the case. As the WHO, a gentleman there just expressed, you have to remain vigilant. That certainly with all three of these countries are going to deal over the next few days to see if this is just some kind of spike that is inexplicable or of there is some kind of a trend here that needs to be more closely monitored.
Now, one of the things you mentioned, Rosemary, in the lead in is that, that council, economic council that advises the French government has found that the health pass which the French have had in effect for several months is being credited with a lot of saving a lot of lives, 4,000 lives here in France.
And similar passes have also saved lives in Germany and Italy and saved some money. Here in France for example the council estimates that 6 billion euros was saved because people are required by that health pass to get vaccination, at least, required if they want to go out and do all kinds of certain activities going into cafes, bars, and that sort of thing.
So, as a consequence, that encourages -- encouragement of people getting vaccinated has led to increase vaccinations, and that has led to a savings for the economy, Rosemary. CHURCH: Yeah, and it makes absolute sense that a health pass like
that would save lives. Is that health pass evident in most European countries at this juncture?
BITTERMANN: Well, at the moment the most stringent ones are here in France and in Italy. Italy has had for the longest period of time a so-called green pass. But the other -- the one here in France is a health pass which is now being converted and we are going to see what the constitutional court says finally on Friday, and that will be the -- determine whether or not this health pass can be converted into a vaccination past which will -- the way that people show proof of their vaccinations if they want to go out to the restaurant or cafe or -- long distance train or something like that.
It is likely to go through the constitutional court. The government says they are going to instigate it right away. So we should see probably maybe even by next week. There will be this requirement. Show proof of vaccination to do any kind of public activities, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yeah, each country getting smarter about how to get beyond this pandemic. Let's just hope that more countries take on a similar health pass -- vaccination pass as France.
Jim Bittermann, joining us live from Paris, many thanks.
Well part of Asia are tightening their COVID safety measures amid fears of a new outbreaks and surge in cases. Japan's Prime Minister will announce stricter restrictions in 13 regions after a record rise in infections.
Meantime, in Hong Kong, thousands of people have signed a petition to stop the government ordered culling of small animals. Officials fear they could spread the coronavirus.
[03:35:05]
CNN's Blake Essig joins me now from Tokyo with the latest.
So, let's start with Japan. Of course the stricter restrictions that coming into place, so what is going to happen there?
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yeah, you know, Rosemary, Japan Six Waves started taking shape just a few days into January and because of the rapid spread of Omicron. The government has implemented several measures to try and stop it, that include extending border restrictions through the end of February and likely approving quasi- state of emergency orders as you mentioned, for 13 prefectures. We expect that decision later today.
Once a quasi-state of emergency order is authorized by the national government, local governors can ask residence to avoid traveling across prefectural borders. They can also request that bars and restaurants limit their operating hours and ask them to stop serving alcohol. If businesses don't comply, fines could be imposed.
Now here's a look at the map showing the prefectures across the country that would be impacted by the stricter measures, that includes three prefectures where quasi-state of emergency orders are already in place. Yesterday Japan's COVID case count topped 30,000 for the first time ever. The previous record was more than 25,000 cases recorded last August. Just about two weeks after the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony.
And speaking of the Olympic, the Winter Games in Beijing start in just about two weeks, and the Chinese government is taking drastic measures to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Relatively speaking, the case count is extremely low compared to other countries, only 87 new cases reported yesterday. But because of the country's zero COVID policy, even one case reported it means mass testing and lockdowns.
Currently more than 20 million people across the country are confined to their homes. That include several neighborhoods in Beijing which is supposed to be a COVID free area ahead of the Olympics.
And finally, Rosemary, the story you mentioned early on in Hong Kong after 11 hamsters at a local pet shop tested positive for COVID, the government has ordered the culling of more than 2,000 small animals that includes hamsters, rabbit, chinchillas and guinea pigs while local health officials have said that the risk of transmission from these animals to humans is low.
Because they say that it is possible, they are asking people who purchase hamsters after December 22nd to hand them over to be killed. These are peoples pets, Rosemary. As a result, the government -- of this government's plan more than 18,000 people so far had signed a petition to stop the culling of those small animals.
CHURCH: Yeah, very disturbing, and such an overreach of authority isn't it? Blake Essig, joining us live from Tokyo, many thanks.
Well, still to come, new research is shedding light on the impact pandemic school closures have had on children's mental and physical well-being. We will explain on the other side of the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00]
CHURCH: New research highlights the toll pandemic school closures have taken on children's mental and physical health. Researchers looked at dozens of studies from 11 countries, across the board they found increased levels of depression and anxiety among young people and found students were less engaged with their school work.
They also found impacts on children's physical health, with lower levels of physical activity and an increase in obesity. On top of that students experiencing food insecurity could be missing their one nutritious meal a day when not in school.
Judy Ho is a clinical and forensic neuro psychologist and author of the book "Stop Self Sabotage," and she joins me now from Los Angeles. Thank you so much for being with us. JUDY HO, LICENSED CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST (on camera):
Great to be with you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So this new research suggesting the impact the closure of schools during the pandemic is truly having this wide range in impact on kids mental and physical well-being. But it is difficult, isn't it, because, I mean, for those of us who are parents, I mean my children for instance have thrived in that situation. But for others, it can be a very drastic outcome, can it? So talk to us about the scope of those reactions to the pandemic closures.
HO: You are absolutely right, Rosemary. There is a range of reactions to the lockdowns. And having to transition to learning mostly online, maybe away from your usual friends and I think for those who the pandemic has negatively impacted, it really comes down to that lack of social communication, social community and some younger students are able to find a way to still have that community, have that closeness and have social connections but others have not.
And social connection for children and adults alike is essential to mental and physical health that we have so many studies that document this, an adult already, now we are seeing the same impact on children and at no surprise to me because this is a time when children are really trying to develop their social skills and understanding who they are and developing their identity as well.
CHURCH: Yeah, particularly for those younger kids, I really feel for parents of kids going to elementary school because there are so many milestones in that education. And of course, at the beginning of this pandemic it was totally understandable that schools would close as teachers, and authorities, and public health experts wrap their minds around what we are dealing with here.
But now, two years later we have masks, we have vaccines for most people over five. So we have so many tools available too, there really is no excuse surely to be closing any schools at this junction.
HO: And I think it really comes down to, Rosemary, having those protocols in place. I personally know many educators and there still isn't a lot of consistency in terms of the procedures that are being put in place in the schools to keep everyone safe.
So we have all these tools, but not every school is consistently using them, and adding to that is the anxiety of the teachers and staff themselves. So there is also a wide ranging reaction among the teachers and staff.
Some teachers are actually really anxious to be in schools right now, and that is obviously going to impact the quality of education they are able to impart on the children in their classroom, if they are not feeling secure about the protocols that are in place for them.
CHURCH: So what advice would you give to parents particularly, also kids, and teachers, of course, in this situation on how they can deal with this anxiety that a lot of these children are experiencing at this time. What is the best advice you can give everyone for this? HO: That's a great question, I think for the children, and parents of
children, it is really important to find some way to have social connection. If you are not able to have that safe way in person, or even if you are in person that children still feel like that's lacking because they are really anxious being in the school, and they are not able to really tend to their social communication there.
So really make sure that you are building that somehow into the schedule that you have for your children with your extended a household, with other family members, finding innovative ways to have that social connection, that is key. Children need the social connection, they need to practice for their social skills.
For parents, and staff, and teachers who might be anxious about the school protocol, speak up. I think this is time where we have to advocate for ourselves, talk about the tools that at our disposal, if you don't like something that is going on, you think that the school is not being a safe as they can be, let's talk about it.
[03:45:12]
This is not the time to stay quiet and just go to work and be passive about it. You really just have to stand up and advocate for yourself in the safety of everybody around you.
CHURCH: Such great advice on all levels there, Dr. Judy Ho, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
HO: Thanks, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And still ahead, CNN sits down with Serbia's Prime Minister to discuss Novak Djokovic's visa saga in Australia. And why she says the unvaccinated tennis star is not an anti-vaxxer.
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CHURCH: Serbia's Prime Minister says she is disappointed with how Novak Djokovic was treated during his visa fight in Australia. The tennis star was deported over the weekend after losing his bid to defend his title at the Australian Open over his COVID vaccination status.
CNN's Scott McLean sat down with Serbia's Prime Minister to discuss the ordeal.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): After getting booted from Australia, Novak Djokovic is now one of the world's most famous vaccine holdouts. But the Serbian Prime Minister says, don't call him an anti-vaxxer. Ana Brnabic says she still cannot understand how a political decision got him deported after she says Australian authorities assured her that politics would not be a factor.
Did you get any indication from Australia, or any assurances from Australia that politics would not be involved? ANA BRNABIC, SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER: I got reassurances that politics
would not be involved. And that Novak would be treated fairly.
MCLEAN: If you are given the assurance in Australia that this would not be political, or that politicians would not be involved, you must have felt betrayed then?
BRNABIC: I can't say that I felt betrayed. What I care is that citizens of Serbia are treated fairly. And that -- I try to help them as much as possible.
MCLEAN: Do you know why Novak Djokovic doesn't want to take the vaccine?
BRNABIC: No, I don't know. It's his own personal decision. You will have to ask Novak. I know that vaccination is the only way out of this pandemic.
MCLEAN: Australia has framed him as an anti-vaxxer, I know that is not how he is seen in this country, but do you think he has an obligation to clarify his stance?
BRNABIC: I do not see Novak is anti-vaxxer. When Novak was organizing tennis tournament here in Serbia, you know, we had all of the vaccines available for tennis players when they couldn't get the vaccination in their own countries. You know, so he supported the vaccination. He supports the vaccination of those people who want to be vaccinated. So I'm not perceiving him as anti-vaxxer.
MCLEAN: Does it make you a little bit uncomfortable though that over the past week or so, you have had to defend someone's right not to take the vaccine, even as you are trying to get people to take it?
BRNABIC: Do we not live in democracy? Isn't it about the personal choices? So -- you know -- in the toughest of times, you need I guess, to defend personal choices, not necessarily agreeing with those choices.
[03:50:05]
MCLEAN: Do you think countries like France, per se, are on a slippery slope. I mean, they are making life extremely difficult for the unvaccinated, other countries are talking about vaccine mandates for everybody. Do you think that is a slippery slope?
BRNABIC: I would never want to be the Prime Minister of a country which is -- who's police is brutally beating people up in the streets because they are protesting against vaccination. I am very happy with how Serbia has dealt with all of this. And we need to continue thinking about personal freedoms and personal liberties. Because you know, if we don't, then it is a slippery slope for the entire world.
MCLEAN: Djokovic obviously said that he went out on December 18th he knowingly was positive, he did the interview anyways, but I have yet to hear your government strongly criticize him for that, why?
BRNABIC: We started -- it's a career breach of rules and --
MCLEAN: I mean, Serbia has gone after people. I mean, Serbia has prosecuted people put them in jail, fine people.
BRNABIC: That simply, yes. Yes. Yes.
MCLEAN: And so a lot of people are looking to the government to a sort of more harshly criticize him.
BRNABIC: There is a huge difference between -- when that happened and when Novak did what he did. When we did that, we were allowed to do it, only because it was under the state of emergency, under a lockdown.
MCLEAN: Brnabic has not spoken to her Australian counterpart since Djokovic was sent home, and while Australians/Serbian relations have surely been strained, Brnabic says they weren't that close to begin with.
Scott Mclean, CNN, Belgrade, Serbia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: The NBA's Golden State Warriors are distancing themselves from a part owners derogatory comments about China's Uyghurs minority, saying he does not speak for the franchise.
Chamat Palihapitiya, a limited investor recently told the "All-In" podcast that no one cares about the Uyghurs and that America should focus on fixing itself.
CHAMAT PALIHAPITIYA, PART OWNER GOLDEN SATTE WARRIORS: Nobody cares about what's happening to the Uyghurs. OK? You bring it up because you really care? And I think that's nice that you care.
UNKNOWN: What? What do you mean nobody cares?
PALIHAPITIYA: The rest of us don't care. I'm telling you a very hard ugly truth, OK? Of all the things that I care about, yes it is below my line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The billionaire added that he cares about climate change and the crippling U.S. Health care system but argued sustaining human rights globally is a luxury belief. After his remarks sparked outrage, he tweeted this. "In re-listening to this week's podcast, I recognize that I come across as lacking empathy. To be clear, my belief is that human rights matter whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full stop."
A U.S. basketball player became the target of racial abuse in China. In a video posted to social media, Chinese fans are heard yelling racist insults at Sonny Weems, an American who plays for a Chinese team.
CNN's David Culver has our report.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In a disturbing video circulating on social media, you can hear basketball fans in China repeatedly shouting racist slurs including the N-word at American basketball player, Sonny Weems.
(BEEP)
Telling the 35-year-old to (inaudible), Weems, who briefly played in the NBA now place for the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Part of the Chinese basketball association. The incident happened after a game last Thursday in (Inaudible), China. On the court a fight broke out between Weems and Chinses player (Inaudible), both were expelled from the game as Weems exited his bus postgame, some fans were in the opposing team's jersey shouted the racially charged words.
In a statement released Friday, the CBA condemned the incident writing, the CBA has a zero tolerance attitude towards any discriminatory words or deeds, and in an open letter to fans asked them to, quote, "Resist uncivilized behavior," both teams likewise condemning the fans behavior.
Yao Ming team writing, what a fan should do is to cheer for players on the field, rather than insult, disrespect, or even abuse opponents off the court. Taiwanese American player, Jeremy Lin, immediately jumped to Weems defense posting on his Chinese social media, Weibo account, "The abuse Weems received really was disrespectful. That word carried so much hurt, unfairness and hatred that I could not put into words."
CNN reached out to Weems, but did not immediately hear back. His last post on his official Weibo page, hearts. A surge of support of comments from Chinese fans followed. Peace and love. We will always be behind you, one fan wrote. Another, apologizing, I am sorry, are you all right now, we always support you and stay here with you.
[03:55:06]
The incident follows what has been a tumultuous few years in which U.S./China sports and politics have repeatedly crashed. In 2019, comments made by the then Houston Rockets G.M. in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protest, nearly severed a multibillion dollar deal between the NBA and China. By far its largest market outside of the U.S.
In less than three weeks, Beijing will host the Winter Olympics. Publicly, China has work to portray a welcoming atmosphere ahead of the games. Speaking to the media on Monday in Beijing, former NBA star and Rockets' center, Yao Ming, now president of the government affiliated CBA highlighted the role of sports in building bridges between countries.
YAO MING, FORMER NBA PLAYER (through translator): There's bound to be traffic on bridges, so sometimes we see collisions. It may take some time to resolve some issues. But we want to keep the bridges intact. CULVER: But a rising nationalism, coupled with state media fan claims
that COVID-19 was originally imported into China, have added to tensions between Chinese nationals and foreigners living in the country. And videos like this one, fueling what is already a fiery relationship between China and the West.
David Culver, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well, a Roman villa valued at more than half a billion dollars failed to attract any bidders on Tuesday when it hit the auction block. The sprawling villa Aurora which houses the world's only ceiling mural by the famed painter Caravaggio, is at the center of a family disputes. The sons of the Italian prince had been fighting their late fathers Texas born wife for the property, which has been in the family for centuries. But a court order the villa to be sold at auction. There will be a second round of bidding in April, with the starting price slashed by 20 percent to just under $400 million.
And a large black diamond dubbed the enigma and believed to have come from outer space will be auctioned at Sotheby's next month. Here it is, experts say the diamond was either created from a meteoric impact or from a diamond bearing asteroid that collided with the earth. Since the diamond like this is so rare, Sotheby's expects to sell it for as much as nearly $7 million. Incredible.
Thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a happy and safe day. "CNN Newsroom" continues now with Isa Soares.
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