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Kremlin Plotting to Install Puppet Leader in Ukraine; Biden Pays Tribute to Fallen Officers; New York City Mayor Asks Federal Government to Help Stop Flow of Guns; Homicides Rise in Over Two- Thirds of 40 Biggest U.S. Cities; FDA Considers Limiting Authorization of Some Monoclonal Antibody Treatments; Anti-Vax Attitudes Pushing Hospitals to the Brink; Thousands Protest Vaccine Pass in Paris; Football League in Tough Mexico Neighborhood Brings Hope; Satellite Images Show Scale of Devastation in Tonga; Scientists Say Mapping Ocean Critical to Fight Climate Change. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 23, 2022 - 03:00   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 AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers, joining us all around the world, I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company.

Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM. The U.K. government alleging a plot by Putin, to install a puppet government in Ukraine. We are live in Kyiv with the latest.

Plus, a police officer shot and killed, in New York while responding to a domestic incident. Just the latest deadly shooting in America, as gun violence continues to skyrocket.

And, new details, about a serious four-car crash, involving former governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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

HOLMES: Welcome, everyone.

With Russia's military looming over Ukraine, from multiple directions, the British foreign office claims to have information about an alleged plot by the Kremlin, to install a puppet leader in Kyiv. The foreign office, going on to name a number of former Ukrainian officials, allegedly, in contact with Russian intelligence.

A source telling CNN, U.S. intelligence has the same information. The Kremlin, angrily dismissing the plot accusation as misinformation and demanding the U.K., quote, "stop engaging in provocations."

Now the revelation of the alleged plot elicited this response from the U.S. National Security Council. "This kind of plotting is deeply concerning. The Ukrainian people have

the sovereign right to determine their own future. And we stand with our democratically elected partners in Ukraine."

For more on the U.S. reaction, here is Arlette Saenz from the White House.

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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Biden convened a meeting of his national security team at Camp David, on Saturday, to discuss Russia's recent aggressive actions toward Ukraine.

Joining him in person for this meeting were his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, along with his counselor, Steve Ricchetti, and other members of the president's national security team joined virtually.

The White House, releasing a statement and readout of this meeting, saying, the president was briefed on Russia's recent military actions regarding Ukraine and, also, on those diplomatic efforts, to try to de-escalate the situation.

Additionally, the president discussed the deterrence measures that the U.S. and allies, are taking, regarding the situation including, the recent security assistance, that has been delivered to Ukraine.

Importantly, at the end of that readout, the White House also said, President Biden, again, affirmed, that Russia should further invade Ukraine, the United States will pose swift and severe consequences on Russia, with our allies and partners.

Right, now the White House is really trying to pursue this diplomatic path to try to de-escalate these tensions, encourage Russia to de- escalate the situation.

But also they are making these contingency plans of what the U.S. would do, how allies would respond, if Russia follows through with that invasion. That includes the potential of severe economic sanctions as well as the Pentagon, drafting options, for what type of military options the U.S. military may be able to provide, to Eastern European NATO allies.

But right now, the White House is, really, laser focused on that diplomatic effort. We expect the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will be speaking in the coming week with his counterpart, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

And the White House, has not taken the option of a meeting between President Biden and President Putin off the table. But right now, a senior State Department official says, they are pursuing that diplomatic path, but adding that, if Russians move into Ukraine, further, then diplomacy is over -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Let's bring in CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward in Kyiv.

The U.K. government saying Russia is looking to install a pro Russian leader in Kyiv.

So what do you make of a fairly preemptive announcement, any reaction there?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No reaction here so far. It almost seems as if the U.K. wants to make sure that Russia knows that it is already aware of these plans, that may or may not be in store.

[03:05:00]

WARD: We saw a tweet from Britain's foreign secretary, Liz Truss, saying, quote, "We will not tolerate a Kremlin plot to install pro Russian leadership in Ukraine."

As you heard, this is in sync with information that the U.S. has. And, actually, one of the men on the list, one of the four men on the list, was also on a list of sanctions, directed by the U.S. Treasury, for people being influenced by Russian security services, the FSB, in an attempt to destabilize Ukraine.

The question becomes -- it's difficult for us in these situations, we don't know where this information is coming, from exactly, what it is based upon. It is one thing to say, the Russians are planning to install a pro Russian leadership, here, in Kyiv.

It's another thing to understand how they would go about that, even if they had several stooges on their side. Michael.

HOLMES: The naming of the names, what individuals stand out?

WARD: The four individuals, first of all, most involved in the previous government of Viktor Yanukovych, who, of course, was overthrown -- fled the country, after the Maidan revolution, here in Ukraine.

And, according to our sources on the ground, most of these men are not actually here, in Ukraine, any longer, but in Russia. So not entirely surprising, that they would, still, be involved in pro Russian activity.

Of course, Yanukovych was very close to the Kremlin, which is part of the reason that the Maidan revolution started in the first place. We did reach out to the man, who the foreign office names as, being, this potential, pro Kremlin candidate.

And he replied to us, "I am a Ukrainian. The Russian Federation has a well-known candidate and I have their sanctions and the seizure of my father's assets. So there is nothing to comment there."

And Murayev is on a Russian sanctions list. So difficult to know what exactly to make of that. And again, without knowing this information, logic or intelligence behind this claim from the U.K. foreign office, it is a little hard to fully understand it -- although, I should say, at the same time, Michael, this is an age-old trick.

Using pawns, Russia using its pawns to try to improve its influence or try to sway power, this is an age-old trick. This is not something new. We saw something similar in Crimea. So none of this is surprising. It's just that there is a paucity of information, making it more difficult for us to understand the background of it all.

HOLMES: That was my next question; the Russians did something very similar, in Crimea, in 2014, installing Moscow friendly local leaders, after going in. I was there, in Crimea when that happened.

And some analysts are saying, a Crimea-style limited, incursion and then perhaps, a referendum on joining Russia, could happen in the Donbas.

Are you hearing that, as perhaps, a concerning option for Mr. Putin?

WARD: I think of all the options that have been laid out and all of the possibilities. I should say, this is all speculative, because we just don't know. The one that analysts seem to think is most likely as a probability, rather than a possibility, it is that Russia would, officially, take that territory of the Donbas, which has been under the control pro Russian separatists, for many years now.

But which would, still, as we heard from secretary of state Tony Blinken and from the president himself, would constitute, in the eyes of the U.S. and NATO, a reinvasion of Ukrainian territory.

You might see fewer casualties and less violence because it is, effectively, already under Russia friendly control. But it would still constitute a major violation of Ukraine sovereignty.

So you can still expect there will still be outrage, heavy sanctions and more to pay, for Russia, indeed, if it does take that course of action.

But the question, now, becomes, what other options does Russia have?

Where is the off-ramp for Putin, allowing him to de-escalate, without losing face?

He has, somewhat, painted himself into a corner. The diplomatic efforts continue and I do think that is significant that, even after the talks between Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that diplomacy did not reach a dead end, that it limps on to see another day.

But the question remains, what realistically, can the two sides agree on, diplomatically, when there is such a chasm between the demands and concerns of either side?

HOLMES: And you know the region well.

[03:10:00]

HOLMES: Ukraine's, at least, on a path to democracy; it's a nascent one.

Does that worry Putin?

Does he fear those democratic tendencies bleeding across the border?

And that it's about preservation rather than any actual military threat?

WARD: I think there is a number of potential calculations that President Putin is making. One of them is the idea that Russia and Ukraine are one people and Kyiv was part of ancient Russe and indeed, we saw President Putin pen this open letter, back in July of last year, detailing through history why he believes that Russia and Ukraine are one people, sharing much, spiritually, in terms of language, history and culture.

The second, as you mentioned, is this idea of a strong, democratic Ukraine, right on Russia's doorstep.

What kind of threat does that potentially pose to President Putin?

He's talked a lot about NATO expansion and feeling that as being direct aggression toward Russia, essentially wanting to push back any potential progress made on that front.

But what is difficult to know, at this stage, Michael, is what President Putin's real intentions are here.

Does he, in fact, seek to precipitate a military invasion, the likes of which particularly U.S. intelligence services have predicted?

Or is this saber-rattling in an attempt to extract concessions from the U.S. and NATO?

What makes that so difficult for the U.S. and its allies, is one has to be ready for every eventuality and it's entirely possible at this stage that even President Putin himself, has not yet really made a decision about what he wants.

We know he wants to rewrite the post-Cold War security arrangements and agreements, in Europe.

But is that realistic?

Is that feasible or possible?

Probably not.

So what are his remaining options?

And how does he pursue them?

That remains to be seen. HOLMES: Great analysis, as always. Clarissa Ward, in Kyiv, thank you

so much.

We will take a quick break. When we come back, New York's mayor says a flood of out of state guns is leading to a sea of violence, as the city honors police officers killed and wounded in the line of duty.

Also, still to come on the program, violent crime has risen in general across the U.S. during the pandemic. Now a new study takes a look at the difference state laws can have, in preventing gun deaths. That's coming up.

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HOLMES: Welcome back.

New York's mayor says he, unapologetically, has the backs of police officers as the city faces a recent uptick in violence. The message coming after one NYPD officer was killed and another seriously wounded, when a suspect in a domestic disturbance opened fire on Friday; 22-year-old Jason Rivera, joining the force, just over year ago.

He is one of five officers shot this year, the first killed in the line of duty. U.S. president Joe Biden tweeting that he is keeping Rivera's family in his prayers and expressed gratitude for his sacrifice.

During a vigil on Saturday, New York City's mayor told officers not to give up or become disillusioned by the rise of violent crime.

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MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: We are in battle with a small number of people, that believe they will hold our city hostage with violence.

That will not happen. And we are not going to be intimidated by those who believe that we should look down on the men and women who put on their bulletproof vests, stand on street corners, protecting children and families as though they should be ashamed of the occupation that they are holding in this city.

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HOLMES: Mayor Adams, also calling on the federal government, to help stop the flow of guns into New York City; though, not near the rate of the early 1990s.

Crime has been on the rise in recent months and that extends all across the U.S. Now a new study is seeing the possible connection between state laws and gun violence. CNN's Brian Todd, reports.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New information on the rising tide of gun violence, in America. The group Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy organization, is out with a new study, showing what it says is a direct correlation in states with weaker gun laws to higher rates of gun deaths.

NICK SUPLINA, EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY: Gun violence is preventable. Common sense gun laws can make a difference in saving lives.

TODD (voice-over): The organization rated the 50 states on how strict their gun laws are, with dark blue being strict and white being lax. California had the most strict laws. Mississippi, the least strict.

Then, they mapped how many people were killed by guns in 2020, per 100,000 people. Mississippi was worst, with 28.6 per 100,000; California was among the best, with only 85,000.

SUPLINA: California is at the top of our list, because it is doing so much right on gun safety. It has a background check system in place. It has extreme risk laws. It has secure storage laws. And it doesn't have some of the most detrimental gun laws on the books, like stand- your-ground, like permitless carry.

TODD (voice-over): It comes as New York City's mayor is pressing to stop the flow of guns into America's cities, following the wounding of an 11 month old baby girl in the Bronx, shot in the face as she was sitting in a car with her mother; shot unintentionally, police believe, as one man chased another down a street.

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ADAMS: Enough is enough.

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ADAMS: If tonight wasn't a wakeup call, then I don't know what will wake us up.

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TODD (voice-over): Meanwhile, two horrific random murders in Los Angeles, sparking new concerns about the overall rise in violent crime in America: 24 year-old Brianna Kupfer, a UCLA grad student, was stabbed to death inside the furniture store where she worked in the middle of the afternoon earlier this month.

LT. JOHN RADKE, LOS ANGELES POLICE: A customer found Brianna lying on the ground, lifeless, covered in blood.

TODD (voice-over): And Sandra Shells, a 70 year-old nurse, was struck in the face without provocation, police say, as she waited at a bus stop. She fell backward, fracturing here skull on the concrete.

In both cases, homeless men were arrested. One criminologist tells us violent crime in America has kept going up during the pandemic.

RICHARD ROSENFELD, CRIMINOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI/ST. LOUIS: In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, homicide rates, on average, continued to rise in U.S. cities but at a slower pace. They went up over 30 percent in 2020 and it looks like they went up something like 4-5 percent, in last year.

TODD: Professor Richard Rosenfeld attributed that rise to the sheer stress of the pandemic on so many Americans and the strain on law enforcement in the pandemic with fewer police officers on the streets.

He said, he hopes the pandemic related violence will come down soon but he says another incident like the George Floyd murder could cause homicide rates to spike, again. He says, murder rates do tend to go up during periods of social unrest -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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HOLMES: Anthony Barksdale is CNN law enforcement analyst, also the former acting police commissioner in Baltimore.

Great to have your voice on this. Gun violence is just out of control in the U.S. A dozen major cities broke annual homicide records. I think it is two-thirds of the country's most populated cities seeing more homicides in '21, than the previous year.

What is going on?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You said it correctly. It's out of control. We've had a lot of factors bounced around as the cause of this gun violence. Some say COVID, some say the Ferguson effect, where, it is hypothesized that police officers have retreated from doing police work.

Some blame an extraordinary amount of guns across the United States that are falling into the hands of criminals, some illegal guns, some ghost guns, where people in the U.S., are making guns themselves. And then, going out to use them, to commit crimes.

So there are so many factors but it has become a point where there is analysis paralysis. And we are years into this failure, years. And nothing has been done to stop it.

HOLMES: Exactly. There is the hypothesizing, that, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, there was fallout. Police, perhaps, pulling back from some enforcement, because they didn't want to risk prosecution.

You also had communities pulling back from engagement, because of a lack of trust.

When you have that divide between community and law enforcement, it's not going to be a good outcome.

What is the answer? BARKSDALE: Well, you're right again. This is something, where the police have to show the citizens that they are there for them. They are for their communities. And, it doesn't help when you have video evidence of actions, like Derek Chauvin, with his knee on top of Mr. Floyd's neck, taking his life.

When we have video of the incident where the officer shoots Daunte Wright, claiming that she thought it was her Taser, not her service weapon.

So there is a lot of hard work to be done to restore that trust and communication between police departments and the community. But in the meantime, something has to be done about the daily amount of gun violence we're seeing in the U.S.

HOLMES: Let's talk about it. It is a fact that America is awash in guns. People watching us, around the world, can't believe it: 120 guns, for every 100 people. It just seems that disputes or confrontations that in other countries might end in a fistfight, in the U.S. a gun is always close at hand and often the first resort.

What is the answer to that?

It is a culture in the U.S.

You are not going to roll back the number of guns around, are you?

BARKSDALE: No, sir. It is, absolutely part of American culture. Some so to speak are 150 million up as far as guns floating in the U.S. So a lot of the politicians are saying, oh, we are going to go after the guns.

[03:25:00]

BARKSDALE: Well, that's kind of like picking up grains of sand on a beach. The goal is to constitutionally subtract the most violent criminals from the U.S. crime equation. It is not 1,000 criminals in one block that are committing homicides, robberies, carjackings.

It is a handful of individuals, where the police, the prosecutors in the community, must agree upon to say, OK, this individual is bad. This individual is a killer and we don't want him in our community.

HOLMES: Really quickly, with a minute left, do you see this getting worse, before it gets better?

BARKSDALE: Sadly, I see it getting worse. Already, we are seeing violence across the U.S. in the start of 2022. New York just had an officer killed, another officer shot. That is five NYPD, New York Police Department officers, shot, already, in 2022.

Baltimore, D.C., Philadelphia, all of these cities are still seeing violence, already, this year. So I don't know when it will stop but it can be stopped. It has been stopped before, so, we have to buckle down and do the work in front of us.

HOLMES: Make the hard decisions. Anthony Barksdale, really appreciate it, thank you so much.

BARKSDALE: Thank you for having me.

HOLMES: Arnold Schwarzenegger is reportedly not hurt after being involved in a four vehicle accident, sending one woman to the hospital. The 74-year-old actor and former California governor was driving on the busy Sunset Boulevard, on Friday, when the crash happened. CNN's Natasha Chen, has the latest on what police and the actor are saying.

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NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A representative for Arnold Schwarzenegger, telling "People" magazine, he is fine. He is just concerned for the woman who was injured in this accident.

LAPD did not give an update on Saturday but did release a statement, saying this happened around 4:35 pm local time on Friday, on the busy Sunset Boulevard, in the Brentwood area of West L.A. There were four vehicles involved.

And while there is no cause of the collision that they stated, LAPD did say, they do not believe that drugs or alcohol were factors, in this accident. The woman who was injured, police saying she had an abrasion to her head and was sent to a local hospital.

Aerials that we are seeing from Friday night, captured by our affiliate KABC, shows a Yukon SUV, driven by Schwarzenegger, on top of another car. It actually had to be brought back to the street level. And, of course, we saw them haul away a red Prius from the accident, as well.

Again, the 74-year-old, former governor of California, his representative, says he is fine. Just hoping that the woman who was injured and taken to the hospital, will be OK. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: All right, Natasha Chen.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, hospitalizations plateauing in some parts of the U.S. But that is not the case for the whole country.

And, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, once saying, he wanted to piss off the unvaccinated. Now he may have gotten his wish. We have more on that, when we come back.

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HOLMES: COVID cases in some parts of the U.S. seem to be leveling off a little. Hospitalizations in the Northeast, down by about 11 percent, after reaching a peak about a week ago.

The Midwest, also seeing a slight drop, around 6 percent. And new hospital admissions are beginning to decline nationwide. A sign total hospitalizations might, soon, be going down as well.

But in places like North Carolina, Arkansas, West Virginia, both cases and hospitalizations are headed up. And FDA officials are considering limiting the authorization of some monoclonal antibody treatments.

A source says, evidence indicates, treatments produced by Eli Lilly and Regeneron do not effectively neutralize the Omicron variant.

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HOLMES: Now across the United States, hospital intensive care units are filled, largely, with unvaccinated COVID patients. And health care workers are being pushed to the brink. In an op-ed for the "Los Angeles Times," Dr. Venktesh Ramnath, a pulmonologist at UC San Diego Health, writes this.

"Far from heroes or even compassionate advocates for health, providers are viewed as biased technicians, with dubious motives, locking loved ones behind hospital doors."

He adds, "This kind of thinking is taking a toll on beleaguered health care workers and staff."

Dr. Venktesh Ramnath is a pulmonologist and medical director of critical care telemedicine outreach at UC San Diego Health.

Doctor, great to have you on. You wrote this op-ed and you spoke about rising tensions when it comes to dealing with the unvaccinated and families. Explain that for us.

DR. VENKTESH RAMNATH, PULMONOLOGIST, UC SAN DIEGO HEALTH: As you know, I think there are a lot of folks who've been feeling a lot of stress, during the entire pandemic. And, that includes, health care workers.

But certainly, during the last 6-8 months, there has been a little bit of a shift after those first waves. We started seeing that, even though the vaccine was out and efficacious that people were still not taking that for themselves. And which is certainly their choice.

But there were questions asked around whether they would get different treatment as part of their choice. And so some of the conversations around the latter part of the summer were around that, where patients who were suffering from critical illness were worried about whether they would get different care.

And we reassured them, saying, no, we would treat them the same as we do everybody. But it didn't seem to convince them.

HOLMES: Have you been able to get a sense of why some people are feeling the way they are?

Why they are so resistant and sometimes angry? And why some patients will refused lifesaving treatment up until the very end?

RAMNATH: Well, I think it's a challenging time in terms of understanding what's happening in the world and certainly in health care, with the pandemic.

[03:35:00]

RAMNATH: It's been so overwhelming to so many people.

And a lot of people don't know where to turn for answers. And in the wake of that chaotic state of mind, people are not sure whom to trust. And sometimes that conflict becomes unbearable. And it shows in ways that we don't intend. I don't think these patients and families intend to show these kinds of emotions.

HOLMES: Right.

RAMNATH: But we are human beings and that's what happens. And unfortunately, on the health care side, the health care workers are feeling the effects of that.

HOLMES: I can't imagine how stressful it must be, even without that factor.

How many health care professionals have you seen just give up and quit the profession?

And what do departures mean for those still on the front lines?

RAMNATH: I think it's a hard time for any health care worker. And I have to say that I don't know the statistics of this anymore than I know that it's a growing trend of people who are thinking about this. They are thinking about their careers in ways that maybe they didn't think about before.

And I know that certainly the nursing staff, of people who have been there for years and even decades, have taken decisions to either move on or go to other types of clinical work that are just less intense.

HOLMES: So is there a message that you would have for anyone watching this?

RAMNATH: Well, I just want to let everyone know, whoever is watching this, that we, as health care workers, are on your side. We are here, really, for the best interest of the patient. We do not care about your religious preferences or your political views. They do not enter the doctor's office. They do not enter the hospital room.

The only thing that matters is the best interest of the patients. And that may come in the form of medical recommendations that we will suggest, based on the preponderance of evidence and the experts in the field.

But also it will come with heartfelt and sincere communication and empathy around, how do we align what we have with medical therapies with your values in life?

It is very important that you understand that we are on the same page with you. We are on this battle together, against this common viral enemy. And we are doing this together. I just wanted to impart that to your viewership.

HOLMES: Yes. And we appreciate it, Dr. Venktesh Ramnath, and appreciate everything that you do. Thank you so much.

RAMNATH: Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: The new French vaccine pass is provoking strong emotions on the streets of Paris.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Crowds there, shouting, "Macron, we don't want your pass," as they marched through the French capital on Saturday. Thousands came out to voice their anger at the vaccine pass, recently approved into law. And, as Melissa Bell reports, the anger could spill over into Mr. Macron's bid for a second term.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three protests, in a single week. Medical workers, teachers and ordinary citizens, angered by the French government's handling of the pandemic. But with a fifth wave bringing record COVID figures, it is determined to keep up the pressure on the unvaccinated.

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Make this simple gesture, for you, for your countrymen, for our country. The whole of France, is counting on you.

BELL (voice-over): Emmanuel Macron's tone, changing, only days later. When he told a newspaper, he wanted, with his vaccine pass, to piss off France's unvaccinated citizens, roughly, 7.5 percent of the population. It appears to have worked.

Protesters, angry that the unvaccinated will be excluded from restaurants, cafes, theaters and even transport between regions. Anger, reflected also in parliament, as lawmakers debated the tightening of COVID regulations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We will see people hiding in the train's toilets to eat their sandwiches.

BELL (voice-over): One lawmaker, showing the three kilograms of equipment, he says, he will be carrying around until the end of his life, as a result of catching COVID-19.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When I take the train, I don't worry about whether or not I will be able to eat peanuts. I ask myself whether or not I am going to get out of the train in one piece or whether I will be going back to hell.

BELL (voice-over): More than 300 death threats have been reported against elected officials since July 2021, according to the minister of the interior. The majority of them from anti-vaxers. This lawmaker, from Macron's party, now has his home patrolled by the police.

JACQUES MAIRE, FRENCH MP: What we feel now is that the pandemic, there are some people who used to be normal, engaged citizens --

[03:40:00]

MAIRE: -- will become more and more marginalized, in fact, and will fill themselves with a kind of blockade.

BELL: The debate, here in the national assembly, was angrier and longer than the government had expected. In Emmanuel Macron's words on wanting to piss off the unvaccinated, certainly, didn't help. So (INAUDIBLE) even using them, he was actually seeking as a reforming president, as a strong president, to look ahead to an election that is now less than three months away.

BRUNO CAUTRES, POLITICAL ANALYST: When he said that, he is also saying that if you reelect me, I would continue to do this kind of thing, I will continue to reform France, even if you don't like it.

BELL (voice-over): The French president has yet, to confirm that he will run but his COVID policies look set to loom large. Many candidates, taking part in recent protests. With several, like the far-right Marine Le Pen opposed, not so much to vaccination, per se, as to the government's vaccine pass.

And, there is little doubt that Emmanuel Macron will seek reelection. On Tuesday, he was announcing fresh investments, aimed at making the country more competitive and, already, looking ahead to the next five years -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A dangerous neighborhood in Mexico City is using a popular sport to create a safe haven. We will meet the coordinator of Tepito's very own football league -- coming up.

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HOLMES: A prison in northern Yemen reduced to rubble after Friday's deadly airstrike. Now the charity group Save the Children said at least 83 people were killed, more than 100 wounded.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, blaming the Saudi-led coalition for the attack. But its spokesman dismissed those claims in an interview with Saudi state news as, quote, "baseless and unfounded."

Something positive is happening in one of Mexico City's toughest neighborhoods. It now has its own football league. As CNN's Matt Rivers tells, us it has not solved all the problems.

[03:45:00]

HOLMES: But it's become a joyful oasis from local violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tepito, home to one of Mexico City's most vibrant markets. Within its winding pathways, you can buy just about anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERS: (Speaking Spanish).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): Salvatore Antonio Gomez Hubert, nicknamed Bebe (ph), is a native, a Tepiteno. And when it comes to the struggles of his home, he doesn't mince words.

SALVATORE ANTONIO GOMEZ HUBERT, FOOTBALL IMPRESARIO: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): Tepito is one of, if not the most dangerous neighborhood in Mexico City, home to its most notorious cartel; assaults, murders, normal parts of everyday life carried out, authorities say, mainly by young people from the area.

(Speaking Spanish).

GOMEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): So where to find a bright spot amidst the bad?

GOMEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): Bebe (ph) thinks it's this soccer field, called Maracana, smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood. Going back decades, people came to the dirt field to come play the beautiful game.

But amidst struggles with crime, it was all but abandoned until recently. In 2013, Bebe (ph) thought it was time to bring the field back to life.

GOMEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): So he decided to start a league, with just a few teams at first and, as word spread, he controlled entry, basically saying, look, no drugs, no violence, no turf wars if you want to play here. It's soccer only.

And one night just before Christmas, that's what we saw. The league has exploded into more than 2 dozen teams, playing on a brand-new field, bringing lots of fans to watch throughout the season.

GOMEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): It's also an escape, really, from what happens outside the gates. Just hours before these games were played, several people were shot and killed just blocks from the field, according to police.

(Speaking Spanish).

GOMEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

RIVERS (voice-over): That night before Christmas, several champions were crowned in several different divisions. People were happy, joyous. Bebe (ph) hopes this positivity radiates outward into the surrounding community.

He's not sure that soccer alone can make that happen but it's something. And with the lights out on this season, he can't wait for the next one to start -- Matt Rivers, CNN, in Tepito, Mexico City.

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HOLMES: Scientists have made an amazing discovery in, what is called, the ocean's "twilight zone." A coral reef, in such perfect condition, it seems unaffected by climate change. Coming up, what it could mean for our planet.

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HOLMES: Look at that. New satellite images are showing the sheer force of a recent volcano eruption and tsunami in Tonga. Take a look at the before and after pictures, showing lush, green lands, becoming a scene of gray.

The eruption sent volcanic ash raining down on the island nation. And massive tsunami waves have plowed into the coastline. On Saturday, Japan became the latest nation to send aid to Tonga, a military plane delivering much-needed water and other supplies.

Now a magic garden has been found, underwater, in the South Pacific. This beautiful and pristine coral reef, located in what is called, the twilight zone, deep enough so the sensitive coral organisms can flourish without being bleached by light and the warming water caused by climate change.

As CNN's Rene Marsh shows us, it shows us why scientists want more to be done to explore the world's oceans.

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RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here, off the coast of Tahiti, a stunning discovery. Resting up to 230 feet below the surface was this, a huge, untouched, rose-shaped coral reef, nearly two miles long.

Researchers on a United Nations-led scientific mission, discovered it, diving near the depth of the ocean, known as the twilight zone, 100 to more than 200 feet below the surface, where there is just enough light to sustain life.

That is where they found one of the world's largest coral reefs, appearing unaffected by climate change; stunning, since warming waters have wiped out nearly half of the Earth's known reefs. And over the next couple of decades, there will be a 90 percent decline, according to the latest projections.

EVERT FLIER, NORWEGIAN MAPPING AUTHORITY: It shows us still how little we know about our own planet and how important it is to gain more knowledge, to better understand the processes of those oceans that will, again, influence life on our planet.

MARSH (voice-over): Norwegian oceanographer Evert Flier is helping to lead an international network of governments, ocean scientists, industry and volunteers, in a mission to map the world's seabed by 2030.

FLIER: The shape of the seabed, how deep it is and the ocean currents, it all influences, to a great extent, how climate will develop and how climate will change. Therefore, if we elect (ph) parts of the knowledge in which these climate models are based, our climate models are not as good as they could be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

MARSH (voice-over): The topography of the ocean floor dictates how currents move warm and cold water throughout the planet.

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MARSH (voice-over): And that impacts climate. Ocean sea floor mapping is critical for, precisely predicting and preparing for the climate crisis, melting glaciers and storm surge.

JAMIE MCMICHAEL-PHILLIPS, PROJECT DIRECTOR, SEABED 2030: That will allow lots of clever people to use our information to conduct all sorts of science, all sorts of modeling.

MARSH (voice-over): This mission is underway, in various parts of the world. But so far, just only 20 percent of the world's ocean floor has been mapped. That is the equivalent of the continent of Asia and Africa.

But what still needs to be mapped is almost double the land mass of all of the Earth's continents. It is estimated it will cost $3 billion to $5 billion to complete the mission. The technology does exist but the financial appetite to do it is not robust.

Countries, militaries and private entities, like oil and gas companies, map areas central to their work at sea but are not always willing to share the data. The leaders of the Seabed 2030 mission are now calling on everyday citizens.

MCMICHAEL-PHILLIPS: Whether you are a master of a bulk carrier, whether you are a yacht skipper, whether you are a ferryboat captain, then you are in a position to gather data, to help us chart the seabed.

MARSH: The United Nations has endorsed this mission to map the world's ocean floor. Anyone with a boat could get involved by visiting the Seabed 2030 website.

As for the beautiful coral reefs, researchers hope to learn how and why, it has been able to thrive, despite the climate crisis. What they learn may enable them to save rest of the world's reefs, which protect coastlines from storms and erosion -- Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

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HOLMES: Such an important story.

Thank you for watching CNN with me, I'm Michael Holmes, follow me on Twitter and Instagram, @HolmesCNN. Do stick around. You will be delighted to have that lady over there, Paula Newton, with more news.