Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

CNN International: 2 Police Officers Rescue Child & Woman from Icy Pond; Authorities Easing some Restrictions following rare Protests; French President Honored at White House State Dinner; Study: Teen Brains Aged Faster from Pandemic Stress; Wagner Faces Security over Death of Zambian Recruit. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, ANCHOR & SENIOR SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hello and a warm welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Christina McFarlane in London; Max Foster is on assignment today. Just ahead this hour Ukraine claims Russia is ceding territory inside the country, while Ukrainian embassies seem to be under threat abroad.

We'll have the latest details. Plus the some major Chinese cities ease COVID-19 measures today, but is this sign that zero COVID is softening. We're live in Hong Kong. And with Germany heading home from the World Cup and the knockout stages starting tomorrow, we'll take a closer look at today's crucial matches live from Qatar.

We begin with bizarre threats on Ukrainian embassies abroad. Ukraine is ramping up security after a series of incidents involving letter bombs threatening packages and vandalisms. Now we're learning that this week's embassies in several countries received bloody packages containing animal eyes of more than that in just a moment.

We're also getting new numbers about the death toll of Ukrainian soldiers in the war. And advisor to Ukraine's president says between 10,000 to 13,000 troops have been killed since Russia's February invasion that is far below U.S. estimates.

And in other developments, Kyiv says Russian troops are giving up some ground in the Zaporizhzhia region. A local official claims Russia has started a census in parts of the region, allegedly to prepare civilians for evacuation. Well, for more now on those threatening packages at Ukrainian embassies, let's go straight to our Salma Abdelaziz. She joins us here in London. Salma, tell us more about what we know about these packages and which embassies exactly have been targeted?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. So Ukraine is alleging accusing Russia of essentially carrying out a well-planned campaign against its embassies and its diplomatic centers around the world. What they've done so far is they've stepped up enhance their security measures, after a series of incidences that have involved a letter bombs, vandalism and other threatening types of messages to its diplomatic messages. What we know from this week is that Ukrainian embassies and I'm just reading out the list of places here, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy and Australia and the consulate generals in Naples in Krakow. All of those locations this week received bloody packages that contained animal eyes.

And each of these packages had a liquid a characteristic liquid that it was soaked in and also had a distinct smell. We also know separately on Wednesday that the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid received a letter that was addressed to the ambassador.

That letter then exploded in lightly injured, one of the staff members in that embassy was later able to drive himself to hospital. We do have a statement from Ukraine's foreign minister. I'm going to read you exactly what he said.

We have reason to believe that there is a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates unable to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front. They and by this he means the Kremlin are trying to intimidate us.

So a highly concerning highly shadowy series of incidences that are happening here all of these diplomatic missions and embassies now stepping up their security, Ukraine warning its allies and partner of future further attacks. But we've seen this before, right. We have that open war that's happening on the ground in Ukraine and then always there's this shadowy war in the background.

MACFARLANE: Yes, concerning development, definitely. And one, I know you'll continue to keep across there, Salma Abdelaziz many thanks for now. Now heading into the weekend, tensions over China's zero COVID policy appear to have cooled following those extraordinary mass protests that rocked the nation this week.

Officials in some areas, including Beijing are softening some COVID-19 rules, easing lockdowns and pulling back on stringent COVID testing. Still video from Wednesday at the southern city of Hang Zhao shows police aggressively enforcing policy. Look at this.

Authorities apologize to this man on Thursday for pulling and dragging him from his home. They said he refused to go to a quarantine facility after coming into close contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19. Well, CNN's Ivan Watson is joining me now live from Hong Kong. So Ivan, these easing of restrictions, are they a genuine shift in China's COVID policy here are more of a temporary measure to appease these protests we've been seeing?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it looks incremental right now. There has certainly excuse me, has not been any formal statement that Chinese government is abandoning it's what it calls is dynamic zero COVID policy of trying to completely eradicate COVID from Chinese territory.

[08:05:00]

WATSON: But we are just hearing kind of a drumbeat now of messages coming from senior health officials from a vice premier of the Chinese government saying hey, we're tweaking our epidemic measures. We want to make it less onerous on the Chinese public.

And then the changes we're seeing seem to be kind of piecemeal. It's one municipality from another that's announcing, oh, we're going to live some lockdowns here; we're going to reduce testing requirements. For example, the city of Chengdu famous for its pandas, saying that you no longer need to get a, "Negative COVID test result", to take the subway, previously, you needed to get one every 72 hours.

Another city Jin Zhao in the northeast of the country is saying that they're going to end a lockdown that's been in place since November 26. So again, bit by bit, we have signals that the government is trying to kind of recalibrate how it's dealing with COVID, even though there's still tens of thousands of cases officially being detected a day in China.

Now, there's an additional measure factor here that may be contributing to this. It's not only that the people are exhausted, emotionally and psychologically and that businesses have taken such a hit. This is costing a tremendous amount for the Chinese government to do these mass testing, forcing everybody in a city to get a test every 72 or 48 hours.

We've gotten some new numbers from the Chinese Ministry of Finance saying that the health care spending jumped some 13 percent for local governments in the first nine months of 2022, that the 15 biggest Chinese virus testing providers, their unpaid bills are up 71 percent from last year, they're owed more than six, the equivalent of more than $6.1 billion.

This costs a lot to do. And maybe there's starting to be recognition in combination with the unprecedented protests we've seen over the last week that something's got to change. Christina?

MACFARLANE: Interesting to hear just how high some of those figures are. Ivan, thank you very much there from Hong Kong. And we're learning more about the Iranian man said to be killed by security forces while celebrating Iran's loss in the World Cup.

As CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports, the 27 year olds death is leaving friends and loved ones in mourning and many others seething in anger.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Protests turned into scenes of joy and jubilation across Iran this week; Iranians were out celebrating their country's defeat to the World Cup. Surreal but for many after touting its team, it was the repressive regime that was defeated. No longer could it claim a victory while violently suppressing its own people.

Mehran Samak was out on the streets of his city of Bandar Anzali in his car honking the horn in celebration when he was shot in the head. Activist and a human rights monitor tell CNN it was regime forces that killed the 27 year old. Authorities denied killing Samak. They're investigating his "suspicious death". They say several suspects have been arrested. Investigations by the Iranian government into the deaths of young protesters since September lacked credibility and impartiality according to the UN. We're not allowed to report from inside Iran.

Those who speak to his face jail or worse, making it hard for us to tell the stories of victims and those left to mourn. Samak's Instagram posts just a little snapshot of a life ended too soon, an athletic young man who enjoyed life, being with his friends and water sports.

Growing up he played soccer with Saeid Ezatolahi, now a mid-fielder in the national team who shared this photo. Morning his childhood friend he wrote, I wish we could always stay at the same age, without any concerns without hate without jealousy without fighting to put each other down.

After another bitter night last night, and with the news of your death, my heart is even more on fire. At Samak's burial mourners chant Death to the Dictator, how many must go? Every life loss brings more heart ache, more anger, more defiance and determination of a people risking it all in this bloody battle for freedom. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now at this hour French president Emmanuel Macron is wrapping up his visit to Washington DC. Last night he and his wife were honored at a White House state dinner. Earlier in the day, Mr. Macron touted U.S. actions on the world stage with a veiled swipe of Mr. Biden's predecessor.

[08:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: We are pleased to see you choose to honor your usual commitments and your campaign promises to become involved once again, in the world's biggest challenges, including the climate and health. It's a change that we're able to resist for a few years now we are making a joint effort once again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Macron is not quite done with his U.S. visits. In a couple of hours he heads to Louisiana State with deep French roots and President Joe Biden is also set to meet with the Prince and Princess of Wales. It's their first U.S. visit since Prince William became a king became the father rather became king.

At the Royal coupler in Boston for a three day visit that ends today after they attend the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards ceremony. The Earthshot honors 15th Environmental entrepreneurs. Mr. Biden will meet the royals then give a speech to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. And the World Cup group stage wraps up today with four matches that will determine the final 16. Tournament favorites Brazil are already through to the knockout rounds and can clinch their group with a draw or a Switzerland loss or draw Switzerland can assure advancing with a win. Cameroon and Serbia would each need a win and some help.

And in the other group Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo are already through are going to play Uruguay in an Almighty crunch match and can advance with a win, Uruguay and South Korea each need wins and help.

And the knockout stage kicks off tomorrow with the U.S. facing the Netherlands. Amanda Davies has been watching the tournament unfold from the start and joins me now live from Doha. And as we look ahead to today, Amanda, I think people are still coming to terms with four time champions Germany out of the World Cup yesterday under quite controversial circumstances.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes, the reverberations still very much being felt here Christina. Questions being asked and you suspect will continue to be so for a long time to come. But there is a fascinating group of games on the agenda today as well. And the Cameroon Coach Rigobert Song says he and his side have known this Brazilian squad off by heart for whichever team - puts out.

We're expecting a few changes, but his side preparing for it as if it's a final because Cameroun looking to reach the knockout stage for the first time since that incredible famous run at Italia 90. They haven't won their final group game though in the last seven World Cups.

Brazil remarkably haven't faced a single shot on target so far in their two games. We know Cameroon can score goals, they fought back from two down, you might remember in their last game against Serbia to draw three apiece. But the danger, they know they have to win to have any chance so they have to try and score with the attacking threat that Brazil pose.

That is where things could start to get messy for Cameroon. That the later game but in terms of the early kickoff, a huge grudge match, as you mentioned, bringing back a whole lot of emotion. And a memory of 2010 between Uruguay and Ghana, Luis Suarez is famously stopping that Ghana goal with his arm.

It was a goal that would have put Ghana through to the semi-finals for the first time in their history. The resulting penalty wasn't converted. So Suarez got asked or told in the press conference yesterday that he's being seen as the devil himself. That was the view of one of the Ghana journalist; Suarez seems to be enjoying it you have to say.

But a Ghana win would put Uruguay out at the group stage for the first time in 20 years. And one important update to bring you from Team USA ahead of their rounds of 16 matches against the Netherlands. Coach Gregg Berhalter says things are looking pretty good for Captain America Christian Pulisic and his pelvic contusion. He's been in a race against time of course to be fit after being taken to hospital mid-way through their match on Tuesday; the most talked about pelvic contusion on the planet right now, I think, Christina.

MACFARLANE: That's a relief, though, isn't it for American fans? I have to say I'm very much looking forward to that Ghana, Uruguay match. Of course, I'm sure a lot of people are. Amanda, thank you very much. We'll have much more to come this hour on the Qatar World Cup. Amanda will be back with us in about 15 minute's time with CNN world sport.

But still to come could the stress of living through a pandemic have impacted the brains of young people. A new study suggests that's just what happened and I'll ask Dr. Sanjay Gupta about it after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:00]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Now many around the world found living through the COVID 19 pandemic to be stressful. But it is possible that stress impacted the brains of young people. A new study suggests the answer to that is yes.

The finding said the stress of life during pandemic appears to have physically changed teenager's brains causing them to age faster than normal. The study was published in the Journal Biological Psychiatry. To explain more about this, let's bring in CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

He's joining us live this hour, Sanjay, great to see you. So we know that the mental toll on teens during the pandemic was extreme. And this was, I believe, one of the first studies to look at the physical changes and you know, due to that stress and anxiety, so just talk us through the findings of this.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this was a really interesting study, Christina. And I have to tell you, you know, on a personal level, I have three teenage girls at home. So we saw this personally. And now, you know, we're getting real data on what exactly the impact has been on the brains of these adolescents all over the world.

You know, what's interesting is that we know that there have been increases in anxiety and depression over the past couple of years. But as you point out, this was the first study to sort of really take a look at the brain specifically. There was this ongoing study that was already happening, even before the pandemic where they were sort of sequentially over the years, looking at the brains of adolescence.

When the pandemic happened, they essentially just incorporated, you know, these adolescents into the study as well. So they had images of the brains before the pandemic and then into the pandemic as well.

So there was a few things that they saw. And I just want to show you on the sprain model, you can see this, OK, but basically, there was a thinning of what is called the cortex of the brain. Think of that as sort of the bark on a tree, the outer layer that got then that typically does happen with age, but happened much more quickly, again, to these teenagers during the pandemic.

Also, if we go deep inside the brain here, there's an area of the brain that's called the amygdale, that's responsible for your ability to control your emotions, for example, those areas aged as well, much more quickly, during the pandemic during that first year of the pandemic.

So those are some of the changes that they saw associated with what are known Christina as internalizing symptoms, anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness, that's what they're most associated with. And that's what they saw, at least in those brains.

MACFARLANE: So, Sanjay, what are the consequences of this the long term consequences? I mean is this something that will stay with these teenagers for life?

DR. GUPTA: It's a good question. And the most honest answer here is, we don't know. I mean, you know, there are some things in life and within medicine that are just without precedent. We've not really seen something quite at this global scale before at a time, when we also had MRI imaging where we could actually look into the brains and see what I've just sort of described to you.

What we can say is that this is typically something that is seen with what are known as adverse childhood experiences. So children who have experienced adversity who have witnessed violence have had traumatic experiences.

[08:20:00]

DR. GUPTA: They tend to have some of these same changes in the brain. With regard to a pandemic, with regard to the isolation that comes with that, we just don't know is that is that more of a short term thing is that something that's going to persist linearly over their lives?

Again, on a personal level, I can tell you, you know, so much of my kids, you know, their social development came from seeing their friends, you know, being immersed in society. They didn't get to do that for a period of time, what the long term impact of that is still something that remains to be seen.

MACFARLANE: And to your point, Sanjay, as you bring up your children, I'm sure there's other people watching who have teenagers at home. You know if anyone is worried about the fact that their children might have been impacted in this way during COVID, is there anything that they can do to help support them mentally at this point?

DR. GUPTA: I think that the biggest thing that, you know, the point that we're in right now is significant awareness around this, even before the pandemic. We know, for example, here in the United States that rates of depression, anxiety and again, these internalizing symptoms that I was describing were going up the pandemic seem to have accelerated that significantly.

But the point being that even before the pandemic, while we knew the numbers were going up, there probably weren't enough resources that were being dedicated to this at the societal level within schools within the healthcare system. I think it's clear now, based on the numbers based on what we're seeing, just how much of an issue this is. And in order to potentially head off any long term issues, long term problems with this, it has to be addressed, we know that.

MACFARLANE: Yes and it is great at the very least that you know, they're shining a spotlight on this now, obviously more research to come but it's a great starting point, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, great to have you as always. Sanjay, great to speak to you, thank you.

DR. GUPTA: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Now, Russia is struggling to fill its ranks for the war in Ukraine. But how far will it go to recruit more fighters, what we know about is Zambian man who died fighting with the Russians, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Hi, welcome back! Now this week Russia's notorious Wagner Group admitted that a Zambian man who died fighting in Ukraine was one of theirs. The private military company also revealed he had been recruited from a prison. Our Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Mercenaries for Russia's Wagner private military company are fighting on some of the toughest battlefields in Ukraine. A social media channel affiliated with a group recently posted this video allegedly showing a severely wounded Wagner fighter trying to shoot himself rather than fall into Ukrainian hands.

Now the group has acknowledged a man from the Southern African nation of Zambia has been killed fighting on the front lines in Ukraine. This is 23-year-old Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda, Wagner's Founder Yevgeny Prigozhin known as Putin Chef admits he recruited and you'd end up from a Russian jail and says he died a hero.

I talked to him in the - region Prigozhin wrote in a statement, why do you need this war after all the chance of dying is quite high? And he answered what I expected.

[08:25:00]

PLEITGEN (voice over): You Russians helped us Africans gain independence for many years. The Wagner Group saves thousands of Africans. And if I go to war with you, this is probably a very small way in which I can pay our debts.

Zambian authority saying Nyirenda was studying nuclear engineering in Russia, but was thrown in jail for more than nine years for what his father told Reuters was a drug offense. Despite what Prigozhin said about Nyirenda's alleged gratitude, the Zambian government is demanding answers.

JOSEPH KALIMBWE, INFORMATION AND PUBLIC SECRETARY, UPND PARTY: How did he find himself fighting for Russia when Zambia as a country, when Zambia as a state does not have any interest whatsoever in what is happening in that war.

PLEITGEN (voice over): Wagner admits it is recruiting fighters from Russian jails and even confirmed to CNN they're sending inmates with HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis to the front line. As Russia struggles with manpower issues, videos and inmate testimony show Prigozhin visiting prisons and offering freedom in return for contracts to the front line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you choose to go with us, there will be no way back; nobody will be able to go back to prison.

PLEITGEN (voice over): But Africa has been the major theatre for Wagner for years. CNN has tracked the unit across the continent. Including in the Central African Republic, where Wagner mercenaries officially trained the Central African army, but have also allegedly committed horrendous human rights abuses.

Wagner recently published a propaganda video glorifying its military training in the Central African Republic, where the group's operatives show recruits how to kill effectively. Yevgeny Prigozhin says Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda was so grateful to Wagner he was willing to die for the mercenaries claims Zambia's government clearly isn't buying. Fred Pleitgen, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Important piece from our Fred Pleitgen there. And that's it for the show. I'm Christina Macfarlane in London. Stay tuned for CNN world sport coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)