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Blinken to Meet with Top Officials in Israel This Week; U.S. NTSB and FAA Investigate After Piece Flies Off Plane; Growing Outrage Over Lloyd Austin's Undisclosed Hospital Stay; Russia Ramps up Attacks in Ukraine; Fire at Refugee Camp Displaces Thousands; Snow Threatens Rescue Operations in Japan Earthquake; The State of Democracy Around the World; 3 Officials Suspended in Maldives for Mocking India's Modi. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired January 08, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

[00:00:34]

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. secretary of state in the Middle East as the war between Israel and Hamas enters its fourth month, making his plea for more aid for desperate Palestinians, amid fears the conflict could spread and destabilize the region.

New details about the sheer force inside that Alaska Airlines jet with the refrigerator-sized hole as some international carriers now ground their 737 Max 9's for inspection.

And more than four billion people around the globe are taking part in elections this year. That's about half the world's population. We'll look at what's at stake.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN with Michael Holmes.

HOLMES: Israel's war against Hamas is now entering its fourth month as America's top diplomat travels to the region to work on preventing a wider conflict from erupting.

Inside Gaza, medical providers, including the emergency medical team of the International Rescue Committee, say they're withdrawing from the al-Aqsa Hospital because of increasing Israeli military strikes in the area.

The IRC says the Israeli Defense Forces dropped flyers in central Gaza over the weekend, telling Palestinians to evacuate to what they called shelters. Gazans say there's no safe place to go any more.

Meantime, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived on Sunday in Abu Dhabi after a visit to Qatar, all part of a weeklong high-stakes trip as tensions continue to flare in the Middle East. Blinken will also meet with top officials in Israel this week about the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity, and even more suffering. So from day one, among other priorities, we have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: During a news conference with Blinken, Qatar's prime minister said talks are ongoing to try to secure the release of more hostages in Gaza, but the killing of a senior Hamas leader could affect negotiations.

Qatar played a key role in mediating negotiations so far. Meanwhile, families of hostages are pleading for intensified efforts to bring their loved ones home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN: The more time that we wait, the more hostages will not come back alive. The families will continue to meet anybody, anywhere, in order to enhance the release of the hostages alive as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following developments and reports now for us from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, after a multi-country tour throughout the region, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to touch down in Israel this week for discussions with Israeli leaders on a number of fronts.

This visit comes at a really critical time --

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- not only for Israel's military campaign in Gaza, the continued war there, but also broader fears of an escalation in the region, particularly in the wake of what appears to be a targeted killing that Israel carried out in the suburbs of Beirut, taking out a senior Hamas political leader, sparking concerns of a regional escalation.

The fact that those daily skirmishes that we have seen between Hezbollah and Israel could potentially break out into a much more significant war.

Israeli officials have been warning that the diplomatic window to avoid a military confrontation with Hezbollah of a much larger scale, that that window is closing.

And the secretary of state making very clear in Doha on Sunday, that he is aiming to try and avoid a broader regional war.

Of course, beyond the potential for regional escalation, he will also be meeting with Israeli officials to discuss the next phases of this war in Gaza, as we hit the three-month mark now of this war --

DIAMOND: -- started on October 7th, when Hamas carried out attacks on Israeli towns and civilians.

But the secretary of state will also be discussing, of course, the potential for trying to get hostages out. Just a number of issues on this agenda all coming at a critical time.

And it also comes, of course, as the secretary of state is saying that Israel needs to do more to protect Palestinian civilians inside of Gaza.

[00:05:03]

And on Sunday we saw just the latest instance of an Israeli airstrike seemingly taking out civilians, in this case two journalists, two Palestinian journalists --

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- including the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh.

His son, Hamza al-Dahdouh, also a journalist working for al Jazeera, 27 years old, killed alongside another journalist, Mustafa Thuraya. Their car was struck by a missile, according to Al Jazeera, while they were traveling in Southern Gaza.

Now the Israeli military has not responded to our request for comment on this incident, but they have said in the past that they do not target journalists, and they take precautions to try and avoid civilian casualties.

Now the Committee to Protect Journalists says that more journalists have been killed in the first ten weeks of the Israel-Hamas war than have ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.

Al-Dahdouh attended the funeral of his son, which happened shortly thereafter. And he said that he hopes --

DIAMOND: -- that his son's death would be the last of all journalists being killed in Gaza.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the war continues to take a deep physical and psychological toll on Gaza's children. The aid group Save the Children says more than ten children, on average, have lost one or both of their legs every day in Gaza since October 7th. Every day.

And many of these amputations are carried out without anesthetic.

Israel's Defense Forces have repeatedly said they are not targeting civilians.

The charity's country director says, quote, "the sights and sounds of a young child, mutilated by bombs, cannot be reconciled, let alone understood, within the bounds of humanity."

He added that children are nearly seven times more likely to die from blast injuries than adults, and, quote, "only a definitive ceasefire will end the killing and maiming of civilians."

Turning now to the U.S., where investigators are trying to determine what caused part of an Alaska Airlines plane to blow off shortly after takeoff.

On Sunday, they released this first image from inside the Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane. You can see that refrigerator-sized hole there, and a headrest torn from a seat. NTSB investigators say the force of the sudden depressurization ripped those head rests off.

At a news conference a short time ago, they described the chaos that unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, U.S. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: When this explosive decompression occurred, and the door flew open, the flight attendant reports that she saw the first officer jolt forward.

The first officer lost her headset at that moment. It was pulled off. The captain had a portion of the headset pulled off, but they pulled -- they put their masks on, turned on the speaker so they could communicate with folks back in the -- in the cabin. Communication was a serious issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, authorities are still asking for the public's help finding the missing piece of the plane. CNN's Mike Valerio with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well there are two areas of activity in and around Portland, as far as the investigation goes.

The first one is behind us across two runways. This is where the plane in question is being kept. As we zoom in, you can see some yellow tape and just a couple people walking in and around the aircraft.

We know that throughout the day on Sunday, there have been some NTSB media teams that have been taking video images of what it is still like inside the aircraft.

And the second area of activity is about a 15-minute drive away from where we are right now, in the Cedar Hills community. That's where radar evidence, the flight trajectory, velocity, has indicated to the NTSB that is a likely area where this missing plane piece could be.

So there has been a call-out for public assistance to try to find this missing section of the plane. Beaverton Police, Washington County Sheriff's officials and the NTSB

said that so far, no sign of it.

Now, that is certainly the human dimension of the public that is being --members of the public being asked to help out finding the missing piece. There's also the human dimension of the passengers who experienced this. Listen to -- listen to Stephanie King, who relayed to us what those harrowing moments were like for her.

STEPHANIE KING, ALASKA AIRLINES PASSENGER (via phone): It was really, really scary, as you can imagine. Initially when the piece flew off, it was -- there was almost multiple explosions, and it at first felt like all of the air from outside rushed into the cabin, and particles were flying everywhere. I'm not sure what that was, if it was ice or debris from the plane itself.

[00:10:16]

But it -- it came forward, and then it got sucked back out, very dramatically.

VALERIO: Also worth mentioning in terms of the investigation, the flight data recorders have been sent from here in Portland to the East Coast to the NTSB headquarters in Washington D.C.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Portland, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Now in the wake of the Alaska Airlines incident, some companies are temporarily suspending use of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 jets. There are 215 such planes operating around the world.

In the U.S., United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have grounded their fleets for inspection. International companies including Turkish Airlines and Copa Airlines, which have grounded 21 of its aircraft. A FlyDubai spokesman says the Boeing 737 mach 9 -- MAX 9 jets in its fleet don't use the same configuration and are not affected.

Now, there is a growing outcry over U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's undisclosed hospital stay, with some Republicans calling it unacceptable and shocking.

An ambulance took the U.S. defense secretary to hospital on New Year's Day after he experienced severe pain following an elective procedure.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remained in the hospital on Sunday --

BERTRAND (voice-over): -- nearly one week after he was first admitted to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington following complications from an elective surgery. Now Austin is recovering well, and is in good spirits, according to

the Pentagon press secretary. But outrage has been growing over the fact that the Pentagon did not publicly reveal that Austin was in the hospital until four days after he first checked in.

The White House and President Biden, meanwhile, did not learn that Austin was hospitalized until last Thursday. And despite Austin's deputy, Kathleen Hicks, taking over some of his duties while on vacation in Puerto Rico, she was also not aware that he was hospitalized until days after he was admitted to Walter Reed.

Now, Pentagon press secretary General Pat Ryder told CNN on Sunday that Austin, quote, "has no plans to resign" over the episode. And the White House insists that Biden still has full confidence in the secretary.

An official told CNN that the two had a, quote, "cordial conversation" on Saturday evening, in which Biden told Austin that he looked forward to having him back at work.

But still, questions remain as to why Austin and his team tried so hard to keep this condition a secret, and many Pentagon officials are now deeply frustrated that they were left in the dark.

And some worry that it could have posed a national security risk, because the president and senior military leaders, including those in the chain of command, were not aware of Austin's whereabouts.

Now Austin, for his part, did release a statement on Saturday night, praising the, quote, "amazing staff at Walter Reed" for the care he has received and said that he is, quote, "on the mend" and looking forward to returning to work.

And he also acknowledged the concerns about transparency and said, quote, "I commit to doing better."

BERTRAND: Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Still to come on the program, thousands of Rohingya Muslims, already displaced from their native Myanmar, now find themselves homeless again after a massive fire at a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:15:40]

HOLMES: Just want to update you on some news just coming into us here at CNN. The NTSB chair, Jennifer Homendy, has announced at a news conference that the Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 door plug that we've been talking about that blew off that plane has now been found.

According to Homendy, a resident found the door plug in his backyard. Apparently, the resident's name, according to her, is Bob. He's a schoolteacher in Portland. He contacted the NTSB and sent photographs of the door plug.

Now, that's obviously a key piece of evidence in the investigation of what happened, what went wrong, and why that accident occurred.

And also, two cell phones, by the way, that were sucked out of that plane have also been found on the ground and handed in.

We'll bring you up -- updated with more when we get it.

Meanwhile, Japan's foreign minister has made a surprise visit to Ukraine, meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday. Yoko Kamikawa says that Tokyo is determined to keep supporting Ukraine and announced new deliveries of defense equipment.

Zelenskyy thanked Japan, calling the country a, quote, "very important and strong partner," but he also stressed the significance of Europe's continued aid, speaking remotely at a conference in Sweden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: To create an arsenal for the defense of freedom, Europe needs joint weapons production. My soldiers killed, production then now. (ph)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, celebrated the Orthodox Christmas on Sunday, just a day after deadly missile strikes pounded an Eastern Ukrainian town.

They're among the latest in a string of ramped-up attacks by Russia, as CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As the new year begins, Russia's aerial assault on Ukraine continues.

At least 11 civilians, including five children, killed by missile strikes around Pokrovsk, in the East of the country, authorities say. The buildings they were in reduced to nothing more than rubble.

"Two houses have been destroyed to the ground," this official says. A hundred and 34 private houses and 15 apartment buildings have been damaged. Search operations are ongoing."

Ukraine says Russia has stepped up attacks both on the ground and in the air in the past weeks, killing nearly 120 civilians and wounding almost 500 more since December 29th, according to the U.N.

The U.S. claims Russia has even used missiles procured from North Korea to attack Kharkiv, in Northeastern Ukraine. Moscow hasn't commented so far, and Ukrainian authorities investigating the wreckage say they haven't yet come to a final conclusion about the missile's origin.

"Most likely, this missile was either supplied by North Korea, or was produced recently using blueprints and technology supplied by Russia to third countries or to North Korea," this official says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrating Orthodox Christmas as he escalates his assault against Ukraine. Meeting with families of Russian soldiers killed on the battlefield, and vowing to support the loved ones of all of those he sends to the war zone.

"You know that many of our men, our courageous, heroic guys, Russian warriors, even now on this holiday, defend the interests of our country with arms in hand," he says. "I want to assure you we will always have your back."

But Kyiv says the Russian army is suffering catastrophic losses as it tries to push forward in several sectors along the front lines. Ukraine's ground forces releasing this video, purporting to show Russian troops retreating after losing several tanks and armored vehicles in a failed assault.

CNN cannot independently verify the date and location of the video. An angry Ukrainian president condemning Putin's renewed onslaught.

ZELENSKYY: In a new year, Russia tried again to bring Ukraine to its knees with airstrikes, large-scale attacks, special combined attacks, aimed at overloading our air defense and striking critical infrastructure.

[00:20:00]

PLEITGEN (voice-over): And Russia's leadership shows no signs of backing off, as Ukrainians gear up to defend their land in what could be another year of tough, protracted warfare.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A fire at a refugee camp in Southern Bangladesh early Sunday has displaced thousands of people. It's another harsh reality for the Rohingya Muslim community, many of whom fled their native Myanmar to these cramped makeshift camps, driven out by a brutal military campaign back home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES (voice-over): Fire sweeps through a refugee camp in Bangladesh, incinerating one shelter after another. The flames quickly engulfing the tightly packed quarters primarily made of bamboo and tarpolins.

The Untied Nations refugee agency says nearly 7,000 people are now homeless in a blaze that started well many relatives were sleeping. Anne

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the deep night, suddenly we heard screaming. We don't know how it happened.

HOLMES (voice-over): It's another loss in a lifetime of losses for the people taking shelter here. Nearly a million Rohingya Muslims live in refugee camps in Bangladesh after fleeing their homes in nearby Myanmar to avoid persecution.

Human rights groups say thousands of Rohingya were killed, raped, and their villages set on fire in a brutal and ongoing military campaign against the ethnic minority, although Myanmar claims it is fighting militants and denies targeting civilians.

Aid workers say fires are common in Bangladesh's refugee camps, since the conditions are so overcrowded.

And violence between rival Rohingya groups is on the rise, adding to the misery of those just struggling to get by.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We only managed to escape with a few clothes, took the children, and then rushed out. Everything else is ruined.

HOLMES (voice-over): Officials say they are investigating the fire, and in yet another blow to the refugees, Bangladesh's refugee commissioner says, arson is suspected as a possible cause of the fire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: It has been eight weeks since that deadly earthquake tore through parts of Japan on New Year's Day. Officials say nearly 200 people are still missing, but weather conditions and difficult terrain are complicating rescue operations.

Wajima, one of the cities hardest hit by the quake, is having trouble finding shelter for its residents, and tight quarters have become a breeding ground for the flu and COVID.

In recent days, firefighters have been able to rescue at least two elderly women trapped in their homes, but now a potential blizzard threatens rescue efforts in Wajima.

CNN's Marc Stewart joins me now from Seoul with the very latest. And Marc, some extraordinary stories of survival after that devastating quake.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question, Michael. These rescues are almost a source of hope after so much heartbreak. Because as time extends, the likelihood of finding survivors obviously diminishes. And unfortunately, over the weekend, the death toll did start to rise.

In one case, though, we have a rescue of a woman in her 90s. According to NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, she was found in her home under some furniture. It was a two-story home. She was stuck, but crews were able to get in and find her.

As you see some of these images, it is in the dark of night this took place. There was a lot of pounding rain. But they were able to get her out, put her in an ambulance, and take her to safety.

One doctor telling NHK that she was able to talk, but obviously, she's got some injuries to her leg. So we certainly hope the best in that situation.

But as we move forward, the ongoing struggle is infrastructure. And that hits in many different ways.

First of all, there are still power issues. Crews have been trying to get into these impacted prefectures to rebuild these powerlines and to restore electricity.

Another struggle has been water, hot water, as people try to get their lives back on track.

A local grocery store did open in one of these impacted prefectures. There is a line. There was even a limit on rice, but it just shows how difficult it is to get the basics into these areas.

A big struggle has been roads. We have been looking at video all Monday morning long from Japan, and there are still many roads with cracks in them. And that is a very big challenge when you try, when you need to bring wholesale product, you know, the food -- food and water. It makes transportation very difficult.

As you mentioned, weather is also a challenge. Now, we have checked with our CNN weather team. The hope is that, in the days ahead, things will subside a little. Wednesday may be the worst day as far as moisture. We're talking about snow, possibly rain. That has been a struggle, along with cold temperatures.

[00:25:05]

And then finally, Michael, these are areas where these homes are very old. And as we have seen, many of them, unfortunately, have just been flattened to the ground.

So now people in central Japan are having to -- to reckon with this reality that there is going to be a homeless question and how to deal with people who have lost their homes.

Some shelters have been set up. It's not clear on the numbers and if everyone is going to be able to be accommodated. But quarters are very tight, and people unfortunately, Michael, are catching colds, even COVID. So the challenges just keep mounting in Japan.

HOLMES: Yes. A dreadful situation. Marc Stewart in Seoul covering that for us. Thanks so much, Marc. Good to see you.

Still to come here on the program, we'll look at the implications for democracy as half the world's population goes to the polls this year.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has won Sunday's general election, securing a fourth consecutive term. The electoral commission says she won at least 152 out of 300 seats.

Critics say the election was one-sided, as the main opposition party boycotted the vote after Hasina rejected their demands to resign.

She's been in office since 2009, and human rights groups have raised concerns about the government becoming a one-party system.

Election officials say that turnout at the polls was low, with only 40 percent of about 120 million eligible voters taking part.

And that's not an encouraging start to what is a year of elections around the globe. "The Economist" reports that more than four billion people, around half the world's population, will hold some form of polling this year.

Voters in at least 76 countries casting their ballots. And among the most consequential of those elections, India will vote for a new national parliament in May; and of course, Americans will elect their president on November the 5th.

Mike Abramowitz is president of Freedom House, a nonpartisan voice dedicated to supporting democracy and had a great piece on the website on this issue.

So thanks for making the time.

There's well over 70 elections around the world in 2024. One publication said 80. It's hard to keep track. But eight of the ten most populous nations, half the world voting for new government.

What could these elections reveal about the state of democracy around the world?

[00:30:03]

MIKE ABRAMOWITZ, PRESIDENT, FREEDOM HOUSE: Well, it's a pivotal year for democracy and for elections, as your question suggests, Mike. It's -- the United States is having an election. So is Russia; so is Indonesia.

And you have to remember that these elections are taking place after a long period of kind of a weakening of democracy and, really, a rise of authoritarianism.

So what's really on the ballot this year is democracy itself, if you will. And it's very important that these elections all be carried out with fairness and integrity. And that's what's really at stake. there's obviously some parts, like in Russia where the -- where the outcome is preordained.

But in a lot of these countries, the results are up in the air, and it's really important that the elections be carried out fairly, and that people respect the election results. HOLMES: Yes, that's got to be said. I mean, the United States, of

course, is one of the countries. It likes to be seen as a bastion of democracy and democratic ideals. But on some global measures, it is slipping down the charts.

How important is the vote this year domestically, and globally in the -- for the -- in the U.S., given how the last one went?

ABRAMOWITZ: Well, I certainly feel that the United States election is probably the most consequential election in the world this year. Because the two, you know, frontrunners at this point really have quite different approaches to the public affairs, to how to govern.

And so I think the United States is very much a key country this year. And people are looking at how the United States carries out this election.

I think in 2020, with the widespread denial of the validity of the election results, with the storming of the Capitol on October [SIC] 6th, people around the world saw that.

And I think the United States took a bit of a a hit around the world for the way it carried out it own elections. That's why it's so vital that this year the United States carry out a free and fair election, and that, if the results are conducted fairly, that people accept the election results.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. At the same time, of course -- and you alluded to this -- the authoritarian regimes in countries like China, Russia, Iran, they're fully engaged on the other side of the democratic struggle. And they benefit, do they not, from dysfunction in traditional democracies?

ABRAMOWITZ: Well, I certainly feel that these authoritarian countries that you mentioned are very much trying to undermine the validity of the democratic experience.

They want to say that these democracies like the United States, like France, like Indonesia, these countries are having, you know, what it to be hoped are free and fair elections, that they're trying to make the case that that can happen in these countries. They're trying to take a chink out of the armor of democracy. And I think it's very important for democracies to push back against that.

HOLMES: Right, right. We are, of course, in an era, these days of global digital platforms. You know, Facebook, Google, Instagram, Telegram. What else? TikTok, WhatsApp, YouTube, along with the less than trustworthy potential of artificial intelligence.

How might all of that potentially influence the challenge of free and fair elections when it comes to the issue of disinformation and outright false information?

ABRAMOWITZ: Well, I think elections today, compared to two or three decades ago, are much. Different because of the issue that you -- that you raised, which is that really, these social media platforms have become the town square for the digital.

And it's been much easier, especially for these authoritarian countries, as well as kind of bad actors, to really flood these platforms with disinformation, propaganda, false information about candidates.

And, you know, in some authoritarian countries, they even shut down these platforms to make sure that the opponents of -- of the leaders cannot have access to the Internet.

So, there's a real kind of war going on out there on the Internet. And I think that's a really key question for the upcoming year. You know, will democracy be able to protect the information integrity of the Internet?

One of these things that we're quite concerned about is that, you know, some of the social media platforms like Twitter, like Facebook, have actually, you know, cut some of the staff that is devoted to keeping disinformation off the Internet. And that's something we've got to watch very carefully. We're concerned about that.

HOLMES: Yes, yes. Absolutely. Well, terrific reporting on the website. Michael Abramowitz, thanks so much. Appreciate it, Mike.

ABRAMOWITZ: Thanks for having me, sir.

HOLMES: Now, three officials have reportedly been suspended in the Maldives for mocking the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. In online posts, they call him a clown, a terrorist, and a puppet of Israel.

[00:35:00]

CNN's Vedika Sud joins me now from New Delhi to talk more.

A very strange political story, especially with Indians being such a valuable part of the Maldives tourism industry. Tell us more about how it all unfolded and the fall-out?

VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In fact, Michael, if you look at the statistics shared by the government of Maldives, it states that the Indians had the largest number of tourists, with visiting Maldives in 2023. That's a massive number that we're talking about and a huge boost to Maldives's economy.

Now coming back to this controversy, it all started last week when the Indian prime minister was visiting Lakshadweep, which is a part of India, just off the Southwestern coast of India. It's a chain of islands there.

And he was promoting tourism there. And he was talking about the pristine beaches out there.

After that, there was a lot of conversation on social media on how Lakshadweep could be a destination for tourists from India to visit instead of Maldives. To which you had those three officials that you just spoke about, going on social media and making those comments against the Indian prime minister.

That led to a huge furor in Indian social media, again, with a lot of them even wanting to boycott tourism to Maldives. There were hash tags doing the rounds, stating that maybe India is a better destination than Maldives, particularly Lakshadweep, after the prime minister made his visit there.

Now straight after that, because of the tensions rising between Maldives and India ever since the election of the president there last year, there was a comment, rather statement that came out from the government there. And I'm going to read from it, what the Maldives government said.

"The government of Madives is aware of the derogatory remarks on social media platforms against foreign leaders and high-ranking individuals. These opinions are personal and do not represent the views of the government of Maldives."

So clearly, distancing themselves from those three officials and then suspending them.

What's interesting here is they've been suspended and not sacked, though there has been a lot of demand by Indians on social media that these three individuals should be sacked.

Now straight after that, we have seen that there has been this apology, or rather this comment from the Maldives government. The president is also on a trip to China that started last evening. He's on a state visit.

According to analysts, Michael, there's always been an "India first" policy with the previous government of Maldives. But with this president, it's more for "China first" policy. And this has been seen as a snub to India, with this visit to China.

Now, we also spoke to an analyst, Michael Kugelman, who puts into perspective the geopolitical significance of Maldives and why there is this competition in the Indian Ocean to make their footprint stronger in the region. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL KUGELMAN, DIRECTOR, SOUTH ASIA INSTITUTE AT THE WILSON CENTER: I would argue that South Asia has really become one of the biggest battlegrounds for India, China competition. And the Maldives is right in the middle of that.

For many years, India had by far been the most influential external player in the Maldives. But things have changed in recent years. We'd had a leader in Maldives some years ago, Abdulla Yameen, who took a decidedly pro-China position.

But then his successor turned back to India.

And so now we have this situation where India, I think, has to be on its toes, in the sense that it knows that it's going to face some challenges to its relations in a country where Beijing is very keen to maintain a strong influence, as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUD: Michael, according to the official in the foreign ministry here in India, India has taken this up very strongly with Maldives and has condemned the comments made by those three suspended officials.

But this is not the end of this controversy. We're expecting more developments on this in the days to come. Back to you.

HOLMES: Trouble in paradise. Vedika Sud in New Delhi, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:41:05]

HOLMES: Hollywood's award season is back in swing. It comes, of course, after a rocky 2023 that saw months of strikes as actors and unions fought for better pay and benefits with the major studios.

The Golden Globes kicked off the season on Sunday night, honoring the best in film and television.

Actors Ali Wong, and Steven Yeun made history, winning Best Actress and Best Actor in a Limited Series for their roles in the Netflix series, "Beef."

They're the first actors of Asian descent to win in their respective categories.

"Beef" also won Best Limited Television Series. If you haven't seen it, do. It's excellent.

Although it wasn't the only historic moment of the night. Lily Gladstone became the first indigenous person to win the award for Best Actress in a Film Drama, "Killers of the Flower Moon."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGOT ROBBIE, ACTRESS: Do you guys ever think about dying?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, yes, "Barbie" took home the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, which is a new category for films that perform well at the box office, that might not get recognized during the awards season.

The film was made by Warner Brothers, part of CNN's parent company.

But it was "Oppenheimer" that dominated the film side of the awards, winning five trophies for Best Male Actor, Male Supporting Actor, Director, Original Score, and Motion Picture Drama. Emma Thomas, one of the film's producers, praised the crew while

accepting the night's final trophy.

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EMMA THOMAS, PRODUCER, "OPPENHEIMER": This is just an incredible experience, making this film. And this is just the smallest portion of the many people that made the film what it is. And I've loved sitting here hearing everyone talk about their work. What's so clear is that what we do is collaboration, and that's amazing. And it's exciting. And I find that to be completely magical.

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HOLMES: Another terrific film.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. WORLD SPORT up next.

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