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NTSB: Missing Piece From Alaska Airlines Flight Found; Investigators: Cockpit Voice Recorder "Completely Overwritten"; Freed Israeli Hostage Speak on her 50 Days in Captivity; Search for Quake Survivors in Japan; Russian Oligarch Sues Sotheby's Auction House; Annual Ice and Snow Festival Draws Thousands in China. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 08, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:30]
LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.
U.S. investigators say key piece of evidence from the Alaska Airlines 737 Max has been found. As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its fourth month, the U.S. secretary of state makes his plea to get more aid to desperate Palestinians. And a Russian oligarch is taking famed auction house, Sotheby's, to court saying the art dealer overcharged him by hundreds of millions of dollars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: And we begin with news just coming into CNN, U.S. investigators say the missing parts of the Alaska Airlines aircraft that blew off mid-flight has been found. They say a Portland school teacher found it in his backyard on Sunday and contacted them with photos of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, U.S. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: We are really pleased that we -- that Bob found this, he took a picture. I can just see the outside of the door plug from the pictures, the white portions we can't see anything else. But we're going to go pick that up and make sure that we begin analyzing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Well, investigators had been searching for the door plug since it blew off the aircraft Friday while the plane was at an altitude of 16,000 feet. Well, the agency had even asked for the public's help in finding it. Investigators also say the plane's cockpit voice recorder was, quote, "completely overwritten and there's nothing on it."
Geoffrey Thomas is Editor in Chief and Managing Director of airline ratings.com. He joins me now via Skype from Perth, Australia. So good to have you with us. Thank you so much for joining us. Are you surprised that they found this, the door and so soon in someone's backyard?
GEOFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: We're not really surprised because they had the exact location when the door came off and put an alert out to all the residents in that particular area. And so, I guess that it's start of bit of a treasure hunt, if you like, with folks checking their backyards. Luckily, the door didn't impact on a home or impact on a person or a car. So, it's found a little home for itself in someone's back garden. And so that's good news.
HARRAK: That is definitely good news, indeed. What will Investigators now be looking for when they examine the door plug?
THOMAS: Well, that's a -- it's a critical piece of evidence. Of course they've got the fuselage of the aircraft where the door came from, and they can look at stress marks or damage there. But the door itself will carry telltale signs of why it's separated from the aircraft. It's not -- this is unfortunately an incredibly rare event, but the door should hold the clues to what caused this accident to Alaskan airlines.
HARRAK: What do you think exactly it could tell them about what happened?
THOMAS: I think that they will find it's a production problem from where the fuselage is manufactured in Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita. Those fuselages are delivered to Boeing. It could -- it may well be the door itself is at fault, it may well be that the fuselage had a weakness. I mean, these doors have been fitted to -- these doors like this have been fitted to Boeing 737s for decades, and have conducted millions and millions of flights without an incident. So, it's not a design flaw, otherwise it would have shown up decades ago.
It would certainly be a production flaw, and maybe -- or a part flaw. And they would also need to look at aircraft that were built at the same time using the same parts. And with aviation, we have -- there is the most amazing tracking systems for all parts. And so you can trace apart all way back to the raw material from which it's manufactured to see if the same flaw exists in other components. So, it's a wonderful tracking system.
[01:05:10]
And I think that the NTSB and Boeing work very, very quickly to resolve this issue.
HARRAK: An amazing tracking system, but then, you know, you've got, you know, cockpit voice recorder that was completely overwritten. I mean, does that happen?
THOMAS: Look, it does. These cockpit voice recorders are on a loop. And typically, you only get the last 30 minutes to an hour because they continually overwrite. And the rationale is that in an accident, you know, what we need is the last 15 or 20 minutes of the copied conversation. So that's the premise.
But what they do have is they do have the flight data recorder, which can -- which records all the parameters and that will be obviously available. But I mean, the cockpit conversation here will really simply be the pilot's discussing the fact they've got a problem and getting down to 10,000 feet as quickly as possible so the passengers can breathe properly and then the flight back to Portland. They wouldn't -- there wouldn't be a lot to get to gain from the cockpit voice recorder in this case, it's more about the structural issue with this door and what part failed to cause this accident.
HARRAK: Geoffrey Thomas in Perth, Australia, thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us. We greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
THOMAS: It's a pleasure.
HARRAK: 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 worldwide. While in the U.S. United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have grounded their fleets for inspection, international companies include Turkish Airlines and Copa airlines, which has grounded 21 of its aircraft. A FlyDubai spokesman says the Boeing 737 Max 9 jets in its fleet don't use the same configuration and are not affected.
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, says they're withdrawing from Al-Aqsa hospital because of increasing Israeli military strikes in the area. The IRC says the Israel Defense Forces dropped fliers in central Gaza over the weekend, telling Palestinians to evacuate to what they called shelters.
Now Meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Sunday in Abu Dhabi after a visit to Qatar, all part of a week-long high stakes trip, as tensions in the Middle East flare. Mr. 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)
HARRAK: As soon as the Jeremy Diamond is following developments and reports now from Tel Aviv.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE 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, 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 wars. Really, 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 started on October 7 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.
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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, including the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahdouh. His son Hamza al-Dahdoh, 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 comments 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 10 weeks of the Israel Hamas war than have ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.
Al-Dahdo attended the funeral of his son which happened shortly thereafter. And he said that he hopes that his son's death would be the last of all journalists being killed in Gaza. Jeremy diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
HARRAK: And Israel's president is strongly refuting claims that the country wants to forcibly resettled Palestinians out of Gaza. Well, this comes after comments by some Israeli cabinet members appear to suggest that Israel's official position is to displace Palestinians from the territory. President Isaac Herzog says that is not the Israeli government's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: Absolutely, absolutely not. Totally not agreed or is not the position of the Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public, but we are a democracy. And in democracy, you have a variety of ideas, and in a variety of areas ideas and in a society with where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want. They're speaking about a willful leaving of the Gaza Strip, but truly, I'm saying outright, officially and unequivocally, this is not the Israeli position.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: And Mr. Herzog also says that the country is experiencing deep trauma from October 7 and he's doing everything he can to bring back the hostages from Gaza.
Still to come, the prime minister of Bangladesh wins a fourth straight term. But why are human rights organizations worried? Details ahead. Plus, 1000s 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 see details when we come back.
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HARRAK: Three officials have reportedly been suspended in the Maldives for mocking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In online posts, they called him a clown, terrorist and a puppet of Israel after Modi shared these pictures of a recent trip to promote tourism. CNN has reached out to the Maldivian government for comment. CNN's Vedika Sud joins us now live from New Delhi.
Vedika, tell us, please, more about how it all unfolded.
VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER: You know, to start with the geopolitical and geostrategic relevance of Maldives, you know, it's a very small nation. But the relevance of that country in the Indian Ocean is immense, especially with both China and India wanting to mark its imprints and footprints in the region, given the competition between the two in the Indian Ocean.
Now, let's start with how this controversy emerged. Narendra Modi, India's Prime Minister visited Lakshadweep, which is off the southwest coast of India, it's a chain of islands there and he did promote tourism in the region. He spoke about the pristine beaches there. And after that, you had a lot of people from India and overseas talking about how that could be a tourist destination for Indians. Now, we all know the number of tourists from India that visit Maldives every year.
In fact, it was the highest last year when it comes to Indians visiting Maldives, and that is according to the statistics available with the Maldives government. Ever since there has been the discourse, like I said, on how important Lakshadweep could be in making people ditch Maldives for India. And after that those comments were made by the three officials that you were talking about at the top who went on to make derogatory comments against India's prime minister. And that led to a huge backlash again, online and offline.
Since then, the government in Maldives has issued a press release and I'm going to read from it. It states, "The government of Maldives is aware of derogating 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, the government there was distancing itself from those three officials.
Now, what we do know is that the president of Maldives has approached China approach compared to his predecessor who had an India first approach. And he's also after being elected to power last year as India to remove its dozens of troops in Maldives. In the near future, we still have to hear from the Indian government on whether they're going to do that. But that has been another issue between the two countries.
Now talking about the relevance of Maldives and the strategic relevance of it, we spoke to Michael Kugelman, an analysts, and here's what he had to say about how important this nation is to both China, India and the Indian Ocean region.
(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 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: A senior officer in India's foreign ministry has said that India has taken this issue up with Maldives and strongly condemns the comments coming in from those suspended officials. There has been huge support for the Indian prime minister here in India on social media, you've had Bollywood which is, you know, all the actors here in India, most of them and prominent ones backing him and tourism within India compared to Maldives. You've also had popular cricketers backing the Indian Prime Minister and talking about heading to Lakshadweep instead of Maldives. And if this turns into a huge backlash of sorts, then we could see a lot of Indians moving to Lakshadweep as their preferred destination over Maldives, which could hit them and impact them financially. Back to you.
HARRAK: Vedika Sud reporting from New Delhi, thank you so much.
Now, the prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has won Sunday's general elections, securing a fourth consecutive term. The Electoral Commission says she won at least one out in 52 out of 300 seats. Well, 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.
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Election officials say turnout at the polls was low, with only 40 percent of about 120 million eligible voters taking parts. And in southern Bangladesh, a fire at a refugee camp early Sunday has displaced 1000s of people. It's another harsh reality for the Rohingya Muslim community, many of whom have fled their native Myanmar to these cramped makeshift camps, driven out by a brutal military campaign back home. CNN's Michael Holmes has more.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Fire sweeps through a refugee camp in Bangladesh incinerating one shelter after another. The flames quickly engulfing the tightly packed quarters made primarily of bamboo and tarpaulins. The United Nations Refugee Agency says nearly 7,000 people are now homeless in a blaze that started while many residents were sleeping.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): In a 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 1000s of Rohingya were killed, raped, and their village was set on fire in a brutal and ongoing military campaign against the ethnic minority. Although Myanmar claims it is fighting Rohingya militants and denies targeting civilians.
Aid workers say fires are common in Bangladesh 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 clubs, took the children and rushed out. Everything else is ruined.
HOLMES (voice-over): It's 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.
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: And still to come, CNN spoke with a freed Israeli hostage who said she endured psychological warfare during 50 days of Hamas captivity. That exclusive interview coming up next.
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[01:25:01] HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak, and you're watching CNN Newsroom.
We have new details on the hostage negotiations amid the Israel Hamas war in Gaza. Qatar's Prime Minister says talks are ongoing to try to secure the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, with the killing of a senior Hamas leader in an attack in Beirut last week could affect negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL-THANI, QATARI PRIME MINISTER: Of course, having one of the senior leader of Hamas being killed is something that can affect such a complicated process. Yet we are not giving up. We are moving forward. We are continuing our discussions with the parties and trying to achieve as soon as possible an agreement that can bring a ceasefire and humanitarian relief and the hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Well, some family members of the hostages spoke with top officials in Qatar who have played a key role in mediating negotiations. Families are stressing the need to intensify 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)
HARRAK: Meantime, a freed Israeli hostage spoke to CNN after being released from captivity in Gaza. Doron Asher describes how she and her young daughters were abducted and their terrifying experience being held hostage for nearly 50 days. CNN's Bianna Golodryga has this exclusive interview.
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DORON ASHER, RELEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE: I didn't have enough tears.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Nearly six weeks ago Doron and her two young daughters returned home after spending roughly 50 days held captive in Gaza.
D. ASHER (through translator): The first thing that they did was to go outside to feel the wind on their skin and how good it feels. Because we were never outside. We didn't see daylight that entire time.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Perhaps not yet fully able to process what happened, she exudes remarkable resilience.
D. ASHER (through translator): While we were hostages, all of my energy was dedicated to the girls. Because if I were to get lost in grief, there would be no one to take care of them. So I was acting on autopilot. I was building walls around me and I'm still on autopilot.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): The three were visiting Doron's mother for the weekend at kibbutz Nir Oz where the girls love to play. That's five- year-old Raz in the pink dress on the right, while three-year-old Aviv holds on to her stuffed animal. This was their last photo taken before Hamas terrorists rampage through the kibbutz killing 48 residents, including their uncle, Ravid (ph).
D. ASHER (through translator): We woke up to the sound of sirens and we were inside the shelter. And then rumors started to come in the terrorists had invaded the kibbutz.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): They hid in the safe room along with Don's mother and her partner, 79-year-old Gadi Moses, a man the girls called Saba, grandfather in Hebrew.
D. ASHER (through translator): He tries to speak with them in Arabic to give them money, try to save himself. And then after a few minutes, there was silence and we understood that they took him with them.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Eventually another group of terrorists would arrive, this time taking all four women with them to Gaza, only three would survive.
D. ASHER (through translator): They have led us through the fence near the kibbutz. And then they put us on a tractor with other Israeli hostages. And on the way there, there was shooting going on. That's how my mother was murdered. I was hurt in the back and I believe my youngest was hurting the leg.
GOLODRYGA: Once you got into Gaza, what happened?
D. ASHER (through translator): We got into our hiding place, an apartment that belonged to a family. We were inside the room without the ability to get out, of course, closed door closed window. And after 16 days, they relocated us to another place, a so called hospital.
GOLODRYGA: Did anyone tell you what was going on? Why you were there? Were they members of Hamas?
D. ASHER (through translator): They didn't give us a lot of information. They mainly tried to say that Hamas wants to release us, but in Israel, no one cares about us. Which wasn't true. We didn't believe most of the stuff that they were saying.
GOLODRYGA (voice-over): And of course it wasn't true. Just over the border in Israel, Doron's husband, Yoni, never gave up hope.
YONI ASHER, DORON ASHER'S HUSBAND: We are begging for your help.
My babies, Raz and Aviv doesn't have much time.
I got to see how hell looks like. [01:29:50]
D. ASHER: The stuff that they have seen on October 7th, I couldn't hide from them. It is like we were in a war movie. But after that, it was very important to me that they wouldn't feel danger. And I told them there are no terrorists anymore. That we are with good people who are guarding us until we can return home.
GOLODRYGA: Where they good to you? The people?
ASHER: They did not physically harm me. But there was a lot of psychological warfare.
GOLODRYGA: Like what?
ASHER: That we won't return to live in the kibbutz, because it is not a house, it is not a place where we belong.
GOLODRYGA: Did you know if they were Hamas, or just citizens in Gaza?
ASHER: They did not give me a lot of info about them. I do not even know their names. I guess that the father is with Hamas, but they didn't even give me much info. I just know he worked in Israel in the past, and that is how he knows Hebrew and that is how we communicated.
GOLODRYGA: Were there other children there?
ASHER: Yes, he had children and grandchildren. And basically his children were watching us 24/7. I asked every day about my family, if they knew anything about Gadi (ph) about my brother, about my brother's baby girl, they did not give me any answers.
GOLODRYGA: Why do you think they moved you after 16 days?
ASHER: I think they tried to gather hostages together, because the date that we arrived at the so-called hospital, other hostages arrived there as well. And that was the first time I met other hostages.
GOLODRYGA: Why do you keep saying so-called hospital?
ASHER: A hospital needs to treat sick people. It does not hold hostages. There were a few times when the girls had high fever and they were sick, and I had to take care of them and needed to get the medication. So they brought someone who they said was a doctor. The next day, I got medication from him for the girls, but it was not enough.
I used to put Aviv in the same cold water to bring down her temperature. But she was screaming and they would tell us to keep quiet. And the girl had high fever, but I had to take care of her somehow.
GOLODRYGA: Could you hear the IDF bombing? Did you know what was going on? And were you worried that by mistake that you and your girls would have been in danger as Israel was trying to retrieve you? ASHER: I heard the fighting, and yes we were scared. The noises were
very strong, very loud but at least that is how we knew that something was going on in order to get us back home, to put the pressure on Hamas to release us.
GOLODRYGA: What did you fear the most when you were there?
ASHER: Surprisingly it was the day that we were released. They were smuggling us out of the hospital. And they got us on Hamas vehicle to get to meeting point with the Red Cross. We waited a long time for the Red Cross, and we were very scared because we did not know what was going on. No one gave us any info.
Once the Red Cross vehicles had arrived, thousands of Gazans, thousands, children, elderly, everyone came in and started to climb on the cars, and bang on the cars.
I was holding my girls and I was scared of the lynch mob. And this was the first time that Raz has said to me after a month and a half of me protecting her. Mommy, I'm scared.
They absolutely put on film (ph), they dressed me up in nice clothes and shoes before I was released when my girls and I were barefoot for 50 days. And we were cold because we were wearing short sleeves in November. It's one big show.
GOLODRYGA: Today, the girls are back in kindergarten. With a family therapy, for the most part, are readjusting well.
ASHER: There was one day that they saw a tractor here, and they asked if the evil men are here. And I had to tell them, no, the tractor does not belong to the evil men. The evil men are in jail.
GOLODRYGA: And while they mourn their grandmother, Doron says the healing can't really begin until all of the remaining 129 hostages are released, including Gadi.
ASHER: Yes, absolutely. The world has to understand the reality that the hostages are in. They are not being treated as human beings. They don't give them medication. There's barely any food. Taking a shower is not something that is happening. We came back sick because of the poor hygiene. I do not want to think about how they are treating men there.
GOLODRYGA: We should note that today, (INAUDIBLE), the younger of Doron's two daughters Aviv turned three years old. The family plans to hold a small party at home and perhaps a larger one for her at kindergarten.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:34:46]
LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Bianna Golodryga, thank you very much for that. And joining me now is Gershon Baskin, the Middle East director for the
International Communities Organization. He's also a former hostage negotiator who played a prominent role in securing the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit back in 2011.
A very good morning, sir. Thank you so much for joining us.
DR. GERSHON BASKIN, MIDDLE EAST DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES ORGANIZATION: Thank you.
HARRAK: The war reached the three-month mark. It is also three months and counting that Israeli hostages have been kept in captivity. More than a month now since the last hostages for prisoners swap. What is the status of efforts to bring them home?
BASKIN: The status is not good. There are no real negotiations going on. The Qataris and the Egyptians are trying to renew the negotiations, but Hamas has made it very clear that they are not willing to negotiate until there is a complete cessation of the war from Israel's side and even a withdrawal of forces from Gaza.
And this is something that the government of Israel is not going to do. The government of Israel believes that the military pressure on Hamas will force Hamas to make a deal. Israelis also believe that should they come upon the leaders of Hamas, the three main leaders Sinwar, and Marwan Issa -- and kill them, that the hostages will be released. I would argue with that.
HARRAK: Now you were responsible for the secret back channel between Israel and Hamas that successfully negotiated the release of Israeli abducted soldier Gilad Shalit -- presuming now that there, is no back channel in place, as far as we know of course, what does this mean for the hostages still in Gaza? Are they likely to remain in captivity until the war ends?
BASKIN: It seems so. It seems the Israeli government's is putting the efforts of removing Hamas' ability to govern and to threaten Israel as its primary objective, with the hope that military pressure will bring about the release of the hostages.
I met yesterday with the hostage family organization, and they are bewildered. They simply don't know what to do. They of course believe, as I do that the first priority of Israel is to bring the hostages home. The war effort can wait until later and removing the Hamas leadership, can wait until later. Nothing can wait -- everything can wait except bringing the hostages home. Every day that they are in Gaza as we heard it risks their lives.
HARRAK: So would you say it is still a focal point for the Israeli government to secure the liberty of the hostages?
BASKIN: Well, the Israeli government says so, but I don't believe that that's the case. I think that there is a deal that everyone knows what it is, and doesn't want to face. The deal is that Israel would declare an end to the war, it would withdraw its forces, it would release all the Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons. That's more 8,000 people including 700 murderers of Israelis and they would get back all the hostages.
Now this deal is what is probably going to be the price to bring all the hostages only Israel is not willing to pay the price. There are great risks with this deal, particularly with releasing 700 -- 800 Palestinians who have killed Israelis who could very well go back to killing Israelis release.
My answer to that would be that they need to negotiate the best (INAUDIBLE) to minimize the risk. And to take into account that Israel could always re-arrest them or even take out anyone who is supposed to be a threat.
The war effort can renew after all the hostages are home. But this has to be the first priority. Israel has a moral responsibility to bring the hostages home because Israel failed to protect its citizens on October 7th.
HARRAK: Now on Sunday, as you know, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the efforts with Qatari officials to free hostages. The Qatari prime minister said that the recent assassination of a top Hamas leader could, you know, lead to a break down -- will lead to a breakdown -- has led to a break down.
So you know, if I understand from your answer, and from that latest development, should we expect any negotiated releases in the near future? Are hostage rescues potentially realistic at this point?
BASKIN: There was a delegation of six family members to Qatar a couple of day ago and they met with the Qatari prime minister whose message to them was that if Israel were to take a pause in the war or declare ceasefire, that it would help the efforts to renew the negotiations.
I'm sure that Israel is spending an enormous amount of resources with their intelligence and trying to locate where hostages might be kept. There is an assumption that the Hamas military leadership has surrender themselves with hostages should Israel find them in one of the many tunnels underneath Khan Yunis or the southern part of the Gaza Strip, that they would have a human shield around them and a gun battle that would ensue and would end up killing a lot of the hostages.
[01:39:54]
BASKIN: It does not seem that there are very many hopeful avenues for military rescues and the only help (ph) to bring them home might be negotiations but the price is very, very costly in the Israeli eyes.
HARRAK: Gershon Baskin, sir thank you somewhat for joining us.
BASKIN: Thank you.
HARRAK: And still to come, snow and sleet are making the search for survivors more difficult after a deadly earthquake in Japan.
We'll have more on rescue efforts in a live report coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRAK: It has been a week since the deadly earthquake tore through parts of Japan on New Year's Day. Officials say nearly 200 people are still missing but weather conditions in difficult terrain are complicating rescue operations.
Wajima, one of the cities hit hardest by the quake is having trouble finding shelter for its residents and tight living quarters have become a breeding ground for the flu and COVID-19.
Well, 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 live from Seoul with more. A very good day, Marc. Some extraordinary stories of survival after that devastating earthquake.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question, Laila. I think that people living in Japan are craving in these moments of hope, because it has just been very difficult. In fact, over the weekend the death toll rose to more than 160.
But among the recoveries that we have seen, among the rescues we have seen was a woman in her 90s who was trapped for about five days, and was recently found over the weekend.
She was trapped under some furniture, she was in a two-story home, one doctor told NHK which is Japan's public broadcaster, yes she had some injuries, but she was able to talk. She was 0taken away in an ambulance. And hopefully the recovery is good.
Other rescues to report, at one point the foreign minister I believe said about 70 at one point. Look, this is certainly the hope. But the condition in Japan certainly remain daunting.
First of all roads remain in need of repair. They are cracked. That makes it very difficult for trucks bringing supplies into these hard- hit areas.
Over the weekend, a grocery store in one of the hard-hit areas reopened. There was a line. In fact there was so much demand, people actually had a limit on how much rice they could purchase. Another issue of an item in need is water, hot water. People have not been able to shower and to do the basics that they need as well.
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STEWART: Power lines are an issue, I believe I mentioned. Also this issue of weather. You talk about the idea that there was a blizzard coming. There is some new forecasting to suggest that maybe things will not be as bad. But this threat of weather, the cold, the rain, the snow have made a very challenging effort even that more difficult.
And finally, Laila, it is sad to note but a lot of the people in some of these earthquake zones are older. They have lost their homes as we have seen. These are older structures and many of them just have been flattened.
And so now there is the struggle to find them a place to live. Shelters are very busy. And as I believe you mentioned off the top, conditions are very packed. It is close quarters and unfortunately people are getting sick including COVID.
Laila, looking ahead, I think that if weather is better, it certainly will allow crews to do the repair to infrastructure that they need to do.
HARRAK: Marc Stewart reporting. Thank you so much, greatly appreciate it.
And coming up, a Russian oligarch is taking famed auction house Sotheby's to court. Find out why after the break.
Plus, it's a winter wonderland in China that is drawing crowds by the thousands each day. Our special look at the icy fun just minutes away.
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HARRAK: A trial connected to multimillion-dollar pieces of artwork is set for Monday in a New York court. A Russian oligarch is suing the famed Sotheby's, alleging the auction house helped a Swiss art dealer cheat him out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Dmitry Rybolovlev believes the dealer swindled him out of a billion dollars while selling him various pieces of art over a decade by overcharging. Including this piece, Salvatore Mundy, thought by some to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci.
Leila Amineddoleh is an expert in the field of arts and cultural heritage law and the founder of Amineddoleh and Associates. Leila, so wonderful to have you with us. You know, lots of intrigue here.
Talk to us about this case. Is this an alleged case of fraud or just a bad deal?
LEILA AMINEDDOLEH, EXPERT, ARTS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE LAW: It is definitely a case of fraud. The information that's been presented is that Yves Bouvier who served as a dealer/adviser had withheld information from his client about the prices that the works are being bought for.
So he definitely provided or didn't provide some very important information to his clients. So that is under the law, considered fraud, it's an intent to deceive. So, it's definitely allegations are for fraud.
HARRAK: Ok. So the allegations are for fraud. But we don't know yet because give us a glimpse into this high end of the art world. How are deals made at this level? Is it on a basis of confidence, handshake agreements? And what are the dynamics that exist between billionaire collectors and these high-profile art dealers and going between?
[01:49:40] AMINEDDOLEH: The art world, operates in such an unusual way in that so much of the information that's important for deals is anonymous, that parties remain anonymous, the information is confidential so parties involved in deals, sometimes don't have material facts available to them like the identity of the party selling a work. Who the middleman are, what the prices are.
So there's a lot of intrigue in this market because there's a lot of information that's hidden. In the art market isn't very transparent and, this is where a lot of people get into trouble because the information just isn't available to them.
But it's also one of the, things I think that really interest people about the art world, that a lot of people knew the art world is rarefied, that it's very glamorous and different market players basically just operate with a gentleman's handshake. A gentleman's handshake, a gentleman's agreement and don't really dig deeply and ask enough of the important questions.
HARRAK: It's really fascinating. I mean these are really, high-profile clients as well. So, you'd think there'd be some due diligence there.
Now the trend seems to be, you tell me, you know, for pushing prices ever, ever higher. and we're not talking just high, I mean astronomically high. Who determines the value of an artwork?
AMINEDDOLEH: It's the market that determines the value of an artwork, what other collectors are willing to pay. But when you mentioned that the prices are high, these works are in the tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars.
So the market for these works is actually very, very small. And so you have collectors like Dmitry Rybolovlev and people at his financial level that are the ones that really dictate the prices.
HARRAK: Tell us a little bit more the artworks involved in this case.
AMINEDDOLEH: So the artworks are all blue-chip works, some of them selling for over $100 million, by artists that, we all know their names. We're familiar with these names. Like Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci, Matisse. So very high-end artworks that you would see in a museum.
HARRAK: Yes, exactly and I think that one of the most notorious one, I'm going to -- go on the record to say that is of course, the Salvatore Mundy which you know, has its own story attached to it, a $450 million artwork. Why is it in this case? Why is it being discussed?
AMINEDDOLEH: So Bouvier helped to sell this work to Rybolovlev before it became this blockbuster work. Eventually as you mentioned it sold for $450 million. But, at the time the rest of the world didn't know about this painting.
So it's one of the works that Rybolovlev is claiming that Bouvier withheld about its true value and the value that it was actually being sold for by the seller.
HARRAK: Talk to us about the significance of this trial. How unique is this case?
AMINEDDOLEH: It is not unique in the fact that these types of things happen all the time. Allegations of fraud, information not being shared with either the collectors, the buyers, the sellers. So that part of the case is not that unique because there are a lot of these disputes in the art world. And many of us art lawyers still with these issues on a daily or weekly basis.
What makes this case so interesting and why it's gathered so much attention is that we're dealing with one of the world's richest men and we're dealing with a collection -- he has a collection worth $2 billion.
And one of the ways he's acquired the artworks in this collection is through Bouvier. So this relationship and the fast pace at which Rybolovlev was collecting art, I think it's really fascinating.
HARRAK: So much intrigue. We can't wait for this trial to start and learn more about all the dealings in the art world.
Leila Amineddoleh, thank you so much. It was a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us.
AMINEDDOLEH: Thank you. You too.
HARRAK: And, a high stakes mission is set to begin, less than 30 minutes from now. A rocket launching from Florida's Cape Canaveral will carry the first U.S. lunar lander in decades.
Peregrine is loaded with equipment that will gather data for future moon missions but it will also carry mementos from other countries, including photographs, novels, and a piece of Mount Everest. And human remains will also be on the flight, on behalf of two space burial companies.
But this is expected become the first commercial mission to land on the moon as part of NASA's collaboration with private space companies.
We'll have live coverage of the launch, coming up in our next hour. So do stick around.
It's a mix of icy sculptures, structures and snow. The annual ice and snow festival is underway in Southern China. And the fun-filled event is already breaking its own attendance records this year. Take a look.
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HARRAK: It's a winter wonderland you won't see anywhere else. The Chinese city of Harbin saw a record number of visitors over the New Year holiday weekend during its annual ice and snow festival.
Well, this ice city features intricate sculptures and structures all glowing from within. All, of course, made entirely of ice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's quite nice and quite shocking. When I saw it for the first time, I thought they built it very well. And the ice was very transparent.
HARRAK: Well this year officials say an average of about 30,000 people entered the park every day. That's nearly double preprint make numbers. Well, the festivities have sold out every hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booking was pretty difficult. For booking hotels, we spent 2 to 3 days before we found a suitable hotel. Tickets for Ice and Snow World were sold out online. So I bought them on the secondhand Web site (INAUDIBLE).
HARRAK: State media says this year's festival covers 810,000 square meters, nearly 9 million square feet and features 250,000 cubic meters of ice. A rather fitting spectacle, as temperatures there with the New Year holiday dropped to nearly minus 25 degrees Celsius or minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.
But the cold hardly stopped those itching for fun. After the last three years of holiday cheer were stifled by varying degrees of pandemic restrictions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because this is the first winter holiday since the pandemic was lifted, and everyone can't hold back. We've been sealed for several years so we want to go out relax, to release some of the stressful feelings from the pandemic.
HARRAK: Harbin's ice festival will shine bright until early March. In the meantime, the aptly nicknamed Ice City shares its ice, art and animals with visitors looking for something cool to do.
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HARRAK: Hollywood's award season is back in swing. Stars came out for the creative arts, Emmys over the weekend which are (ph) televised live. Former U.S. President Barack Obama took home his fifth Emmy award at the ceremony. He won outstanding narrator for his Netflix documentary series "Working: What We Do All Day".
And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Rosemary Church picks up our coverage after a quick break.
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