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Secretary of State Blinken Wraps Up Mideast Meetings; South Africa Accused Israel of Genocide; GOP Candidates Makes Their Case to Voters; Hunter Biden Rattles House Floor Hearing; Russia Attacks a Hotel in Ukraine Wounding 11 People; Alexei Navalny Argues Prison Rules in Russia's Supreme Court; President Zelensky Visits the Baltic States; Russia Rejects Whelan's Freedom; Ecuador Declares War with Drug Gangs; Major Rioting and Looting in Papua New Guinea; Misinformation and Severe Weather as Top Risks for World Economic Forum; Tokyo Nikkei Closes at 35,000. Aired 3-3:45a ET
Aired January 11, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be wrapping up his Middle East trip in Egypt today as he tries to calm tensions in the region.
All this as hearings are set to begin at the International Court of Justice where South Africa is accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. We're live from The Hague with a preview of what could happen in court.
And Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appearing before the country's Supreme Court. We will look at what he's suing.
UNKNOWN: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Thanks for being with us.
America's top diplomat will be marking the last leg of his whirlwind trip to the Middle East with talks in Egypt. The 10th and final stop for U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will come at the end of a week-long tour aimed at calming tensions in the region.
On Wednesday, Blinken added a stop in Bahrain following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank. Meantime in Israel, a member of the war cabinet says Hamas is no longer controlling large parts of Gaza.
But as the fighting presses on, the humanitarian crisis is deepening. The head of the World Health Organization says the situation in Gaza is indescribable and explains the difficulties facing those trying to deliver aid to the enclave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza continues to face nearly insurmountable challenges. Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortages, and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need. We have the supplies, the teams, and the plans in place. What we don't have is access.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The International Court of Justice is about to hear a case that could determine the course of the war in Gaza. Starting next hour, South Africa will present its genocide case against Israel. It accuses the Israeli government of trying to quote, "destroy Palestinians in Gaza." And it's asking the court to order Israel to stop its military action there.
Israel's president strongly denies the allegations, calling the case atrocious and preposterous. Israel will present its case on Friday.
And our correspondents are covering all the developments. CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Abu Dhabi, and our Melissa Bell is standing by at The Hague. Good to see you both.
Paula, let's start with you. What is the latest on efforts by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to prevent the war from spreading in the region as he also tries to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, what we've been hearing consistently from the U.S. secretary of state is that he wants to make sure that more humanitarian assistance can get into Gaza and that there is a limit on the civilian casualties.
Now, we know during his time meeting Israeli officials, the limiting of civilian casualties was very much hammered home. But when it comes to the humanitarian situation, he is about to touch down in Egypt, where he'll be meeting President El-Sisi there and Egypt shares a border with Gaza.
This is where the majority of the humanitarian assistance is getting into Gaza. And that will likely be one of the top conversations between the two men. But what we've heard, as you say, from WHO, you just heard there, the restrictions that are still being put on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza are too difficult.
The WHO speaks of a horrific food situation, they're worried about dehydration, about starvation, about a cocktail of diseases that could spring up given the dire living conditions that many displaced living in at this point.
In fact, we also heard from the WHO and OCHA, which is the Office of Humanitarian Affairs within the United Nations, they were denied a mission by Israel to take vital fuel and medical supplies to northern Gaza, to a drug store and to a hospital. They pointed out this was the fifth mission that had been denied since the end of December.
[03:04:58]
So, this will certainly be one of the focuses and has been from the U.S. secretary of state to make sure that the aid that is waiting at the border, it is available, is able to get to those who desperately need it. As we have been hearing from a British doctor, a Canadian doctor, who have been helping in Gaza and have since come out just how devastating the situation inside is.
The British doctor telling CNN that nothing prepared him for the horror of the daily work he was carrying out in Gaza. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi. Let's go to Melissa Bell now in The Hague. And Melissa, Israel is preparing to defend itself against accusations of genocide in Gaza brought before the International Court of Justice by South Africa, that is happening today. What's expected?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we expect that hearing to begin in a couple of hours, just under a couple of hours, Rosemary. And whilst these hearings and this entire case has already been dismissed by Israel as a blood libel, they are coming to defend themselves. That will happen on Friday.
What the South African delegation is hoping at best is that the next couple of days will allow the International Court of Justice here just behind me the possibility of issuing an injunction to put a stop to this war, urging Israel to pause while the broader case against it is considered.
But at the very least and almost regardless of what the ruling is, South Africa says this will be an important opportunity to put the facts of the war so far into the public domain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELL (voice-over): Three months after Israel launched its military campaign targeting Hamas in Gaza, South Africa is taking on Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing it of genocide and urging the U.N. body to order Israel to stop the war.
RONALD LAMOLA, SOUTH AFRICAN JUSTICE MINISTER: South Africa cannot stand idly and watch when genocide is being committed by the state of Israel in full glue of the international community. Clear acts that aim to annihilate the population of Palestine.
BELL: Allegations that will be refuted by Israel when it takes the stand on Friday.
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: We will be there in the International Court of Justice and will present proudly our case of using self- defense under our most inherent right, under international humanitarian law, where we are doing our utmost and under extremely complicated circumstances. BELL: In its 84-page application to the court, South Africa accuses
Israel of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by engaging in acts with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinian people, including through killings, the causing of serious bodily and mental harm and other measures.
The petition claims that Israel's actions are rooted in what it calls a 75-year-old system of apartheid. It also draws on the rhetoric of Israeli politicians since the war began.
YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (on-screen text): We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.
GLORA ELLAND, RETIRED GENERAL, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES: It creates such a huge pleasure on Gaza, that Gaza will become an area where people cannot live.
HERZOG: It's not true, this rhetoric is about civilians not aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true. And we will fight until we break their backbone.
BELL: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week, dismissed South Africa's case as a distraction.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We believe the submission against Israel to the International Court of Justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. And moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless.
BELL: The public hearings begin on Thursday, and whilst a ruling on genocide could take years, a possible injunction on the Gaza war that Pretoria has asked the ICJ for could come much sooner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now what the South African justice minister that you heard from there told us also, Rosemary, was that this case, the 84-page submission, is also designed to cut through so much of the emotion that has been expressed on all sides of this conflict since it began.
It is about laying the fact out, and yet a reminder of how difficult that's likely to be all around the court this morning and already this morning, with a couple of hours to go before the hearing begins, protesters from both sides, the Israeli and the Palestinians here to make themselves heard as well, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Melissa Bell joining us live from The Hague. Many thanks for that report.
Joining me now is Noura Erakat, an associate professor in the Department of Africana Studies at the Program in Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
I appreciate you being with us.
NOURA ERAKAT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF AFRICANA STUDIES, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me.
[03:09:58]
CHURCH: So, the South Africa versus Israel genocide case begins today at the International Court of Justice with South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza war and asking the court to impose emergency measures to suspend Israel's military campaign. Israel says that's atrocious and preposterous.
What can we expect to come out of this hearing do you think and how significant is it that this is being brought by South Africa against Israel?
ERAKAT: I think it's an incredibly significant moment in history where South Africa, which overcame its own history of apartheid, is now leading the majority of the world that is opposed to Israel's war on Palestinians. It's genocidal campaign now for over three months and is leading that majority to retrieve, to get provisional measures at the International Court of Justice in order to force Israel to stop its military campaign, to impose a permanent ceasefire that has not been forthcoming within the U.N. Security Council because of the U.S.'s use of its veto therein, defying the will of the majority of the world, specifically 153 states who have called for a permanent ceasefire have been overridden by that veto.
And now what we see in this move to the ICJ is both a move to impose that ceasefire as well as a move to end genocide and have accountability for it.
CHURCH: And the ICJ, also called the World Court, is the highest United Nations legal body to deal with disputes like this. But it has no enforcement authority, meaning of course even if it finds for South Africa, it can't enforce that finding. So, what's achieved exactly?
ERAKAT: Well, the ICJ, which is a principal organ of the United Nations, is the only court that can settle disputes between states. And here the dispute is over the Genocide Convention.
South Africa is alleging that Israel has committing genocide and or failing to prevent a genocide, documenting that in an 84-page statement that has 30 pages of details of acts, details like the war on children. Now 9,600 children killed in three months, an average of 100 each day, what the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has described now, Gaza, as a graveyard for children.
In response, Israel is saying that this is just the gruesome outcome of war. And I think, here, these implications are not only implications for Palestinians and for Israel, but really for the future of the world. If Israel can actually commit genocide and call it mere warfare or an exception, then the rest of the world is at severe harm and danger.
So even if the International Court of Justice cannot impose an immediate ceasefire to prevent Israel from continuing a genocide through an enforcement mechanism, it still sends a very significant signal on the one for starters. It continues to isolate the United States and Israel politically on the global stage.
And more significantly, it empowers other states that are ready to hold Israel to account to prosecute, accuse Israeli war criminals within their own national courts under universal jurisdiction, as well as to impose boycott, as well as to refrain from continuing to sell arms to Israel.
CHURCH: Noura Erakat, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
ERAKAT: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: A recent surge in attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi rebels in Yemen has been condemned by the U.N. Security Council. The vote was 11 in favor and none opposed but for abstentions that included Russia and China.
The U.S. ambassador applauded the results and blamed Iran for backing and funding the Houthis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: The facts are indisputable. The Houthis are targeting a range of vessels, few of which are owned or operated by Israelis. And so, what is at issue here is not any particular conflict, but rather the simple principle of upholding freedom of navigation in a waterway vital to the free flow of global commerce.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The Houthis claim their attacks target commercial vessels with a connection to Israel and are meant to show solidarity with the Palestinians. A senior Houthi leader issued this response to the U.N resolution.
[03:15:00]
The decision that was adopted regarding the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game and the United States is the one violating international law.
Meanwhile, a British warship is now helping the U.S. repel the Houthi attacks. According to the U.K. defense minister, the HMS Diamond, a guided missile destroyer, has shot down multiple attack drones from Yemen with no injuries or damage to the ship or the crew.
Still to come, White House hopefuls Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis square off in Iowa days before the state's caucuses. What they had to say about Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
Plus, the GOP field narrows by one. Why former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is spending his presidential -- is suspending his presidential campaign. And House Republicans were furious when President Biden's son showed up unexpectedly at a committee meeting. What they voted to do after the surprise visit, coming up in just a moment.
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CHURCH: The first votes in the U.S. presidential contest are now just four days away. And Republicans Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are making their case to voters in Iowa. They clashed on stage at a CNN debate in Des Moines Wednesday, repeatedly accusing each other of lying.
Both candidates called out frontrunner Donald Trump for skipping the debate. And although they got in some shots at the former president, they saved most of their harshest criticisms for each other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will build the wall. We will actually have Mexico pay for it in the way that I thought Donald Trump was. We're going to charge fees on remittances that workers send to foreign countries. Billions of dollars will build the wall. He also promised record deportations. Donald Trump deported fewer people than Barack Obama did when he was president.
NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Dictators always say, always do what they say they're going to do. China said they were going to take Hong Kong. They did. Russia said they were going to invade Ukraine. We watched it. China says Taiwan is next. We better believe them.
Russia said once they take Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are next. Those are NATO countries, and that puts America at war. This is about preventing war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A few hours before the debate, a surprise announcement from former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who's suspending his presidential campaign. Christie focused his efforts on New Hampshire, but struggled to get out of single digits in the polls.
CNN's Omar Jimenez reports.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It came as a surprise to many of his voters and many across the country who were following this race. Chris Christie officially suspending his campaign for president.
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And it comes amid some polling, including from CNN, that showed there was a widening gap between he and former President Trump, especially here in New Hampshire and a gap that was closing when it came to candidates like Nikki Haley, again, especially here in New Hampshire.
Now, it was less than 24 hours before this announcement, there were comments made on CNN by New Hampshire Governor, Chris Sununu, insinuating there were discussions being had about Christie ending his campaign for president. But at the time, the Christie campaign pushed back on that pretty
forcefully, saying that those comments were misinformed. Even later on in that particular night, Christie himself calling Governor Sununu a liar. Then less than 24 hours later, Christie comes out and officially suspends his campaign and his signature town hall format.
It was how he launched his campaign last summer. It became again, a staple of how he ran this campaign. And it is now how he ends his campaign. He also, as part of his speech, talked about the stakes of this particular race, not just when he was in it, but about what lies ahead and particularly when it comes to Donald Trump. Take a listen.
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CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine just for a moment, if 9/11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk, the first thing he would have done was run to the bunker to protect himself. He would have put himself first before this country. And anyone who is unwilling to say that he is unfit to be president of the United States is unfit themselves.
JIMENEZ: Now of course the question is what happens next here? Well, the Christie campaign told me they're going to be dark for the next few days. They don't have any plans to announce any sort of endorsement or anything like that.
But just before this announcement, Christie was caught on a hot mic saying that Nikki Haley would be smoked, is going to get smoked essentially by Donald Trump, that she really doesn't have a chance against him when it comes to the election.
Now he was talking to the head of his New Hampshire campaign and that was really just minutes before he was going out to make this official announcement and is in some ways an indication of where their thinking is at this point that they don't have any plans to imminently announce an endorsement.
But it was just last month I was sitting down with Chris Christie and he told me that come January 23rd which is primary day here in New Hampshire that he's going to be shaking hands with voters until the polls close. And that he's going to do very well in New Hampshire. We now know that's no longer going to be the reality as he officially announces he's suspending his campaign.
Omar Jimenez, CNN, Wyndham, New Hampshire.
CHURCH: Donald Trump reacted to news of Christie dropping out, saying, quote, "nobody cared too much about that." Trump held a town hall in Des Moines instead of taking part in the Republican debate, facing a friendly crowd at an event televised by Fox News.
And he used the time to rehash some of his usual false narratives on immigration, abortion, and Hunter Biden. Trump also defended his record on one of the most important issues for many voters, the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS: So when Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis hit you again and again on this $8 trillion figure and call you a big government republic, --
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yes.
BAIER: -- what do you say to them?
TRUMP: I say very simply, we were starting to pay down debt, we were going to pay down a lot of debt. When COVID came along, if I didn't inject this country with money, you would have had a depression the likes of which you've never seen.
You had to inject money. We gave businesses that were going bankrupt, temporarily bankrupt, but they needed money. We helped businesses. If I didn't do that, you would have had a Depression in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Donald Trump is expected to be in a New York courtroom today for closing arguments in his civil fraud trial. But the judge says since he didn't agree to follow the court's rules, he won't be allowed to make a statement.
The New York Attorney General is seeking $370 million in damages and a ban on Trump doing business in the state. The former president has already been found liable for fraud. The judge is now considering damages.
Republicans in two U.S. House committees voted on Wednesday to recommend contempt of Congress charges against President Biden's son Hunter for failing to comply with the subpoena. The move came hours after the younger Biden caused quite a stir by making a surprise visit to one of the committees.
CNN's Manu Raju has details.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): House Republicans moving to hold the President's son Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress, but not before he appeared on Capitol Hill unexpectedly infuriating the GOP and setting off a sideshow.
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): You are the epitome of white privilege coming into the oversight committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of? You have no balls.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): What a coward.
[03:25:00]
MACE: I think that Hunter Biden should be arrested right here, right now and go straight to jail. Yes, I'm looking at you Hunter Biden as I'm speaking to you. You are not above the law.
UNKNOWN: Debacle, I just, you know, he's, show's off, it's just a show.
REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): He should have had his ass over to the judiciary hearing because we're doing our contempt over there.
RAJU: Two House committees moving to refer the matter to the full House next week, coming as Hunter Biden's legal team implements an aggressive new strategy to take on Republicans directly.
UNKNOWN: What are they afraid of?
RAJU: Republicans had subpoenaed Hunter Biden to appear before a private deposition in December, but he defied that subpoena, saying he would only testify publicly. That offer rejected by Republicans, who had demanded he first testify behind closed doors.
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We will not provide Hunter Biden special treatment because of his last name. All Americans must be treated equally under the law.
RAJU: Hunter Biden already facing a criminal indictment for tax violations and gun charges, set to appear in court for an arraignment on Thursday.
ABBE LOWELL, ATTORNEY FOR HUNTER BIDEN: The chairman made an explicit offer that people like Hunter and had like him the option to attend the contempt position or public hearing. Whichever they chose, Hunter chose the hearing where Republicans could not distort, manipulate or misuse that testimony. Honor.
RAJU: The chaotic scene on Capitol Hill comes as Republicans are moving ahead with an impeachment inquiry into Hunter Biden's father.
REP. SCOTT PERRY (R-PA): In my opinion, this committee is not interested in prosecuting Hunter Biden. The facts show that President Biden profited from his name and the person that arranged the deals was Hunter Biden.
RAJU: But so far, they do not have the votes to bring articles of impeachment as they continue digging for anything connecting Hunter Biden's business dealings to the president's actions. Something they have yet to prove.
NEHLS: I think it should go to the House floor for a vote but I don't know if we have the will to do it. I don't know if it would pass.
RAJU: And therein lies a challenge for the new speaker Mike Johnson who supports an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden but he has not yet said if he would support articles of impeachment, charging the president with high crimes or misdemeanors, and perhaps because he doesn't have the votes at this moment.
A number of members in swing districts simply are not there. But that could be different than for Alejandro Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, who Republicans want to make the second cabinet secretary ever in the history of the United States to be impeached.
Their charge, that he has not done enough to secure the border with Mexico, violating the law, they say. But the Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green, who held the first impeachment hearing over Mayorkas today, told me he believes he has the votes and that Mayorkas eventually will get impeached.
Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Russia's main opposition leader makes a case before the country's highest court and is offering a glimpse into his life inside a harsh prison colony in Siberia. That story just ahead.
Plus, the manhunt for a notorious gang leader who escaped from prison. Ecuador's president has a warning for those who help the man known as Fito escape.
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[03:30:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH: At least 11 people in northeastern Ukraine were wounded by a Russian attack on Wednesday. Police say this hotel in Kharkiv was hit twice by Russian missiles. Local officials say the hotel is well known for housing journalists who were covering the war and they say that's what made it a target.
One of the wounded is a Turkish journalist and this comes as Ukraine's president visits allies in the Baltics pleading for more air defenses to stop attacks just like this. Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Estonia after visiting Lithuania while in Vilnius. Mr. Zelensky acknowledged the front lines are frozen but he says Ukraine's continued self-defense is critical.
Mr. Zelensky reminding his allies that Russia is continuing attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure. He says any gap in military and financial aid only emboldens Russia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): That uncertainty of the partner's financial and military support to Ukraine only builds up the bravery to the Russian Federation. Therefore, we should not prolong this process anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: As President Zelensky makes his case for more aid, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is making a legal case before the country's Supreme Court. He is appearing by video link from a remote penal colony in Siberia where he was transferred last month. Earlier, he offered a glimpse into what he says are brutal conditions inside that facility, including his confinement to a punishment cell.
And for more, CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So, Russia's top court is currently hearing Navalny's case against the country's federal service of punishment. What's he been saying and what will likely come of this?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think we're going to see a wholesale rewriting of the regulations around Russian prisons, Rosemary, but this is a significant platform for Navalny. We've seen him talking a lot, explaining his case, which is specifically against the Russian Justice Ministry and relates to the rules around how many religious texts, religious pieces of literature prisoners are allowed.
He's used this platform to make sort of multiple different complaints. One he says that current rules are not being adhered to. He says he should be able to have two pieces of literature, including religious. He's only getting one. He's saying that the prison service discriminates against Muslims by cracking down harder on people who want the Quran.
This is something that the representative of the Justice Ministry has described as political statements. And he's also used this as a platform to expose the conditions that he faces. He talks at one point about how he's only given 10 minutes a day to eat. And you know, you have to eat hot food and drink boiling water in 10 minutes. He says it turns something that would otherwise be a relatively pleasant experience into something hellish.
At one point, he also describes how, you know, people in a punishment cell, which is quite a cold place, would choose a newspaper over, for example, the Quran if they were Muslim because they can use the newspaper to cover themselves and keep warm. And he directly addresses the judges saying, you know, you are clever, intelligent people on the Supreme Court. Surely you can see that these rules are absurd.
And that is the point here, not to necessarily change the rules. Navalny has launched multiple cases and never has one gone in his favor, but to really try to use this to get this kind of coverage, to expose the ills and the abuses of the Russian justice system under Putin. Now, of course, his team, his supporters have all said that the current conditions he is in, the fact that he was transferred to Siberia in December is no coincidence.
It comes, of course, just as President Putin announced his own bid for re-election, a foregone conclusion, very likely, but still, something that would, they say, increase the level of repression in Russia and the crackdown on Navalny himself.
CHURCH: And Clare, Ukraine's President Zelensky has been visiting Baltic nations. What is likely to come out of those meetings?
SEBASTIAN: So yeah, this is his first big diplomatic trip of the year, Rosemary. His diplomacy has stepped up a gear, it should be said, since the turn of the year. In the first nine days, he's spoke to some 10 heads of state. In terms of the Baltics in particular, these are very staunch allies.
If you look at how much nations have donated to Ukraine as a percentage of their GDP, the Baltic nations are well at the top. Lithuania is at the top with some 1.4 percent.
[03:34:58]
That's not even including their contribution to E.U. aid. So, these are very staunch allies. I think the other part of this is that he's really using this trip, one, to hammer home the need for air defenses after this massive increase in aerial attacks we've seen over the turn of the year. And secondly, to drive home the point, as he is there on the Baltics, also neighbors with Russia, that he really believes that if Ukraine cannot defend itself, that Russia will not stop at Ukraine. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian joining us live from London.
U.S. President Joe Biden has met with the sister of Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia for more than five years. Whelan is serving a sentence for alleged espionage, which he denies, and Washington considers him wrongfully detained. The White House says Mr. Biden spoke with Elizabeth Whelan on Wednesday about the ongoing efforts to bring her brother home.
Late last year, the U.S. said it made a new proposal to Russia asking for the release of both Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is also detained there, but Moscow rejected that plan.
In Ecuador, prison officials say at least 139 guards and staff are being held hostage by gangs inside five prisons right now as drug gangs wage a war against the government. Ecuador's president says the country is fighting more than 20,000, quote, "terrorists" after a wave of violence, kidnappings and prison riots stunned the nation.
President Daniel Noboa said on Wednesday he sympathizes with the families of those kidnapped and vowed not to give in to the terrorist groups. Military and police operations are underway nationwide to root out the gangs behind this week's attacks. The military says it has arrested nearly 330 people belonging to so-called terrorist organizations since Tuesday and recaptured dozens of escaped inmates.
The head of the armed forces insists that peace will come, but can't say when.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAIME VELA, HEAD OF JOINT COMMAND OF ECUADORIAN ARMED FORCES (through translation): I cannot offer that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or in the next 30 days. We will finish and deliver peace to the Ecuadorians. The moment I offer something, I become a slave of offering and I cannot do that. So, the only thing I can tell the Ecuadorians is to be patient.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The government is vowing to catch the notorious gang leader whose escape from prison set off this crisis. Ecuador's president says prison officials who were on duty at the time will be prosecuted.
I want to turn now to Papua New Guinea where authorities are trying to ease tensions after a wage dispute set off violent protests that left multiple people dead. Police and other security personnel were among the demonstrators furious over an unexplained dock in their pay. Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister said the smaller paychecks were due to an unintended computer glitch and he promised the problem would be fixed.
Still, the unrest is already causing diplomatic fallout for the island nation, with Beijing demanding action against protesters who damage Chinese-owned businesses.
Still to come, a new report paints a grim outlook for the future, the biggest threats just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:40:00]
CHURCH: The World Economic Forum isn't very hopeful for the future, according to its annual outlook released Wednesday. The new report highlights multiple risk factors that could cause issues worldwide. In the near term, those risks include the spread of misinformation and disinformation, as well as extreme weather events. But over an extended period of time, those extreme weather events and other changes to the earth and its ecosystems are at the top of the most concerning issues.
The report comes just days before the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland next week. One of those extreme weather events could be a diminishing supply of water due to global warming. That is the newest theory published in a study from Dartmouth College. Researchers found climate change has reduced the snowpack in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere posing a threat to water resources for millions of people.
Less snow also means one less tool to fight wildfires. Slowly melting snow can help reduce the intensity of wildfires versus water that quickly runs off. Limited snow also poses a threat to businesses and sports that rely on the winter weather.
Well now to a bright spot in the global stock markets. A short time ago, Tokyo's Nikkei Index closed above 35,000 for the first time since February of 1990. The index rose nearly 2% in Thursday trading. One senior economic strategist says the rally is fueled by hopes that Japan's economy will finally level off after years of deflation. Rising U.S. tech shares also helped the Nikkei hit the milestone, according to analysts. So, there is a bright spot we'll finish with.
I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. More "CNN Newsroom" in about 15 minutes. "World Sport" is coming up next.
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