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U.N. Court Decision On Israel Genocide Case Expected Friday; 20 Palestinians Killed In Strike On Food Aid Queue; Alabama Death Row Inmate Faces First Nitrogen Gas Execution; Trump Gives Brief Testimony In E. Jean Carroll Defamation Trial; Biden Administration Moves To Increase Assistance To Ecuador; Qatar Slams Leaked Remarks Allegedly from Israeli PM; Ukraine Struggles to Hold Avdiivka amid Russian Onslaught; Defiant Voters Support Russia's Anti-War Presidential Candidate; Cameroon Launches Historic Malaria Vaccine Program; Extreme Drought Grips Amazon Basin; Miss Japan Winner Sparks Controversy. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 26, 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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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom. We are just hours away from a major ruling in the genocide case against Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza.
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike killed at least 20 people as they lined up for aid in the Enclave.
And CNN rides along as security forces in Ecuador take their war on drug gangs into the criminal's homes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we begin this hour in the Netherlands where the International Court of Justice is set to deliver a major ruling in the coming hours. South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and failing to prevent and punish genocide.
The court will not rule on that specifically but could outline provisional measures against Israel's military activities in Gaza. Israel calls the claim false and distorted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELYON LEVY, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: We know that the ICJ is scheduled to rule on his provisional notice tomorrow, we suggest let's wait and see what the ICJ has to say. We have expected of course to throw out the completely absurd and ridiculous charges pressed by South Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: A final and binding ruling on the genocide claim could take the court years to determine. However, in practice, the court has no way of enforcing its verdicts.
Meanwhile, the Hamas run health ministry in Gaza reports at least 20 people were killed dozens more wounded in what it calls an Israeli strike on people lining up for humanitarian aid. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment and warning our report from CNN's Ben Wedeman contains graphic video.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once again the wounded are sprawled on the floor of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Victims of what a civil defense official says was his really tank and machine gun fire on a crowd of people waiting to receive desperately needed humanitarian aid.
People who are going to get food and flour because they have nothing to eat, he says, then suddenly tanks appeared and started firing shells at people.
Hamad Harid (ph) was injured in the hand and leg. They showed us four times, he says.
Wednesday at the same spot, Kuwait (ph) Circle in Gaza City southern outskirts, there were scenes of panic when, according to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces opened fire during the distribution of aid. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment, but it's not yet received a response.
To the south thousands are streaming out of Khan Younis, where intense fighting has been raging for days leaving however they can traumatized by what they've seen and what they've lost.
This is the third time we move she says, all they have left in the world pile to a shopping cart. This is as far as you can get safely from Khan Younis, between a sea of tents in the sea. Some supplies are available.
Close to 90 percent of the people of Gaza are now displaced. Many now living like this. Winter rains have turned parts of this makeshift camp into a muddy pond. I'm looking for are things, he says. What they have found is anger at the man who pose as the leaders.
Look, Ismail Haniyeh, let him see us, shouts this man referring to Hamas's political leader (INAUDIBLE). The war has raged now for more than 110 days. For three and a half months we've been on the run, says Iyad Abumasad (ph). Let us go back to our homes were sick of this life. Death would be better. According to the forecast, another winter storm is coming. Ben Wedeman, CNN reporting from Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A U.S. official says the CIA director will meet in the coming day with Israeli Egyptian and Qatari officials. [01:05:03]
Bill Burns expected to travel to Europe to discuss a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. He said to speak with the head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, Egypt's Intelligence Director and Qatar's Prime Minister. The CIA declined to officially comment.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office says there are 132 hostages remaining in Gaza, including the bodies of 28 it says had been killed.
Joining me now from Tel Aviv, Gideon Levy is a columnist for Haaretz Newspaper and a former adviser to Prime Minister Shimon Peres. Good to see you, Gideon.
Well over 100 days of this war now, and when you think about it, top Hamas leaders haven't been captured or killed. By Israel's own estimates they've killed maybe a third of Hamas fighters, Hamas still has fighting capabilities.
What is Israel got to show for this war apart from 100 hostages released in November and Gaza being pummeled into dust?
GIDEON LEVY, COLUMNIST, HAARETZ: It's a very good question. And they wish this question would be questioned three months ago, because we are stuck. When I watch your report just now from your reporter in Beirut, about what's going on in Gaza, I mean, you cannot remain indifferent to this.
And the question is what is the purpose of all this? The hostages are not released, as you rightly say then we are not any closer to release them. And if we will release them, it will be insane conditions that they could have been released one or two months ago. And crushing Hamas becomes a fantasy. Most Hamas is still there.
HOLMES: Yes. When you think about it, I think the official figure is 39 percent of Hamas fighters killed three months into this war. That's a long way short of Israel's aim of destroying the organization's capability. Even some in Netanyahu government say the aims aren't achievable.
So what then is the best outcome for Israel?
LEVY: The best outcome would be to stop the war yesterday, to get to a very dramatic deal about releasing the hostages because their time is running out, which will include obviously, the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, and to try to create a new reality. Anything else will be much worse than this.
HOLMES: What have Bibi Netanyahu's comments on this war the aims, the hostages, two-state solution? What does all of that say about him, relying more and not less on the country's far right politician?
LEVY: He still counsels on the majority of Israelis who support the continuous of the war. This we should remember, it's not like there is an opposition to this war in Israel. There is a big opposition to Netanyahu's rule, but not to the war, unfortunately so.
Netanyahu's continue a gait because any alternative will be worse for him. I give him the credit that he does not do it only for personal reasons, even though many things that he does it in order to survive, because once this war is over, his political career might be over as well.
But meanwhile, people are paying in their lives hostages in horrible conditions. And it doesn't lead to anywhere. And Netanyahu doesn't show any endgame except of those fantasies about a crushing Hamas, maybe in three months, maybe in three years. And meanwhile, both Palestinians and Israelis will suffer.
HOLMES: Yes, I was going to ask you, you know, part of what Netanyahu said is that he wants to deradicalize Gaza but has what's happened the death, the destruction just been sowing the seeds or hatred for generations to come among Palestinians.
LEVY: How else can it be. You have -- you in your country have an experience with deradicalizing Afghanistan, and what came out of deradicalizing Afghanistan, Israel might be the same. You cannot deradicalized as the occupier. You cannot play with the minds of people. You cannot force them to go on a certain political way. Gaza wants freedom and Gaza deserves freedom. And all the rest is games with ourselves.
HOLMES: Yes, and when we think about that, you know, ideas have been tossed around but there really isn't a plan for the day after this war is there and how risky is that for Israel as well having no plan with any consensus, especially given the destruction.
LEVY: That's the core of the issue. Let's say that all the sacrifice all the killed people, the soldiers, the Palestinian civilians by tens of thousands, but it leads to somewhere, but it doesn't lead to anywhere because there is no endgame.
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Because who will replace Hamas, let's say that this fantastic a goal is achieved then Hamas is crushed. And then what? The Jewish Federation of New York with run Gaza, someone has to run 2.3 million Palestinians who are in horrible shape, and you cannot dictate them, who will run them, who will run their lives. And therefore when you don't have an end game, don't start it at all.
HOLMES: Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, always appreciate your analysis. Thanks so much.
LEVY: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: Now, for the first time a U.S. death row inmate has been executed with nitrogen gas. Kenneth Smith was pronounced dead several hours ago in Alabama. He was convicted for his role in a 1988 murder for hire, and already survived one botched attempt at lethal injection. Only two other U.S. states, Oklahoma and Mississippi allowed death by nitrogen hypoxia, and there have been questions over whether it constitutes cruelty.
A reporter who read notes from witnesses to the execution describe what they saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANA HRYNKIW, AL.COM REPORATER: Here appeared unconscious for several minutes into the execution, for about two minutes following that Kenneth Smith shook and rides for about two minutes on a gurney. That was followed by several minutes of deep breaths on the gurney. Following that his breath slowed until it was no longer perceptible for media witnesses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Higher courts denied all 11th hour appeals to halt the execution. Ms. Smith spiritual advisor witnessed the death and called it absolutely horrific.
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REV. JEFF JOOD, SPIRITUAL ADVISOR FOR FORMER ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE KENNETH SMITH: He kept breathing for what could possibly have in about nine minutes, 10 minutes. I mean, an unbelievable evil was unleashed tonight in Alabama.
I have never, ever seen anything like that. That was torture. That was absolute torture. And torture is evil. I thought that was something that as a country that we held, that it's wrong to torture people. It's wrong to experimental people, but that's what I saw.
But I couldn't keep my eyes off of this man journeying back and forth, heaving back and forth, back and forth. You know, struggling as I watch this page, turn all sorts of colors. I can see spirit and whatever else was coming out of his mouth on the mask.
I mean, truly, you know, Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard, one of these great directors could not have scripted something more horrific than what I just saw.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The family of the woman Smith killed said his debt had been paid and that they're relieved the chapter has closed.
Closing arguments will take place Friday and the trial to determine the amount Donald Trump will pay in damages for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll. The former president took the stand very briefly on Thursday, CNN correspondent Kara Scannell with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And an extraordinary move for Donald Trump, the former president briefly taking the stand in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial against him, as the 2024 Republican presidential front runner continues his strategy of bouncing between multiple court appearances and the campaign trail.
Trump testified for less than three minutes in the civil trial that will decide how much money if any, he must pay Carroll in damages for statements he made about her sexual assault allegations against him.
Trump attorney Alina Habba asking Trump, do you stand by your testimony in the deposition? 100 percent yes, Trump replied. He was then asked if he made the statement in 2019 in response to Carroll's accusation. Yes, I did. She said something that I considered a false accusation. Totally false, Trump testified.
Judge Lewis Caplan immediately cut Trump off saying everything after yes I did is stricken. Finally, Trump's lawyer asked if he intended to hurt Carroll with his statements. No, he responded. I just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly the presidency.
After a brief redirect, Trump was off the stand and the defense rested. The judge allowed only very narrow testimony ordering restrictions that Trump could not deny assaulting Carroll or say that she lied about the rape allegation because those questions are not before this jury.
A civil jury already found that Trump's sexually assaulted Carroll and then defamed her in a 2022 statement. The judge previously ruled that verdict would carry over to this defamation trial.
Before Trump's testimony, Carroll's lawyers rested her case after playing a series of video clips of Trump disparaging her and misidentifying Carroll as his wife Marla Maples while looking at a photo.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: This is Marla.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said Marla in this photo?
TRUMP: That's Marla. Yes. It was. It's my wife.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which one are you pointing to?
TRUMP: Here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you pointing to is E. Jean Carroll.
TRUMP: This ridiculous situation that we're doing right it's a big fat hoax. She's a liar and she's a sick person, in my opinion, really sick. Something wrong with her.
SCANNELL (voice-over): Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Ecuador is asking the U.S. for help in its war on drug gangs. When we come back, CNN rides along with Ecuador's security forces as they carry out raids on suspected gang members. You're watching CNN Newsroom, we'll be right back.
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HOLMES: The Biden administration plans to ramp up assistance to Ecuador as the country wages a nationwide war against criminal gangs. The new aid under consideration ranges from equipment to deploying personnel to trained security forces.
U.S. has already pledged to help deliver 20,000 bulletproof vests and more than a million dollars worth of security gear, ambulances and defense support vehicles. The move underscores the growing concern at the White House over the increasing level of violence in Ecuador, and how it could lead to more people fleeing South America for the U.S. border.
CNN's David Culver rode along with Ecuador security forces as they carried out raids against the drug gangs and wanting his report contains images some viewers might find disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We're the fourth in a convoy of what looks to be about four pickup trucks. All of them unmarked with no lights, no sirens, all the officers in plainclothes.
CULVER (voice-over): Were with Ecuador's national police force as they're dispatched to a house with suspected ties to terror groups. They won't tell us where exactly we're headed and they ask us to blur their faces.
CULVER: The level of concern and fear exists here right now.
CULVER (voice-over): So we'll keep it vague. We're just outside Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and headed into one of the most violent areas of Duran.
More than a dozen officers stormed what could be mistaken for an abandoned barn, but their intel suggests otherwise. They cuff two men and search the high grass and weeds. On each corner security cameras strategically positioned. Officers hack them down.
CULVER: As they leave here, we notice even he's carrying some evidence, like a gun and several rounds in that baggie.
CULVER (voice-over): This is just one of thousands of raids across Ecuador carried out over the past two weeks. Ecuador's military now deployed to neighborhoods. We went with them.
CULVER: Over here we see two guys who have been detained for now.
CULVER (voice-over): Officials arresting more than 3,000 people so far. Ecuador's latest surge in violence sparked by this suspected prison escape of notorious gang leader Jose Adolfo Macias, known as Fito. reported missing from this massive prison compound on January 7,
CULVER: If you look over here, this is where officials tell us Fito was being held, possibly is still being held. They really don't know. CULVER (voice-over): A top military commander telling me the prison
system is rife with mismanagement and heavy gang influence, so much so that Fito could still be hiding inside.
Fito's disappearance lead president Daniel Noboa to declare a state of emergency vowing to neutralize terror groups. A day after Noboa's declaration on January 9th, 13 armed men took over a television news studio in Guayaquil. They put guns to the heads of employees, forcing them to the ground and held up what looked to be sticks of dynamite.
Folks watched it all unfold on live TV, among them Camille Gamarra and her husband Diego Guyardo (ph). Feeling the unease Diego decided to pick up their 10-year-old son.
But minutes before reaching his school someone opened fire on the streets. Diego stopped messaging Camilla who was frantically trying to call him. A police colonel eventually answered and told Camille, Diego had been shot.
Chaos rocked Ecuador that day, especially in Guayaquil, where barricades went up and streets shut down. This young girl still in her school uniform also hit by a stray bullet. The hospital later saying she survived thanks to a security guard who drove her to the emergency room. A family friend was able to get Camille son to safety but Diego died before Camille could get to him.
CAMILLE GAMARRA, HUSBAND KILLED IN ECUADOR VIOLENCE: I couldn't do a thing, left sitting here. I couldn't do a thing.
CULVER (voice-over): Across town, national police and armed forces stormed the television studio capturing the gunman before they could kill any of the hostages.
CULVER: This is the studio where the terror group entered and 13 of them.
CULVER (voice-over): We saw firsthand the damage left behind.
CULVER: This is the studio door and you can see I can count here one, two, three, four, five, six,, about a half dozen bullet holes.
CULVER (voice-over): The day after our visit and a brazen strike against the government suspected gang members assassinated the prosecutor investigating that studio takeover.
CULVER: I can say is pulling this car over right now.
CULVER (voice-over): Police and military now stepping up their efforts setting up random checkpoints. Every possible hiding place searched.
CULVER: I just saw one of the soldiers signaling to the other. Look at his arm, look at his arm.
CULVER (voice-over): They check tattoos for any gang affiliations and even scroll through people's phones. They also board commuter buses to get intel. CULVER: He's asking do they have anything they need to tell or inform
about. It says we're doing this operation for you all.
CULVER (voice-over): Residents here struggle with what's happened to their country over the past few years. They tell me gangs are growing bolder and holding people and their businesses hostage demanding protection money known as lacunas.
CULVER: What happens if you don't pay the lacuna, if you don't pay the extortion?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They get a contract killer and kill you. They put a explosive outside your store.
CULVER (voice-over): The military tries to weed out those responsible raiding homes like this one, holding the suspects at gunpoint as neighbors including kids, watch. It's a lot to take in.
CULVER: She says the fact that there are police here, it's comforting. She accepts that and that there's military now patrolling the streets. What she doesn't like is that it goes into people's homes and it's now pouring out onto the street.
CULVER (voice-over): But this is war. At least that's how the government here sees it. And they're asking the U.S. for support, desperate for tactical equipment, ammo and Intel.
CULVER: Why should the U.S. help? Because people will look at this from the U.S. and they'll say well, that's Ecuador's problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, if you don't help us, probably you will see more people trying to close the borders because these people is in the middle of gunfights on their neighborhoods. What would you do?
CULVER: You're not going to stay there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't want to stay.
CULVER (voice-over): Back on the front lines after executing their raid, we're reminded of the fear instilled by these gangs, even among law enforcement. This officer putting on a ski mask in 90 degree heat and thick humidity before stepping into frame.
[01:25:00]
And yet beneath those tactical layers a soft spot this soldier has not been home in a week telling us the reason he's fighting is for his little girl. She wrote him a letter in English.
CULVER: I want you to know that everyone misses you here at home, and we want you to return safe and sound. And I asked you to help the country to be a better place. You are number one.
CULVER (voice-over): David Culver, CNN Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, why elite recording allegedly of the Israeli prime minister has angered a key player in the hostage negotiation. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN Newsroom with me Michael Holmes. The Qatari government is expressing outrage over a leaked recording allegedly of the Israeli Prime Minister criticizing the Gulf nation.
The voice attributed to Benjamin Netanyahu is heard telling hostage families that Qatar is not putting enough pressure on Hamas to free their loved ones.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the remarks but they're not going over well in Qatar, which has been trying of course to mediate between Israel and Hamas. CNN's Nic Robertson with that story.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIOANAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): During a testy meeting with hostage families Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have strained his one regional relationship with Qatar that matters most to those very families.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): You don't hear me thanking Qatar because Qatar is essentially no different from the U.N. or the Red Cross. And in some ways even more problematic. They have leverage because they're financing them.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): These comments caught off mic triggered a rapid and barb (ph) diplomatic put down from Qatari officials, who helped negotiate the release of almost 100 Israeli hostages in November, saying in a tweet, we are appalled by the alleged remarks attributed to the Israeli Prime Minister if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising.
Just days earlier, Qatar had been talking about relations with Israel and the potential for Hamas to release more hostages.
MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATAR FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: We are engaging in serious discussions with both sides. We have presented ideas to both sides we are getting a constant stream of replies from both sides.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Qatar's frustration now seems personal with Netanyahu.
[01:30:00]
Qatar concluding their criticism with a view increasingly suspected by some Israelis. Netanyahu wants to keep the war going saying in a tweet, "The Israeli
prime minister would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process for reasons that appear to serve his political career."
Hostage families who were in the meeting with the prime minister released a terse statement appearing to blame Netanyahu for the leak although he denies it.
The fact that the Censorship was given permission to publish this audio recording is serious and indicates a loss of judgment. This leaked audio also suggests he may be trying to draw the White House into confrontation.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I was very angry recently and I didn't hide it from the Americans that they renewed the contract on the military base they have with Qatar.
ROBERTSON: President Biden hasn't openly spoken to the tensions, but this week Secretary of State Antony Blinken, criticizing Israel for taking Gazan territory to create a security buffer.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We've been very clear about maintaining in effect the territorial integrity.
ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN -- Tel Aviv, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: The U.K. and U.S. have imposed new sanctions on several high-ranking Houthi leaders in hopes of hindering the rebel group's ability to launch attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The newly-sanctioned individuals include the Houthis' so-called defense minister and naval leaders.
Weeks of military strikes on Houthi targets have yet to get the Iran- backed militia to halt their attacks. The Houthis have said they'll keep targeting ships they believe are linked to Israel unless there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Ukraine is pouring cold water on Moscow's claim that Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a plane that went down in western Russia. Moscow claims a Ukrainian missile shot down the plane in the Belgorod region on Wednesday, reportedly killing 65 Ukrainians headed for a prisoner swap plus nine Russian service members.
But Ukraine's intelligence now suggests only five bodies from the crash site have been taken to a local morgue. That number according to Ukraine, matches the size of the crew on the plane, which Kyiv says was transporting missiles not POWs.
Russian videos from the scene, including this one, do not appear to show mass casualties, but Russian investigators still said on Thursday, their preliminary probe showed the jet was attacked by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile.
Ukraine meanwhile fighting a grinding battle to hold onto the town of Avdiivka, where Russia is using tactics described as a meat assault, sending wave after wave of soldiers to attack Ukrainian positions regardless of loss.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen got access to the heart of Ukraine's operations there. A warning: some of the images you're about to see are graphic.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A U.S. provided Bradley infantry-fighting vehicle, almost single-handedly stopping a Russian assault near Avdiivka in southeastern Ukraine pelting the Russians with tracer rounds from its powerful 25- millimeter gun. Vladimir Putin's troops pinned down, unable to advance.
This is just one element of Ukraine's efforts to hold Avdiivka run from underground command centers in secret locations. The Ukrainians have given us access to their command bunker for this part of the front line. From here, they organize part of the defense of Avdiivka.
It's rarely calm here. They say the Russians assaulting nearly all the time. A Russian tank with a small group of troops shows up. The Ukrainians track their movements. And these two soldiers, probably from an already decimated unit, cowering in a trench, aware the Ukrainians have spotted them. They hit the Russians with a kamikaze drone but they survive for now.
The commander tells me Russian losses here are staggering.
"They use a lot of equipment. We destroy a lot of equipment," he says. A lot infantry assaults, they extend people. They step over each other, don't provide assistance. It's true. There's a lot of infantry equipment and meat assaults.
From the many drones monitoring the battlefield, we see the bodies of dead Russian soldiers frozen amidst their destroyed vehicles.
[01:34:53]
PLEITGEN: The command post also directs artillery and rocket strikes. And even counter assault with ground forces to clear trenches and stop the seemingly endless waves of Russian infantry attacks.
"Fortunately, they have a lot of losses," he says. "Yet they do not stop. But Avdiivka will be ours. They will not succeed."
But Ukraine's American-provided guns could go mostly silent soon if Congress doesn't end its impasse and pass additional military aid, President Biden says.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the vast majority of members of Congress support aid to Ukraine. The question is whether or not a small minority is going to hold it up which would be a disaster.
PLEITGEN: And that could have major effects for the Ukrainian troops fighting here.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN in eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Voters in Russia are braving the country's legendary winter to ensure an anti-war presidential Candidate has enough signatures to take on Vladimir Putin in the election in March.
CNN's Clare Sebastian with more on this peaceful defiance and the man inspiring it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Under heavy snowfall and amid the chill of ever tighter limits on freedom of speech, this is a rare spark of Russian public opposition to Vladimir Putin. Patiently lining up to try to get an anti-war candidate on the ballot in upcoming presidential elections.
"This is the only candidate that wants to stop the military action on someone else's territory," says Anatoly.
For some it goes even deeper than the war.
"I feel that my rights may be infringed," says Natasha (ph), "I don't feel safe sometimes."
The candidate is Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old physicist, former MPO, and adviser to the late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. His manifesto describes the so-called special military operation in Ukraine as a fatal mistake, pledging to immediately start peace talks if elected.
People have been arrested and sent to prison in Russia for a lot less than that. Why are you getting away with this?
BORIS NADEZHDIN, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I don't know. I don't know exactly why I'm not arrested. I know Putin very well from 90s, even when he was not a president. He was a normal Russian bureaucrat. And I was normal Russian bureaucrat.
SEBASTIAN: Supporters have been lining up not just in Moscow, but outside Nadezhdin campaign headquarters in dozens of cities across Russia and even abroad.
He has united the old guard of the Russian opposition, including key allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, his wife Yulia, adding her signature on Wednesday, and exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
He's now racing to collect the required hundred thousand signatures with strict regional quotas by the end of January.
People are saying that there is -- either there's a deal, perhaps with the Kremlin to allow your campaign to go ahead to create the illusion of a real democracy or they are using this as a way to distract the anti-Putin electorate. What do you say to those theories? NADEZHDIN: I am absolutely sure, the situation will change because a
lot of people now in Russia which started to see me in YouTube, in TV, in Telegram, they begin believe me.
SEBASTIAN: In the Moscow (INAUDIBLE), Ivan tells us he doesn't care if Nadezhdin is a Kremlin (INAUDIBLE) or not.
IVAN, RUSSIAN: I am prepared even for the candidates to be, as we say here, representative of one of the Kremlin towers. For me, the most important thing is that military action should stop.
SEBASTIAN: If president Putin is reelected for a fifth term what will you do?
NADEZHDIN: I am absolutely sure that even if Putin will win in this selection the next presidential election will be much closer than six years. I am absolutely sure. And I Will proceed with my job.
SEBASTIAN: He believes he is already succeeding at one job exposing the fragility of public support for Putin's war.
Clare Sebastian, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A severe drought has gripped the Amazon Basin for months now. Coming up, what's causing this environmental disaster and the impact on the region and our world?
[01:39:28]
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HOLMES: Cameroon has achieved a global milestone in the fight against malaria. The disease kills nearly half a million African children under the age of five each and every year.
But as CNN's Meg Tirrell tells us, people in Cameroon are fighting the disease by rolling up their sleeves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A shot in the arm against a killer disease in what's being called a historic step by world health groups. Cameroon is the first country in the world to roll out a large-scale vaccination campaign against malaria.
The World Health Organization says malaria kills around 600,000 people a year with children under five making up about 80 percent of deaths in Africa. In trial programs and other African countries, the WHO says the vaccine caused a 13 percent drop in the deaths of children.
In clinical studies, the vaccine reduced clinical and severe cases of the disease by about a third. AURELIA NGUYEN, CHIEF PROGRAMME OFFICER AT GAVI, THE VACCINE ALLIANCE:
We have 11 countries where 60 percent of mortality is concentrated. And so it really is a tool that is added to other tools against malaria to really have an impact on the mortality caused by this disease.
TIRRELL: It's taken decades to develop a vaccine. Scientists say malaria transmitted by mosquitoes is complex. The parasite that causes it goes through several changes in the human body, making it difficult for the immune system to fight it.
The vaccine is a four-dose regimen that health officials say is extremely effective in lowering the number of deaths from malaria when used in combination with mosquito nets and malaria tablets.
But health workers in Cameroon say the program is off to a slow start with misinformation or a lack of information keeping some people away.
ASSAKO NADESH, HEAD NURSE AT JAPOMA DISTRICT HOSPITAL: I think it's regrettable. I really wished that there was more widespread awareness. I would have liked more noise to be made about it so that even in vaccination centers, they talk about it more.
When mothers are not informed, they are afraid. With the rumors that circulate outside with each new vaccine they are a bit hesitant
TIRRELL: 19 other countries are planning to begin similar vaccination campaigns this year. But so far there are only about 18 million doses allocated to 12 countries through 2025.
Until a more complete roll-out, scientists have been buoyed by other signs of progress in the fight against malaria. Earlier this month, Cape Verde became the first sub-Saharan African country officially to be declared malaria-free in 50 years.
Meg Tirrell, CNN -- reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Colombia's president declared a quote "situation of disaster and calamity: on Thursday as wildfires continue to ravage several parts of the country. At least 25 fires are currently burning, obtained under control. More than 200 other fires have been put out. In the capital, Bogota billowing smoke and fog caused dozens of flight cancellations.
Officials say the fires are due to hot and dry conditions linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon.
A new study meanwhile finds the ongoing drought in the Amazon Basin was made much more likely and much more intense due to human-caused climate change.
[01:44:50]
HOLMES: Low rainfall and persistent high temperatures have affected the region since June, leaving rivers at their lowest levels in more than a century, cutting people off from vital supplies and devastating crops and animals.
Scientists from the World Weather Attribution Initiative say El Nino played a role, but climate change had the biggest influence on the drought overall.
Joining me now, Dr. Leah Stokes associate professor of environmental politics, UC Santa Barbara. Thanks so much, Professor for your time.
How dire is the drought situation in the Amazon Basin? Just how unprecedented?
DR. LEA STOKES, UC SANTA BARBARA: Well, the thing is that scientific records, in terms of drought go back a little bit over a century. And what scientists looking today are telling us is that this drought under the previous climate before we warmed it by burning so many fossil fuels, this drought would have only happened something like once in every 1,500 years.
And now what they're saying is that droughts this severe, this damaging to small holder farmers, to indigenous communities. We will be seeing a drought like this every couple of decades. So it really is devastating and it is caused by climate change.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. It's not just El Nino and other factors. And this report really deep dives into that aspect of it. But how does what happens in the Amazon Basin impact or potentially impact the rest of us. I guess the question is, you know, yes, why should people care?
STOKES: Well, I think people should always care that we're burning up the planet and, you know, not allowing people to maintain their livelihoods, including small-scale farmers, indigenous communities.
But the thing is what happens in the Amazon doesn't just affect the Amazon. There's a reason why we call it the lungs of the planet, right? And so if we're experiencing drought there, what can happen is not only these livelihood impacts, but also damage to the forest, which can lead to forest fires.
You know, it can really have huge global effects if the Amazon is not really a healthy, functioning ecosystem.
HOLMES: Yes. Now, you've touched on this a couple of times and I want to get back to it because I think it's really important. The report itself, it's very detailed, it's scholarly accounting of the issue and the impacts.
But it does stand out in the report too. The human impact. How this is affecting people in very real ways. Just give us a sense of that aspect. What's happening at the micro level to the people who live there, just trying to survive.
STOKES; Yes, just imagine what happens when, you know, the ground is too dry, when it's not raining enough, what happens is your crops die, right. Trees start to die. You start to have, for example, forest fires. You know, people don't have the same amount of food that they need to have.
This can be really devastating. And of course, it's happening right now in the Amazon where for example, many indigenous communities live.
But drought is becoming more common all around the world, you know, even in places like California, where I am. We're seeing these sort of like supposed-to-be once in 1 million -- I'm sorry, once in a thousand-year events happening every big few decades and that has huge ramifications. And so drought can really affect everyday people because it can affect the food supply. And of course, lead to these forest fires.
HOLMES: Yes, I was reading a co-author Ben Clark, he's with the Imperial College of London. And he wrote there quote, "With every fraction of a degree of warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, the risk of drought in the Amazon will continue to increase regardless of El Nino."
So how much worse could things get?
STOKES: Well, it really depends on what we do.
So far, we've continued to burn fossil fuels. This is things like coal and oil, and fossil gas.
And the longer that we do that, the more the climate will heat up, leading to these catastrophic events like drought in the Amazon, forest fires, all across the boreal forest, like we saw last year. You know, these extreme hurricanes, drought in other parts of the world.
So unless we stop burning fossil fuels, we're going to keep warming the planet. Keep in mind, we've just warmed the planet by about 1.2 degrees centigrade, right? And these are the impacts that we're seeing.
So what happens if we keep on this course? Of course, we don't have to, right. We can stop burning fossil fuels. We can start using clean electric machines like electric vehicles, heat pumps. And countries all around the world are really starting to do that. So we have a choice.
But if we continue along the fossil fuel path this is the kind of devastating consequences that we're going to hear more and more about with every passing year.
HOLMES: It's so, so important. And it's really great to get your thoughts and your expertise on this professor. Leah Stokes, thanks so much.
STOKES: Thanks so much for having me on.
[01:49:48]
HOLMES: Just ahead, the newly-crowned Miss Japan is making history and sparking controversy while supporters say she could be the face of a more diverse Japan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And that was the scene in New Delhi a short time ago, India celebrating its 75th Republic Day with pageantry and a military parade. The Republic Day Parade is a grand show of the country's diverse culture and identities while also fostering a sense of national pride.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed this year's guest of honor, the French President Emmanuel Macron. These two leaders visited historical sites on Thursday as they seek to strengthen their countries ties.
A Ukrainian-born model has made history as the first-ever non- ethnically Japanese to be named Miss Japan. Her win sparking debate on what it means to be Japanese in a country long known for being a largely mono-ethnic state.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports from Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Japan's oldest beauty contest, a quite literal manifestation of the country's beauty standards. But this year, the competition that judges these Japanese women was won by a standout competitor.
KAROLINA SHINO, MISS JAPAN: I kept being told that I'm not Japanese. But I'm absolutely Japanese. So I entered Miss Japan genuinely believing in myself.
MONTGOMERY: Karolina Shino is a naturalized citizen of Japan but looks very different to her fellow contestants. Of Ukrainian descent, she became this week the first non-ethnically Japanese woman to win Miss Nippon.
SHINO: The fact that I don't look like a Japanese person was always in the back of my mind. That's why when I was called, I couldn't stop crying. I was so happy.
MONTGOMERY: Less than ten years ago, Arianna Miyamoto, half African- American, half Japanese, won a different beauty competition Miss Universe Japan. Her victory was called into question with Miyamoto criticized for not being Japanese enough.
Now, Shino's win has again stirred debate as to what it means to be truly Japanese. Achieving that at least in the eyes of others in her adopted homeland, has not been easy for Shino.
SHINO: I think that the number of diverse people who may not look Japanese, but are Japanese at heart people with various backgrounds will continue to increase. And I would like to see this number increase.
MONTGOMERY: Japan has long been considered a largely mono ethnic society. That is being upended recently by the country's low birth rate. The average number of children born to women during their reproductive years has fallen to 1.3 below the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population. A greater reliance on immigration is changing the face of Japan.
And many hope that Shino's newfound fame as a Japanese beauty queen will help people to be more accepting of diversity.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Personally, I think Japan is becoming more forward thinking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the world will start to look at Japan in a different light because of this. And I think that will be very important.
[01:54:55]
MONTGOMERY: Shino says she feels truly at home here. And as the country of her birth suffers through war she says she's grateful to be Japanese. Japan, as it forges a more inclusive society, might be grateful to her too.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN -- Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A Canadian man is cleaning himself off after getting a face full of potting soil. That's after the vandal had a run-in with a flower planter.
CNN's Jeanne Moos explains the planter won.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Seemingly plastered, this guy took it out on a planter, first kicking it, then trying to heave it into the glass window of an Ontario restaurant called "The Counter". But the plantar counter attacked when the husband-and-wife owners of the restaurant saw the surveillance video. What did you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What an idiot.
MOOS: He laid there covered in dirt while his buddy cracked up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I laughed. I thought it was hilarious. I remember being young and being drunk. I mean, I never tried to throw a planner box at a business but we've all been there.
MOOS: A formal complaint was never filed. When the guy finally got up, he had to hold onto a pole.
It could've been worse.
At least he didn't get covered with manure like in "Back to the Future". The dumb vandal joins the ranks of other blundering bad guys. Beaumont, Texas police call these armed robbers the three stooges for the way they came slipping and sliding into a Popeye's restaurant. And who could forget the bumbling burglars throwing bricks to break
into a business in China. One guy brained the other with a brick, knocking him out cold.
The planter fiasco had a happy ending. One of the guys came back and resurrected the planter. Restaurant co-owner (INAUDIBLE) found it heartening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had a better moral about him.
MOOS: The moral of the story, picking a fight with a planter is dumb as dirt.
Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The polite Canadian came back and put it back up.
Thanks for watching and spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. CNN NEWSROOM continues with the one and only Anna Coren next.
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