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Navalny Aide Says His Body Won't Be Released For 14 Days; Israel Vows Rafah Ground Assault By Ramadan If Hostages Are Not Freed; Russia Takes Avdiivka From Ukraine; NATO's Stoltenberg Urges U.S. House To Pass Ukraine Aid; Situation Remains Dire for Children in Gaza; Houthi Rebels Say they Targeted U.S. and British Ships; Venezuelan Security Forces Detain High-Profile Activist; Lionel Messi Again Addresses Missed Hong Kong Match; 100 M Pieces of Debris Circling Globe. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 20, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: On U.S. military assistance for Ukraine.
And escaping Rafah, a desperate scramble by Palestinians with now nowhere to go ahead of a military operation by Israel just 19 days away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: The three days now the mother of the dead Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says she has tried to retrieve her son's body from a hospital morgue in northern Russia, only to be refused each time. Navalny's spokesperson says the body will be released in two weeks. I've (ph) been told by officials that a chemical examination is needed to determine the cause of death. And that delay has brought accusations of a Kremlin cover up.
Navalny's widow went further in a video statement, directly blaming President Vladimir Putin for her husband's death and accused Russian authorities of hiding the body to cover their tracks. We should note she did not provide any evidence to back up her claims.
But she did vow to take up her husband's cause and would fight on for a happy, beautiful Russia as after the 47-year-old opposition leader died suddenly Friday in an Arctic penal colony seemingly in good spirits just one day earlier during a video court appearance. More details down from CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISS BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Words of defiance by Alexei Navalny's wife, as his mother searches for answers, traveling to the Arctic town nearest to his last prison, but leaving with very little. The location of her son's body still unknown.
Navalny's spokesperson confirming on Monday that his body will not now be released to the family for at least another 14 days. The cause of his sudden death according to Russian investigators still not determined.
What is known as that his final moments came in Russia's Arctic after taking a walk in what's known as the Polar Wolf colony, where he was moved just weeks earlier. He said to have collapsed outdoors, less than a day after he was seen on video during a court appearance looking skinnier, but still with a lively glimmer in his eye.
And less than 48 hours after he wished his wife Yulia a Happy Valentine's Day on social media. I love you more and more becoming his final words to the world. Yulia now a widow says that Russian authorities are hiding Navalny's body as they wait for quote traces of another of Putin's Novichok to disappear.
The Very same poison that nearly killed him in 2020. Traces of Novichok were confirmed by a German lab while Navalny was convalescing in Berlin. He's returned to Moscow another example of the courage that has continued to shine through his many letters written from prison, as he stood defiantly against Vladimir Putin, like the series of exchanges with the Soviet dissident, Natan Sharansky obtained by the Free Press, in which Navalny writes, I understand that I am not the first, but I really want to become the last or at least one of the last of those who are forced to endure this. In another letter he writes, one day in Russia, there will be what was not, and will not be what it was.
His hope in so many of the letters contagious, as in the one he wrote to an American journalist, which was obtained by the Russian media outlet Honod (ph), I'm doing well and I don't regret anything, he writes, and don't regret it. And don't be upset. Everything will be fine. And even if it isn't, we will be consoled by the fact that we were honest people.
The ink of his pen, one of his final acts of staining Putin's power, not only to be remembered in history books, but even now being amplified by his wife to carry his most subversive message yet that his courage and anger should live on. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joseph Scott Morgan is a Distinguished Professor of Applied Forensics at an Alabama Jacksonville State University. It's good to have you with us, sir. Thanks for being with us.
JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF APPLIED FORENSICS: Thanks for having me, John. Good to be here.
VAUSE: OK, so Navalny's widow has no doubt about why authorities in Russia have not released the body of her late husband. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIDOW (through translator): In a cowardly way they're hiding his body not showing to his mother, not giving to his mother. They're lying and they're waiting for the traces of another of Putin Novichok to disappear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Novichok is a reference to the, you know, weapons grade chemical, which the Russians used to poison Navalny with. Now, is there a timeline here though, for how long poison stays in someone's system? We don't know it's Novichok. It could be anything. I guess, is this a bit like asking how long is a piece of string?
[01:05:00]
MORGAN: Yes, that's a great analogy. It certainly is, it's dependent upon the agent itself. And let's keep in mind this term Novichok is kind of an odd term to apply, it essentially means newbie, our new substance, it really means nothing. What it comes down to is the substance they're referencing, is an organophosphate, which was applied to this gentleman, I guess, lo these many three years ago.
And, you know, to some effect with him, he was greatly, greatly injured by exposure to that substance at that particular time.
So yes, I mean, you would think that perhaps, that could be in the running. The trick, though, is where do you go to look for it during the autopsy? What elements are there going to be available to resource in order to study for this toxin in the system? And, you know, do they have the will to look for this -- for the substance.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to Ross's ambassador to the United Nations, who was asked directly about, you know, where is Navalny's body. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is -- why are the Russian authorities not handing over his body? Do you have something to hide?
VASSILY NEBENZYA, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO UN: Well, I think that there isn't a simple because the forensic medical investigation is not over yet. The exact cause of the death was not yet disclosed. Well, Western colleagues rushed to claim 15 minutes after it happened after the news were published, that this was the responsibility of the Putin regime, et cetera, et cetera.
(END VIDEO CLIPP)
VAUSE: Totally unfair accusation and saying it sounds like. Moscow, they say the 14 days for a medical examination, a forensic examination, also clearly a chemical examination. Just by way of comparison, here in the U.S. state of Georgia, the majority of cases, the cause and manner of death are determined immediately upon completion of the autopsy. And the autopsy report will be issued in about four weeks.
So how long does a typical autopsy take? And are there any circumstances when 14 days may be needed in all? MORGAN: Yes, certainly, let's take that first bit. So if we're talking about the autopsy itself, the autopsy can be done in a matter of hours, John. It's -- in a lot of that is dependent upon the nature of the death. They had this man in a controlled environment. I would assume that he has been watched regularly. So they have those kind of histrionics that come along with the events leading up to his death, the assessment itself, the physical assessment, can be accomplished, like I said, within a couple of hours.
Now, as it applies to the testing that comes afterwards, that can take up to 14 days. If you start to get off into the area of these kinds of exotic poisons, or these agents like a nerve agent, perhaps, it's going to take a bit longer, because the testing has to be very, very specific.
And you kind of have to know what physical characteristics that you're looking at autopsy that might marry up with a symptomology that would correlate with a particular type of agent and then dig deeper at that point in time.
VAUSE: At this point, we're making the assumption here that the Russians actually do want to carry out an authentic autopsy and actually determine the root cause of death. Well, that doesn't seem to be the case here.
MORGAN: No, it doesn't. And I got to tell you, John, one of the things that's kind of troubling about this, is the following. When the family get the remains back, if they get the remains back, I would keep a very close eye on if there are any missing elements with the body. And I'm going to be very specific and blunt here.
You have to think about these things. As far as the organ systems where the body be returned with the lungs, with the heart, with the brain, because you're talking -- if you're talking about this organic organophosphate poisoning, you're going to want to look at the brain tissue microscopically, that's going to be important.
But here's the big one. What is kind of attached to this particular age, and in particular, is the liver. It sends the individual into a hepatic failure, liver failure, could that original exposure that occurred back in I guess it was 2020, I think, could that have led to maybe liver failure.
And let's keep in mind, he's in a penal colony, John, north of the Arctic Circle, what kind of medical treatment was he being given even as a follow up to that event back in 2020.
VAUSE: Yes, there were a lot of questions about the standard of care that he was or was not receiving first in the prison outside Moscow. Now this gulag and, you know, north of the Arctic Circle,
Professor Morgan, some good information there, some good insight. We really appreciate you being with us.
MORGAN: Have a great Good evening thanks for having me.
[01:10:02]
VAUSE: The Israeli military has released images from Gaza, what they say is the first proof of life of the Bibas family at least October 7, when they were kidnapped by Hamas militants. According to the IDF, Mother Shiri and her two children age four and nine months at the time, can be seen on the video, which was recovered from Khan Younis in central Gaza during the recent Israeli operation. That's according to the IDF.
The Bibas family are among the most recognizable of all the Israelis being held by Hamas, not least because of her now, one-year-old baby, the youngest hostage taken by Hamas. Late last year, Hamas claimed Shiri and her two children were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
But according to the IDF, they currently do not have enough information to confirm whether they are dead or alive. They're still working to find out.
Those images come as Israel's war cabinet sets a deadline for the release of all hostages in Gaza. If they're not set free by the start of Ramadan, which is much 10 then the Israeli military offensive on Gaza southern most city Rafah will begin and that will put 1.5 million displaced Palestinians in the crossfire. CNN's Jeremy Diamond following all the developments now from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Israel's war cabinet is increasingly making clear that a military offensive will come to Gaza as southernmost city of Rafah if a deal to free hostages is not reached in the coming weeks.
But as they continue to make those threats, they have yet to release any details about what a civilian evacuation of that city we're about one and a half million Palestinians are currently living, what that would actually look like and what we're starting to see is people taking matters into their own hands fleeing Rafah for central Gaza.
But there, they are finding that that haven that they hoped would exist is no haven at all. Instead, we are seeing airstrikes there. Just over this weekend, more than 68 people were killed in airstrikes in central Gaza.
I do want to warn our viewers that they may find these images distressing.
We've been hearing reports in recent weeks of people eating grass, eating animal feed just in order to survive. But now several U.N. agencies giving us a clearer picture on the ground showing that one in six children under the age of two in northern Gaza are acutely malnourished and 64 percent in Gaza overall, are only eating one meal a day. John.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Jeremy, thank you for that report. We'll take a short break. When we come back, outnumbered, outgunned and finally forced out of the equation city of Avdiivka. Ukrainian forces flee and the Russian flag now flies over what's left to that destroys it.
Also, while an aid package for Ukraine hangs in the balance, NATO's leader has some very stern words for the United States. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: The fall of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka to Russian forces now raising fears the war could be turning in Putin's favor.
Ukrainian defenders outgunned and outnumbered, held off a brutal Russian offensive for four months, ultimately, though, a huge loss for Ukraine, which U.S. President Joe Biden has blamed on Republicans in Congress for stalling billions of dollars in military assistance.
And with Avdiivka now under Russian occupation that creates a number of pressure points along the front line, like Kupiansk, where the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops on Monday to try and boost morale. He thanked them for their service and said he is confident in all of them. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has a closer look at what Ukrainian troops were facing while trying to escape of Avdiivka.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One of Ukraine's main strong points and Avdiivka under a hail of Russian bombs. Moscow's Defense Ministry released this video of what they say is their forces targeting a coke fuel plant at the northern edge of town.
On the ground a fight for sheer survival. Ukraine's third Assault Brigade posting this video of their troops breaking through Russian encirclement to escape Avdiivka. They claim all their soldiers made it out alive.
This week, all caring hearts not only in Ukraine, we're concerned for our heroes for our Avdiivka, for every defender and for the fate of our people for the fate of the entire state, Ukraine's president said. But among frontline soldiers, bitterness and anger at a lack of both manpower and firepower.
The Ukrainian say they killed thousands of Russian troops with both artillery and drones, only to be overrun in the end.
We didn't have enough people. We didn't have enough shells, the soldier said. We didn't have enough possibilities to throw them back. If we had a large amount or at least an OK amount of shells, we could have stopped the enemy. But unfortunately, we didn't have them.
And it's increasingly becoming clear not all Ukrainians made it out as the noose was tightening. A video call between a wounded Ukrainian soldier and his sister indicates some were left behind. So what, no one is coming, she asks. Your guys are there too or are
you alone? Everyone left, he answers. Everyone retreated. They told us a car would pick us up. I have two broken legs. Shrapnel in my back. I can't do anything. Are you alone? Or what? She asks. No, there are six of us, he replies. How could they leave you, she pleads. I don't know. Just like that. Four people who are like me can't walk either, he answers.
Ukrainians now claim the wounded soldier and several others were killed by Russian forces. The Russian army gloating claiming this video of Moscow soldiers shows them raising their flag on a building inside the Avdiivka coke plant.
Under the continuous fire of Russian troops only a few scattered formations of Ukrainian militants managed to hastily leave Avdiivka abandoning their weapons and military equipment, the spokesman says.
Avdiivka is Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest victory and months of the Ukrainians fear other frontline towns could also fall if they don't get more weapons and ammo soon. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Brisbane, Australia now Major General Mick Ryan, former commander of the Australian Defense College, as well as author of "War Transformed: The Future of 21st Century Great Power Competition and Conflict." General Good to see you
MAJOR GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: So, I want you to listen to the Ukrainian president with an overall assessment of the impact that the long delayed U.S. military and financial support is having on the frontlines and on the battlefield.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Right now, the situation is extremely difficult in several parts of the front line, where Russian troops have amassed maximum reserves, what they're taking advantage of the delays in aid to Ukraine. And these are very tangible issues. If there is a deficit of artillery, there's a need for frontline air defense and for a longer range of our weapons.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: He doesn't specifically refer to Avdiivka and he doesn't actually say it out loud. But would that city be under Russian occupation right now if U.S. military assistance had continued to flow uninterrupted?
RYAN: Well, it's hard to tell, but it may not be or might still be occupied for a few more weeks, but the shortfall in artillery and the short in air defense in particular, hastened the Russian capture of that town. VAUSE: So in a lot of ways, if you look at what happened in Avdiivka it's a replay of the battle for Bakhmut, Russia sent in a lot of men to die, ultimately getting control of almost utterly destroyed city. Bakhmut though was all about symbolic value. There seems to be more to Avdiivka than symbolic value. There seems to be some strategy here. So some real gains for the Russians.
RYAN: Well, absolutely in a tactical sense, they get to straighten their frontlines and redeploy forces to other areas whether it's Bakhmut or (INAUDIBLE) or in Kupiansk's.
[01:20:07]
But strategically, it gives them confidence. This is very important and more the Russians have an important victory here. And that will give them confidence that other (INAUDIBLE).
VAUSE: The Institute for the Study of War described the offensive on Avdiivka as an example of how Russian forces pursue offensive operations that do not necessarily set conditions for wider operational gains, but still force Ukraine to commit manpower and materiel to defensive operations.
So, what -- are they describing these gains are simply tactical and isolated? Or is there a bigger picture here, one that would show the tide turning back towards Russia in this war?
RYAN: Well, I think at the moment, we could say that the Russians do have the strategic initiative. They are able to attack where and when they want, whether it's in the south, or multiple locations in the east, that alone suggest an overall operation or even strategic funding, like an anaconda to slowly scramble the Ukrainians throughout this year on the battlefield.
VAUSE: You know, Ukrainians, so they've been down this road before if you remember back to the first six months of the war, they were forced to pull back as Russian forces encircled a number of Ukrainian cities. But then the difference is, then there was a surge of Western military equipment and Ukrainian troops went onto the raid areas around Kherson and Kharkiv. Can they do that again, assuming U.S. military support restart sometime soon?
RYAN: Well, absolutely, it's a grim situation. But we shouldn't be too much into doom and gloom. The Ukrainians have surprised us multiple times throughout this war. They have a new commander that has a new mandate from the President, the development strategy, and I expect they should be able to hold should that view support.
VAUSE: I guess the question, though, let's assume it does happen because it looks like it may get through at some point. What has been lost, though, in this delay? What has been the cost of the political games being played in Congress in the U.S. to the Ukrainians on the battlefield?
RYAN: Well, I think there is a matter of losing territory. They've lost a lot of lives because of this. That is absolutely undoubted. But I think to the Ukrainians have lost confidence in the American system to support them. Up until this point, they believed American (ph) is with them, Biden's visit and these kinds of things. Now, they have a lack of confidence in that system to support them in the long.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a good point to finish on. General Mick Ryan. Thank you, sir. As always good to have you with us. Thank you.
RYAN: Thank you.
VAUSE: NATO Secretary General has called on the U.S. to simply honor its word and make good on commitments made to Ukraine. Jen Stoltenberg was speaking to CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour in Munich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: What I can say it's the vital and urgent need for U.S. to decide on a package for Ukraine because you need that support. Now, it's for us to deliver what they have promised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And CNN's Arlette Saenz reports, President Biden could not agree more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden once again expressed disbelief that House Republicans have yet to get on board with additional aid for Ukraine at a time when the country is in a critical moment and its battle against Russia. This really took on heightened significance over the weekend following the death of Alexei Navalny in Russian prison.
The President holding Vladimir Putin directly responsible for Navalny's death saying that they are still looking for ways to respond to this. The President told reporters he is considering issuing additional sanctions against Russia in the wake of Navalny's death, but he has noted that the U.S. and its allies have already implemented wave after wave of sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
But the President is trying to use this moment to really ramp up the pressure on House Republicans. He criticized them for taking a two- week break without getting this additional aid for Ukraine pass and he expressed some shock when he spoke to reporters about the topic on Monday. Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: They're making a big mistake not responding. Look, the way they're walking away from the threat of Russia, the way they're walking away from NATO, the way they're walking away from leaving our obligations, it's just shocking. I've never seen anything like this.
SAENZ: This all comes after the Biden administration warned for months that Ukrainian soldiers would be hampered on the battlefield if they did not receive this additional military assistance. Over the weekend, the President spoke by phone with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the White House said that in that conversation he directly tied Ukraine's withdrawal from a key town in the east to Congress's inability to pass this aid for Ukraine.
The President told reporters he's not entirely confident that another town won't fall in Ukraine, as many soldiers are facing ammunition sort shortages at this time. But even as President Biden is ramping up the pressure on House Republicans.
[01:25:00]
He's running up against the political reality that so far the House Speaker Mike Johnson has shown no appetite for bringing up a Ukraine aid bill for a vote in the House are really throwing into jeopardy and leaving many open questions about whether they the president can eventually get this aid across the finish line. Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, no U.S. funding for the time being for Ukraine. Other countries have stepped in to try and make up the difference. Ukraine's Prime Minister was in Tokyo Monday and during a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister. They talked about Ukraine's reconstruction. Japan has limited supplies of equipment and non-lethal aid, sending financial and humanitarian assistance since this war began. CNN's Julia Chatterley spoke to Ukraine's Finance Minister about the importance of us support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Can you fight this war without American money? Truthfully?
SERHIY MARCHENKO, UKRAINE FINANCE MINISTER: You know, you asked me what a painful question, of course we will. But it's a question of general ability to fight in equal chances. Because if you have no support, for less support, it means that you'll have less chances to be in this work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Canada, donating 800 drones to Ukraine. They'll help gather more information and quickly assess targets or accurately for troops on the ground. Drones can carry cameras systems and payloads to detect and identify targets.
When we got back, the crew of a British cargo ship forced to abandon the vessel after coming under attack from Houthi rebels. Details on that, coming up next.
Also, several killed including children as Israeli strikes hit a building housing dozens of Palestinians trying to flee Rafah. Details of a deadly aftermath in just a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:29:15]
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
For the first time the U.S. is talking temporary ceasefire in Gaza, putting forward its own draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council which also warns against an Israeli ground operation on Rafah but falls short of urging for an immediate ceasefire.
And instead calls for one as soon practicable. An official with the Biden administration says they don't plan to rush into a vote. This all comes after the U.S. vowed to veto an Algerian draft proposal set to come up on Tuesday morning.
Meantime, European countries are pushing for urgent action 26 out of 27 E.U. countries agreeing to a call for an immediate humanitarian pause which would lead to a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. Top E.U. diplomat Josep Borrell says the statement also calls for the unconditional release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Palestinian Red Crescent society says the evacuations continue at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis. A source inside that hospital says 16 patients left Monday, the wounded transferred to the American and Indonesian field hospitals in Rafah to the south.
The World Health Organization evacuated 14 patients on Sunday and says there's an acute shortage of food, oxygen, and basic medical supplies. And the hospital has neither tap water nor electricity and is now relying on backup generators.
With Israel now setting a deadline for a military offensive on Rafah, many Palestinians, they are trying to flee that southern Gaza city only to find out that there are no more safe zones in this besieged territory.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports now on the situation being especially dire for children. A warning: his report contains some disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One after another after another after another -- the victims of the latest Israeli airstrikes flood into this hospital in central Gaza. They're mostly children, some of them still clinging to life, others bloodied and limp without a pulse. The life gone from their eyes.
Here, children comfort children, even as they are still trembling from the shock.
MAYAS, INJURED IN AIRSTRIKE: I was on the rooftop and suddenly I heard an explosion. I flew away and fell down. My back hurt. I saw smoke and stones forming. Then I heard people screaming.
DIAMOND: A hospital spokesman said at least 18 people were killed and dozens of others injured Sunday in an Israeli air strike on a home in Deir al Balah. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment about the strike.
Witnesses say many of the victims had just arrived from Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city where fear and confusion have set in as Israel threatens a coming military offensive.
But central Gaza is no haven, a reality revealed in the cruelest of ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't speak. Innocent children on the street. The kids and all. They didn't a child alive.
DIAMOND: In the ruins of the Al-Baraka family home, the target of Sunday's airstrike, the desperate search for survivors is underway, as one man dives into the rubble, another shouts get out of there. You'll die down there.
"We could only pull two alive from under the rubble and the rest are all missing. We don't see safety in a mosque or in an onerous school, or in a hospital. Safety is not something that exists anymore. They evacuated us from place to place, claiming its safe. There is nowhere safe.
Shouts, praising God rise as a girl is pulled from the rubble but her body is lifeless. Added to the list of more than 12,000 children killed in Gaza. Bystanders try and cover her body but the man carrying her throws the blanket off. He wants the world to see what this war has wrought.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: At the international court of justice, a second day of hearings will soon begin on the legal consequences of Israel's practices and policies in the Palestinian territories.
On Monday, Palestinian and Israeli officials laid out contrasting views over the role of the court in addressing the long running conflict.
Palestinian foreign affairs minister advocated for the ICJ to recognize Palestinian's people's right to self-determination. While, a lawyer for the Palestinians said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL REICHLER, LAWYER FOR THE PALESTINIANS: The best and possibly the last hope for the two-state solution that is so vital to the needs of both peoples is for the court to declare illegal the main obstacle to that solution. The ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine. And for it to pronounce in the clearest possible terms that
international law requires that this entire illegal enterprise be terminated completely, unconditionally and immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Israeli legal team criticized the Palestinian Authority for distorting reality and avoiding direct negotiations, they said, by seeking a ruling from the court, a non-binding decision is not expected to come down for months.
U.S. and U.K. airstrikes appear to have slowed Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. But those attacks continue. The rebel group backed by Iran says they targeted two American vessels in the gulf on Monday, causing accurate and direct casualties.
[01:34:52]
VAUSE: The rebel groups say the attack was in support of the Palestinian people and in response to what they called American- British aggression against Yemen. The group says they also targeted a British ship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YAHYA SAREA, HOUTHI MILITARY SPOKESPERSON: The ship was severely damaged, leading to its complete halt. Due to the significant damage suffered by the ship it is now at risk of sinking in the Gulf of Aden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: U.K. officials have confirmed that saying a vessel sustained superficial damage after being attacked by a drone, kind of.
Joining us now live is Jorgen Lian, head of Shipping Equity Research at DNB Markets. You are in Oslo, sir. Thank you for being with us.
JORGEN LIAN, HEAD, SHIPPING EQUITY RESEARCH, DNB MARKETS: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Ok. So the Houthis are now the first entity in this conflict -- it's the first entity ever to us anti-ship ballistic missiles. They now have underwater drones in their arsenal. One was blown up by the Americans just the other day.
The deputy commander of U.S. Central Command says the current Red Sea operation is the biggest the U.S. Navy has fought in decades. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADM. JOSHUA LASKY, U.S. NAVY: I think you'd have to go back to World War II where you have ships who are engaged in combat. When I say engaged in combat where they're getting shot at, we're getting shot at, and we're shooting back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That was the big picture. Did the U.S. and others seriously underestimate the Houthi threat and their capability to make good on that threat.
LIAN: I think that we've seen now over the past few months that this is a situation that's difficult to resolved. They have capabilities to keep these attacks going and they've shown a clear will to do so.
So yes I think the initial thinking among most of us really was that this will be more short-lived. But now it looks to be a new status quo, more or less.
VAUSE: and now the E.U. is launching a naval operation in the Red Sea to protect commercial shipping, but not to join in with those U.S. and U.K. military strikes on Houthi targets. Why are they taking that route?
LIAN: I think they're trying to avoid a broadening of the scope of attacks we saw -- we've seen, we've seen after the attacks from U.K and U.S. military on land targets in Yemen, that they now stand at risk of attacking British and U.S. vessels.
And I don't necessarily think people want to -- want to take that risk as the attacks that you're placing as Houthi are proving I think quite difficult to actually be effective in doing anything with their capabilities to keep these attacks going.
And I think that's essentially why you've seen before attempting to defend against these types of attacks prove very, very difficult. And therefore it seems to be a situation that's going to continue for still some time, unfortunately.
VAUSE: Well, to transit or not to transit through the Suez Canal seem to be causing a lot of angst for a lot of exporters around the world.
Here's Qatar's energy minister. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAAD AL-KAABI, QATARI ENERGY MINISTER: Nobody wants to divert away from the Red Sea due to cost, of course. And not only cost, but it's also time that's needed to deliver the product and then come back to get a refill, if you will, for the same product.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So an extra month in travel time which adds a million dollars to the cost of fuel. Traffic in the Red Sea is down, way down. But is the strike on the bulk carrier, M/V Ruby Maersk, the British one, is it a potential tipping point for the rest of -- the rest of the shipping world? At what point do they say it's too dangerous, we are avoiding that area completely?
LIAN:: I think we're pretty close to that point already. If you look past transiting the canal, then there's a few differences between what types of vessels were talking about here, but you're more than 50 percent down from the period prior to these events happening.
So I would say you're definitely already seeing as much available capacity as possible being diverted to other places.
But it's as he's pointing to in the clip that you showed as well. There's a huge difference among which type of shipping sectors that are going to struggle with this.
If there was a lack of capacity at the outset of this event, then of course you're in a very, very sticky situation.
You can say, luckily, for many of the sectors there has been a sufficient capacity of vessels to cope with diversions and after hiccup and disruption to the flow of goods to the end-user to start off with. you're now more back to, back to normal with the flows diverted the longer way but still flowing at a sufficient rate from many of the straits.
So -- but the most interesting part here is we've highlighted before as well as probably on the tanker side where you already have a very, very tight supply of vessels. And as soon as those needs to be diverted away from the Suez Canal to get the important (INAUDIBLE) supplies into Europe, for instance.
That's when you're going to see the real effects in terms of cost to shipping escalating because the marginal willingness to pay for that type of commodity is very, very high in the market where there simply isn't enough vessels. And that's pretty close to where we are at the tanker space at the moment.
[01:39:54]
VAUSE: OK. So for Egypt though (INAUDIBLE) to operate the Suez Canal, these Houthi attacks are already taking a pretty big financial toll.
Listen to President El-Sisi. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL FATTAH EL SISI, EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): You see the Suez Canal, which used to bring Egypt nearly $10 billion a year, these revenues have decreased by 40 to 50 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So just overall, how dependent is Egypt on that revenue from the Suez Canal? And if the revenue continues to nose-dive as it is, what are the possible consequences here, just for Egypt alone?
LIAN: It's an important revenue stream, of course, you can compare it to the national budget in Egypt, in which it would be closer to 10 percent, right? Or the GDP overall which is around 3 percent. So it's a very important revenue stream for them.
And of course, this is something that they will do what they can to mitigate. But again, the situation is proving very difficult and for the time being. I think this is more of a new normal for the weeks and months going forward until there's some larger resolution applied here.
VAUSE: Thank you for the forecast and thank you for the analysis. Jorgen Lian there in Oslo. We appreciate your time, sir.
LIAN: Thanks so much.
VAUSE: Well, Venezuela's government, under fire for detaining activists and opposition party members.
When we come back, the government's response to the backlash and how the controversy might just impact the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Diplomatic relations between Israel and Brazil have soured over the war in Gaza. On Monday, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador for a talking down in Rio de Janeiro.
Just hours earlier, Israel declared Brazilian President Lula Inacio da Silva as persona non grata over his comments comparing Israel's operation in Gaza to the Holocaust.
Israels foreign minister says Lula will not be welcome in Israel until he apologize and retract his comments.
A senior Brazilian official has defended Lula's statement saying this, "Nothing to apologize for."
Russia's foreign minister is getting ready to meet with Venezuelan leaders. He'll be coming today on his tour of Latin America. Sergei Lavrov is expected to hold talks with President Nicholas Maduro in Caracas, as well as the Venezuelan foreign minister.
Israel's influence with the Venezuelan government has been growing as tension mounts between Venezuela and the United States.
Meantime, human rights activists accused the Maduro regime of reverting to repressive policies, including the detention of a high- profile activist.
More details now from Stefano Pozzebon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Yahara Cabrejo learned on social media that her son had been detained. In the video she saw taken from the security cameras of a shop nearby, her son Juan Freites is manhandled into a car by two men and driven away. She hasn't seen him since.
YAHARA CABREJO, MOTHER OF POLITICAL PRISONER JUAN FREITES (through translator): Today is 25 days that I don't know anything about him. Why was he detained? I don't know. What is he accused of? I don't know.
[01:44:54]
CABREJO: What I know is from the media that he is supposedly involved in some conspiracy. But I have no idea what that is about. We're left in the dark.
POZZEBON: Three days after the detention, Venezuela's attorney general confirmed that Freites had been arrested as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill President Nicolas Maduro. Cabrejo and her lawyer denied Freites was involved in any plot.
And so far, no proof has been presented by Venezuelan authorities. Freites is a member of opposition party Vente Venezuela. And he and two other party members were detained in January.
The party leader, Maria Corina Machado, who is the front runner opposition candidate to challenge Maduro, has been barred by the Supreme Court from running in this year's presidential election.
In total 19 people have been arrested, including the Rocio San Miguel a Spanish-Venezuelan citizen and security analyst who was picked up by the intelligence service as she was trying to leave the country.
San Miguel is also accused of participating in a conspiracy, again without any evidence. And when the U.N. Human Rights team protested her detention last week, Venezuela expelled the local staff.
The Venezuelan government claims to have uncovered several plots to murder Maduro and blames the U.S. and the U.N. of colonialism. Maduro himself vowed to unleash a campaign of Bolivarian fury against these opponents.
And someone brought exactly those words Bolivarian fury on the wall of Cabrejo's house shortly after her son's arrest.
JOHN KIRBY, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL SPOKESPERSON: Good afternoon everybody.
POZZEBON: The United States have threatened to re-impose the oil sanctions in retaliation for Venezuela's authoritarian actions. But less than six months ago, the two countries had reached an agreement that included free and fair elections in Venezuela this year.
JUANITA GOEBERTUS, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Those of us who are democrats understand that that's how elections take place and that you face elections knowing that you could potentially lose. But when you're an autocrat there's -- there's huge existential threats in losing power.
POZZEBON: The new tensions between Washington and Caracas could also have consequences in the U.S. Venezuelans are one of the largest migrant groups at the U.S. southern border. And activists fear migration will continue as long as they don't feel safe in their home country.
Cabrero has already seen a daughter leave their country to look for better opportunities. Now, her son behind bars, she pleads for justice, as well as safety.
Stefano Pozzebon CNN, Bogota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Julian Assange may soon be out of options in his legal fight to avoid trial in the United States. Later today, London's High Court will hear the last appeal from Assange against extradition to the U.S. where he faces charges of espionage, as well as the sentence of up to 175 years in prison.
No word if the WikiLeaks founder will be in court for the hearing. This long-running legal battle comes 14 years after WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of classified files and diplomatic cables.
Still ahead here on CNN, football play Lionel Messi speaking out once again about why he missed that match in Hong Kong causing a lot of outrage and a lot of unhappiness. A live report in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:49:50]
VAUSE: It seems football player Lionel Messi cannot get away from the controversy he caused by sitting out of friendly match in Hong Kong back on February 4.
Let's go live now to Hong Kong and CNN sport correspondent Kristie Lu Stout.
Ok. So what's he saying now?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He basically is denying that there was any sort of political motive behind his controversial no- show. In fact, this was issued more than two weeks after that controversial no-show on the pitch here in Hong Kong.
And Lionel Messi is turning to the popular Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo to issue this video statement explaining his absence. This was posted late last night. It was accompanied with subtitles in simplified Chinese, which is a text used in mainland China, not in Hong Kong.
And in this video, he reiterated the reason why he couldn't play. He talked about how he was injured. He cited the injury, but he also said something new. He denied that there was any sort of political reason behind his no-show.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIONEL MESSI, SOCCER PLAYER (through translator): As you all know, I always want to play and be involved in every game. I've heard people say that I didn't want to play for political reasons and many other reasons that are totally untrue. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: The video posted went viral on Sina Weibo. And in fact it clocked some 200,000 likes within one hour. And again, this was posted on his official Weibo page.
Most of the comments were largely positive. Now it was, of course, earlier this month when tens of thousands, in fact, 40,000 fans here in Hong Kong paid up to $624 a ticket for a chance to see their hero, Lionel Messi, take to the pitch and play a preseason friendly with his team Inter Miami against the Hong Kong squad.
But what started and we were there, we witnessed this, what started with cheers ended in jeers and boos and whistles and chants for a refund when he failed to grace the pitch.
And not only that, a few days later, he angered fans even more by gracing the pitch in Japan. And then the anger even reached a crescendo with officials inside mainland China weighing in and canceling two games inside China involving the Argentine national team.
Now, we have been closely monitoring social media reaction to this latest explanation from Lionel Messi, the video statement that was released last night. And if you look at personal Sina Weibo account, they are more negative.
Here's just a sampling of some of the reaction that we've seen to Messi's new video explanation saying this quote, "Stop pretending." "You must just stay in Japan". And "No, thank you. Bye," unquote.
In the video, Messi also says that he had a very close and personal relationship with China. That's Messi's words. He also added that he looks forward to seeing China again.
Back to you, John.
VAUSE: He sounds like he's from (INAUDIBLE) Georgia.
STOUT: The accent was sweet
VAUSE: It was very nice.
Kristie, thank you. Thank you for the update.
See you next time.
OK. Right now at least one dead satellite is hurtling towards the earth. Don't panic. It'll burn up in the atmosphere.
But as Bill Weir reports, it's just one of about 100 million pieces of space junk circling the globe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: We all drop things around the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, I think my Spanx has escaped.
WEIR: So when astronaut Piers Sellers dropped a spatula while spreading putty on the space shuttle it was relatable news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see it on there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We'll take a look.
WEIR: But while a spatula in space was still novel in 2006, it seems quaint now, because nearly 70 years after Sputnik the moon holds tons of human trash. And the final frontier is filthy with rocket fumes and orbiting junk.
Check out this NASA time-lapse. Each dot a manmade object bigger than a softball flying ten times faster than a bullet. The Website Orbiting now is tracking over 8,300 satellites, most of them put there by private companies like SpaceX.
And over time, they will only add to the hundred million tiny pieces of manmade debris in orbit.
So behind us is the National Air and Space Museum. Did they have an exhibit on space junk. Is it time we started paying attention.
RON LOPEZ, PRESIDENT, ASTROSCALE U.S.: There's been discussion about it and it is time that we pay attention to the issue.
WEIR: Ron Lopez heads the American branch of Astroscale, a Japanese entry into the growing field of orbital debris removal.
LOPEZ: The interesting metric is that over the next ten years, were going to launch three times as much into space as we have launched since Sputnik, since the beginning of the space age. Three times as much in just the next ten years.
[01:54:44]
WEIR: While they're a long way from flying garbage trucks Astroscale just launched a second test mission and funded only by private investment recently proved that they can use magnets to catch and potentially extend the lives of dying satellites.
In 2018, a team from the U.K. proved that space junk can be snared with a net, which helps with traffic control up there, but does nothing to stop dead satellites from burning into countless pieces of metal, throwing off remnants. It can stay in our skies for years.
The launches are almost a weekly or daily occurrence. Is that having an effect on the stratosphere?
TROY THORNBERRY, RESEARCH PHYSICIST, NOAA CHEMICAL SCIENCES LABORATORY: Yes. So as we see this increase in space traffic, we see significantly increased initiatives. And something we've been talking about is adding a lot of material to the stratosphere that was never there before. All of the sort of the mass of material that we put into space doesn't all just stay there.
And when its deorbited, it basically acts in the same way that a meteoroid does.
WEIR: With special high-flying jets, a team from NOAA recently discovered that 10 percent of the particles in the stratosphere contain bits of rocket and satellite metal.
And in the next few decades, it could be 50 percent, matching the amount created naturally by meteorites. Scientists worry that this could eventually alter earth's climate.
So this summer, Japan and NASA aim to launch the world's first biodegradable satellite made mostly from wood.
Last year, the U.S. Senate passed the Orbits Act unanimously. It's yet to go through the House. This would charge NASA with coming up with new technology to clean up the mess and puts the whole mess under the responsibility of the Commerce Department.
But of course, the U.S. is just one of many space going nation these days. And we got word this week that Russia may be working on a weapon in space that could wipe out thousands of those satellites in one attack.
As we've seen here on earth, policing or regulating the high seas is so difficult because no one owns them. That lesson now moving to outer space.
Bill Weir, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: On that happy note, thank you for watching.
I'm John Vause. CNN NEWSROOM continues with our old friend Anna Coren in Hong Kong after a short break.
[01:57:03]
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