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Alexei Navalny's Wife Speaks Out after the Unexplained Death of Her Husband; Biden Slams Republican Lawmakers on the Stalled Ukrainian Aid Bill; Russian FM to Visit Venezuela as Tensions Mounting Between the U.S. and Venezuela Ahead of the Elections; Scientists Unveil a New Artificial Intelligence Model to Detect if a Patient is a Male or a Female; Russian President Gifts a Car to North Korea Supreme Leader. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 20, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong. Just ahead.
Rage and anger, Yulia Navalnaya speaks out against Putin's regime after the unexplained death of her imprisoned husband.
Trying to regroup. The future of Ukraine in jeopardy after a Russian victory and stalled USA.
And several killed in the latest Israeli airstrike will show you how the situation remains dire for children in Gaza.
Alexei Navalny's widow is laying the blame squarely on Vladimir Putin for her husband's death. She is accusing Russian authorities of hiding the opposition leader's body so they can cover up the cause.
The 47 year old Navalny died suddenly on Friday in an Arctic penal colony. Seemingly in good spirits one day earlier in a video court appearance.
Navalny's spokesperson says authorities will not release the body for at least two weeks as they perform a chemical examination. His widow says they're just buying time until traces of his poisoning disappear from his system.
Yulia Navalnaya is vowing to pick up her husband's cause and will fight for a happy, beautiful Russia.
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YULIA NAVALNAYA, ALEXEI NAVALNY'S WIDOW (through translator): I ask you to share your rage, rage, anger and hatred with me towards those who are daring enough to kill our future and I address you with Alexei's words which I believe it is not a shame to do. It's not a shame to do little but it's a shame not to do anything. It's a shame to make yourself intimidated.
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COREN: More now from CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell.
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MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL 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 is 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's 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 Novichoks 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.
His return 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 "Holod". 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.
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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.
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COREN: As Ukraine suffers a setback on the front lines NATO's Secretary-General has called on the U.S. to honor its word and make good on its commitments to Kyiv. Jens Stoltenberg was speaking to CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour in Munich.
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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: What I can say is the vital and urgent need for the U.S. to decide on a package for Ukraine because you need that support now it's for the U.S. to deliver what they have promised.
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COREN: And an increasingly frustrated President Biden couldn't agree more. CNN's Arlette Saenz has the details.
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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 in 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 passed 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 meeting our obligations, it's just shocking. I've been there a while. 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' 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 shortages at this time.
But even as President Biden is ramping up the pressure on House Republicans, 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, really throwing into jeopardy and leaving many open questions about whether the president can eventually get this aid across the finish line.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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COREN: Ukraine is watching for the Kremlin's next move after Russian troops captured Avdiivka, the eastern town that Arlette mentioned. It was a symbolic and strategic loss for the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine says the number of Russian attacks has slightly decreased, signaling a possible regrouping of Russian forces. The fall of Avdiivka has put more pressure on several other points along the front line, like near Kupyansk, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops on Monday to boost morale. He thanked them for their service and told them, quote, "I am confident in you."
Joining us now from London, CNN's Clare Sebastian. Clare, the fall of Avdiivka on Ukraine's eastern front, it really does expose the Donetsk region. It appears, you know, that area in particular is vulnerable. Tell us that the town's villages now most at risk.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and I think this is one of the reasons why Ukraine held out for so long. Don't forget Russia had been attacking pretty intensely that town of just 29 square kilometers since October.
It does open up various routes to the West, towns like Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, so it does introduce a new vulnerability for Ukraine. They have said that they're going to now move back, dig in and defend, and they may come back and hit harder, and it's possible they'll be able to do that.
They are on defensive mode now all along that thousand kilometer front line, but there are other areas where Russia is now taking the opportunity to attack in the Donetsk region around the town of Marinka, just to the southwest of Donetsk city itself, up in the north in Kharkiv where President Zelenskyy visited, and we are seeing what seems to be a fairly significant uptick in attacks in the Zaporizhzhya region, that area where Ukraine really focused its counter-offensive, its failed counter-offensive of 2023 as it tried to cut off Russia's gains and get through to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
[03:10:17] We've got some video in the last couple of hours from Ukraine's operational command west showing the intensity of the battle. They say that it was a difficult night, one of several difficult nights they've had recently, but they have been able to repel Russian attacks. You can really see what they're up against there, so that is the situation.
Russia is ramping up the pressure in various parts of the front line, and to add to that pressure, Ukraine's Air Force is reporting another aerial attack overnight, three missiles and 23 attack drones. They say they were able to repel all of those drones, no specific word yet on what happened with the missiles, but a significant moment. Russia is emboldened and taking this opportunity while Ukraine waits for more Western aid.
COREN: Clare Sebastian in London, thanks for the update.
Well, Canada is donating 800 drones to Ukraine. Officials believe the unmanned aircraft will help troops gather more information and quickly assess targets more accurately. The drones can carry camera systems and payloads to detect and identify targets.
Japan is also stepping up to provide support for Ukraine's fight against Russia. Ukraine's Prime Minister was in Tokyo on Monday, meeting with his Japanese counterpart. They discussed support for Ukraine's reconstruction. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more.
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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Japan and Ukraine on Monday agreed to a new bilateral tax treaty and signed 56 documents as about 50 Japanese companies inked deals in the agriculture, energy and infrastructure sectors.
While the total value wasn't disclosed, it comes as regional tensions rise with North Korea and China, forcing Japan to break from their traditional pacifist stance.
Since the start of the war, Japan has pledged more than $10 billion towards Ukraine, making it the fourth biggest donor, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shumihal, following a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.
For Japan, this isn't just a symbolic show of support, but one that keeps the future in mind.
FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): President Zelenskyy has said the support for Ukraine is not a charity project. It's an investment for the world's security and democracy. I would like to add another purpose, and that's that it's also an investment in the future.
MONTGOMERY: The war in Ukraine has reached a pivotal moment, with a country last week announcing its withdrawal from the significant eastern town of Avdiivka. The possibility of further setbacks on the front line has come into sharp focus as the United States Congress continues to hold up a $95 billion foreign aid package that includes $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Speaking to CNN in Tokyo on Monday, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said support from partners like Japan is more important than ever.
SERHIY MARCHENKO, UKRAINIAN FINANCE MINISTER: It's very important because now it's a very crucial time, when a lot of reluctance towards Ukraine, what is going on, and it's necessary to show signals of support. Despite of all countries, G7 should support Ukraine, and I think that Japan has shown great leadership.
MONTGOMERY: Earlier this month, Japan pledged to contribute an additional 105 million U.S. dollars to assist Ukraine's recovery of vital infrastructure and demining.
Japan's support for Ukraine has largely revolved around humanitarian assistance because of laws that limit exports of military equipment to non-lethal weapons.
And as we approach the two-year mark of the Russian invasion, we could see more contributions from Japan, a country that's chartered a spectacular rise from the damages caused in World War II and other more recent natural disasters.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.
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COREN: The U.S. is calling for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza in a proposed UN draft resolution which falls short of the wishes of most other Security Council members. We'll have the details next.
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COREN: The Palestine Red Crescent Society says it has now evacuated more patients from Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
A source says 16 patients were evacuated on Monday, with the wounded being transferred to the American and Indonesian field hospitals in Rafah.
The World Health Organization, which also evacuated more than a dozen patients, says this comes amid an acute shortage of food, oxygen and basic medical supplies. Nasser had been the largest functioning hospital in Gaza until last week, when the Israeli military raided the medical complex and now claims to have apprehended hundreds of Hamas militants hiding there.
CNN cannot independently verify the Israeli military statements. The situation they're bringing this emotional reaction from one doctor.
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DR. AHMAD MOGHRABI, HEAD OF PLASTIC AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY, NASSER HOSPITAL: What is the humanity? Why this is happening to us? Why? I don't know. I don't know. How many? I don't know. For how long this will continue for? For how long? For how long? For how long? I don't know. How many of us have to die? How many of us have to die just to listen to us to stop these crimes?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: As Israel sets a deadline for its proposed ground offensive in Rafah, many Palestinians are fleeing from the southern Gaza City, only to realize that there are no more safe zones in the besieged territory.
As CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports, the situation is especially dire for children. A warning, this report contains disturbing images.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One after another, after another, after another victims of the latest Israeli airstrike 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're still trembling from the shock.
MAYAS, INJURED IN AIRSTRIKE (through translator): I was on the rooftop and suddenly I heard an explosion. I flew away and fell down. My back hurts. I saw smoke and stones falling. Then I heard people screaming.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The hospital spokesman said at least 18 people were killed and dozens of others injured Sunday in an Israeli airstrike on a home in Deir Al-Balah. 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. Reality revealed in the coolest of ways.
UNKNOWN (through translator): I can't speak innocent children, honestly. They killed them all. They didn't leave a child alive.
DIAMOND (voice-over): 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.
IBRAHIM, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): 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 UNRWA school or in a hospital. The word safety is not something that exists anymore. They evacuated us from place to place, claiming it's safe. There is nowhere safe.
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DIAMOND (voice-over): 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.
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COREN: Horrific scenes coming out of Gaza.
The U.S. is now putting forward its own U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Gaza, calling for a temporary ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas. The draft proposed by the U.S. also warns against an Israeli ground operation in Rafah, but it falls short of urging for an immediate ceasefire and instead calls for one, quote, "as soon as practicable."
This all comes after the U.S. vowed to veto an Algerian draft proposal, which is set to come up for a vote on Tuesday morning.
Meantime, European countries are pushing for urgent action. 26 out of 27 E.U. countries agreeing to call for an immediate humanitarian pause, which would lead to a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. Top E.U. diplomat Joseph Borrell says the statement also calls for the unconditional release of hostages and the provision of humanitarian assistance.
The International Court of Justice is set to begin a second day of historic hearings 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.
The Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister advocated for the ICJ to recognize the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, while the Israeli representative criticized the Palestinian Authority for, quote, "distorting reality and avoiding direct negotiations by seeking a ruling from the court".
A non-binding decision is not expected to come down for months.
Journalist Elliott Gotkine is following developments from London and joins us now. Elliott, tell us more about this U.S. ceasefire proposal and the response that it's getting within Israel.
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Anna, of course, we've had the U.S. pushing this six-week humanitarian pause as part of the hostage negotiations. Now, it seems to be inclined to table that as an official U.N. Security Council resolution, which also comes, of course, in response to this Algerian proposal, which is due to be discussed and voted on later on Tuesday, which calls for an immediate ceasefire. Now, that is dead on arrival because the U.S. says that it will veto it. It's unclear that this U.S. draft resolution would have any more luck
because, of course, there are other veto-wielding members of the Security Council. But what the U.S. is saying in this draft resolution is that there should be a temporary ceasefire and that all the hostages should be released. And it also says that the reason that it's planning this resolution or planning to table this before the U.N. Security Council is to forestall this mooted Israeli ground operation in Rafah.
It says because it wants to avoid the possibility of additional displacement of Palestinians, many, of course, of whom have been displaced multiple times to eventually end up in Rafah. It's particularly concerned about this displacement pushing Palestinians over the border into Egypt and the implications for peace and security, with the unsaid words being the concern about the decades- old peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.
Now, at the same time as all this is going on, for the first time we've had an Israeli war cabinet member, Benny Gantz, drawing a direct line between these hostage negotiations, which seem to be at an impasse, and this mooted ground operation in Rafa with Benny Gantz saying that if the hostages, more than 100 of whom who were kidnapped on October the 7th during those terrorist attacks led by Hamas, if they are not released in time for Ramadan on March the 10th, then that ground operation will proceed. Anna?
COREN: Elliott, tell us more about this new video that surfaced of a nine month old baby, his mother and brother who were kidnapped on October 7th. Why is the IDF releasing it now?
GOTKINE: So the IDF says that it came upon this footage, security camera footage a few weeks ago. It's been given permission by the Bibas family to release it and what it seems to show, the IDF says, is Shiri, the mother of four year old Ariel and baby Kfir, nine month old baby being kidnapped on October the 7th.
The security camera footage comes from a smaller militant faction in the Gaza Strip, the IDF says, and you can see them with the telltale red hair of those small children and they're being kind of hustled in a particular direction and then being put into a car.
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The IDF saying that it is, in its words, very concerned about the fate of Shiri and her two young children. Now, back in November, you may recall that Hamas actually said that they had been killed in an Israeli airstrike and then filmed the husband who was kidnapped separately as he was told the news that his wife and two children have been killed.
Now, the IDF says there's no evidence to show that they've been killed and are still working on the assumption that they are alive. But the family of the Bibas' say that this video is inhumane, that it is heartbreaking. And Prime Minister Netanyahu using this to underline that this is what Israel is dealing with, he says, baby kidnappers. Anna? COREN: We can only hope all the remaining hostages are still alive.
Elliott Gotkine, thank you.
Well, meantime, Houthi attacks are continuing in the Red Sea. The Yemeni rebel group say they targeted two American vessels in the Gulf of Aden on Monday, causing accurate and direct casualties.
The rebels 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. U.K. officials say a vessel sustained superficial damage after being attacked by a drone.
Egypt's president says revenues from the Suez Canal have decreased by 40 to 50 per cent this year due to Houthi attacks. The canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, is one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt.
Well, the Houthi attack comes as U.S. officials say they are investigating an unmanned American drone that crashed in western Yemen on Monday. U.S. officials say it's unclear if the Air Force MQ-9 Reaper, primarily used for intelligence collection, simply crashed or was shot down. But a spokesperson for the Iran-backed rebels say the drone was shot down with a suitable missile. It's not the first time the militant group has shot down a U.S. drone.
Venezuela's government is under fire for detaining activists and opposition party members. Ahead, the Maduro regime's response to the backlash and how the controversy could impact the U.S.
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COREN: Russia's foreign minister is visiting Latin America this week. Sergei Lavrov kicked off his tour in Havana, Cuba, Monday, where he met with his Cuban counterpart and lashed out at Western powers. Lavrov is set to visit Venezuela today, where he is expected to hold talks with President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
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As well as the Venezuelan foreign minister. Russia's influence with the Venezuelan government has been growing as tensions mount between Venezuela and the United States.
As the presidential election looms in Venezuela, human rights activists accuse the Maduro regime of reverting to repressive policies against its people, including the detention of a high-profile activist. Stefano Pozzebon has the details.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST (voice-over): 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 he's accused of? I don't know. 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 (voice-over): 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 deny 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 frontrunner 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 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 his opponents, and someone wrote exactly those words, Bolivarian fury, on the wall of Cabrejo's house shortly after her son's arrest.
The United States have threatened to re-impose 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 are an autocrat, there's huge existential threats in losing power.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Renewed tensions between Washington and Caracas could also have consequences in the U.S. Venezuelans are one of the largest migrant groups at the US southern border. And activists fear migration will continue as long as they don't feel safe in their home country.
Cabrejo has already seen a daughter leave her 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) COREN: Joining us now from London, Mariano de Alba, Senior Advisor with International Crisis Group. Great to have you with us. With Sergei Lavrov, you're in Venezuela today. Tell us about the relationship between Russia and Venezuela and the threat that poses to the West.
MARIANO DE ALBA, SR. ADVISER, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: It's been a really close relationship since many years ago. The relationship started when Hugo Chavez was president of Venezuela. But it has gained a lot of relevance in the past 10 years, I would say, as Venezuela has become very isolated from the West.
So I would say that in economic terms, Venezuela and Russia have a good economic relationship, but nothing major, especially in comparison to the West. But Russia has been really instrumental for Venezuela as Venezuela has sought to basically circumvent U.S. sanctions, and especially those related to the energy sector, where Russia is also very prevalent.
At the same time, Russia sees the relationship as one of political relevance in the sense that it sees Venezuela as, you know, having a good relationship with Venezuela is a way of making a point to the U.S. of basically, you know, I am also very present to your neighborhood.
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And at the same time, Venezuela has become really instrumental in multilateral forums like the United Nations, basically supporting all the lines and positions of Russia. So I think there's a balance here.
There was the hope that with the U.S.-Venezuela agreement last year, Venezuela would basically diminish its relationship with Moscow.
However, that relationship is still very strong. And I think that, you know, one of the points that the Venezuelan government will try to make as Lavrov visits Caracas today is basically saying or pointing out to the West, we have other options if our deal fails.
COREN: And then you've got the U.S. relationship with Venezuela in disarray. Bring us up to speed on how dire things are.
DE ALBA: The situation is, you know, very, very dire in the sense that, you know, any day now, everything could fall down, basically because there was an agreement signed on electoral conditions late last year, but that agreement has not been implemented.
The key date to look forward here is the 18th of April. That's when the U.S. will have to decide whether it renews or not the flexibilization of sanctions it issued late last year.
And as it stands now, it looks increasingly likely that it will not be able to renew that sanctions relief, at least on the same terms that it did in October last year, basically because the agreement has not been implemented. And what we have seen and what the report was alluding to was basically, you know, further repression, no implementation of the electoral guarantees and the elections, the presidential elections should take place this year.
COREN: Mariano, how is this dysfunction, I guess, playing to Russia's interests? Because as you say, Moscow has been critical, a critical ally the past decade to Venezuela, helping it circumvent these U.S. sanctions.
DE ALBA: I mean, I think Russia is taking advantage of this situation. However, Russia is not very much interested in investing in Venezuela.
I think that Russia is basically using countries like Venezuela, like Cuba, to basically point out to the U.S., you are messing in our neighborhood, then we will also do the same in yours.
But at the same -- but at the end, what is -- what is tragic for Venezuela and for Venezuelans is that, you know, the -- the economic opportunities that Russia can deliver are insufficient, are minimal.
So -- so in the end, you know, for Venezuela to -- to grow economically, it will need to -- to maintain, to try to maintain some sort of relationship with the West. And if it's not -- if that's not possible, then, you know, the majority of Venezuelans will suffer as a consequence.
COREN: And we know that millions of people have gone into poverty under Maduro's decade rule. Finally, human rights groups deeply concerned by the repressive policies as a -- as a presidential election looms in -- in Venezuela sometime later this year. Are you expecting to see a broader crackdown?
DE ALBA: I think we are already seeing a very strong crackdown, political persecution, arbitrary arrests. I think that, you know, it is possible that that situation will maintain that we will see further cases.
The reality is that, you know, the Maduro government doesn't -- doesn't foresee the possibility of leaving power. So they were they're going to try to make everything that -- that that is -- that they're going to try to make everything that is on their hands to trying to -- to keep on power. So in that context, the situation is -- is very challenging.
COREN: Mariano de Alba, great to get your analysis and perspective. Thanks so much.
DE ALBA: Thank you.
COREN: In the next hour or so, a U.K. court is expected to start hearing Julian Assange's final appeal to avoid facing trial in the U.S. The Wikileaks founder is fighting his extradition to the U.S., where he's been charged with multiple counts of espionage and a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.
It's unclear if Assange will attend the hearing in person. The long running legal battle comes 14 years after Assange's Wikileaks began publishing thousands of classified files and diplomatic cables.
Well, still to come, a rare golden tiger was spotted in India last month, but its sighting indicates a major problem. Those details ahead.
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COREN: This majestic animal, one of very few golden tigers in the wild, was spotted in a national park in northeast India last month, but its sighting has sparked concern amongst conservationists who say the tiger's appearance could be a symptom of inbreeding in isolated tiger populations. An expert tells CNN this can cause physical ailments, including a flat face or crossed eyes, as well as other genetic mutations that could weaken the tiger's defenses against disease.
Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is Uma Ramakrishnan, a professor and senior fellow at DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance, an independent charity that funds research in health and biomedical sciences in India. And we're great to have you with us. Tell us what makes these tigers golden?
UMA RAMAKRISHNAN, PROF. AND SR. FELLOW, DBT/WELLCOME TRUST INDIA ALLIANCE: So basically, it's a mutation or a spelling mistake in the DNA when the DNA is copied. Work from 2017 based on captive golden tigers in the U.S. showed that a mutation in the CORIN gene, a single letter spelling mistake, causes this unique phenotype or appearance.
However, we do not know whether it is the same mutation, the same spelling mistake, which is responsible for the golden tiger we are seeing in Kaziranga, you know, in the last few days. And this is something we are investigating.
COREN: Right. Are we seeing more of this mutated gene in the wild?
RAMAKRISHNAN: I don't think we can say that yet. You know, we've just seen a few individuals over the years and there's no study yet to confirm that the frequency of this mutation is increasing. So that's something which will take time. Mutations occur naturally. And so it's quite possible that this mutation has been around for a while. And so, you know, individuals like this will crop up once in a while.
COREN: And what about in captivity? Are we seeing more cases in captivity?
RAMAKRISHNAN: So I'm not aware about, you know, captive. So golden tigers in captivity in the zoo system are no longer present.
The captive individuals are kind of outside the zoo system in, you know, sanctuaries or such like, you know, not regulated breeding programs.
And there's no individual in captivity in India that we know of. So basically, this mutation is not present in captivity. And unless it's bred, there is no way it would increase in captivity.
COREN: As you mentioned, inbreeding is one of the explanations that is given for this phenomena. Are you concerned by this?
[03:45:01]
RAMAKRISHNAN: No. So I should clarify that, you know, it could be inbreeding, but it could also be genetic drift where, you know, by chance you have increase or changes in allele frequencies.
And unless we do detailed studies which suggest that we have mating between relatives, which is what inbreeding is, we cannot confirm that it's inbreeding. So it is either inbreeding or genetic drift, you know, chance changes in allele frequencies.
And also, I should caution that before we jump to labeling inbreeding as negative, that's actually inbreeding depression when you see health effects on individuals.
And we have seen inbreeding depression in captive individuals of tigers, not necessarily golden, but, you know, other phenotypes like white tigers. And this is why, for example, zoos have decided not to selectively breed for these phenotypes.
Now, we don't know what exactly is happening in the wild. And, you know, this is evolution which is going on. And just like coronavirus, you know, tigers evolve and we need to understand what's driving these patterns much better.
COREN: Inbreeding, as we reported earlier, you know, can cause problems, physical issues as well as the weakening of defense systems against disease. What is your research showing you about how this can be combated?
RAMAKRISHNAN: Yeah, so basically we are trying to investigate this, you know, using modern genomic tools. While we have the power now, not just with tigers, globally, research has shown in many endangered species that individuals are inbred.
What we need to better understand is what specific mutations or what genetic variants can result in the bad effects like the health defects, the physical abnormalities, which can accompany inbreeding depression.
So mapping that, you know, the genetic variant to how it looks is really a challenge even in humans. As you know, we don't know what genetic basis for, like, say, a disease is very easily. And this is something which we are trying to do with, you know, along with researchers from other parts of the world.
And we are hoping that we can come up with, say, you know, a list of variants which if managers see, for example, if you see a specific phenotype increasing, you know that there's inbreeding and then you can think of genetic rescue or such strategies where you introduce genetic variation into the population. So this is all kind of front end science and we are still working on it. COREN: Yeah, lots more work and research to be done. Well, thank you
for putting that into layman's terms for us, Uma Ramakrishnan, great to have you with us. Thank you.
RAMAKRISHNAN: Thank you. Bye.
COREN: Well, still ahead. The space junk that circles the Earth, why it's a much bigger mess than you might imagine and why somebody is finally working to clean it up.
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[03:49:58]
COREN: A group of scientists say artificial intelligence indicates the brains of women and men work differently. Stanford Medicine researchers have unveiled a new A.I. model that they say can tell if a patient is a woman or a man using only brain scans.
Well, CNN's Max Foster is following this live from London. Max, I think it would be pretty simple if you can multitask. You're a woman. If you can't, you're a man.
MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: I was a bit worried about --
COREN: Tell us, tell us more.
FOSTER: -- treading on thin ice on this story. It can open me up to all sorts of problems. The first thing I'll say is this was not a study into which brains are better.
It was very much using this new A.I. technology, which is really interesting to go over lots of different scans and see if there is a difference between men's brains and women's brains. Because, you know, in the wider world, lots of people have made up their minds, of course. But within science, it's been a massive argument for a very long time.
And what they found that there were parts of the brain where there were key differences. So in terms of learning and how we respond to rewards in particular, and they had 90 percent accuracy. So this does actually resolve a massive debate that's been going on in science for many years.
So it does feel like a bit of a breakthrough. And it has been published in this very well-respected journal, which was peer reviewed. So I think a big talking point in science today.
COREN: So we should be taking it seriously. That's what you're saying to me, Max. How will this research be used?
FOSTER: So this was carried out by Stanford Medicine. So this is about how to treat different disorders. But what we're really looking at is now forward research. So why some women, some men may experience different types of disorder and whether that's connected to the way their brains are effectively wired. So it could have quite a profound effect on certain neurological illnesses, if I can call it that, or disorders. If they want to treat that, then they will be treating men and women differently. So that's really where all of this came from.
But I think, you know, there will be some conversations out there as well. Much more, you know, universal conversations about how men and women react differently to different situations around the world. But as I say, I'm not getting into that.
COREN: Yeah. Play it safe. Good idea. Max Foster, always a pleasure. Thank you.
Well, at this very moment, at least one dead satellite is hurtling towards Earth. It's likely to burn up in the atmosphere. And as Bill Weir reports, it's just one of about 100 million pieces of space junk circling the globe.
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BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We all drop things around the house.
PIERS SELLERS, ASTRONAUT: Guys, I got to tell you, I think my Spanx has escaped.
So when astronaut Piers Sellers dropped a spatula while spreading putty on the space shuttle, it was relatable news.
SELLERS: I don't see it on me.
UNKNOWN: OK, we'll take a look.
WEIR (voice-over): 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 man-made object bigger than a softball flying 10 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 100 million tiny pieces of man-made debris in orbit.
WEIR: So behind us is the National Air and Space Museum. Do they have an exhibit on space junk? Is it time we started paying attention?
RON LOPEZ, PRESIDENT OF ASTROSCALE U.S.: There's been discussion about it and it is time that we pay attention to the issue.
WEIR (voice-over): 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 10 years, we're 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 10 years.
WEIR (voice-over): 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 that can stay in our skies for years.
WEIR: 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 emissions.
[03:55:03]
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 massive material that we put into space doesn't all just stay there. And when it's deorbited, it basically acts in the same way that a meteorite does.
WEIR (voice-over): 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.
WEIR: Last year, the U.S. Senate passed the Orbits Act unanimously, has 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 nations 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. And 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)
COREN: One of the world's most famous footballers is still explaining why he sat out a friendly match earlier this month. Lionel Messi stayed on the bench here in Hong Kong, citing an injury. Well, that angered fans who had shown up to see the Inter-Miami star in action, as well as fans in mainland China. Well, now on Chinese social media, Messi is denying there were any political motivations for sitting out the match.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIONEL MESSI, ARGENTINE FOOTBALL LEGEND (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)
COREN: The Messi video on Weibo had soared to the top of search rankings and received mostly positive comments and likes.
In yet another sign that Moscow and Pyongyang are growing closer, Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong- un a car. That's according to North Korean state media. The report says Kim Jong-un has thanked Putin. That has been conveyed. And the gift is a clear demonstration of these special personal relations between the two leaders.
Thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren. "Newsroom" with Max Foster is coming up next.
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