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Connect the World
Tiger Woods "Awake, Responsive and Recovering"; Getting Vaccines to Vulnerable Countries; Russians Hesitate with Sputnik V but Mexico Welcomes the Vaccine; U.N. Security Council Addresses Climate Change as a Global Security Threat; London's Rat Population Booms in Lockdown. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired February 24, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traffic collision, ALS now, person is trapped. Sheriff on scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Firefighters having to break the car with an axe to get the golfer out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very fortunate Mr. Woods was able to come out of this alive.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Awake, responsive and recovering, we take you to the hospital where Tiger Woods is being treated after
yesterday's shocking car crash.
Then --
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: COVAX is a way that the WHO and UNICEF and others are working together to try to get poor and middle income
countries these vaccines.
ASHER (voice-over): Ghana becomes the first country to receive vaccines through the COVAX program. I'll be speaking to UNICEF's regional director.
And --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are producing several millions of vaccine every month.
ASHER (voice-over): As demand for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine grows around the world, CNN takes you to an exclusive look inside a Russian vaccine
factory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ASHER: Hello and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher in for Becky Anderson.
Golf legend Tiger Woods is recovering in a Los Angeles hospital today after he suffered serious injuries in a rollover car crash. It happened on what
authorities call a dangerous stretch of road south of Los Angeles there. You can see the wrecked vehicle ending up on its side after rolling over
multiple times.
Woods underwent extensive surgery on his leg, a doctor saying open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of the tibia and
fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia. Additional injuries to the bone of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a
combination of screws and pins.
CNN's Josh Campbell is outside the hospital where Tiger Woods is recovering.
So Josh, the L.A. sheriff deputy on the scene basically saying that this man is very, very lucky to be alive.
What more do we know about the extent of his injuries?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: When you look at that vehicle that was involved in this rollover collision, completely totaled. What
we're told is, as it was proceeding down a hill, presumably at a high rate of speed, the driver lost control, went across the median, passed oncoming
traffic and into an area heavily wooded with trees and shrubs.
You look at that vehicle and know that Tiger Woods suffered serious injuries but not life-threatening, nothing short of a miracle. Sports fans
around the world breathing that sigh of relief that these injuries are being reported as nonlife-threatening.
However they took precautions after that accident. I am standing outside a level 1 trauma center. This is a regional hospital here south of Los
Angeles that services a wide area. First responders arrived on the scene and saw this vehicle on its side after rolling over multiple times. They
determined that Tiger Woods' injuries were severe enough to bring him here to this enhanced facility to receive care.
We're told he underwent emergency surgery upon arrival and having both his foot and his leg worked on as you mentioned. Now the cause of this
investigation remains -- or the crash remains under investigation. Authorities don't believe that weather was at play or that there was
another party. They believe this was a single vehicle accident.
Speed is in all likelihood the -- what is responsible here. It's also worth pointing out that investigators said whenever they made contact with Tiger
Woods, they didn't smell alcohol. No indication he was under the influence. Anytime there's an accident they conduct an investigation to get to the
bottom of exactly what happened.
Right now it appears speed was at play. And finally it's worth noting Tiger Woods is no stranger to injuries. Just recently he underwent back surgery,
his fifth back surgery in his career, which is raising serious questions about his future and whether we'll see him any time soon returning to the
golf course.
ASHER: That's a question a lot of people are asking. Josh Campbell live for us.
I want to bring in "WORLD SPORT's" Don Riddell.
He's undergone five back surgeries. He only returned to golf in 2018 after overcoming several injuries and dealing with addictions, intoxication,
prescription pain medication. This man, though, is the king of comebacks. He's come back so many times.
What will this mean ultimately?
I think a lot of people are asking for the golf game and for his game in particular.
DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Honestly, we just don't know. It seems far too early to be speculating about that. Clearly this was a very serious
incident. His injuries are very, very serious. And we're barely 24 hours past the initial accident.
[10:05:00]
RIDDELL: But clearly the world of golf and the sports world has just been absolutely stunned by this. Remember Tiger Woods has been golf for decades
now. When he burst onto the scene towards the end of the 1990s, he completely revolutionized the game.
He is the reason it is so popular. He is the reason the young generation of golfers are all playing this game. He's the reason they are all
millionaires many times over. Of course, these golfers, these athletes have had a different view of Tiger over the years. Of course, they revered him
when they watched him on television when they were young.
By the time they all got on the scene, he wasn't around as much or he was playing but he wasn't as good as he used to be. But in the last couple of
years, we've seen a completely different Tiger Woods.
This career resurgence, which was just absolutely extraordinary, winning the tour championship at the end of 2018 and a fifth Masters in 2019 and
then 82 PGA tour titles with another victory in Japan. And these guys have now got to see him up close the way he used to be. Of course, recognizing
that he was already into his 40s.
He had so many surgeries already. He wasn't going to be like that forever. But the world of golf is absolutely stunned today. A number of players have
been speaking about it and they were asked in the moment yesterday when nobody really knew how serious this was, what the outcome was going to be.
Justin Thomas is a young American player, lives close to Tiger. They're very friendly. This was his reaction when he was asked.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN THOMAS, GOLFER: I'm sick to my stomach. It hurts to see one of your - I mean, now my closest friends get in an accident. And, man, I just hope
he's all right. I just worry for his kids. I'm sure they're struggling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: The world number two, Jon Rahm, was also asked for his reaction and it was notable saying that he talked about Tiger and his kids and his
family and he didn't once mention a future in golf.
Of course, nobody knows how bad this is going to be, whether he can make a comeback or not, whether he's going to be motivated to come back or not.
But his thoughts were not on Tiger Woods, the golfer, but on Tiger Woods, the man and the family man.
ASHER: Two kids he loves dearly. And it was a long journey for Tiger to get back to playing over the last decade. He had new motivation to be out
on the course this time.
RIDDELL: The kids are a huge part of that. We've been talking -- (AUDIO GAP) -- which happened pretty recently. December, just a couple of days
before Christmas -- and we understand that one of the motivations for that, it was to relieve pressure on a trapped nerve in his back -- was to be able
to carry on playing with his kids.
And you look at this. This is just extraordinary. If you remember that board game, Operation, with the man kind of lying on the table and you had
to fish bones and things out of the game. That's what Tiger Woods' life has been like.
Look at these surgeries. And some of them have been very, very serious. It is a miracle that he was able to come back from some of those, five back
surgeries now. Of course, we're all talking about his leg in this injury.
How has his back been impacted by an impact like that so serious?
The car rolling multiple times before it came to a rest.
You are looking at Tiger and Charlie, the two of them played recently in a father-son tournament. He was adorable. Tiger clearly doting on Charlie, a
talented golfer for someone so young. A lot of people excited what Charlie may grow up to achieve.
This is one of the reasons Tiger wanted this fifth surgery, not necessarily to come back and win another major, just to be out there alongside his son
and enjoy the game and enjoy it with his family. Of course, that is now an uncertain future. Nobody really knows where he's going to go from here.
ASHER: Thoughts and prayers with his family. Don Riddell, thank you so much.
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ASHER: The coronavirus pandemic, where we've had some promising but cautious news. The World Health Organization says new cases globally are
down for the sixth straight week, which is, of course, a great step forward.
However, within those lower cases, variants are spreading at a higher rate than ever before. That was -- that has some experts worried about a new
surge this spring. Another reminder, of course, not to get complacent about this virus.
This brings the push to get vaccines into arms all the more urgent. But as urgent as it may be, as we have reported extensively, it's by no means
equal. The U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned that 75 percent of the vaccines have been administered by just 10 countries.
[10:10:00]
ASHER: Well, today we are seeing a step toward making things slightly more equal. COVAX is a program designed to ship out those vaccines to
vulnerable countries. And today Ghana became the first COVAX recipient, getting some 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Vaccinating these countries is an enormous job and a race against time against possible new variants to come. CNN's David McKenzie has more.
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MCKENZIE: This is the moment when those 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in Ghana, the very first of the COVAX initiative, which is
a global initiative to get vaccines to low and middle income countries.
You can see the level of pomp and circumstance getting those vaccines in. Earlier they left the Serum Institute in India and they'll be many
countries in the coming weeks, particularly in the African continent, who will receive vaccines through COVAX.
Now this is both a moral issue, say World Health Organization officials, but also a public health issue. They say that if any one country still has
transmissions of COVID-19, even if other countries have been vaccinated, it gives the virus an opportunity to continue to mutate and more variants to
come through, which could put everyone at risk.
The Trump White House largely ignored COVAX as it was set up. But the Biden White House has been much more active and engaging and, just in recent
days, G7 countries announced $4 billion of additional funding to COVAX and vaccine facilities like it to get vaccines, predominantly, the AstraZeneca
vaccine, into countries to start this vaccination drive.
The largest, say UNICEF, in modern history -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: A huge challenge in terms of making sure this vaccination -- the vaccines are distributed fairly and equitably. Let's talk about this a bit
more with Marie Pierre-Poirier, she's UNICEF's regional director for West and Central Africa, joining us via Skype.
Thank you for being with us. I want to read out a statistic I found frightening. So far 200 million doses of vaccine have been administered
globally but half of those -- half of those -- are in just two countries.
What needs to happen at this point to make sure that these vaccines are being distributed, particularly across the continent of Africa, in a way
that's both fair and equitable?
MARIE PIERRE-POIRIER, UNICEF: Well, Zain, that's the key question. And that's the exact purpose of the COVAX initiative. And today is a world --
the day of joy. We have just witnessed the first touchdown, as you said in your intro, the first arrival of this COVID vaccines from the COVAX
facility on the African continent in West Africa, in Ghana, 600,000 doses.
And they will be coming as shipments are getting organized. So it's a turning point. We estimate in the COVAX partnership that we will be
delivering 1.3 billion doses in 2021. But this is only going to cover 20 percent of the most vulnerable population of all countries across the
planet. Much more needs to be done but let's get that phase rolling as of today.
ASHER: So listen, there's this positive news in terms of COVAX helping out Ghana, Ghana receiving a shipment about 600,000 vaccines. Even within
Africa, as I'm sure you know, there is vast inequality.
So how do we make sure that, even within Ghana, the vaccine is distributed fairly, not just to the wealthiest Ghanaians but also across the country in
the more rural area to the poorer Ghanaians at the same rate?
PIERRE-POIRIER: That's why we've been busy, UNICEF with our partners over the past few weeks. The first step of the COVAX initiative are preparedness
plans in each country, vaccine preparedness plans.
And the first step of that is the determination of the famous 20 percent of the population that's the most vulnerable in all countries. It's generally
health workers, senior citizens, people with comorbidities. That's a huge discussion that takes place.
Then there's the look at the cold chain, the logistics of it, how to run the vaccination and immense emphasis on communication to inform population
and explain how the vaccination campaign would go on.
So when these preparedness plans are ready, they go to the regional level. We look with our colleagues, UNICEF, WHO, and they are evaluated by a
global independent facility. The preparedness plans are step one and focusing on the most vulnerable is an essential part of this preparedness
plan.
[10:15:00]
ASHER: So that's probably part of the reason why Ghana was chosen as the first country to be in the region to receive the COVAX vaccines.
But how was all of this monitored?
Does COVAX have a way of monitoring to make sure that the countries end up doing what they say they will do and everybody, especially the more
vulnerable, get a fair shot at getting the vaccine?
PIERRE-POIRIER: Yes, we are very active. We have country offices in all of these countries. But by the way, let me tell you that 27 countries have
already sent preparedness plans that were qualified and validated for phase one. And it's a total of 101 that we'll review. So countries are taking
this seriously.
Then the monitoring. We have teams on the ground, working with ministries of health, putting the details of the campaigns together. Ghana is expected
to start next week. The president may confirm that later today.
Other countries in the region are following. And the whole idea is to make sure that the people that are contacted and do benefit from the first waves
of vaccines are the most vulnerable. Partners on the ground are very committed to make sure this is what happens.
ASHER: So how concerned are you overall about the prospects of even more variants beyond the South African variant, essentially making some of these
vaccines a lot less effective than they otherwise would be?
PIERRE-POIRIER: Well, you know, the science is evolving every day. What we know now is, with the vaccines that we do have certified, vaccinating the
population with them will make a difference and will be protected. So we go with this.
Research and manufacturers are working on improving their products as we speak. At the moment, with the AstraZeneca, which, by the way, comes to us
from India through a technology transfer program, which is another interesting element of the equity part of our initiative, that vaccine will
be making a huge difference in the population. And that's why we need to start now.
ASHER: All right. Marie Pierre-Poirier, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is one step closer to being put into the mix in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the
vaccine meets the requirements for emergency use authorization.
The drug was found to be more than 66 percent effective against moderate and severe COVID-19 cases. FDA advisers are set to meet on Friday to review
the information and make a recommendation on whether or not the vaccine should be authorized. It would be the third vaccine to be put to use in the
United States.
Coming up on the show --
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK. I'm rolling up. And I'm not that nervous about having the Russian vaccine.
ASHER (voice-over): Our Matthew Chance gets Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. He and his team were granted exclusive access to the factory now making
millions of doses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER (voice-over): And Lebanon's vaccine program has only just started. But its funding is now at risk. Find out why, after the break.
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ASHER: Global demand for Russia's coronavirus vaccine is now surging. But within Russia, skepticism is higher. Russia approved its first COVID-19
vaccine, Sputnik V, in August after testing it on just a few dozen people. Scientists announced it was a 92 percent effective vaccine.
Their late stage trial results were published in the international medical journal, "The Lancet." Even after the data, the lab provided has questions.
Still dozens of countries around the world, especially developing countries, are making deals to purchase millions of doses.
CNN's Matthew Chance got exclusive access to one of the new factories, where Russia is making this vaccine. He was even able to get a dose
himself.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHANCE (voice-over): The site was once a Cold War biological weapons center, secret, remote and closed. But CNN has gained exclusive access to
the high-tech facility, where Russia now makes Sputnik V, its controversial but effective COVID-19 vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important part is to get the extra pure (ph) clean and trial (ph) water and this --
CHANCE (voice-over): Every step in the large-scale process had to be carefully calibrated, the key scientist tells me, delaying mass production
Sputnik V vaccine approved in August last year until now.
CHANCE: Have you made that step, are you already producing millions of vaccines, millions of doses every month?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are producing several millions of vaccine every single month and we are hoping soon to get even higher amount in maybe like
10-20 millions a month.
CHANCE (voice-over): With those numbers, Russian officials now say that any healthy adult here who want Sputnik V could have. It opening pop up
clinics like this one at a Moscow mall, encouraging shoppers to get vaccinated, offering every a free ice cream with every jab to sweeten the
deal.
Even the secretive Russian lab that pioneered Sputnik V has opened its doors. Offering the vaccine directly as it were from the source.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roll up.
CHANCE: OK, I'm rolling up.
I'm not that nervous about having the Russian vaccine because --
(INAUDIBLE) --
(CROSSTALK)
CHANCE: -- it's had large-scale clinical trials, it's been peer reviewed in a major journal and it's proven to be very. Safe 91.6 percent effective,
which is very good. Anyway, it's too late now, because it's been done. The interesting thing though is that I can get a vaccine at all in Russia,
given that I'm not in a vulnerable category.
CHANCE (voice-over): The fact is a country with one of the world's highest numbers of COVID-19 infections also has one of its highest vaccine
hesitancy rates. Fewer than 40 percent willing to have the jab according to one recent opinion poll. You think that Vladimir Putin would step forward
to allay public fears.
Unlike many other world leaders, the Russian president has yet to take the plunge. The Kremlin has said it will announce when a presidential
vaccination takes place but in a country that looks to its strongman for the lead, his vaccine hesitancy is doing nothing to bolster confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vaccine and labeled vaccine is stored before being distributed to the patient.
CHANCE: This is how they're distributed.
How many doses in the box?
CHANCE (voice-over): Still more than 50 countries have ordered Sputnik V according to the RDIF, Russia's sovereign wealth fund. Russians may still
be shunning their vaccine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same boxes are going to Argentina, Brazil and other countries.
CHANCE: Same size wherever it goes in the world.
CHANCE (voice-over): But global demand for Sputnik V continues to surge -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Despite that skepticism in Russia, as Matthew mentioned, the Sputnik vaccine is being distributed widely across the world. It's one of
several vaccines that Mexico and a handful of other Latin American nations have turned to. Matt Rivers has more.
[10:25:00]
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Like so many other countries around the world, Mexico is desperately trying to get its hands on more doses of
different vaccines. And it got some help in that regard on Monday night. That is when some 200,000 doses of the Russian developed Sputnik vaccine
arrived on a British Airways flight here in Mexico City.
The Mexican foreign minister was there to greet those doses as they arrived. Those doses are going to be put to immediate use. The government
says those doses will be used to try and help vaccinate elderly people in certain sections of Mexico City.
Those vaccinations are going to start as soon as today. Mexican health officials say that this came about in part because of a conversation that
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in late January.
The two men agreed to increase the supply that Mexico would be receiving of this Russian developed vaccine. We know that Mexico already has a purchase
agreement to eventually acquire some 24 million doses of this Russian developed vaccine.
Mexican officials have not laid out a timeline exactly for when the rest of those doses are going to arrive. And Mexico is one of a number of countries
in Latin America beginning to rely on this Russian vaccine. At least six countries in Latin America will be using this Russian vaccine. Others are
also considering granting this vaccine emergency use authorization.
It comes at a time in Mexico when vaccines are desperately needed. As of Tuesday, the country had administered less than 2 million doses of
different vaccines -- Matt Rivers, CNN, in Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Let's get you up to speed on other stories on our COVID radar right now. The World Bank has threatened to suspend funding for vaccines in
Lebanon if the decision to vaccinate MPs over the age of 75 goes ahead.
The bank's regional director said giving lawmakers priority would be a violation of the terms and conditions. They've agreed to equitable
vaccinations. Lebanon received its first batch of vaccines earlier this month in World Bank financed operation.
Just days after Argentina's health minister was forced to resign in a scandal over secret vaccinations, the country's president is now defending
giving COVID shots to about 70 VIPs. He said it was a necessary move and not preferential treatment.
Greece is urging the European Union to adopt vaccine passports. Athens may have been under snow recently but the Greek tourism minister says the
priority is now safe summer vacations. According to the "Financial Times," the E.U. should move quickly on this issue. The Greek economy relies
heavily on tourism.
Still to come on CONNECT THE WORLD, world leaders meet to address the urgent dangers of climate change.
But can they agree on a way to combat the crisis?
And lockdowns drag on. And some creatures are benefiting from them. We'll bring you more on the rise of the rat.
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[10:30:00]
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SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, BRITISH NATURALIST: Please, make no mistake, climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have
ever faced.
We have left the stable and secure climatic period that gave birth to our civilizations. There is no going back. No matter what we do now, it's too
late to avoid climate change. And the poorest and most vulnerable, those with the least security, are now certain to suffer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: An urgent and very dire warning there by British naturalist David Attenborough, speaking at a virtual meeting of the U.N. Security Council
Tuesday. He urged wealthy nation to recognize the moral responsibility they have to the rest of the world.
World leaders agreed on the danger of climate change but they disagreed on the best way forward and the best way to combat the threat. CNN's Bill Weir
joins us now on that virtual meeting.
Walk us through the key takeaways from this conference.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: I think the biggest is that it took this long for the world to start calling this a national security
threat. This is something the Pentagon has been labeling for at least seven years or so.
And there's such a disparity in the attitudes towards this crisis, depending on where you are in the world. Geography is destiny. The global
south will suffer the most. But what's scary is that, while Texas was seeing that Arctic blast and while there was freak snowstorms in Saudi
Arabia and heat waves in Beijing, the Russians set a navigation record, sailing a tanker over the top of the world because there's no sea ice up
north.
A lot of people would see that as a horrific red flag. They are excited by the possibilities of the fortunes that can be made in this new world. So
the disparity is there.
And then where is the justice?
Who will be the ultimate decider as to those who cause loss and damage and those who, you know, get just compensation to try to brace for the worst?
ASHER: And, listen, we are all vulnerable to climate change. We are all going to suffer because of it. But island nations in particular are
especially vulnerable to the climate crisis. Some leaders are speaking out about climate refugees.
So when it comes to climate refugees, what legal frameworks are needed to protect those refugees?
WEIR: Well, that is an incredibly sticky question. As Sir Richard Attenborough said, that's the great injustice. When it gets hot, the poor
get hotter and when it gets cold, they get colder and wet, they get wetter. We're already seeing climate migration. About 50 million a year are
displaced.
The big migrant caravans here in the United States coming up through Mexico from Central America as the result of droughts and storms. You saw the Arab
Spring started with a drought in Tunisia. So there is no mechanism right now.
In 2013, they came up with something called the Warsaw mechanism. And it was just that rich countries will give advice. And they might help with
insurance policies. But whether there will be ever an international climate court and which countries would listen to such judgments is such a tricky
human question right now.
But unless we get in front of this, this is the argument there, it will only get worse. A hotter planet is a less humane planet and it will change
the way we think about neighbors and strangers.
If the Nile Delta stops producing all that wheat for North Africa, those people have only one way to go. They can't go south because of the Sahara.
They have to go into Europe and the same in India now. There's groundwater problems with farmers there.
And is that mismanagement of water resources or the result of a warmer climate made worse by richer countries?
These are just some of the huge trillion-dollar questions that make this, as sir Richard said, the greatest challenge humanity will ever face.
ASHER: Yes, but the U.S., obviously, which is a -- quite a large polluter, is going through a turning point. There's a change in administrations. You
now have a much more climate friendly administration. It's also rejoined the Paris climate accord.
How much -- given the last four years the U.S. has been notably absent in terms of the climate crisis, how much catching up does this country have to
do in order to meet its original obligations, do you think?
[10:35:00]
WEIR: Quite a bit. There was promised in 2013 $100 billion to developing countries to fortify themselves to adapt in these ways. They're well short
of that. The United States, thanks to the Donald Trump administration, is about $8 billion short on that pledge. It'll be interesting to see if
President Biden and John Kerry step up with that because they acknowledge that they have to do so much more because there's justifiable skepticism
that the U.S. bailed after 150 years of being the leading creator of the problem right now.
And so domestically, the problem is the politics in the United States when President Biden signs an executive order to put a moratorium on new oil and
gas leases on federal land, the governor of Texas signed his own executive order, telling every agency in his state to sue the Biden administration to
try to stop anything that would threaten their livelihood. That's all been blown up by this incredible electricity crisis they had after that Arctic
blast down there.
But it's just a taste of the fights that are coming and ultimately this may come down to nine people on the U.S. Supreme Court deciding whether or not
robust, the kind of action science is demanding, will actually be passed in the country.
ASHER: Bill Weir, live for us there, so many great questions. Appreciate it.
And there is some good news to share. Scientists working for the Pentagon have successfully detected a solar panel that collects energy from space
and sends it back to Earth. The panel is a prototype for a future system and is only about the size of a pizza box. You can read all about it by
logging on to cnn.com.
And as lockdowns have been damaging for so many of us but there are some creatures who are profiting from all the empty space. London's rats, their
population is booming. In a city famed for being a bit of a rat race, it looks like this time the rats are winning. Here's Nina dos Santos with
more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR (voice-over): Here in the parks, up the pipes and heading toward a kitchen near you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at the rat!
DOS SANTOS: Lockdown London has become a boom town for the capital's rats, left unchecked in shuttered shops and restaurants over the winter and now
making their way out of the inner city and into the suburbs.
MICHAEL COATES, CO-FOUNDER, COMBAT PEST CONTROL: Look at this rat, trying to get into the house.
DOS SANTOS: According to the British Pest Control Association, rodent sightings increased 51 percent during the first lockdown and 78 percent
thereafter, prompting fears the U.K. capital could soon become famous for the super rats that once belonged in Paris and New York.
COATES: Look at that. A (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
DOS SANTOS (on camera): Like a hole.
COATES: A hole. DOS SANTOS: To let water out.
COATES: Exactly. It's screwed out, because people get lazy. They undo it and it will come off.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): To avoid that, the city needs prevention like this. It's just before daybreak on the banks of the River Thames. And
former soldier Michael Coates is patrolling the refuse site, looking for the telltale signs.
COATES: And what you can also find, especially in heavy populations of rats, they'll start gnawing. And this plastic's real easy for rats to gnaw.
DOS SANTOS: Fewer people on the streets has made rats more conspicuous.
(on camera): Do you ever see rats?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've seen one, a little one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rats and pigeons and everything, yes.
DOS SANTOS: So you think there probably is something in there?
COATES: Definitely stuff in here. Definitely.
DOS SANTOS: And more abundant waste from locked down homes has lured them to backyards.
COATES: We've certainly seen now a spike in rats migrating back into people's gardens. Beginning of last year, we got a really bad case in
someone's garden. She was an elderly lady and she'd seen a few rats. And by the time we got there, there was maybe 10 or 15 rats and it had become this
really big issue.
DOS SANTOS (on camera): Rats have always been a part of London life, but nobody really knows how many there are in the capital. That's because
usually, they're pretty elusive.
They do, however, outnumber the human population and they multiply really fast. Just one pair of breeding rats could give rise to 1,250 in one year.
As the population swells, rats themselves are getting bigger and harder to catch. Some are immune to poison. Others have figured out how to avoid
traps.
Exterminator Paul Claydon has never been so busy.
PAUL CLAYDON, OWNER, FAST TRACK PEST CONTROL: I would say, probably, calls have increased about 50 percent for me.
DOS SANTOS (on camera): Do you think that when London eventually reopens, they're going to realize they've got one big rat problem?
CLAYDON: I think that's right. And I think a lot of commercial businesses have -- have been closed so long. I think when they start going back to
these properties and certainly, businesses that haven't have pest control contracts involved, they might find themselves going to have a big
surprise.
DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The mayor's office doesn't have a rodent plan and many local governments don't offer free pest control either.
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DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Meaning businesses and homeowners are often left to their own devices to deal with their new post-pandemic neighbors -- Nina
dos Santos, CNN, London.
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ASHER: I do not know how I'm going to sleep tonight after seeing that.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Coming up, one attribute of a champion is perseverance in the face of adversity. Few athletes exemplify that more
than Tiger Woods. We'll look at his many comebacks and what comes next after his Tuesday's serious car accident on Tuesday. That's next.
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ASHER: At this hour, Tiger Woods is recuperating from emergency surgery on his leg after a serious car accident. It's the latest challenge in a career
marked by triumph, tragedy and trauma.
Despite that, though, he's returned over and over again and continued to dominate on the links. Now a comeback could be the hardest challenge he's
had to overcome. Let's bring in Don Riddell.
You've obviously covered this golf icon for so many decades. There was really a conversation you had with him in recent years that now seems
especially poignant. Walk us through that.
RIDDELL: That's right, Zain. I was at the Masters in 2018 at Augusta here in Georgia. And there was talk that he perhaps had one more major in him.
And you know that it's going to happen anywhere, it's going to be at Augusta. A course he loves and where he's won so many times before. He did
subsequently win there in 2019.
But I asked him how he would put into context his comeback, if he was able to pull it off. And he immediately, without missing a beat, went to Ben
Hogan, one of his heroes, one of the all-time greats in golf, who, in 1949, was involved in a head-on collision with a bus.
And Ben Hogan was really seriously injured. He injured his pelvis, collarbone, ankle, chipped his rib. He was in a very bad place and he was
able to come back from that and win multiple majors. And Tiger was really inspired by that.
And that really stuck with me that he said that. And it was the thing I thought about yesterday. Talk about narrative arcs and storylines and now
Tiger is facing a very situation himself.
ASHER: So that's where he draws his inspiration from at a time like this. Don Riddell, thank you.
"WORLD SPORT" is up next. I'll be back at the top of the hour.
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