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Food and Fuel Shortages Worsen Widespread Famine in Yemen; Israel Blames Jordan for Prince Canceling Visit; U.N. Condemns Violence against Myanmar Protesters; One-Year Anniversary of COVID-19 Declared a Pandemic; Prince William's First Remarks since Explosive Interview. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired March 11, 2021 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Over half the hospitals in this district are threatened with shutters. This is

one of them. They need urgent support, urgent help.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, it's worse than it has ever been, an exclusive CNN investigation into just how dire the situation

is in Yemen.

A 19-year-old woman becomes a martyr for Myanmar's democracy. We bring you her story later in the show.

And 365 days and over 2 million deaths, it's been a year since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. This hour, we reflect on its impact.

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ANDERSON: Thanks for spending your time with us this evening. You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson.

The reality in Yemen has been described on this show through almost every superlative, including, perhaps, the bluntest of all, "hell on Earth," and

it's become an endlessly contractible conflict, feeding on fractures both within the country and around the region.

This is complex, there is no easy solution. Each side finds immense and righteous value in its cause. We will be getting to all of that this hour.

But beneath the far wider tug of war for power sits the people of Yemen, 400,000 children are at risk in dying right now as its six-year civil war

rages on. That's according to the United Nations' World Food Programme.

Now a CNN investigation reflects just how dire the situation is. The Biden administration says it wants to bring an end to the war, partially funded

with American tax dollars, by no longer backing the Saudi-led coalition, fighting Iranian-backed Houthis.

U.S. backing of the war started under President Obama and escalated under Donald Trump. CNN's investigation found it's been more than two months

since U.S.-backed Saudi blockade has allowed tankers, packed with fuel for food and supplies for Yemenis, to dock at the crucial port of Hodeidah,

which is controlled by the Houthis; 14 tankers scheduled to dock there are also currently being held off the Saudi coast, according to a vessel

tracking app.

This goes against the United Nations' agreement and is making the situation on the ground desperate for innocent parents and children. CNN's Nima

Elbagir, Barbara Abantigues and Alex Pratt take us directly into Houthi territory in northern Yemen to show us what is really at stake. We want to

warn you, some of these images will be tough to watch.

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ELBAGIR (voice-over): The derelict coastline of the north of Yemen, rusting hulks tell a story of war, blockade and devastation.

For years now, the Houthi controlled north has been increasingly isolated from the outside world. We secondly traveled through the night by boat

after our previous reporting here led the government to deny us entry.

On the road to Hodeidah port, we get a sense of the humanitarian disaster kept from the outside world. Along the roadside, hundreds of stalled food

supply trucks with no fuel to move in a country in the grip of hunger, their cargo stands spoiling in the hot sun.

The port of Hodeidah is the supply gateway for the rest of the country. It should be bustling with activity but today it is eerily empty. A result of

the U.S.-backed Saudi blockade, the last tanker to dock here was in December.

In the ongoing silence, it dawns on us: we are about to witness the terrible impact of this blockade. Desperate patients and family members

trying to get the attention of the chairman of Hodeidah's hospital. If he signs these papers, they get some financial relief for their treatments and

medicines. He doesn't get far before he is stopped again and again.

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ELBAGIR (voice-over): Since the Yemen war started six years ago, families have been in financial freefall. The fuel blockade has sped that descent

into oblivion. This is the main hospital for Hodeidah province and we're surrounded by doctors and nurses rushed off their feet.

ELBAGIR: Is this a normal day?

Is it this busy all the time?

This is not a busy day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, this is a normal day.

ELBAGIR: Wow.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Dr. Khaled wants to show us some of his critical patients in the therapeutic feeding center. A 10 year old girl whose growth

has been so stunted by starvation, she can no longer speak.

ELBAGIR: Dr. Khaled says every hour of every day, they are receiving more and more cases of severe malnutrition that are this advanced, because the

parents can't afford to feed their children. They also can't afford to bring them to the hospital for treatment.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The U.N. says, pockets of Yemen are in famine like conditions. But it says Hodeidah is not considered one of them because it

doesn't meet the metrics to declare famine. But the doctor thinks the reality on the ground has outpaced the U.N.'s projections.

The Saudi field blockade is biting. Malnutrition numbers are spiking. And at the same time, this busy hospital is running out of the vital fuel that

keeps its generators running, which means that babies like Melian (ph), who doctors say at 2 months weighs the same as a newborn, would die.

Yemen has been devastated by civil war, which has pitted the Iranian backed Ansar Allah, known as Houthis, against the internationally recognized

government. And a U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition, where in Houthi territory some of whose officials have been designated as terrorists by the

U.S., for targeting neighboring Saudi Arabia.

We've been granted a rare interview with a leading Houthi official. We must meet in an undisclosed location, because, his aides say, of the threat of

assassination. We ask him to respond to allegations they are escalating this war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Not true at all, that this is continuing, it has not stopped.

ELBAGIR: Do you trust America to take forward negotiations to bring peace here in Yemen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Trust must come about decisions. So far we have not seen any concrete decisions being made.

ELBAGIR: You've spoken about being subjected as a nation to international terror, but three of the leaders within the ansaladin movement are

designated by the U.S. as terrorists. One of your key slogans talks about death to America.

How do you see this as pushing forward the negotiation and the possibility for peace in the future?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we say death to America, they effectively kill us with their bombs, rockets and blockades. They provide

logistics and intelligence support and their actual participation in the battle.

So who is bigger and greater?

The ones who are killing us or the ones who say death to them?

ELBAGIR (voice-over): The Biden administration has announced it has withdrawn support for the Saudi offensive. But it comes after 6 long years

of war and for the children dying of hunger it's still hasn't brought peace any quicker. Peace and help can't come soon enough.

ELBAGIR: Over half the hospitals in this district are threatened with shutters. This is one of them. They need urgent support, urgent help.

Can you imagine what it would do to this community if this facility was shut down?

Look at the chaos that there is already here and that's while it's functioning.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): For years, now the U.N. has been warning that famine is coming to Yemen. Doctors across Yemen's north, tell us famine has

arrived.

Another hospital witnessing wave after wave of children in the red zone, severe malnourishment, impoverished mothers, desperate to keep their

children alive, are forced to make harrowing choices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Just to get to the hospital, I stopped eating and drinking, not even water, just to get him treated.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): These doctors are keeping track of the numbers spiking beyond what they ever imagined.

ELBAGIR: The doctor saying, in 2020, this ,population 23 percent of the children under 5, were severely malnourished. In 2021, they think that the

number is going to go over 30 percent. There is no doubt in his mind, he says, that they, here in Hodeidah, are in famine.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Nearly 3 years ago, the U.N. condemned the use of starvation as a method of warfare, demanding access to supplies that are

necessary for food preparation, including water and fuel, be kept intact. Here and in other conflicts, that clearly hasn't happened.

What's more, the world has stopped caring. The U.N. needs almost $4 billion to stanch this crisis. They received less than half that from donors.

Numbers don't lie. But numbers also don't reflect the full tragedy.

This young boy, 10 months and struggling to breathe.

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ELBAGIR (voice-over): He came into the hospital six days ago, he keeps losing weight even with the critical care he's receiving. Hours after we

left, the child died. One more child in Yemen that represents so much more pain.

The doctors here are desperate for the world to see and to help -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Hodeidah, Yemen.

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ANDERSON: Connecting us to this ongoing tragedy in Yemen, joining me tonight from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, Nima, it's good to have you.

Anyone involved in trying to end this crisis -- and we speak weekly to those on the ground and around the world who are trying to find a solution

to this crisis -- they will tell you that this is complex.

The Houthis accused of diverting fuel and food aid to their soldiers and supporters, to sustain their hold on urban areas that they currently

control.

What's been -- what's been the U.S. response to your reporting?

ELBAGIR: Well, we should, first of all, say that the Saudis have not responded to our reporting. We gave them the opportunity to have a right to

reply in this piece. And they didn't take it.

We did, however, also reach out to the newly appointed U.S. envoy on Yemen and he told us that what you see there, what you see in this piece, isn't

true, that those ships were not off the port in international waters but off the Saudi port of Jizan, that they were off the port of Hodeidah, that

this blockade that we were able to witness and report upon, the impact of this U.S.-backed Saudi-led blockade did not happen.

We showed our audience what we saw ourselves on the ground and, Becky, you can see right there what is happening and what impact this blockade is

having on the people caught in those front lines.

ANDERSON: There is no doubt that the impact is devastating. The city of Ma'rib still very much facing conflict and fighting. Hodeidah just one part

of what is this fractured and frightening mosaic in Yemen today.

Many civilians are stuck in Ma'rib in the crosshairs. This is such an important city and many will say, Ma'rib falls, Yemen falls; whatever that

may mean at this point.

What do you understand to be the situation on the ground there?

ELBAGIR: Well, what we understood when we were on the ground, obviously from the Houthi side, was that a lot of what was surrounding Ma'rib city

was under Houthi control and that the city itself, so Ma'rib province, the city itself, remains in the hand of coalition and another district fully in

the hands of the Saudi-led coalition and the internationally recognized government.

But the Houthis are closing in on Ma'rib city center and that is where so much of the fear and the concern is, Becky. That city center provides the

last haven to over half a million displaced people. This was the last safe place along the north.

And we can speak about the bigger picture, the strategic import of Ma'rib and what this would do in terms of Yemen falling but also in terms of

breaking that fuel blockade because Ma'rib is where most of the oil infrastructure is.

But away from all of that, there is the reality of those half a million people that have fled everywhere else and are currently being encircled by

conflict. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way through this yet.

The Houthis are saying, lift the fuel blockade and perhaps we can talk. And the Saudi-led coalition is saying, back off from Ma'rib and perhaps we can

talk. This is where we're hearing from behind the scenes. Nobody is thinking about the displaced people caught between those front lines with

absolutely nowhere else to go at this point -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Nima Elbagir, on the story for us. You can get a lot more on the Yemen crisis at the website. Thank you, Nima. That is cnn.com. Coming up

later, my wide ranging, exclusive interview with Aidarus Al-Zoubaidi, the president of the Southern Transitional Council. That organization on the

front line of the war being waged there.

We talk at length about Ma'rib, about the humanitarian situation, about why it is that the south of the country is looking for independence and the

wider story of the region that has Yemen in its -- at its core. It is such a complex situation.

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ANDERSON: We are endeavoring to give you the depth and breadth on this story.

I also spoke with -- about Yemen with Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud. I will get you that sound next hour.

Well, if today had gone differently, we would be telling you about the Israeli prime minister's historic visit to the UAE, just six months to the

day after establishing relations between Israel and this Arab country. Turns out he just couldn't get here.

Benjamin Netanyahu's office claims that neighboring Jordan didn't approve the flight plan over its airspace.

Why would that be?

Well, it comes right after an earlier spat over security arrangements for Jordan's crown prince to visit the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the al-Aqsa

mount there.

So if you are keeping score at home, it appears Israel's prime minister can't come to the UAE because Jordan's crown prince can't go to Jerusalem.

Sam Kiley joining us from Tel Aviv to sort out what seems to be a tit-for- tat situation.

But there's always a deeper, wider story here in this region. Aviation experts, Sam, have raised eyebrows over the prime minister's office's

comments, pointing out a flight from Israel to the UAE needn't necessarily fly over Jordan.

What's going on here?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a very weird trip indeed. It was actually off before it was officially on. The

first that it was officially announced from the prime minister's office was that an unannounced trip -- or at least unofficially announced trip -- was

being blocked in their view by the Jordanians refusing overflight rights for the prime minister's flight.

Now clearly that may or may not be true. And it may or may not be true. And what was unusual about the prime minister's statement or the office of the

prime minister's statement issued was that they did point to this spat with Jordan as possibly being at the core of it.

They are saying, the Israelis are saying, that the visit to Temple Mount was nixed by them because of a disagreement over security arrangements. The

Jordanians, I think, have a different take on this. And this is because the Jordanian king, the father of the crown prince who was supposed to come to

visit the Temple Mount, is the official and internationally and more importantly religiously recognized custodian of that ancient and precious

location to so many different religious groups.

So it is a very fraught issue in and of itself. Now on top of that, Benjamin Netanyahu, who, in the past, had been campaigning and trumpeting

in his past elections that is his strong and very close relationship to Donald Trump and, indeed, sharing his election posters, had the U.S.

president and himself, some of them, on it.

He has been needing to look statesmanlike and to capitalize on very successful international diplomacy that he has run recently with the

normalization with two Gulf states and two North African states, historic breakthroughs, there is no question about that, with two weeks -- less than

two weeks before the election, a visit to the United Arab Emirates, it would put him at the top of the headlines and keep him very much on

everybody's lips at a time when he could be struggling in the polls, Becky.

ANDERSON: Sam Kiley is in Jerusalem for you. Thank you, sir.

We've got new images coming into CNN on a story we have been following closely for you.

You are looking at some of the destruction in the port city of Bata in Equatorial Guinea following a weekend dynamite blast that killed more than

100 people. One witness said it looked like the detonation of an atomic bomb.

The damage covers block after block. Hundreds of people were wounded and three major hospitals are among the buildings that you see that have

collapsed. The government is pleading for aid and firefighters are still scouring the rubble for victims.

The president blames the military for negligence, for storing explosives at a base within the city. The blast was triggered by a fire on a nearby farm.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Still ahead --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She was ready to risk her life way before that day.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Several days earlier, Angel posted this message on Facebook offering to donate her

blood and organs to anyone who might need them.

ANDERSON (voice-over): She was a regular teenager, now she is being called a martyr. We will look at one of the many people who have lost their lives

protesting Myanmar's military coup.

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ANDERSON: Also ahead, we will look back at one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

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ANDERSON: We will speak with the WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris.

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ANDERSON: To an absolutely horrible story out of Indonesia, where rescue workers, working through the night, trying to reach people trapped in a

bus. Authorities say it was coming back from taking junior high school students to a religious site in West Java when the driver lost control.

The bus went down a ravine and flipped over. At least 27 people were killed; many teenagers are among the dead, along with the driver. This

happened on a dark, winding road and authorities say tests on whether the vehicle was roadworthy were not up to date.

The world is stepping up its criticisms of the deadly crackdown in Myanmar. The U.N. is condemning violence against protests. The democratic transition

came to a halt with the February 1st military coup. The Security Council statement, watered down by China and Russia, and Amnesty International

accusing Myanmar's security forces of using battlefield tactics on peaceful protesters.

Amnesty calling it a killing spree. We are hearing reports of another nine protesters killed today, they are among at least 80 who have lost their

lives in this cycle of demonstrations and violent police response. CNN's Ivan Watson tells us about a teenager who became a symbol of Myanmar's

fight for freedom.

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WATSON (voice-over): She called herself Angel, only 19 years old, Angel -- real name Ma Kyal Sin, was a small but fierce presence of protest against

the military coup that swept Myanmar's elected government from power on February 1st.

She challenged the security forces but Angel's defiance came to a sudden end when she was shot dead during a protest in the city of Mandalay on

March 3rd.

The young woman in the "Everything will be OK" T-shirt became a symbol of Myanmar's deadly fight for democracy. Before the coup, Angel behaved like

many other teenagers, making TikTok videos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She liked to live freely. She was a good hearted girl.

WATSON (voice-over): Angel's friend, Ming Ta Bu (ph), hides his face for safety.

You can see him here, ducking for cover by her side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): She was ready to risk her life way before that day.

WATSON (voice-over): Several days earlier, Angel posted this message on Facebook offering to donate her blood and organs to anyone who might need

them.

[10:25:00]

WATSON (voice-over): Using activist videos and eyewitness accounts, CNN reconstructed Angel's final moments around noon on March 3rd as

demonstrators faced off against security forces.

Angel cheered on the protesters, chanting, "We won't run."

Around 12:30, activist videos show Angel and the other protesters retreating amid the sound of gunshots. This was the moment, activists say,

she was hit.

They raced her on a motorcycle to a makeshift clinic when this doctor, who doesn't want to be identified, pronounced her dead on arrival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The primary cause of death was a brain injury caused by a gunshot wound.

WATSON (voice-over): The doctor gave us the x-ray, showing the bullet that killed Angel. Scores of people attended her funeral but, only hours later,

Myanmar police dug up Angel's body to conduct an autopsy, they said.

The next morning, bystanders found shovels, a bloody glove and razors, which police apparently left behind at the grave. Police claim the bullet

that killed Angel is different from the kind of riot control bullets their officers used. Police insist they used minimum force to disperse the

protesters on March 3rd.

It's unknown who fired the bullet that killed Angel. But an activist video shows a soldier. firing what appears to be an assault rifle at the

protesters. This was filmed moments after Angel's shooting on the same street where she was fatally wounded.

The United Nations estimates scores of people have been killed in Myanmar in recent works. A top U.N. official lays the blame squarely on the

security forces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we're seeing orders that police and military soldiers shoot people down in cold blood.

WATSON (voice-over): Supporters have rebuilt Angel's desecrated grave. Friends are now calling her a martyr for democracy -- Ivan Watson, CNN,

Hong Kong.

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ANDERSON: We will continue to put Myanmar on the -- or in the international spotlight. We cannot lose sight of what is happening there.

It's an important story and there are those who say the response from the U.N., quite frankly, has been anodyne. Today we will continue to push for

more transparency. A lot more to get through on this show.

Just after this break, we will speak with Margaret Harris from the World Health Organization, one year since the group declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

We will look at how far we've come and how far we still have to go.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: In just about an hour, president Trump is scheduled to speak to the country from the Oval Office about the

coronavirus outbreak. He is expected to lay out some sort of a plan of action in the face of what the World Health Organization today, for the

first time, labeled a pandemic.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic just moments ago.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: I can say we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Bottom line, it's going to get worse. The World Health Organization confirming today that this is a global pandemic.

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ANDERSON: It's been exactly one year. March 11th, 2020, was the day that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Since then, more than 118 million people have been infected; over 2.6 million have died and untold numbers are suffering the lasting effects of

this disease, previously unknown to humans.

Economies have been upended, livelihoods destroyed as governments imposed lockdowns to try to spread -- and control the spread. More researchers

around the world immediately began scraping together resources and governments heaped funding on finding a cure. Today several vaccine options

are on the market.

But the rollouts have exposed the fault lines in the rich-poor divide. Today, amid the scramble, new variants of the virus are ripping through

Brazil, the U.K. and South Africa, making themselves known in the United States and around the world.

Joining me now in what is this grim anniversary, Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization.

I have to start this interview by saying it wasn't until March 11th, 2020, that the WHO declared this a global pandemic; 2.5 million deaths later and

118 million people's lives affected by the disease.

And, you know, six degrees of separation dictates so many more impacted.

Why did it take so long for the WHO to actually get their act together and declare this a pandemic?

And how many people's lives might have been saved, had they got there earlier?

DR. MARGARET HARRIS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Good afternoon, Becky. Actually, we raised the alarm, we raised our highest level of alarm, the

public health emergency of international concern, on January 30.

And we said over and over again, my director general said it so often, he said he was getting sick of hearing the phrase, "the window of opportunity

is closing."

Now the point of declaring -- raising that alarm on January 30, calling it a public health emergency of international concern, was to tell all

countries to take all actions necessary to prevent outbreaks in their countries, to prevent it from becoming what, indeed by March 11, it had

become, a pandemic.

ANDERSON: Margaret, only then did it become a pandemic, according to the WHO. And the criticism was that, had the WHO got there earlier people,

countries, governments would have actually perhaps responded with more alarm.

Be that as it may, that is 365 days ago now. Let's just get these numbers correct.

Are you happy to -- are you convinced that the 2.5 million deaths is the real figure?

Or do you think the figure could be much higher than that?

HARRIS: It's highly likely that the figure is much higher than that, because, remember, those are usually the people who actually made it to

hospital and were treated and tested.

But as I think you will recall, in the early days of the outbreak, we were saying test, test, test and that wasn't happening. So indeed, I would

expect, when we go back and look, that there will be, sadly, many, many more deaths. We have lost far too many people.

ANDERSON: What have we learned in this year, Margaret?

HARRIS: We have learned that science works. We have learned that, when we work together, when we share data.

[10:35:00]

HARRIS: When we truly make a global effort, we really do make a difference.

Back in February, again, after we declared the public health emergency of an international concern, one of the first things we did was bring the

scientists together. They sat in a room -- and it still brings tears to my eyes when I think of those people and what they shared and the ideas they

came up with.

And then they put it into action and, now, as I said, we have lost far too many people, we have had far too much sickness and death. But we do have

seven different vaccines being rolled out around the world.

Now we have to really build on the -- we're seeing the solidarity of the scientists. Now we as peoples around the world need to build on that

solidarity and ensure they get rolled out to every country around the world.

ANDERSON: Right. Let's talk about vaccines. There's been vaccine nationalism, there's been criticism of countries, that they've been using

vaccines, you know, for soft power sort of diplomacy.

Let's be very specific here. Italy has banned a specific new batch of AstraZeneca vaccines, following what they say are, quote, some secondary --

some serious adverse reactions.

Denmark, Iceland, Norway have all now temporarily suspended of use of all AstraZeneca vaccines while they investigate reports of blood clots in some

who have been inoculated.

I wonder if you can explain what's happening here, how serious this is.

And while we applaud the speed of science and the speed of the development of these vaccines, I wonder whether you are concerned about what we may be

yet to learn about this new technology.

HARRIS: Indeed. That's a very, very important point and we have something called the Global Vaccine Safety Committee, which has already met several

times to look at the different vaccines.

So whenever we get reports of adverse effects -- and, honestly, you always -- you should get reports of adverse effects. If you're not getting reports

of adverse effects, you're not looking.

And they looked to see whether they were, in fact, related to the vaccine. Now if you get a cluster, it's wise to stop for a little while so that you

can have a proper look and see, was that related or was that the normal number because clotting isn't actually an unusual event.

But you want to see if it was clotting in relation to the vaccine. So that sort of thing, stopping, pausing, having a look is always sensible.

Learning, gaining data, sharing data and also being very transparent, informing everybody at the same time, is also critical for good care.

ANDERSON: We know there are concerns about, you know, the possibility of further waves. We're seeing those concerns in Brazil. We know that there

are concerns about these new variants. But let's be positive at the end of this.

There does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel in areas where many are getting vaccinated at this point. We know that there is a divide

between rich and poor. And you and I will continue to talk about that inequality if we continue to see that in the vaccine rollout.

For now, we thank you very much indeed for joining us.

And we will be right back after this.

HARRIS: Thank you, Becky. (INAUDIBLE).

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[10:40:00]

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ANDERSON: Days after the interview that everyone was talking about, where Harry and Meghan dramatically leveled allegations of racism at the royal

family, Prince William, Harry's brother, is breaking his silence. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Sir, have you spoken to your brother since the interview?

PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: No, I haven't spoken yet. But I will do.

QUESTION: And can you just let me know, is the royal family a racist family, sir?

PRINCE WILLIAM: We are very much not a racist family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: CNN's Salma Abdelaziz connecting us to the story from outside the symbol of British royal power, Buckingham Palace -- Salma.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Becky, I mean, first of all, it's an extraordinary moment that you're watching play out there. The royal family

is always tight-lipped, there is very strict protocol about when and what and how you address the media and when you do that.

So you are seeing something really extraordinary here by the answering of that question even. But if you speak to an anti-racism activist, they will

tell you the journalist missed the point and Prince William missed the point.

This is not just about a singular accusation of racism. Of course, there are serious allegations that do need to be addressed by the palace. But

people are saying it's Meghan's experience, the day to day lived experience, the micro aggressions, the mental health issues, the feeling of

being alone, marginalized, afraid, unheard.

That is what people are relating to and they want to have a larger conversation not just about a singular incident but about institutional

racism in this country at large.

If you speak to any anti-racism activist, they will tell you this is a long term struggle. It's not going to be changed overnight but you hear that

phrase here very often, that racism does not exist.

What this interview did, what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speaking to Oprah did, is make clear that racism does exist here in the U.K. and it

needs to be addressed.

ANDERSON: Salma Abdelaziz on the story.

Well, it may have been the last goal Lionel Messi will score for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League but what a goal it was. The Argentine

superstar unleashing from what seemed like miles out and his swerving effort leaving the keeper with absolutely no chance.

It proved to be a consolation, though, as Barcelona were kicked out of the competition.

(WORLD SPORT)

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