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EU-UK Row Over AstraZeneca Vaccine Exports Intensifies; Europe Facing New COVID-19 Restrictions As Cases Surge; Cuba To Vaccinate 150K Frontline Workers; Canadian's Espionage Trial In China Ends, Verdict Later; Center Supports Children With Down Syndrome In War-Torn Syria; Docuseries Investigates Claims Of Sexual Abuse Against Woody Allen. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired March 22, 2021 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: I'm Lynda Kinkade in for Becky Anderson. Welcome to "Connect the World" and thanks for joining us. Well, this hour lock
downs looming extended and strengthened right across Europe.
The continent now in the midst of a third COVID-19 wave falling behind in the race to vaccinate as the Coronavirus variants spread. With Germany is
on the verge of imposing new restrictions including nighttime curfews in the worst affected areas.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to announce plans after meeting with federal and state leaders. France and Poland are in partial lockdown and
Italy is headed towards a nationwide lockdown for Easter. Well, the lockdowns coming after nearly 20 EU countries temporarily paused or
restricted the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine over safety concerns and then blasted the drug maker for production shortfalls.
Well, today Britain's Prime Minister was responding to the European Commission's President's threat to hold AstraZeneca exports urging EU
nations to follow through on deliveries Boris Johnson also warning about the prospect of a third COVID-19 wave hitting the UK. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And people in this country should be under no illusions that previous experience has taught us that that when a
wave hits our friends into it, I'm afraid -- washes up on our shores as well. And I expect that we will we will feel those effects in due course.
That's why we're getting on with our vaccination program as fast as we can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: We are staying on top of all these developments today. Frederik Pleitgen is in Berlin. Scott McLean is in London, good to have you both
with us. I'll start with you first Fred, were in Germany, infection rights is certainly up but the vaccination rollout very slow. And of course
restrictions that to take effect again soon.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Lynda absolutely. And certainly the vaccinations are going extremely slow in this
country, they continue to do so. Only about 4 percent of the German population has now received both doses of any of the vaccines that are
available here.
And that Germans have been talking about speeding up the vaccine rollout but so far, it really does still remain sluggish. One of the things they
said is they wanted to get general practitioners for instance involved. But that's not going to happen until three weeks from now and only on a very
limited basis.
So it certainly doesn't look as though with this third wave currently unfolding in Europe and continuing to grip Europe that vaccines are going
to help the European continent are going to help Germany out of all this. And certainly the German government is very much aware of that as well,
that the one thing that they have at their disposal still, even though it's becoming more and more unpopular in the German population are these
lockdowns.
And curfew is one of the main things that they've been talking about here in the run up to the meeting that Angela Merkel has today with state
governors, also a very unpopular measure. We're going to have to wait and see whether or not the German government the central government under
Angela Merkel is going to be able to push that measure through also schools that have been partially opened, might have to close once again, in areas
with a lot of coronavirus, infections.
And then the other thing, also that they've been talking about, as well, I'm sure has been going on also to other European countries is looking
towards the Easter holidays and how much travel is going to be possible at that point in time. Certainly the German government has a clear eye on
that, and is looking to possibly implement further restrictions in that regard also, Lynda.
KINKADE: I'm going to come back to you for a bit more on that in just a moment, Fred. But I want to bring in Scott now, just on the -- I mean,
there's plenty of developments, certainly, in your neck of the woods there in London, Scott.
Firstly, just take us through the fact that the vaccination roll down has been so fast there in the UK, that there should be some pulling back on
some of the restrictions in the coming weeks.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, or at least the UK should be on schedule with the roadmap for exiting the lockdown that they've set out,
which would mean that three weeks from today would be the next round of restrictions where you'd see non essential stores gyms patios even start to
reopen five weeks after that would be a further loosening of restrictions, which would be the first time that British people would be allowed to take
a foreign holiday potentially.
And then in June, five weeks after that date in May, would presumably come or at least hopefully come a full easing of restrictions and everything
would be open. But the government has made clear over and over again that those dates are a best case scenario, assuming that the vaccine rollout
continues to go with the lightning fast because so much so that there's no risk of hospitals once again being overwhelmed.
But you heard the Prime Minister there talking about the possibility of another wave of Coronavirus given that it's looming in Europe. I want to
show you a graphic if we have it showing you know cases continue to slide downward in the UK but in Europe, it's obviously a very different scenario.
[11:05:00]
The big difference in this country is the speed of the vaccination campaign. And the simple fact that more than half of the entire adult
population has had at least one dose of the vaccine, they expect to hit their target of mid April of offering that first dose to everyone over the
age of 50.
And so while the number of cases may well go up again and follow suit with Europe, the hope here in the UK is that deaths will not be nearly as high
as they would have been otherwise. And hospitalizations also would not be nearly as high but a lot of people here also keeping their eye on what the
EU does and whether or not they hold back some of that vaccine from AstraZeneca for them to make sure that they can try to head off their own
coming new wave of the coronavirus Lynda.
KINKADE: I'll come back to you on that in just a moment Scott. I just want to give it to Fred, because obviously there are a lot of concerns right
across Europe with the uptake of the vaccine, even if they begin to ramp it up and roll out and offer more vaccinations to people whether or not
they'll be willing to line up and get a shot. How are they dealing with people that that are hesitant to go and get a vaccine?
PLEITGEN: Well, I think I think that there are several layers to that problem. On the one hand, we have to point out that while Europe certainly
doesn't have enough vaccine, the Germans, for instance, they've acknowledged that there's not enough vaccine in all of Europe right now to
stave off that third wave of vaccinations.
There is still a lot of unused vaccine potentially or not potentially, but especially here in Germany, with the Germans holding back a lot of doses
even though vaccine makers like for instance, BioNTech say that that shouldn't be the case that shouldn't be done. So there are a lot of
vaccines still out here.
One of the other things that are also definitely the case in Germany is that there's a lot of bureaucracy also involved in getting the vaccine. I
was at a vaccination center is actually already two vaccination centers here in this country. And people have to look at forms and fill out forms.
It's about six pages before they can even get to their own vaccination.
And then of course, you have the whole problem of the confidence in AstraZeneca right now. After that AstraZeneca was paused for several days
last week, after at the beginning, there were already issues with the confidence in AstraZeneca. Certainly there are people in many European
countries that use AstraZeneca that have some problems in taking that vaccine.
I think right now the confidence level in Germany is around 55 percent, according to a recent poll; currently in France is a little over 20 percent
after a recent poll there. So certainly there is some vaccine hesitancy, but on the whole, there are a lot of people in this country, and probably
also in other European countries that want to get vaccinated as fast as possible.
But the rollout certainly still is going very slow. And on the one hand, that is because there isn't enough vaccine in Europe. But on the other
hand, and this is something that's broadly debated in German society, for instance, it is also the case that the rollout has been extremely
bureaucratic in this country.
And really isn't gaining steam also because of a lot of hurdles of that, that remain to get it out there as fast as possible and get as many people
vaccinated as quickly as possible. Lynda?
KINKADE: Yes, certainly a lot of frustration Fred. I just want to go back to Scott because there is certainly -- Europe recently doubling down on its
threat to block exports of AstraZeneca vaccine to the UK, which you touched on just briefly before. It's certainly a major issue that's raising a lot
of eyebrows.
MCLEAN: Yes, a lot of people in this country are kind of scratching their heads wondering what is going on with Europe when it comes to AstraZeneca
because on the one hand, they're doing a lot of saber rattling and threatening to block vaccine from being exported to the UK.
On the other hand, you had most countries in Western Europe last week pausing their rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine over safety concerns
because of a very tiny number of people who developed rare forms of blood clots. The European vaccines regulator went and did an urgent review of
those cases and found that while they couldn't definitively rule out a link between the vaccine and those extremely, extremely rare blood clots.
They found that the vaccine made you know, more likely to get blood clots and it was still very much safe and effective. Unfortunately, a lot of that
hesitancy that Fred mentioned in Europe is starting to make its way across over to this side of the pond as well.
And the -- I visited a vaccination center last week, excuse me, and what we found was that, you know, a lot of appointments are going unfilled, some
people are not showing up for their vaccination appointments, whereas they were pretty solidly booked before. Here's what the head of the vaccine or
the Director of the particular vaccination center that we visited told me about the vaccine hesitancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACY CANNELL, VACCINATION LEAD FOR LONDON BOROUGH OF TOWER HAMLETS: We've seen people that haven't turned up for their appointments and our
appointment levels are dying, so not on all our clinics are full time this week.
MCLEAN: Have people been asking for the Pfizer vaccine more often.
[11:10:00]
CANNELL: They have been asking for Pfizer more often and that's a change. Earlier, we had people that wanted the British one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: So of course, the people that we met inside the clinic were all willing to get the vaccine with a little bit of encouragement from the
doctor or nurse that was giving the shot. But even outside of the clinic, we asked people on the street what they thought of the vaccine and that the
good news is that at least, you know, anecdotally talking to people it seems like the confidence in the vaccine is still very much there.
Though there were people who told us that if they were given a choice, and in the UK, they're not but if they were given a choice, many of them would,
in fact, prefer to get the Pfizer shot over the AstraZeneca shot, Lynda.
KINKADE: Right. That is interesting and somewhat really not surprising. Good to have you both with us. Frederik Pleitgen for us in Berlin and Scott
McLean in London, thank you so much.
Well, the infighting continues within the block Austria and five other EU countries as we probably discussed being squabbling over the distribution
of vaccines. Austria is lobbying complaints about Malta their country's Chancellor says Malta will have three times more vaccines relative to its
population than other countries like Bulgaria.
Now the small island nation has been one of the leading EU countries for vaccinations. And for more on how Mojo is handling the Coronavirus. I want
to bring in Dr. Christopher Fearne. He's a Former Surgeon who is Malta's Health Minister as well as the Deputy Prime Minister of Malta. He joins us
now from the capital. Good to have you with us. So you are wearing a lot of hats you are a doctor but also a leading politician there.
DR. CHRISTOPHER FEARNE, MALTESE DEPUTY PM AND HEALTH MINISTER: I'm not practicing as a doctor unfortunately I just spend all my time doing
politics now.
KINKADE: Fair enough? Well, let's talk some of the politics there because Malta is leading the way when it comes to vaccinations in the EU. Just talk
us through why it's doing so well.
DR. FEARNE: Well, two reasons in the first place and just to put your mind at rest that we have procured all our vaccine doses through the European
Union Framework Agreements. So all our all the doses that are available to our citizens have come through the joint procurement mechanism, that I
think, despite all the criticism has been a huge success within the European Union.
So we have all the doses that we have come through that mechanism. But we have availed ourselves of all the opportunities whenever they came. So we
have ordered the maximum amount of vaccines that we could through the joint procurement to the advanced purchase mechanisms, as laid out by the
European Union steering committee.
So one of the reasons is that we have utilized all the possibilities to get as much vaccine as we can to our island the second reason why we're -- and
at the moment we've given about 24 percent of our population, at least, first dose of the vaccine. And the reason why we're so advanced, and all
this is because we are not leaving any vaccine unused.
So as soon as they arrive on the island, of course, keeping up a dosage for each for the second vaccination, where we were utilizing all the vaccine
that we have available. And we are able to do this because we have a very robust National Health System. We're efficient, and we're proud and we
don't have any dead vaccine or any dead inventory, which is not being used.
So yes, we've procured a lot of vaccine, but through the European mechanism, and we're using all of it.
KINKADE: Right. What do you say to Austria and the complaints they're making about just how much access you do have?
DR. FEARNE: Well, as I say, we have not to procure a single vaccine, those outside the European Union mechanism. And we've done this in a transparent
manner within the joint steering committee, where all European member states are represented. And up to a few days ago, the joint chair was
actually the Austrian Representative.
So Malta has utilized all the opportunity that has arisen to obtain all the vaccines that we need, we have over invested. That's true. However, we have
worries because all the vaccine that we we've ordered, we will have more vaccine than we need for our population.
But that means that we are getting large numbers in the first and now in the second quarter of 2021. I have to say I mean all of Europe is in a good
place despite the fact that UK and USA are growing at faster rate. The whole world is really in a good place when you realize that hardly a year
after the advent of the pandemic.
We are talking about percentage of population that we have vaccinated. It's something incredible, so this has been really trying for science. And the
fact that we've managed to procure this jointly as a European Union, I think has been an extremely important step.
[11:15:00]
DR. FEARNE: I've been Health Minister for a number of years. I'm the longest serving Health Minister in the European Union. And we've been
pushing this, this joint procurement mechanism, not just for vaccines, but for numbers of drugs for high priced drugs for years.
We've only managed to do this now, because the pandemic has pushed us all together. And I think this has been an extremely important success, which
we need to recognize, and we need to replicate. So despite the criticism, the alternative of not having procured together would have been much worse.
Some countries would have vaccines now some European countries would not even have it now. The fact that we brought it all together, I think is an
extremely important step, and certainly allowed Malta to be able to vaccinate at such a high rate.
KINKADE: So what do you say to the critics that say the Brussels underinvested in vaccine production and left the door open for countries
like Hungary and Slovakia to get vaccines from Russia and China?
DR. FEARNE: Well, as I say, all the European member states had the same amount of opportunity to procure doses for their citizens, some of us use
all the opportunities, others chose not. Having said that, I still believe there is room for more improvement.
For instance, at the moment, the European Medicines Agency is evaluating the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V. I believe there is scope for the European
Union, even now for the commission, even now to start negotiating with the Russian authorities jointly so that if that the Sputnik V is approved, then
it is available, again, as a joint procurement to the advance purchase mechanisms for all European citizens.
I believe the fact that we've managed to work together as 27 European member states, up to now should encourage us to continue to work together
and the fact that we sometimes squabble between ourselves, and that there is no mechanism where we can even sort out these squabbles, I think, is
extremely important. And to my mind, this has been actually a triumph for the European Union.
KINKADE: Certainly after a year into this Pandemic, people want to travel. You've already established a system in Malta a green amber red light system
to allow people to travel to certain countries. Explain how that works and how a COVID vaccine or a COVID passport could be effective.
DR. FEARNE: Well, at the moment, what we have and this has now been replicated in most of the European Union is the traffic light arrangement.
So countries are classified into red, amber or green according to the positivity rates of the testing and, and to the number of cases that are
prevalent in those communities.
People from red countries are not allowed to travel or only to travel if they're quarantined. People from green countries can travel freely. People
in amber countries need to show a positive -- a negative PCR swab test. Now they pass -- the vaccine certificate or vaccine passport, as you put it
would enable people who have been vaccinated and therefore are safe to travel into communities to have less restrictions than people who haven't
been vaccinated.
So to my mind, if we can decrease restrictions, then we should, without compromising on safety, or safety of our communities comes first. It always
has and the trends remain, but restricting people who don't need to be restricted or in other words, who are safe to travel. I think we should do
away with these restrictions.
KINKADE: Dr. Christopher Fearne, good to get your perspective on all your work there in Malta and well done and how your country's going so far.
Thanks so much for your time.
DR. FEARNE: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, Cuba is joining forces with China to develop a new vaccine designed to combat emerging strains of COVID-19. Now it's called Panco
Reiner, and it may be the first time the two communist governments have collaborated on a vaccine.
This comes at a crucial time as Coronavirus cases and deaths in Cuba is surging. Cuba currently has several other vaccine candidates in the work.
And starting today scientists say Cuba will begin inoculating 150,000 frontline workers as part of the final phase of the country's leading
vaccine candidate.
Well, Patrick Oppmann joins me now from Havana Patrick, good to see you. So it's interesting that after dealing with U.S. sanctions for such a long
time, Cuba has really carved out this biotech industry and has at least four I think vaccine is in development right?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, five vaccines you can be forgiven for not being able to keep track because every day we hear about new
projects and it probably says a lot about how well it's going for Cuba that increasing we're seeing more countries wanting to partner with Cuba.
[11:20:00]
OPPMANN: Cuba has tested its vaccines in Iran. Venezuela has come out recently and said that they're going to test Cuban vaccines and this
interesting partnership with China that actually Cuban scientists at the Chinese government's request, we are told, we'll travel to China and work
on, which would be the sixth Cuban vaccine in the Cuban Chinese vaccine.
And, of course, as you were saying, Cuba is a country that faces U.S. sanction. So decades ago, Cuba's government, Fidel Castro really made the
decision that they would develop their own vaccines because they couldn't depend on getting them from abroad it was just too expensive. And many
times, companies did not want to deal with a country like Cuba that is under U.S. sanctions.
So very early on in the pandemic, they made the bet the gamble really, they would not import vaccines. Rather they would try to develop their own
vaccines. If those vaccines hadn't worked a Cuba would really be in dire straits. Fortunately, it appears that these vaccines, at least two of them
are working. They are in stage three trials.
And as you were saying, Lynda today, we're seeing really the first mass vaccinations 150,000 people will get the vaccine here in Nevada frontline
workers, and another 50 or so 1000 will get a second vaccine, which is in the final trials on the other end of the island so hoping to get the
numbers of ill and the numbers of deaths down here finally, as those doctrines finally begin to roll out.
KINKADE: Good to hear that. So that is the case. And as always good to see Patrick Oppmann for us in Havana thank you. Well, still to come, Australian
authorities are evacuating thousands of people as floods they're worse and we'll see when this relentless rain might be stopping.
And the trial of a Canadian man held on espionage charges in China ends as it beings shrouded in secrecy. We'll have a live report from Canada coming
up.
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KINKADE: Droughts fires and floods people of New South Wales in Australia have been hit by more than their fair share of extreme weather. Not to
mention -- right now some 18,000 people are out of their homes forced to evacuated because of what officials are calling a once in a century
flooding event.
Rescue crews are searching for people who are stranded. Officials have already declared parts of New South Wales and natural disaster. And
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says help in the form of disaster relief payments is on the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: One of the specific areas of support that we'll providing commencing right now is that we are extending
the Australian disaster payments to those in the affected areas. These are the $1,000 payments for adults and $400 payments for children in areas that
have been directly affected by these flood and storm events.
The people have been seriously injured. All their homes have been directly impacted. There are a series of local government areas that we have
declared that are now eligible for those payments.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[11:25:00]
KINKADE: Our Reporter Tiffany Genders with Nine News Australia connects us to more of the flooding impact.
TIFFANY GENDERS, REPORTER, NINE NEWS AUSTRALIA: Only a year ago Australia was in the midst of a bushfire disaster. Now, it's a major flooding
emergency small community like Windsor here on the outskirts of Sydney either isolated or inundated with water.
The rain started falling on Thursday and it has not stopped for a second. Some areas experiencing a once in 50 year storm, the equivalent of water in
Sydney Harbor now ravaging rivers each day. And you can see how dangerous the situation is.
This water is moving so quickly. It is ripped trees from the ground moved in tire shipping containers. That yellow machine is a digger that has been
stopped in its tracks. No one is risking it at this particular crossing. But there have been hundreds of flood rescues many people also now finding
them homeless.
Right now there are massive evacuations spanning an area of 400 kilometers or around 250 miles that threat only increasing with this relentless rain.
KINKADE: Tiffany Genders with Nine News Australia reporting there. Well, let's get straight to CNN Weather Center and Chad Myers to find out when do
New South Wales might see some relief and shadow at the moment that heavy rain continues?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Certainly does. Maybe not for 24 more hours for the rain to finally stop and they've already had so much. Some spots
now well in excess of 800 millimeters of rain just in the past couple of days, honestly, months and months worth of rain just in the past 10 days
and for the most part the past three days.
So there were wildfires last year. And a lot of them they call the bushfires. But why is that important? Because when you get a bushfire that
is as hot as some of those fires were, it scorches the ground, it becomes something called hydrophobic. The rain can't soak into the ground. It's
like searing a steak before you really put it in the oven or roast so that you keep the juices inside the steak.
Well, this seared ground is keeping the rain from actually soaking in. Here's one picture here three or four days ago that all of a sudden with
the rain coming in. We are looking at 740 millimeters of rainfall just since Thursday, like that reporter was saying and it is still raining. This
is the live radar.
And if you remember, this is where the fires were at least most of them. Many fires were there. There's hundreds, hundreds of thousands of people
there that are just in some type of water not evacuated but in some type of water. And there are dams now there are overflowing either out of the
spillway or over the top, and there's more rain to come.
The wind is coming off the Tasman Sea, the low pressures coming in from the northwest. They're colliding right here where all the rainfall has already
happened. This is what's going to finally happen Wednesday and Thursday though, it finally moves away.
But not before we see 250 millimeters more in some spots. And if they fall in the wrong spots, Lynda, that would be a meter of rain in a week.
KINKADE: That's certainly a lot of rain. But it's getting close to lunchtime here. And that steak analogy is making me hungry. But you make an
interesting point. Chad, good to have you with us and you're sending lots of love home to Australia and everyone dealing with this crisis another
one. Thanks so much, Chad.
Well, coming up, we're going to tell you about a new ceasefire initiative by Saudi Arabia in Yemen's devastating Civil War. We'll have the response
from the Houthi rebels as well stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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KINKADE: Welcome back. Well the trial of a second Canadian citizen held an espionage charges in China wrapped up today with a verdict to be announced
later. Former Canadian Diplomat Michael Kovrig has been detained in China for more than two years, along with fellow Canadian Michael Spavor.
Now both the U.S. and Canada have repeatedly called for their release diplomats for more than two dozen countries to turn up outside the
courtroom today were denied access. We'll see CNN's Paula Newton is monitoring the trial from the Canadian capital and joins us now from Ottawa
with the latest.
Good to see you, Paula. So after being detained for more than two years, the trial wrapped up in a closed courtroom. And there are huge concerns
over transparency with Canadian diplomats denied entry.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. And it's not just amount of the transparency of these trials but just a way in which these two men
were arrested. China says under national security concerns they are being tried for spying for espionage and the fact that China is using that excuse
those diplomats say in contravention of international law to not allow anyone inside these courtrooms.
At issue here is whether or not this secret trial Lynda will be as some experts say an excuse to come up with a verdict that is really everyone is
saying it's predictable. They will be found guilty and not could carry a life sentence. I want everyone to remember here though, that what is that
issue and what China has more and more begun to tie to the fate of these two gentlemen is the fate of Meng Wanzhou.
She is the daughter of the Huawei Founder in China and is also an executive there. She is being held in Vancouver right now on an extradition warrant
from the United States. And you know, Lynda, the contrast can't be any clearer.
Right now I have access even from audio files from documents to what is going on in that trial, the media is invited. Meng Wanzhou has a battery of
lawyers at her disposal that continually go through her case and more than that, when you juxtapose the condition of the two men in China held under
very harsh conditions were told by counselor officials, Canadian counselor officials in China and Ming Wanzhou living in a multimillion dollar mansion
in Vancouver.
And at this point in time, it has Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister being really much more I would say bold and blunt, saying that these are
arbitrary detentions and calling it coercive diplomacy, Lynda.
KINKADE: Certainly is. Paula Newton for us in Ottawa, good to have you with us we will stay in touch on this story. Thanks so much. Well, this is just
into CNN, a possible olive branch and what's considered one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. We're talking about Yemen's brutal civil war.
We are learning that Saudi Arabia is offering a UN monitored ceasefire to the Iranian backed Houthi rebels. The devastating conflict there that began
more than six years ago is period the rebels against Yemen's government now that's a government that has been internationally recognized and backed by
Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis say attacks on the Kingdom will continue as long as Saudi imposed sea and air blockade remains. Well, CNN's International Diplomatic
Editor Nic Robertson joins us now live to discuss it. Good to have you with us, Nic. So just take us through this UN backed initiative and talk us
through what's on the table.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, the Saudis are calling it a comprehensive ceasefire under UN supervision. They would
address the oil blockade and who data they say by agreeing to allow oil shipments into the port.
[11:35:00]
ROBERTSON: And that the taxes and customs on those oil shipments would then go into a bank in -- a Yemeni government bank account that that is under
the terms of the Stockholm agreement, something that had previously been agreed that was working between the Houthis and the Yemeni government that
fell apart the Saudis say because the Houthis took the money from the bank account.
But that's back on the table again, they're saying that the Houthis should reopen Sanaa airport, the Capital of Yemen reopened that airport to direct
international and regional flights. And they're saying that they want the UN and with the U.S. envoy to Yemen as well.
But under the UN Security Council Resolution 2216, to begin talks between the internationally recognized UN recognized Yemeni government and the
Iranian backed Houthis. So that's what they're proposing. I was attending a virtual briefing; the Saudis at that point, weren't able to say how many UN
monitors there would be and where they would be?
They said that something for the UN to decide that would be sort of under the terms for the UN. But they are saying that this is the moment for the
Houthis to step up and to seize this opportunity for peace. And when asked -- when the Saudis were asked, well, why do you think the Houthis would go
through this now?
They say, well, their recent inability to capture that important northern city of marriage shows the Saudis said that the Houthis really need to come
to the table and talk. The Houthis for their part, are saying they're seeing this as not new as not serious as something that they've seen
before. So the early indications from the Houthis are they seem to be rejecting this Lynda.
KINKADE: That doesn't sound like it's going to appease them Nic Robertson as always good to get your analysis thank you so much. Well, the European
Union announced new financial sanctions of Myanmar's coup. They target the general who led the coup as well as 10 others.
The sanctions will freeze assets they're holding in European banks and bar them from traveling to any EU country. Now, this follows similar actions by
the U.S. and the UK. At least 250 people in Myanmar have died as the military tries to stamp out protests against the coup. And those protests
turned violent yet again on the weekend.
Well, still ahead here on "Connect the World" some of Syria's most vulnerable children now have hope. Thanks to the kindness and dedication of
others. We'll go inside the only center for kids with Down Syndrome in Idlib Province, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:40:00]
KINKADE: Welcome back. A decade long war has brought out devastation to the people of Syria but it's the country's most vulnerable who have suffered
the most. Children with Down syndrome must endure the painful isolation and lack of resources brought by years of conflict.
But in the city of Idlib, there is hope. CNN's Arwa Damon visited the Only Down Syndrome Support Center for children in the Syrian Province. She joins
us now from Istanbul. Good to see you Arwa. Take us through what you witnessed what you saw and what else can be done to help?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lynda, I'm still smiling, just thinking about the experience of being able to see the magic
that is created when people commit to dedication and supporting those who are most in need.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON (voice over): It's hardly what we expected to find. But from the moment that children piled off the school bus, we were enchanted. The dingy
building, the dark staircase, the tiny classroom, all of it melted away, overtaken by the rare beauty of what's happening here.
As the other children sway and dance to the music, Sarah keeps her head down. It's her first day, she's shy and scared. The other children were
like this as well, when they first started. Learning tools are shared, it's all they can afford at the Center for Children with down syndrome, the only
one of its kind and more pointedly.
All the staff here is volunteers drawn to the center because while serious war has eradicated childhood, it has been especially cruel for the most
vulnerable. They finally managed to cope Sarah outside the isolation brought on by war, the lack of specific resources when that many children
with down syndrome regressed while others never learned the basics, like walking, feeding themselves and speaking.
One of the voice plays with our microphone, the children may not be able to articulate what they have been taught. They are all well aware of the
violence of their surroundings. Abdul Kareem is six years old and a total charmer.
DAMON: Apparently he used to be so shy he would never come up to people. He wasn't even able to say any words; he'd lost all of his speech before he
came here.
DAMON (voice over): The center was started by Abdullah Mohammad (ph) seven months ago. He's a pediatric nurse who did a year in the clinic for special
needs children before the war. He pays the rent for this tiny space out of his own pocket.
We're struggling to stay open, but -- his wife and the center's director says, but at the same time, we can't let go of the kids. Especially not
now, now that they have seen the impact they can have, and knowing that hundreds more need their help.
Down syndrome is a genetic condition in which a child has a full or partial extra chromosome. This affects the way that the child's brain and body
developed. Early intervention can mitigate the majority of the developmental challenges. But even before the war that was a struggle.
One of the many problems is weak muscle development -- the physical therapist tells us. She says -- should have splints to help his knee
joints. But she has to work with the little she has. This is incredible. I mean, if we had been here two months ago, he wasn't able to walk on his
own. They had to carry him through everything and now intense physical therapy and he's doing so well.
Years ago -- parents had put her in school but she was severely bullied. Her mother tried to help her at home and she was doing well until a rocket
landed on their house. She was pulled out from under the rubble and hospitalized. Her parents tell us that after the strike, she stopped
talking.
One of the teachers keeps gently urging -- to play comforting her making her feel. Just two hours after -- arrived she's already making friends.
She's not alone anymore. This is the first time that we're seeing her interacting with other kids bonding. Her father -- says clear emotional.
She's still fine with us but says I'm happy and runs off to play outside.
[11:45:00]
If they were just given the opportunity, these children can grow up to fulfill their potential. War won't stop them. It's what the adults are
dreaming. It's what they see children with Down Syndrome do in more developed parts of the world. But at least they've created a space where
there is no stigma, a space where there is joy, and hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON (on camera): And Lynda, -- the others who are at the center, all of the volunteers, they know that they can do so much more with these
children. What they hope to be able to do is to get the financial support to be able to rent out a bigger space, have the necessary resources that
are needed, whether it's for the physical therapy exercises that a lot of the children have to do, or other resources.
Now, at the moment, they don't have a mechanism to be able to receive donations. It's extremely hard when one is based in Syria, because you have
the realities of being in a war zone, the effect of the U.S. sanctions on Syria, and they're a very small center.
So what they're looking at doing right now is partnering with another bigger, better established organization and again, providing a way to be
able to receive donations from viewers and others as well. So in the meantime, if people want to follow them on their Facebook page, I've posted
the link to that in my Instagram account, it's in the bio on my Instagram account, which is @arwacnn, the link to their Facebook page is also on my
Twitter @arwacnn.
I'll be sharing information as to how people can donate and support them once they have that mechanism set up. Because I mean, again, what they're
doing there is so beautiful. It's so magical. It's such an utterly unexpected experience to be able to be there and witness this. I mean, for
all of us who were involved myself, my entire team, this was our most special moment, my most special moment in covering 10 years of Syria.
KINKADE: Wow! That was such a special pace. And the kids you could tell really, really loved having you there and seeing you and it are such an
important story to tell. I'm going to share those links that you have posted as well. I'm sure we will have a lot of viewers that want to support
that cause. Thank you so much Arwa, Arwa Damon for us in Istanbul.
Well, you are watching "Connect the World". We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back to "Connect the World". Well, he is one of the most celebrated and accomplished film directors and screenwriters in American
history, a masterful storyteller who's managed to keep dark incredibly disturbing allegations from destroying his career.
We're now on explosive new HBO Docuseries is taking a closer look at Woody Allen and the claims of sexual abuse involving his then seven year old
daughter Dylan, as well as his later relationship with his own step daughter Soon-Yi.
Now the scandalous accusations paid out in public for years but according to Alan versus Farrow, no matter what you know, it's just the tip of the
iceberg. My colleague Becky Anderson spoke to the directors of the Docuseries Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering.
[11:50:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the story of two of the biggest stars in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The father is Woody Allen, Writer, Director, and Actor. The mother is Mia Farrow, his Co-Star and mother of his three children.
AMY ZIERING, DIRECTOR, "ALLEN V. FARROW": It's interesting, because this was a story that everyone thought they knew. When we started looking into
it, and reinvestigating we found oh my Gosh! This story was not one that had ever been told fully. It had only been told partially and only from one
perspective.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean I worshipped him. He was so funny. And he made me feel so special. That's where things get really, really complicated.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: New details did you uncover about what is his complex case, while making the series?
KIRBY DICK, DIRECTOR, "ALLEN V. FARROW": One of the things that we discovered is that this isn't wasn't just a onetime accusation that there
was a lot of people close to the family, including Dylan and Mia Farrow, Woody Allen would had this obsession with her.
They describe it as almost stalking her and described your cases of really inappropriate sexual behavior over many years. So this is not just a
onetime incident or a onetime accusation. And that was one of the things that were regulatory.
ANDERSON: What did you learn about their marriage both before and after Dylan's accusations of abuse and Woody's relationship with Soon-Yi?
ZIERING: We had no expectations going in; I didn't know anything about this family. I only knew what I had read in the press back in the 90s. And
that's kind of where I left off on this case. And pretty much I believed what I had read in the press.
But when Kirby and I started looking into this and Amy our Investigative Producer as well, we started looking at all the home footage because Mia
had taken videos of the children throughout their lives.
And we saw a very happy, unified family, we saw that what he really for all intents and purposes, at least from the footage, and from the testimony
that we got from babysitters, and teachers and nannies and siblings, he was really an active member of the family, not a distant boyfriend.
So that was for us very regulatory, you know that he had actually been functioning pretty much as a father figures throughout all of the
children's lives that were me as children during that time.
ANDERSON: You've been interviewing Dylan Farrow since 2018. As a small child, she faced so much public skepticism and criticism after she made
these allegations. Amy, how did she process and internalize that growing up? Is it clear at this point?
ZIERING: It took an incredible toll on her and says is something no one talks about because it's such a shameful and painful thing to go through
and experience. And if you can compound that kind of pain, and that kind of you know, internal turmoil with having to go through that filter through a
public that is, you know, commenting on your family life and your private life and your situation.
It really was it's sort of exponentially increased her trauma. So it was very it is to this day still a very, very difficult journey, not only for
Dylan but the whole family.
ANDERSON: Woody and Soon-Yi reacted to this series in a statement saying and I quote these documentarians had no interest in the truth. Instead,
they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrow's and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with false sets. These
allegations are categorically false. How do you respond to those criticisms?
DICK: Well, I think it's interesting that he made that declaration after only one episode had played. So how he could be so definitive without
seeing everything else? I think is a very important question to ask.
Also, you know, we gave him plenty of time to respond, and he chose not to. But I would like to say that and we would be very happy to interview him
and I'm sure we could do a fifth and a sixth episode if Woody Allen would like to respond.
ZIERING: We just follow the facts. We uncovered the facts. We uncovered facts that and evidence that had never been revealed to the public and we
just, you know, what we're showing is the true story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You brought charges against me as an unfit mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to make mistakes.
ANDERSON: This was incredibly polarized. It was framed as a he said she said story. It was Woody Allen Vs Mia Farrow, and by extension, Dylan, we
now live in a post Metoo. Well, do you think these allegations would it be handled differently in the public sphere today?
ZIERING: I would hope so. Yes, I would think so. Yes. And seeing now how the public processing things I do think we've seen a shift in our culture.
[11:55:00]
ZIERING: So I do think that some of the narratives that we accepted so readily and we're so eager to sort of champion and allow us to sort of turn
a blind eye to certain really objectionable behavior, I don't think that would fly today in quite the same way or be able to get so much traction
and that and support so that's good news.
DICK: Yes, but I would like to add to that. You know, this is a case of accusation of incest and incest is you know, unlike sexual assault post
Metoo people are more open about it. and I think we should all be very grateful for that. But incest is still very much a taboo subject and incest
has not had its Metoo moment.
ANDERSON: Kirby Dylan's accusations been in the public sphere for 30 years and yet Woody Allen has continued to work with some of the most famous
actors in Hollywood even received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes in 2014. His career was given new life to the age old debate
about whether it's possible to separate art from the artists.
I wonder do you have an opinion about whether you think it's morally questionable for people to keep consuming Woody's films and for actors to
continue working alongside him with these allegations still out there. While these allegations still remain?
DICK: It's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable when people that we are very identified with and been very reformative for us to learn things about them
that are really horrific, that is very difficult. And it makes us uncomfortable; we actually believe that being uncomfortable about that is a
good thing because from that position, you can then examine and make your own decision in a more informed way.
ZIERING: There is a tremendous amount to be learned from art, regardless of the person's biography and I don't ever want to be in a situation or a
culture where we are inhibiting that art to be absorbed and learn from and enrich us.
But I just draw the line with whether my economic support is actually helping that artist in ways become more powerful and therefore more able to
do things that I would find morally objectionable. It's that nexus so that's how I think about the issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, that four part documentary series "Allen V. Farrow" is available on HBO and HBO Max now. Well, thanks so much for watching. I'm
Lynda Kinkade. You can catch me on twitter @lyndakinkade. You've been watching "Connect the World". Stay safe, stay well and good bye for now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: We're going to take you to Washington now for Inside Politics with John King.
END
