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India Adviser Warns Third COVID-19 Wave Is "Inevitable"; Biden Administration Now Favors Waiving Vaccine Patents; Fishing Feud between France and U.K. Resurfaces; Dozens Die in Colombia Protests; Chinese Rocket Heading for Earth. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired May 06, 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: A phase three is inevitable.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, India braces for the next wave, while the prime minister splashes cash on a new home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) increased, the hospital system is going to collapse.
ANDERSON (voice-over): And now Nepal could be the next India, except much worse. We take you inside a crumbling hospital there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): And small boats and battleships, the feud between France and Britain. Something fishy is going on. The details are just
ahead.
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ANDERSON: You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Welcome.
How bad can it get in India?
In a country where records are set almost daily for new COVID-19 cases and deaths, where the sick gasp for breath and the dead are cremated in funeral
pyres, now comes a warning that a third COVID wave is coming, even after the disastrous second wave has not yet peaked.
Nearly 4,000 dying in the past day. the most yet there in a single day. India's COVID-19 tally, over 21 million, with over 412,000 new cases on
Thursday, that is the most anywhere in the world in a single day since the pandemic began.
In the midst of India's epic struggle, the prime minister pressing ahead with a $1.8 billion renovation of parliament. Included in that project, a
new home for Narendra Modi. Critics are furious over the plan and two private citizens have filed a case to halt it.
The government deems the project an essential service that can continue during what is a lockdown in Delhi. Vedika Sud is there tracking the
developments.
The apparent disconnect will not be lost on our viewers.
What's been the response of the public?
VEDIKA SUD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are infuriated. That's what we're seeing on social media and the opposition is up in arms over this
development because it comes under the essential services category, which means that this construction can go on, despite other construction being
brought to a halt across Delhi.
So there are opposition leaders and former leaders from Modi's party, who are questioning him, saying, why aren't you spending that staggering amount
on making new hospitals, which is the need of the hour, and instead wanting to spend it on making a new house for yourself and on renovating
parliament?
That's something even the leader of the Congress party has been questioning him over. People on Twitter are very upset about this development because
the construction continues and, according to a committee report, it is said that almost 50,000 people will be working to get this going.
We're expecting this construction to happen by the end of 2022. And the entire project should be completed four years later.
So, yes, there is anger and there are questions being raised for the Indian prime minister. And while that happens and while you and I have been
talking day after day, Becky, about the pressures, not only on the medical infrastructure here in India and how it's close to collapse, you have a
health commission coming out yesterday during a health ministry, briefing and speaking about how India's third wave is inevitable.
It is going to happen. And we must prepare. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A phase three is inevitable, given the high levels of circulating virus. But it's not clear on what time scale this phase three
will occur -- hopefully, incrementally -- but we should prepare for new waves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SUD: And what we're seeing is nothing short of a war here, the soldiers are dying and those soldiers obviously being civilians here, doctors are
working overtime. Imagine you are in your barracks, fighting until your last breath and then your commander comes and says, there's another war
waiting for you. We must prepare for that.
How do you deal with a situation like that, Becky?
ANDERSON: Yes, absolutely. Vedika, thank you.
The catastrophe is so massive that almost every Indian you speak to around the world knows someone who has been affected or even lost their life.
[10:05:00]
ANDERSON: CNN's Scott McLean talked to an Indian expat doctor in Britain, trying to help friends and family members back home. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the moment, I am looking after five, six, seven, eight, nine -- 11 people.
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sounds like a full-time job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm spending seven hours on the phone every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: More from that doctor and other Indian expats in Britain a little later in the show.
Now Nepal could be the next India or worse. Just today, the country, which is right next door to India, reported more than 9,000 new COVID-19 cases,
which is another national record there.
Nepal's rate of infections, new cases per 100,000 people, is about the same India was reporting two weeks ago. And its extremely fragile health care
system is buckling, with even fewer doctors and hospital beds per capita than India. Anna Coren shows us how bad things are at one Nepalese
hospital.
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ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a hospital in the Nepal city of Nepalgunj, wedged up against India, people are fighting
for their lives. Nearly 300 beds are filled with COVID patients. And health officials fear the catastrophe unfolding across the border could be heading
to Nepal.
PARAS SHRESTHA, SR. PHYSICIAN, COVID-19 ICU WARD OF ETHERI HOSPITAL: We have lack of doctors, the main power, we have no more beds left now in the
hospital. So, it's very hard to manage the patients.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Throughout the (INAUDIBLE), there are no beds (ph).
COREN: Shentosh Ali (ph) lost his 21 year old daughter, Anisha (ph), to COVID. Now his wife is infected and battling for her life in ICU.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's been 7 days since I lost my daughter. She was beautiful and very active. Doctors, nurses and everyone
loved her.
COREN (voice-over): Her death now one of many. According to the hospital, up to four people die from COVID here each day. Frontline workers are not
immune. Dozens of medical staff have also been infected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm really worried that I might get infected with COVID.
COREN (voice-over): This hospital is one of only two assigned for COVID patients in Nepal's Banke district, which has been seeing around 400 new
cases a day. Of the 4,000 active cases, UNICEF says 90 percent of the people are in home isolation.
The government blames the porous border with India as the reason for the spike. Jamuna (ph) is one of 13 border crossings currently open for Nepalis
returning from India. Up to 1,500 people are making the crossing each day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once the cases were increasing in India, naturally cases being in total Nepal, it's very hard to stop all the mobility within
the two country.
COREN (voice-over): The government says initially districts along the border saw a spike in cases but now they are exploding throughout the
country of almost 30 million people. Nepal has seen a rise of more than 1,200 percent in average daily COVID cases since mid-April.
And nearly 40 percent of the country's cases come from the capital. In an effort to curb the spread, authorities imposed a two-week lockdown in
Kathmandu last Thursday. But before the lockdown went into force, thousands fled the city to return to their villages, an exodus, health officials
believe, could spark a national emergency.
SAMIR KUMAR ADHIKARI, MINISTRY OF HEALTH JOINT SPOKESMAN: It can carry the viruses to the village and they can spread the virus to the senior citizens
in the village.
COREN (voice-over): For Nepal's already struggling health system, officials fear this surge in COVID cases could be detrimental.
DR. PARAS SHRESTHA, BHERI HOSPITAL: If the number of cases are going to ready to increase, the health system (INAUDIBLE) collapse.
COREN: For Shentosh Ali (ph), he has little time to mourn his daughter. As he prays for his wife's recovery, it is his 3-month old granddaughter and
her future that he now must focus on -- Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Alongside the spillover of cases, India's crisis laying bare the inequity in what is this global vaccine rollout, which is why this next bit
of legal jargon actually matters more than ever.
The United States now endorsing a bid to temporarily waive COVID-19 patent protections. India and South Africa proposed the plan to the World Trade
Organization in the hopes of boosting vaccine supplies and distribution.
Now the support by the U.S. is no small feat by the White House. President Biden juggling international commitments and pressure from America's
booming pharmaceutical industry.
Vaccine makers argue that the complex logistics could limit the waiver's impact. But BioNTech's chief medical officer telling CNN he believes a
patent waiver won't increase the availability of vaccines, arguing that other factors are limiting production.
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ANDERSON: The U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai, argued that, in the service of ending the pandemic, this one-off waiver could be a key tool
in ramping up a more equitable rollout.
And here's why this matters. This graphic showing just how lopsided the global vaccine rollout has been. The global south left far behind, meaning
cases explode and new variants fester. CNN's David McKenzie joining me from Johannesburg.
And a monumental moment is how the head of the WHO described the U.S. decision to back this proposal by India and South Africa. This is about
sharing the know-how needed to boost the global supplies of the life-saving shots. Explain why this is so significant where you are.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's hugely significant. There was a lot of pushback against South Africa, India, back in October, when the
two countries proposed to the World Trade Organization to have this temporary waiver.
Now not only would this waiver apply to patents but also to the transfer of technological know-how that is proprietary to these companies that have
been producing these vaccines.
And that's probably a big reason that they are pushing against this temporary waiver, not necessarily because it's only the logistical problems
of ramping this up; now you find yourself in a situation, in a perfect storm situation right now, with the squeeze on supply from India because of
the catastrophic local pandemic there, stopping vaccines and generally the holding of vaccines.
The time is now for equity, say many.
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): The awful consequence of a COVID-19 tsunami. It's forcing the Indian government to ban all vaccine exports to COVAX, the
global vaccine alliance, so it can give precious doses to its own people, immediately impacting at least 90 million COVAX doses.
The crisis in India is causing a crisis here, Kenya and other African nations where lives depend on COVAX, are running out of vaccines. Tour
guide Martin Mutisya is one of the very last Kenyans to get his first AstraZeneca shot.
MARTIN MUTISYA, VACCINE RECIPIENT: Feels like a big moment. I'm feeling excited, I think we'll have to wait and see what happens.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Kenya got around 1 million doses from COVAX, produced by India's Serum Institute. Kenya's supply dries up and days.
MUTISYA: They're supposed to be 2 shots, I am concerned. But if it doesn't happen what is our scenario?
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UHURU KENYATTA, PRESIDENT OF KENYA: I want to assure you that nobody who has taken their first dose is going to miss out on their second dose.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Does this worry you?
It seems the second doses don't come in time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very clearly it worries and the second doses will not come in time.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): A senior humanitarian official familiar with COVAX's plan told CNN that the Indian vaccine supply is not expected to
resume until June at best or even later.
Then millions of AstraZeneca doses promised by the Biden administration will not be enough or come soon enough. Neither will Moderna's vaccine,
after a half billion doses will be supplied to low and middle income countries but not until later this year.
MCKENZIE: Right now there is not equal access, so what is the impact of that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That impact is that maybe we're going to prolong this pandemic much longer than it would happened if there was equal access.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Researchers at Duke University tracking dose availability say the vaccine freeze could have catastrophic consequences,
with some African countries facing yet another wave of the virus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They did put a lot of eggs in this basket and that was a strategic error given that what has happened in India was entirely
predictable. It should not have caught any of us by surprise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCKENZIE: Now, Becky, some entrepreneurs in Kenya took this into their own hands.
They thought, well, why not bring in vaccines themselves privately?
They did a deal with distributors of the Sputnik vaccine developed in Russia. Here's an image of a prominent lawyer some time ago getting his
first dose. Now that's been banned in Kenya because of regulatory issues with the government.
That lawyer told us, well, why not get vaccines in by any means necessary?
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMEDNASIR ABDULLAHI, ATTORNEY: The ideal situation is for the government to give vaccine to everybody.
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ABDULLAHI: But can it afford it?
No, it can't afford it. So if you can supplement, even if it's 10 percent or 20 percent of those who can afford the $100 or the $20 cost, so be it.
It's better to incur some expense and save lives than allow people to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Well, that's just 50,000 vaccines that are on hold, just a drop in the bucket. But it shows the desperation some are trying in the global
south, as you described, Becky, to get those doses.
ANDERSON: Yes, fascinating. David McKenzie is in Johannesburg on the story. Thank you.
With the U.S. now on board with this waiver, all eyes are watching which dominoes, as it were, will fall next. Today the E.U. said they are open to
the proposal but they stopped short of supporting it.
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URSULA VAN DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The European Union is also ready to discuss any proposal that address the crisis in an
effective and pragmatic manner.
And that's why we are ready to discuss how the U.S. proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines could help achieve that
objective. In the short run, however, we call upon all vaccine-producing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures that disrupt supply
chains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: That is all the E.U. suggested, being open to discussing it, to talking about it, not going along with it, despite several countries like
Germany and France, agreeing to. And von der Leyen's support of exports raised a few eyebrows. The E.U. itself having imposed strict rules around
COVID-19 vaccine exports.
More on the E.U. position as it develops.
Up next, an ancient rivalry reignites as tensions flare in the English Channel. The U.K. and France try to find a way past a post-Brexit fishing
feud. We have live team coverage just ahead.
And America's top diplomat has just wrapped up a visit to Ukraine. We'll hear what he had to say about the growing tension with Russia there.
Also ahead, tensions in Colombia as protests enter their ninth day. We'll tell you why the anger is no longer just about the economy.
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ANDERSON: You don't have to love history or Shakespeare to know that the British and French have a rough history.
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ANDERSON: Think the battle of Agincourt, depicted here. It made Henry V's name. But even though it was centuries ago, it's fair to say that the
relationship between the U.K. and France does remain tricky.
Here's the situation today. It involves battleships, Brexit and the British Channel Island of Jersey. Yes, I said battleships. Both sides sending
warships over what is a fishing feud. And France telling CNN it won't be intimidated by U.K. gunboats.
The U.K. Crown Dependency of Jersey, as it is known, may be tiny, a channel island about 19 kilometers from the French coast. But you know the issue is
huge when warships are involved, even if they are just patrolling.
French fishermen are in a fury because, they say, their rights are unfairly restricted now by new post-Brexit licenses. Until a short time ago, French
fishing boats were protesting in the port at Jersey's capital. But they do now appear to be leaving.
A French minister threatening to switch off Jersey's electricity. And they supply pretty much all of it.
Well, the British are just not having it. The ministry of defense has sent the HMS Seven to the port. It's been used to shadow Russian Navy warships
off the English coast. The HMS Tanner is also near the Jersey port. Both ships not making any effort to intervene.
All of this is uncomfortable to watch, of course, and it matters, not only because it's putting allies up against one another but it's yet another
example of the drip, drip, drip into the sea of the deeply damaging Brexit saga that just never seems to end.
Well, connecting you to both sides of this dispute with our team. Saskya Vandoorne is on the coast of France not far from Jersey and Salma Abdelaziz
is in London at the British ministry of defense.
Salma, let me start with you. We've got video of what I'm told is a member of Jersey militia re-enactment group. He went to Elizabeth Castle and fired
a musket in the direction of French boats rather siding with the British then, are they, on the island?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Becky, look, this is performative. No one was hurt in this. But it does seem to express a large sentiment that
stems in Brexit that's running through this conflict. It is nationalistic. Some might say it is jingoistic in its nature.
You have these French boats leaving but this longstanding rules over the Brexit rules. These fishermen felt they could regain their rights, in their
own words, regain their territory, their fishing rights over the shores of Jersey through the Brexit agreement, overturning rules that had governed
this area since the 19th century, essentially.
Now there was a -- an amnesty in place that expired on May 1st. That's why all of this is unfolding right now. And, yes, you have that micro level of
what's happening in Jersey, with people fishing -- a fisherman and other people demanding rights.
The prime minister saying he has their unwavering support. But you have the larger picture here. Today is an election day in the U.K. and it comes at a
very sensitive time for prime minister Boris Johnson. He's been in the headlines for negative reasons lately, controversy around corruption,
around his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Some critics think this is a distraction and it is ultimately what the prime minister does best, waving that national flag, ringing the alarm. And
that is what pushed Brexit through. And there's nothing more English than fish and chips. Yet another opportunity here for the prime minister to push
that "Britannia," "Go Britain" line, although both sides are calling for calm.
But the fear is this could escalate once more. Becky.
ANDERSON: Saskya, you do not need a sort of Napoleon's telescope to see what's going on from where you are. You have a great view. You are, as I
understand it, around about where the French flotilla set sail.
What's the talk where you are?
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PRODUCER: Well, that's exactly right, Becky. I am here where roughly 50 French boats took off in the middle of the night off
the coast of Normandy and they made their way to St. Helier to go and protest. They called it a peaceful maritime protest. That's what they
wanted to do.
I spoke to a French fisherman here earlier today. He has his ,son who is participating in the protest. And they said they're doing this because
they're frustrated with Jersey after it handed out fishing licenses last week with many restrictions, restrictions that, they said, meant they could
not operate in British waters.
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VANDOORNE: Take a listen to what he had say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all cousins. The one thing we French fishermen are asking for -- and that includes my 24-year-old son -- is simply to work
or we will not survive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANDOORNE: The French boats are on their way back and the fisherman said it was a fairly calm protest, even though there were some collisions. But
overall it was calm and that's why they're making their way back now.
ANDERSON: Fishing has been a flashpoint for years between the U.K. and France. This has blown up since the Brexit deal.
Where does this go from here, from the perspective where you are?
VANDOORNE: Well, it depends. Again, when I spoke to the fishermen here that are actually out on the boats, they say that there were just too many
people that have been involved, that it's the E.U., that it's Jersey, the representatives here in France, that what they want to do is just have a
direct line to Jersey, to be able to talk about what they call ridiculous restrictions.
The fisherman here was telling me that he was given a license to fish for 170 days; whereas, his neighbor was given a license to fish for seven days.
And they just said that there was no rhyme or reason to it. There was no logic. And that's why here, where they depend on fishing so heavily, they
were fighting for their survival. Becky.
ANDERSON: The perspective where you are, Salma?
I mean, what -- where does this -- where does this end, if ever?
ABDELAZIZ: Well, Becky, I think this really comes down to prime minister Boris Johnson and his position. Ultimately, this is the Brexit prime
minister. His whole platform, his whole political position is about pushing Britain's rights further, about asking for more fishing rights, more
sovereignty over those waters.
What you are looking at here is a push against the status quo. And the prime minister now having, of course, (INAUDIBLE) out of the E.U. is
unilateral in that. He doesn't have to answer to the E.U. anymore.
This all comes down to what Downing Street will do. Yes, there's a call for calm here. But ultimately these are rules that are being determined in
London, that are going to affect France.
But what do you do?
That's why you have the French threatening to cut off power to that island because there's not much more you can do diplomatically to push prime
minister Boris Johnson on these rules.
And you heard there from my colleague, Saskya, about the very confusing bureaucracy. That's because this was an 11th hour deal. Brexit literally
came down to the last second. So the details of this are only emerging as they play out.
ANDERSON: For those of you who thought gunboat diplomacy was over, those days were gone, clearly not. Thank you, both.
Ahead on the show, police versus protesters in Colombia. Claims of brutal tactics at the hands of riot police and the anger that has led to the
deaths of at least 24 people.
And big chunks of metal could hit Earth this week, remnants of this Chinese rocket.
Should we be running for cover?
Ahead, I'll tell you what the experts say.
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ANDERSON: Now as the more than a week of violence on its streets, on Wednesday, the country's defense minister said more than 80,000 people took
part in these protests.
At least 2 dozen people have died across the country and police are being criticized for their tactics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We are seeing images of the aftermath of what was a horrifying incident, rioters vandalizing this police station and setting fire to it
while policemen were inside. They did manage to escape, thankfully, with their lives.
Anger there serving as a cautionary tale to all of us. It's all linked to COVID. The president was the first in the region to launch attacks to
bolster the economy which has been ravaged by the pandemic. But Colombia's workers' unions and social movements argue the tax hikes were
disproportionately impacting middle and working classes.
The president has since withdrawn his tax reform plan and the protests now taking on wider issues. Stefano Pozzebon joining me from Bogota.
And these scenes, you and I spoke actually this time yesterday and things didn't look great, to be honest. It looked very fragile. And the scenes
we've seen since are quite frankly really quite shocking. Just explain what is going on and where you think this is headed.
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky. We're seeing that tension is rising in Colombia. It doesn't seem that it's going to stop anytime
soon. Today the streets of Bogota are quieter. We are in one of the epicenter of the protests in the Colombian capital city right now.
You can see probably from behind my back some writings scribbled of the petition claims and some attacks on the police forces and there is already
a new march called for next Saturday.
You're right in saying that there is so much at stake in what's happening in Colombia, not just for this country but for the rest of the region. It's
impossible to underestimate the impact of COVID-19 had on the economy and the social structure of South America, which is one of the regions most
impacted by the pandemic and the health emergency.
In Colombia alone, the economy crashed 8 percentage points in 2020 alone, 3.6 million people fell back into poverty. And the government is in deep
need of cash. Like many other governments around the region, when Joe Biden in the U.S. is launching the biggest reconstruction program in the history
of the U.S. and Europe is investing trillions into rebuilding the economy, Latin America cannot do that.
And they need to find other revenues of cash. These governments are in deep need of cash. They can try to do it with tax overhauls and the result has
been brutal, Becky.
(CROSSTALK)
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POZZEBON (voice-over): For the eighth straight day, protesters are flooding the streets of Colombia.
JENNIFER PEDRASA, PROTESTER: Twenty-one million people are in poverty and that is something that we cannot ignore.
POZZEBON (voice-over): For people like 25-year-old national university student leader Jennifer Pedrasa, what started as a protest against the now-
recalled tax reform plan introduced by president Duque, the opponents argued will disproportionately affect middle and lower income families has
turned into a rallying cry of anger not only against income inequality but also against police brutality and the handling of the pandemic response.
PEDRASA: These (INAUDIBLE) won't listen to our -- to our arguments. The government decided to repress and to send the police and the -- and the
national army to our brothers and it's something that we cannot accept because the process is a fundamental right.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Videos of anti-riot policemen using tear gas and batons to push back protesters going viral on social media.
[10:35:00]
POZZEBON (voice-over): With the Colombian government sending in the military to the southern city of Cali, the site of the worst violent
clashes so far. At least 24 people have died and hundreds more injured in clashes with authorities across the country as tensions flare, seemingly,
with no end in sight.
Demonstrators and human rights group are now calling for an inquiry into the protest death, with Amnesty International releasing footage on
Wednesday, showing what it says is live ammunition being used on unarmed protesters. CNN has reached to the Colombian government seeking response to
this footage.
By complicating the issue, violent retaliation from demonstrators, protesters torching this Bogota police station with people inside, injuring
at least 15 officers.
And President Duque, while on one hand calling for a national dialogue, also firing back, putting the blame on rioters and criminal elements within
the protest crowds while facing criticism even from inside his own party, including his mentor, the former president.
IVAN DUQUE MARQUEZ, PRESIDENT OF COLOMBIA (through translator): Nothing justifies the fact there are armed people who are protected by the
legitimate desire of the citizenry to hold civic marches, go out and shoot defenseless citizens and cruelly attack our policemen.
We Colombians are better than this. We reject violence and respect the laws.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Celebrity activists are also wading into the fray. Latin star J Balvin saying on Instagram, "We need help. Colombia needs
help, SOS."
Colombian pop star Shakira amplified the protesters' calls with a tweet, saying, "Bullets will never be able to silence the voice of the one who
suffers and we must not be death to the clamor of our own."
In Colombia, singer, songwriter and actor Maluma posting on his Instagram, "We are living sad, painful moments. Intolerance and uncertainty have taken
over our lives," he said.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POZZEBON: All this leaves a very complicated scenario. On one side, the president and the government in deep need of cash and under scrutiny
because of the allegations of police forces and on the other, the protesters are saying loud and clear they don't intend to pay their way out
of the crisis.
ANDERSON: Stefano on the story for you. Thank you.
Across the border in Brazil, the COVID-19 situation spiraling, too, like in India. Our top story. Experts in Brazil warning deaths are going to keep
climbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADRIANO ABBUD, ADOLFO LUTZ INSTITUTE: As long as the virus replicates and, in the case of Brazil, like in India, it's replicating a lot because there
is no control of this transmission. The more the virus replicates, the more chance it has to acquire new advantages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The pandemic response in Brazil has been so heavily criticized that the president is facing calls for impeachment. A parliamentary inquiry
has been launched. Do stay with us. Next hour on CONNECT THE WORLD, we'll speak with the former health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who actually
gave the opening testimony in that inquiry.
As you can see, there's a lot to come. I'm going to take you to Beirut, too, in the next hour, devastated by COVID and an economic situation that
frankly defies words.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "With corona and rising prices, this is the most difficult Ramadan of my life," says Abdel (ph).
ANDERSON (voice-over): We'll have more on what is this dismal holiday for many Lebanese. We'll talk about that with an activist and what she believes
can be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back to the landing zone.
ANDERSON (voice-over): It's a big day for SpaceX. A Mars rocket prototype landing upright back on its launch pad.
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ANDERSON: This was the fifth such prototype to attempt such a landing and the first to do it successfully. The vehicle flew nearly 10 kilometers
above Earth. SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes this is an early version of the Starship spacecraft that will someday carry people to Mars.
And we have a few other celestial stories for your delectation, delight tonight. Experts say no need to panic over a 22-ton Chinese rocket that is
hurtling toward Earth. The rocket was launched last week and its remnants are set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in the next few days.
Scientists say the metal could burn up upon re-entry or it could land in an ocean. The U.S. military says it is not considering shooting the rocket
down.
And here's to a happy hour that is out of this world. A bottle of Bordeaux that was aged for a year on the International Space Station is now for
sale. It's expected to fetch $1 million at Christie's. That includes a decanter, glasses and a corkscrew made from a meteorite.
The wine part of an experiment by a European startup, the proceeds will go, we are told, to future space missions.
(WORLD SPORTS)
[11:00:00]
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