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World Leaders Gather for U.S.-Led Virtual Climate Summit; Hospitals in India Buckle under Coronavirus Cases; Nearly 1,500 Arrested in Pro- Navalny Protests; Indonesian Navy Knows Location of Missing Submarine. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired April 22, 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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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): This hour, what world leaders are pledging to do to save us all from the climate brink. That is CONNECT THE
WORLD this hour. And we are everywhere that matters.
Then, India recording the biggest daily spike ever in COVID cases anywhere on the planet. We'll get you the frightening reality on the ground.
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ANDERSON: Welcome to the program. Tonight, we are connecting you to a world facing two existential crises, climate change and our coronavirus
pandemic. Both issues conquering borders, both issues needing the world to work together, both issues connecting us all.
I'm Becky Anderson. Let's get going.
Picture this: a virtual negotiating table.
Who is around it?
American President Joe Biden, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and dozens of other world
leaders. There are few issues that bring together such a group.
What are they discussing?
The climate crisis. This Earth Day, leaders casting aside their geopolitical differences to gather over the most pressing issue of our
time. The two-day event is hosted by the White House. The U.S. president kicking off the summit with a new and ambitious pledge. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By maintaining those investments and putting these people to work, the United States sets out on
the road to cut greenhouse gases in half, in half by the end of this decade. That's where we're headed as a nation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The head of the United Nations also spoke, stressing, there is no time to waste.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES: We need a green planet but the world is on red alert. We are at the verge of the abyss. We
must make sure the next step is in the right direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We've been hearing from many of the other world leaders who are gathered virtually. We'll connect you to their remarks throughout this
hour. That is Australia speaking as we go to air.
CNN's climate chief and climate correspondent Bill Weir has seen the effects of climate change are ravaging. He knows that time is of the
essence. Bill joining us from New York.
So just set some context for what we are seeing at the White House today, Bill.
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, it's sort of a renewal of American vows, even though you could argue that the
original wedding was never all that successful or was never consummated.
That is the vow to break an addiction to the cheap, plentiful fuels that built the modern world in order to save both life and treasure.
After four years of denial from the previous administration, activists, environmentalists here in the United States are excited about this idea; at
least, they're talking about the problem. But that also comes with quite a bit of anxiety in terms of actually making these promises stick in the
pendulum nature of American politics.
Many leaders around the world might wonder, well, is this beyond the next election, your commitment to this?
What are you really willing to do?
But President Biden trying to earn back some of that goodwill, doubling essentially Barack Obama's commitments at the Paris accords, to say, at
least halve emissions here in the United States by the end of this decade. And that is very fast and very ambitious, given the state of things.
ANDERSON: Sure. Yes, promises are one thing.
How do these countries come good on these promises?
Are they too ambitious at this point?
WEIR: I'm not sure that there can be such a thing, given the enormity of the problem, the warnings we're hearing from scientists and the ticking
clock that we're up against.
But, yes, it is actually pretty astounding, if you take off your cynical goggles and listen to Xi Jinping say that green mountains are gold
mountains and it's not just lives but also treasure that's being saved here.
Vladimir Putin talking about he's going to have a carbon pricing pilot program in one region of Russia to figure out, if you put a price on
carbon, if that will encourage the market to burn less of it and switch over to something greener.
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WEIR: But, yes, there's a big difference between the vow and then actually making good on those promises right there. But the technology exists. I was
just talking to Gavin Schmidt, the head of NASA's climate team now, newly appointed. And all the ideas that they're working on, from zero carbon
aviation to both helping us adjust and brace for what's coming in terms of where to put wind farms and how to mitigate flooding in this new normal
we're living on.
There is plenty of gadgets and new ideas. The question is human nature and political will.
ANDERSON: Let's just have a listen, Bill, to some of what the other world leaders have been saying so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODI: President Biden and I are launching the India-U.S. Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.
YOSHIHIDE SUGA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): To plan aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 46 percent in the fiscal year
2030, compared to the fiscal year 2013.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Today, Canada is in a position to raise our climate ambition once again. Our new climate target for 2030 is
to reduce our 2005 emissions levels by 40 percent to 45 percent.
XI JINPING, PRESIDENT OF CHINA (through translator): We will strictly control coal-fired power generation projects.
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: We can build back better from this pandemic by building back greener.
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ANDERSON: Right. This is about adaptation and mitigation and, as Boris Johnson said, we can build back better as countries around the world,
putting these stimulus packages, coming out of the pandemic.
The question is, how does the world, particularly the developing world, finance all of this?
WEIR: That's a great question. Barack Obama promised several billion dollars to just that kind of a fund to help low-lying countries in the
South Pacific and the Caribbean. Other places that have very small carbon footprints but will bear the brunt of the wrath of nature as seas rise and
storms get higher.
Trump -- Donald Trump held back $2 billion of that pledge. So it will be up to these wealthy countries not only to convince their own economies to make
this transition, which means paying for some people in fossil fuel sector jobs, but also to -- we should give to other countries and people you'll
never meet out of a moral sense of obligation, since the developing countries are the biggest makers of this mess right now.
But I think what we're entering in now is we've moved from, I think, denialism is pretty much dead, Becky. Now we're in the debate about cost-
benefit analysis. And Swiss Re (ph), an insurance company that insures insurance companies and lives or dies by studying risk, they put out a new
report that says, if nothing is done, global GDP could drop almost 20 percent. China would take the biggest hit at 25 percent. The U.S. about 10
percent.
But if everything is met, even if the Paris climate accord goals are met, we're still in for a 4 percent drop in GDP because of so much warming
already baked in there. So the discussion has started.
How many fire trucks we need to put out the fire at what time and what places, all of that is going to be worked out in real time.
ANDERSON: Yes, this cost-benefit analysis is important. I spoke to John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy, when he was here in Abu Dhabi at the
regional climate dialogue ahead of his trip to India and then China before this meeting.
And he talks about economic opportunities. He is determined that, if you can convince the world of the economic opportunity of a climate safe
future, then the rest should be relatively easy.
Let's see, you are our climate chief correspondent and so we will be talking to you a lot this year as we move, of course, towards hopefully
fixing (ph) Glasgow. Fascinating times. You couldn't have a better beat. Sir, thank you.
President Xi Jinping just spoke at that summit. Here is more of what he had to say.
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XI (through translator): We will strictly control coal-fired generation projects. We'll strictly limit the increase in coal consumption over the
'14 five-year plan period and phase it down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Why is this important?
Just days ago we got this dire warning from the International Energy Agency. Carbon emissions from energy use are on track to spike by 1.5
billion tons this year. That may not mean very much to you but, if that happens, it will be the second largest yearly increase in energy-related
emissions in history.
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ANDERSON: The organization says heavy coal consumption, particularly in Asia, particularly in China, is one of the reasons. Let's get you to Ivan
Watson who is monitoring all of this from Hong Kong.
Ivan, we heard from the Chinese president. It's important that he's there. John Kerry's mission to ensure that he could gin up support for this
meeting and beyond into Glasgow has clearly worked. It is unusual to see all of these world leaders around one virtual summit table, as it were.
What are we hearing out of China today?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think just Xi Jinping's presence at this virtual summit is quite a remarkable
development, given how tense the relationship is between Washington and Beijing right now.
They are at odds on a whole host of issues: human rights, the military- political competition, economic competition as well. And yet you had Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, speaking third after the virtual hosts of the
summit. President Biden and the U.S. secretary of state spoke ahead of him.
And he helped to illustrate that at least in one area, the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies, the world's two largest emitters of
greenhouse gases, do -- can find some kind of common ground. Take a listen to what further Xi Jinping had to say.
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XI (through translator): Not long ago, the Chinese and U.S. sides released a joint statement addressing the climate crisis. China looks forward to
working with the international community, including the United States, to jointly advance global environmental governance.
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WATSON: And he is referring to this joint statement issued over the course of the weekend after, as you mentioned, the U.S. presidential climate
envoy, John Kerry, traveled there.
And they issued this statement, reaffirming both American and Chinese commitment to the Paris climate accords, promising to work together, moving
forward. John Kerry saying, hey, we have many, many differences but so did -- he invoked history here -- so did President Reagan and General Secretary
Gorbachev in the '80s, when the U.S. and Soviet Union had nuclear missiles pointed at each other.
And they were still able to get together to meet in Reykjavik to talk about arms reduction. Perhaps this is an area where these two countries can
cooperate.
And the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, he has talked about this cooperation also in terms of competition, saying that the U.S. has fallen
behind China when it comes to renewable energy sources, to production of solar panels and wind turbines and electric vehicles.
And perhaps that would drive the U.S. to try to compete with China as well as cooperate with China.
As you also mentioned, Becky, China does have serious coal power energy production, with the International Energy Agency predicting that China is
going to account for a huge amount of growth in coal power generation.
Xi Jinping saying he's vowing to cut back on that to have peak carbon emissions cut by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Let's see if
China can follow through on those pledges.
ANDERSON: Ivan Watson on the story out of Hong Kong for you. Thanks, Ivan.
The climate summit will put focus on Brazil and the Amazon rain forest which is, of course, known as the lungs of the world. President --
Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change skeptic, spoke moments ago. Let's have a listen to him.
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JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In the countryside, we have promoted a green revolution based on science and
innovation. We produce more, using less resources, which makes Brazilian agriculture one of the most sustainable practices on the planet.
We are proud to conserve 84 percent of the Brazilian Amazon biome and 12 percent of the Earth's drinking water resources.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Under Mr. Bolsonaro's leadership since 2019, deforestation of the Amazon has skyrocketed. In 2020 alone, researchers found 11,000 square
kilometers of the Amazon was lost.
Now the government is demanding the U.S. pay to protect the Amazon. As both sides try to reach an agreement, a coalition of Brazilian environmentalists
and indigenous activists urging the U.S. not to trust the Brazilian government. Shasta Darlington with this report.
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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what the United States doesn't want the Amazon to become.
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DARLINGTON (voice-over): The Biden administration has been pushing countries to commit to tackling the climate crisis, few more so than
Brazil, a top 10 economy and notorious offender on the deforestation front. The Brazilian government has recommitted to ending illegal logging within
the decade but wants financial support to speed up the process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The commitment of ending deforestation by 2030 is doable with the resources we have today. If there
were even greater resources in a short time span, it is possible to look at a shorter timeline.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): Those remarks to affiliate CNN Brazil come after president Bolsonaro wrote to President Biden, saying, massive resources
would be needed to end deforestation.
The Amazon forest has been under increased threat since Bolsonaro was elected. Deforestation has soared and illegal fires reached unprecedented
levels in the past two years. Bolsonaro pushed to open indigenous lands to mining and agriculture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).
DARLINGTON (voice-over): And slashed funding for environmental protection and monitoring programs. But now, he says, he is ready to engage.
PEDRO JACOBI, UNIVERSITY OF SAO PAULO: If we don't trust the government, how can others trust the government?
DARLINGTON (voice-over): Pedro Jacobi is a professor of environmental science at the University of Sao Paulo. He and other activists believe
President Biden should be careful with the promises made by Bolsonaro.
JACOBI: The government has dismantled significantly the national policy on the environment that Brazil had proposed for many, many years. The previous
agenda does not indicate very clearly that the U.S. can trust the Brazilian government, unfortunately.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): It is why the U.S.' climate envoy responded to Bolsonaro's commitment to deforestation with a pinch of skepticism.
"We look forward to immediate actions," John Kerry tweeted, "calling for engagement with indigenous populations and NGOs."
Activists say the answer is transparency.
JACOBI: Fundamentally it is a quantitative agenda that has to be strengthened by the Brazilian government. What are you doing?
If you are doing this, show me how and when.
DARLINGTON (voice-over): The hope is that the Brazilian government will finally be keen to show the country in a different light -- Shasta
Darlington, CNN, Sao Paulo.
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ANDERSON: Nothing typifies what we're talking about, those twin crises of climate change and the pandemic, more than Brazil. It now has the highest
overall COVID death rate in the Southern Hemisphere. And it didn't need to be this bad.
Just like Bolsonaro's attitude toward climate, the Brazilian president has used the same denial and dismissive rhetoric for the pandemic.
India also at the crux of these dual crises. We've got a lot more on that ahead for you.
And I will talk to the COP26 president, British lawmaker Alok Sharma. That summit coming up in November. I'll dive into the details with Alok and find
out about his recent message to world leaders.
Finally at CNN, we'll be holding a town hall on U.S. climate policy, where top officials will answer questions on President Biden's climate plans.
That's 6:00 Saturday morning Abu Dhabi time. That's 10:00 am in Hong Kong. And you'll work out the times where you are locally.
We'll be back right after this.
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ANDERSON: Right now the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, is dealing with twin crises: global warming and out-of-control COVID-19. As we speak,
the leader of the world's third largest emitter of greenhouse gases is attending that virtual climate change summit hosted by U.S. President Joe
Biden.
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NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: President Biden and I are launching the India-U.S. Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership. Together,
it will help mobilize investments, demonstrate clean technology and enable green collaborations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Mr. Modi participating in this crucial discussion on an existential global threat, while, at home, India's health care system
collapses under the weight of hundreds of thousands of new COVID-19 infections every day.
With a population of 1.3 billion, India has just recorded the highest daily increase in new cases of any country since the pandemic began. The official
numbers are nearly 315,000 cases today alone.
But how does that number translate to the reality on the ground?
Well, this is how.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My son and kid, who is 32 years old, has got coronavirus. His oxygen level was running low. Here at
hospital, these people were refusing to admit him. They are saying there is no oxygen and there is no bed and are asking us to leave and shift him to
some other hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People are really scared. They are terrified. Most people have isolated themselves in a self-imposed lockdown.
They are not stepping out unnecessarily and roads are all empty. People are careful this time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: I'd like to bring in Dr. Srinath Reddy. He's president of the public health foundation of India. He also presently serves as adjunct
professor of epidemiology at Harvard University and Emory University.
I have to say, I cannot tell you how many people have described the situation on the ground as those two men did to CNN in India. I've had the
situation in Delhi described to me as a ticking time bomb. No one believes these public figures that are being published. And they are the worst daily
case numbers anywhere in the world ever.
What is the situation on the ground in India as we speak?
DR. SRINATH REDDY, PRESIDENT, PUBLIC HEALTH FOUNDATION OF INDIA: The situation is very grim in several states, though some of the states in the
south are handling it very well, though the infections are high. Their mortality rate is low and the hospitals are bearing up fairly well because
they generally have had better health systems to begin with.
But in the north and the western state of Maharashtra and particularly in the capital city of Delhi and the surrounding states, the situation is
very, very serious indeed in terms of large numbers of people wanting admissions, not getting them or even running short of oxygen. The hospitals
are actually also in dire distress.
So it is a problem area here now, particularly in northern India.
ANDERSON: You are president of the Public Health Foundation of India. That's a public-private partnership which aims to strengthen health
initiatives across the country.
Look, why are things spiraling out of control right now both in terms of infections and daily deaths?
REDDY: Well, I think the lesson is very clear.
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REDDY: You cannot have a swift and strong surge response if you do not have an efficient and equitable health system to begin with in the
nonemergency situation. India for long has neglected its health system with very little public financing. And this is the price we are paying at the
moment.
But also, I believe that, with a sense of complacency by early January, that the pandemic had absolutely subsided, that we were not going to see a
second wave because the numbers have really come down very low. And there was a feeling that we could get back to full normal flow of life without
any restrictions whatsoever.
And that abandonment of caution led to a major surge, of course, with some of the variants coming in, in the state of Maharashtra and Punjab and now
spreading elsewhere, with all of these combining together to create a extraordinarily serious situation.
ANDERSON: Would you be surprised if you were to find out that these numbers that we are quoting today, over 300,000 cases in 24 hours, were
just a small proportion of the real number of cases out there at present?
REDDY: I cannot say by what proportion the cases have been undercounted. Certainly, the testing is not -- while it's been ramped up substantially,
it's likely not many have been tested and many deaths may not have been accounted for and classified in the right manner.
So certainly there is likely to be an underestimate of the number of cases, as well as deaths. But even with the numbers that we have, the situation is
indeed grim, particularly in some states. And we do need to take urgent action in order to contain the epidemic. And we need to have coordinated
containment measures.
ANDERSON: Give me a ballpark percentage figure on what you believe might be the underestimation on these figures.
Are we talking these are half of the number, a quarter of the real numbers?
We are talking 315,000.
Are we talking half a million cases potentially, daily?
REDDY: I would not hazard a guess right now because I definitely would agree the cases are likely to be undercounted because of testing issues,
both in terms of the number of testing and also the accuracy of the tests. None of the tests are 100 percent accurate in any case and you can still
get a lot of false negatives.
But deaths are less likely to be undercounted but they are at the moment not being classified in the right manner in every state. And we're possibly
missing out a fair number of deaths. But I cannot put a number on that but certainly I would say that there is -- there are missing numbers at the
moment.
ANDERSON: What do we know about this double mutant variant?
I mean, this is spreading across India like wildfire and clearly further complicating things.
What are we learning about it?
And who is most at risk at this point?
REDDY: Actually, we have three mutants of some -- causing a fair degree of worry at the moment. Firstly the mutant that came in from Britain, B.1.1.7,
is the one that has affected most of Punjab and the surrounding states of Delhi and Haryana; whereas the double mutant, which has been reported for
the first time from the state of Maharashtra, which is now in 20-plus countries around the world, that seems to be responsible for a surge of
cases in western India, particularly in Maharashtra and surrounding states.
The actual proportion of cases contributed by this is not fully clear because our genomic testing is just being ramped up. But there's no doubt
that there is an association with this mutant.
But there is yet another mutant, a triple mutant, which has also been identified in the state of Bengal, which also seems to be spreading to
other areas. So we have at least three mutants which seem to be operating to speed up the pandemic in terms of its transmission.
ANDERSON: Right. And these are mutants which are clearly affecting younger people around the country.
Look, India's fragile health care system, as you have pointed out yourself, is at breaking point. Hospitals are understaffed. They are overflowing. We
are hearing stories ourselves about people who can't get a test, when they can get a test; they can't get an appointment with a doctor. When they can,
they get 30 seconds of that doctor's time.
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ANDERSON: If they need oxygen, they can't get it because it's in dangerously short supply. Intensive care units are full. Ventilators are in
use. The dead are piling up. You have described this as grim.
Just how much worse could things get if daily infections don't start to decline?
And how concerned are you that India could be the world's Petri dish and could cause havoc going forward?
REDDY: Well, we'll have to hope that that situation will not arise, that at least, in this state, (INAUDIBLE) country wide action, there will be
action to quell the pandemic. Of course, given the number of infections we already have and the people that might have already infected, I do not
expect the case count to go down for three or four weeks and the death count to go down at least two to three weeks thereafter.
But at least if we can start taking resolute measures to reduce the transmission rate at this point in time, we can set in motion the decline
of the pandemic. We did it last time but this is a different scenario, this is a much worse scenario and we do need far quicker action and far more
effective action.
ANDERSON: We'll leave it there. We thank you very much indeed for joining us. And we do wish you the best of luck. Thank you.
We're taking a very short break. Back after this.
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ANDERSON: Right. Let's get more on our top story. That virtual summit on climate change being hosted by the White House. Dozens of leaders outlining
their next steps to combat one of the most urgent issues of our time.
The U.S. led the way, with President Joe Biden pledging to cut carbon emissions by half from the 2005 levels by the end of this decade. Here's
what the president of Russia had to say.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): I would like to reiterate that Russia is genuinely interested in galvanizing international
cooperation so as to look further for effective solutions to climate change as well as toward other vital global challenges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: President Putin may say he's up for a global effort on climate change but the West and Ukraine are worried about what he is up to
militarily. Here's why.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): These are pictures of Russian tanks and soldiers carrying out drills a short time ago in Crimea. The Russian defense
minister says he is sending the troops back to their permanent base from Friday.
As you know, Crimea was annexed by the Kremlin in 2014 and Ukraine wants it back. This show of military might comes one day after a show of defiance on
the streets of Russia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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ANDERSON: Nearly 1,500 people now detained in protests supporting the jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny. The U.N. says his life is in,
quote, "serious danger." We want to connect you to Moscow and to CNN's Sam Kiley.
A lot to cover. Let's kick off with the latest out of Crimea.
What do we know at this point?
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, just in the last few hours, Becky, the Russian government has announced that it will be
ending its exercises that were supposed to be carried out, that were officially being carried out in the Crimea.
And they explained or they used to explain the very heavy build-up of troops not just in Crimea but on the officially recognized international
border with Ukraine, which, of course, is somewhat closer to Russia than the Donbas region, where Russians at the very least have a powerful
influence and indeed, of course, they are in illegal occupation of the Crimea.
How much or what equipment remains and how much gets withdrawn by the May 1st date will be a subject that will be keenly studied by intelligence
officials in the West. But clearly, the Russians feel that they've made their point in terms of these latest muscle moves with regard to Ukraine,
Becky.
ANDERSON: Meantime, the world watches as Vladimir Putin nonchalantly watches his political opponent die, Sam.
KILEY: The medical condition of Alexei Navalny is perhaps not as dangerous, necessarily, as some of his supporters are saying, in that we do
know from both his own lawyers and from government lawyers that he has been on some kind of nutritional drip, on glucose, that may prolong his life.
This is a man who has been very badly damaged indeed, obviously, as a result from being poisoned last August with the Novichok nerve agent. He's
in week three of his hunger strike. The pattern in the past has been that healthy young men in the Irish Republican Army, for example, seem to last
about 60 days during hunger strikes.
So clearly there is very deep concern, both nationally here in Russia and internationally about the future health of Mr. Navalny. But that's not
something, at least the Kremlin shows any great interest in, saying this is a matter for the prison authorities. And it's the prison authorities who
insofar have been making any statements, are saying he has been visited regularly and does get regular medical checkups.
But he's on hunger strike because he wants independent doctors to visit him so that he can be -- continue to be treated for his Novichok poisoning and
to be independently assessed. He doesn't trust the system.
And neither do the many tens of thousands of people who turned out right across this country to demonstrate against his continued internment,
against his -- the denial of independent medical treatment and, it has to be said, against the continued rule of Vladimir Putin.
Just a small factual update. There's now just over 1,800 people who have been detained by the authorities following this process. That's a very
substantially fewer number than back in January, the last round of opposition protests.
But the opponents of Vladimir Putin led by the Mr. Navalny's camp, Becky, are very pleased with the level of turnout, given the level of oppression
and threat against opponents of the regime here in Russia -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Sam Kiley is in Moscow for you. Thank you, Sam.
Let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories on our radar.
U.S. President Joe Biden considering formally recognizing the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire a genocide. It's a risky move that could
potentially fracture relations with Turkey. Sources say, if Biden chooses to do so, the announcement could come on Remembrance Day this Saturday.
The United Nations World Food Programme says up to 3.4 million people in Myanmar will suffer from hunger in the next six months. They say pre-
existing poverty, COVID-19 and the current political crisis are to blame. The organization plans to ramp up food assistance operations in the
country.
The head of Indonesia's navy announcing there is only enough oxygen on a missing submarine to keep the 53 crew members on board breathing for the
next few days. A submarine like this one vanishing early Wednesday during a training exercise in the Bali Strait as it was launching torpedoes.
Searchers then later spotting an oil spill in the area.
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YUDO MARGONO, INDONESIAN NAVY CHIEF OF STAFF (through translator): The ability of oxygen in a blackout condition can last for 72 hours or three
days. So that if contact is lost at 3 o'clock, so that it will last until Saturday at 3 o'clock.
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PRABOWO SUBIANTO, INDONESIAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Until now, we still have not had contact with our submarine while the search has
been done intensively.
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ANDERSON: This is CONNECT THE WORLD. We'll be right back after this.
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JULIAN MERCER, ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEUR: It's what I am. It's what I am. I'm here to protect the (INAUDIBLE) burning. It's burning in my soul, it's
burning in my bones, it's burning in my eyes when I (INAUDIBLE) trash in the beach. And I can't really think of anything to calm me down other than
to go to the beach, clean it up, talk to the people and offer them a solution.
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ANDERSON: This Earth Day, here's someone who's doing his part for the environment. Julian Mercer goes out on the beaches of Tel Aviv every day to
pick up cigarette butts. He also sells more ashtrays to beachgoers.
So what does he do with all those butts?
Well, he recycles them, of course.
(INAUDIBLE) this Irish football club, too, top flight Bohemian appointing Sean McCabe as their climate justice officer. His mission, help save the
planet. He's -- makes winning the league seem like a piece of cake, Amanda.
(WORLD SPORTS)
[11:00:00]
END
