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World Powers Meet on Stalled Libya Peace Process; U.N. Warns of Looming Famine in Ethiopia's Tigray Region; Lebanon Grappling with Economic and Political Crises; Beijing Freezes ""Apple Daily's" Assets; Israeli Prime Minister Calls for Renewed COVID-19 Restrictions; Vatican Invokes Sovereign Status to Protest Bill; Billionaire Space Race. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired June 23, 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, CNNI HOST (voice-over): A moment of opportunity for Libya. In Berlin, the U.S. secretary of state says elections in December are
crucial on the country's road to peace and stability.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one has a lot of spaces that have fallen off and it's going to be difficult to put back.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Shattered masterpieces; rare pieces of glassware get a loving touch after last year's explosion in Beirut.
And UEFA's Rainbow Row. Why they said no to a colorful light display.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): I'm Becky Anderson and this is CONNECT THE WORLD.
Oil-rich and desperate to move forward. Libya wants a lasting peace and some of the most powerful people in the world say they want to help make
that happen. They gathered at this hour in Berlin to restart the push for peace.
Unlike the last peace conference just before the pandemic. a Libya representative is there. Interim prime minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba
declaring that the talks will help, quote, "find the best solutions for living in stability and unity."
America's top diplomat is also there along with the foreign ministers of France, Turkey and Egypt. The task: to rid the country of thousands of
mercenaries keep a December election on track.
The push for peace has its challenges. Think back to 10 years ago in the North African nation descended into chaos after Moammar Gadhafi killed in a
2011 NATO backed uprising. Until recently Libya has been split between two rival administrations, backed by foreign forces.
Right now, its biggest problem is mercenaries. The U.N. says about 20,000 foreign fighters are on the ground, which could be seen as a threat to the
end of year elections.
The Berlin talks also put Turkey on the spot, putting pressure on Ankara to remove its military from Libya. Now to Istanbul and CNN's Arwa Damon.
Arwa, you have spent many trips to Libya reporting on the situation there.
Just what do you make of what we are hearing of this conference where some if not all of the key stakeholders including the U.S. are together?
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There is obviously a deep desire to want to believe that things are on the right track. And if
we just look at these initial steps that have been taken, it most certainly would appear to be so.
One also has to turn back and look at Libya's deeply fractured and divided history over the last decade plus. And just doing that does tend to temper
some of that optimism. From what you are mentioning there, Libya was effectively divided between two governments for quite some time.
You had the U.N. backed recognized government that was based in Tripoli and then of course the forces and the de facto government of renegade
general Khalifa Haftar, who was based in Benghazi in the east.
And these two different governments were being backed by different, very powerful global players. In the East, backing Haftar, you had the
Egyptians, the Saudis, the UAE; to a lesser degree, France; you had Russia and Russian mercenaries on the ground.
And then when it comes to Tripoli you basically had a number of other European countries. But it was actually turkey that ended up playing a very
key role during the battle between these two different sides because Turkey, when it did enter into that battlefield, it did so at the request
of the government in Tripoli.
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DAMON: But more crucially, what Turkish involvement did, considering that Turkey had not only its soldiers on the ground in Libya doing military
assistance, training, providing air support and other assets but it also brought in its own set of Syrian mercenaries.
Either way, they were able to stop the push of Haftar's forces from actually reaching the capital itself.
On the backdrop of all of this, to have a interim unity government that is a government of consensus is, yes, of course, a very solid move in the
right direction. But then we need to look at all of the challenges that it faces. We need a legal framework for the elections.
What kind of a government do Libyans themselves actually want?
Do they want a presidential system or a parliamentary system?
The removal of foreign forces is going to be a big sticking point here. There is a lot of talk of the need to remove foreign mercenaries that are
on the ground.
But then what of the other troops?
Turkey has consistently said that its soldiers are there to support the legitimate Libyan government, that to prematurely remove them and try to
push them out of their current role of advising and assisting would be detrimental to any process moving forward.
But keeping in mind that, you know, Libya is very much this proxy battlefield for so many significant world powers, it is going to be a tough
road ahead.
ANDERSON: And the U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken suggesting this is a moment of opportunity for Libya, but says the elections are crucial.
Arwa, thank you.
Eyewitnesses tells CNN an airstrike has killed as many as 30 people in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region. Two injured survivors spoke to CNN from
the hospital. They said a team of doctors who tried to reach the scene were shot at by the military and ambulances were blocked from reaching the
wounded.
An Ethiopian ministry spokesman told CNN reports of an aerial bombardment were, quote, "fake news." Military spokesmen accused hospital workers of
staging a drama in order to overshadow a peaceful election.
There are still also no results in what government is calling the country's very first free and fair elections, and there will not likely be any
surprises when we do get a result, as the party of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is widely expected to win.
But voting has been marred by logistical problems in some areas. Allegations of irregularities from the opposition and the military
operations ongoing in Tigray.
The fighting in Tigray has created a humanitarian crisis. The U.N. estimates 350,000 people are suffering severe famine conditions. Because of
that conflict with many others at risk.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister told a reporter there is no hunger in Tigray.
The UN reports that Ethiopia's Tigray region is at a tipping point, a emergency relief coordinator recently telling Security Council members that
there is now famine in Tigray. And the World Food Programme says it is alarmed at the impact of conflict on already high levels of hunger.
The agency also warning more than a million people in Madagascar are, in his words, marching towards starvation.
The WFP executive director David Beasley says that, quote, "Families in Madagascar have been living on raw red cactus fruits, wild leaves and
locusts for months now. We cannot turn our backs on the people living here while the drought threatens thousands of innocent lives."
David Beasley joins me live now from Rome.
He is the executive director of the WFP.
And David, before we talk Madagascar, we must talk Ethiopia. And the Prime Minister told the BBC yesterday, quote, "There is no hunger in Tigray."
His comment is at odds with United Nations, which says food is being used as a weapon against civilians in Tigray and estimates 350,000are at risk of
starvation.
Your program is working tirelessly to get food to civilians.
Your response to the Prime Minister's evaluation of the crisis and his suggestion that there is no hunger?
DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WFP: Yes, Becky, we are reaching right now, the World Food Programme alone, this does not include other operations
on the ground, about 1.4 million. We want to scale up to about 2.1 million and we been talking with the leadership of Ethiopia.
We just had some very positive meetings with the military because they had wanted to shift from military operations to humanitarian operations.
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BEASLEY: And we were thinking, great, this is going to give us the access we need to reach the 4.1 million people that we think are in need.
Then all of a sudden this military offensive in the last 48 hours has really shut down the access we need. It is not a good situation, Becky. But
if we can get the access, I don't care who's controlling the access point, which side of the military.
Give us the access we need to reach innocent victims of conflict because, if we can do that, Becky, we can turn this around and make certain that
every child in every family gets the food they need in this very difficult time.
ANDERSON: David Beasley, with 5 million at risk, it is clear that there is an urgent need for a cease-fire and a political solution, is there not?
BEASLEY: Well, obviously when you have political solutions, hunger rates go down. We see it all over the world. You look at the last few years how
the hunger rate has spiked and it has been man-made conflict.
So if we can address the conflict and bring peace in the conflict, then we can absolutely end hunger in this region with the support of the
international community. That is a given. We know how to do this in the most complex situation.
And so Ethiopia, we got to get the access we need. That is the bottom line. And we got to get the monies we need, Becky. That is also just as
important. The United States has really been stepping up; other countries need to do the same.
ANDERSON: Southern Madagascar facing its worst drought in 40 years, causing severe food shortages, as I understand it, for over 1 million
people.
Can you paint a picture of the situation of those facing the risk of starvation in Madagascar today?
BEASLEY: You know, I've been in a lot of bad places and you've been with me in some of these places like Yemen and you see the heartbreak. And I got
back from this trip and my wife has seen me come back from a lot of these places just heartbroken. And she just looked at my face and says, oh, my
gosh.
Is it that bad?
And I said you cannot believe how bad it is. Becky, I had two senior WP people with me that had been in the most horrific places on Earth in the
past 25-30 years and they said this is the worst they have seeing since the late '90s in southern Sudan during that famine crisis then.
I saw little children of 4, 5, 6 year olds who were just emaciated, skin and bones and skin flapping up from their buttocks because they had no
food. When -- and it is not just the children, it is the mothers and the grandmothers and children and adolescents. They are emaciated.
I talk to women, who would walk 7, 5, 3 hours to reach our nutrition distribution point and they said they were the strong ones. You looked at
them, you are like, you have got to be kidding me. It is horrific. Becky, this is the worst drought, back to back to back. This is not a man-made
conflict and we've got areas where we have famine like in four, five countries right now, but it is manmade conflict driving that.
But here is strictly man-made conflict and so the world, particularly the industrialized nations, have a moral obligation to come and help these
people, who are paying the price for the climate to be changed.
You've got locusts, you got army worms. You've got sandstorms, you've got drought and the families are eating cactus flowers. They are eating mud,
mixing it with juice or eating locusts just to survive. And they are barely surviving.
We are looking at 0.5 million alone in what we call IPC level IV and V over the next few months in the lean season. That is people do not know where
the next meal is coming from. And we were literally watching children dying before our very own eyes.
And the answer is not short-term solution here. While we need a short-term emergency reaction response. But, Becky, we got to do resilience programs
and water harvesting. These people can thrive and survive if we give them the support they need. And they are not getting the support they need.
And the international community has a moral obligation to step up and help these innocent victims of climate change as we speak.
ANDERSON: I understand. I understand. I do think I've heard you ever as impassioned as this and I've heard you impassioned on numerous occasions --
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ANDERSON: David, should the world's biggest polluters be held culpable for the crisis in Madagascar?
And should they be called on to pay for fixing it?
BEASLEY: There is no question. The biggest nations on Earth are the biggest polluters. There is $400 trillion worth of wealth during the height
of COVID-19, the average billionaires were making $5.2 billion in net worth increase per day -- per day, Becky. They have a moral obligation to come
and help these people, who are the victims.
And it's wrong.
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BEASLEY: I looked at -- it is heartbreaking, Becky, it is wrong and we have to speak out. We've got to help the innocent people in Southern
Madagascar.
ANDERSON: With that, we leave it there but it won't be the last time that we speak about this, David, thank you very much indeed for joining us --
BEASLEY: Thank you, Becky.
ANDERSON: -- and raising the issue. Thank you.
It's been more than 10 months now since a massive explosion gutted Beirut's port and tore apart entire neighborhoods, killing more than 200 people and
injuring thousands.
This is what it looked like a day after that August blast. Months later, the economy remains in deep crisis -- and that is an understatement.
Deadlocked government is still in limbo. The work to recover and rebuild does go on and one place where that is happening is a museum housing a
treasure trove of Lebanon's history. CNN's Ben Wedeman has the details on that.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one has a lot of iridescent pieces that have fallen off. I'm going to leave them under (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to be difference to put back.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A month after last year's Beirut port blast, Claire Cuyaubere and Maria Soubra sort
through what was a display case that held 74 rare pieces of ancient Roman and medieval glassware in the Archaeological Museum of the American
University of Beirut.
CLAIRE CUYAUBERE, CONSERVATOR: At first I was horrified and that was really daunting how much we had to get done.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Claire, a conservator from the French National Institute for Cultural Heritage, is now back in Beirut to help finish the
task.
WEDEMAN: And how does this compare with a jigsaw puzzle?
CUYAUBERE: Oh, it's so much harder. You usually do not have 72 jigsaw puzzles mixed up together, right. And then you have the added difficulty of
the -- of the fragility of the objects.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Fitting thousands of tiny jagged pieces of broken glass together again is a task requiring painstaking precision and the
patience of Job.
Maria is studying archaeology. As demanding and difficult as this work is, she says it will be easier to repair this ancient glassware than fix
Lebanon, a country fractured repeatedly in recent years by crises and catastrophes.
MARIA SOUBRA, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: I think this is more possible because you actually have all the pieces on the trays. You just have to
pick them out. But Lebanon, where are the pieces?
You just do not really have them. We're going to have to find them or if you do not find them, create them ourselves.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Yet this effort to restore a small part of Lebanon's rich heritage is therapy in itself, says museum curator Nadine Panayot.
NADINE PANAYOT, CURATOR: When you are on the floor, picking up those pieces, sifting through the glass and you -- and you are so happy when you
identify some pieces and you put them together, it just had a healing effect.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Indeed, this project shows that even things shattered into hundreds of minuscule pieces are not beyond repair.
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ANDERSON: And Ben joining us now from Beirut.
You say that even things shattered into hundreds of minuscule pieces are not beyond repair and there's some optimism in that.
But is there a fix for Lebanon's broken economy and its politics?
WEDEMAN: At the moment, there is no fix. What we have is a group of politicians and political figures, who have had power here Lebanon for
years. But they are incapable of coming to some sort of agreement to form a government.
There has not been a formal government in Lebanon since the 10th August last year and we know that -- you know, there has been a designate prime
minister, Saad Hariri, but he has been at loggerheads with the president of the republic, Michel Aoun, as to what would be the composition of this
government.
And what makes it absurd is this is happening against -- this political paralysis is happening against a background of a country in steep decline.
You have rising inflation; the Lebanese lira, the currency, is worth just one-tenth of what it was two years ago.
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WEDEMAN: But the politicians here do not seem to be in anything that would approach a hurry to solve this country's problems.
ANDERSON: And now the president calling on expats to provide what is sorely needed help.
I mean have they not done enough already?
WEDEMAN: Well, one of the reasons why Lebanon is not in worse shape than it is at the moment is that ex-pats are pitching in. The yare coming here
to spend money; others are sending money to their relatives.
But this is a very much person to person assistance. No one in their right mind at this point is going to invest a dollar in this country until
problems, like corruption, problems like oversight are pushing -- problems like the absurd bureaucracy that exists here -- are somehow resolved.
And you do not have the political will, at the moment to do that. Becky.
ANDERSON: Ben Wedeman is in Beirut, Ben, thank you.
Ahead on the show, the trial of the first person charged under Hong Kong's national security law begins. If found guilty, this 24-year old could be
imprisoned for the rest of his life.
Also ahead, Hong Kong's anti Beijing tabloid "Apple Daily" is being forced to close. How authorities evoked that national security law to silence its
critics.
And next hour, I'll ask a member of Afghanistan's negotiating team whether there is any hope for the peace process with the Taliban.
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ANDERSON: The trial for the first person charged under Hong Kong's national security law has begun. Tom Yin Kit pleaded not guilty to charges
of inciting secession and terrorism activities under the law, which was imposed a year ago.
The 24-year old allegedly drove his motorbike into a group of police offices, injuring three people at a pro-democracy protest last year. Under
provisions of the law, the 15 day trial is being held without a jury.
That national security law also being used to target anti-Beijing tabloid the ""Apple Daily"." It is announcing that it is shutting down after the
Hong Kong government raided its newsroom and froze its asset, leaving it unable to pay its staff.
Amnesty International calls it the blackest day for media freedom in Hong Kong's recent history. Reporters without Borders says it deplores the,
quote, "suffocation to death" of the paper.
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ANDERSON: It is appealing to the United Nations to take all necessary measures to safeguard press freedom in Hong Kong.
Ivan Watson tracking developments for us from Hong Kong.
Just take us through what happened with ""Apple Daily"" and why it has come to this point.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm standing outside the offices of "Apple Daily" and as you can see, it is temporarily
closed. You can't see in the dark. But there are dozens of demonstrators here after 10 pm in the rain, chanting, "Thank you, Apple Daily."
And some of the pro-democracy chants that we heard, particularly in the protests in 2019. This is the entrance and last week on the 17th, about
500 Hong Kong police came here to raid the newsroom, arrest five of the top executives of the newspaper.
You know, seize computers and laptops and hard drives and they proceeded to accuse the executives here of essentially treason, of inciting foreign
governments to put sanctions on Hong Kong and China's leadership in the articles that they published.
Now, there has been a lot of criticism that this is the government trying to crack down on one of Hong Kong's voices of dissent. That is something
that the city's leader vehemently rejects. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE LAM, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): Do not try to accuse the Hong Kong authorities for using a national security law as a
tool to suppress the media or to stifle the freedom of expression."
WATSON: What is remarkable is how quickly this company has been taken down. The raid happened less than a week ago but you seize a company's
assets, they cannot pay the salaries. They cannot pay to run the printing presses. So the company announced that tonight is the last edition of one
of Hong Kong's most popular newspapers.
And we have been watching employees coming in and out, collecting their possessions. Before leaving, I spoke to one woman who had been a journalist
here for four years. She said she was sad but very proud that she has worked here and that she has done her job as a journalist, Becky.
This is not happening in isolation. You have the main political opposition in Hong Kong, a lot of leading figures have been arrested and charged with
a variety of different crimes. The elections that were supposed to be held for the legislature were delayed at least a year, ostensibly on the grounds
of public health because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has not been a case detected of COVID-19 here in 14 days, I might add. So this is all part of a much broader crackdown on organized dissent,
which, until a year ago, was basically tolerated in this former British colony.
So this feels like history in the making -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Ivan Watson there at the building that once housed "Apple Daily," temporarily closed if not closed for good. Thank you.
Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD, the Israeli prime minister clamping down on a new COVID-19 outbreak there with a call for renewed coronavirus
restrictions. Live in Jerusalem for you.
Plus the world may finally hear from Britney Spears about the legal issues that sparked the Free Britney movement. She is expected to appear at a
court hearing later today. More on that next hour.
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ANDERSON: Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett is calling for tighter COVID-19 restrictions to help stop a new outbreak of the Delta variant. Mr.
Bennett is asking all Israelis to stop nonessential international travel and to start wearing masks again indoors.
And he is bringing back the coronavirus cabinet. He is also asking parents to quickly vaccinate children over the age of 12. Right now Israel
reporting three times the number of infections amongst schoolkids and teachers compared to last month. Hadas Gold connecting tonight from
Jerusalem.
And there will be people asking -- the question is being asked in many, many places, how come, with such an effective and efficient vaccine
rollout, is Israel where it is at this point?
HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky it has been barely just a week since the indoor mask mandate in Israel was lifted as result of that
robust vaccine rollout. People here were celebrating a sort of return to normalcy. You could go out and about, go to a restaurant and not wear a
mask at all.
But now the masks are back on in several schools that have been managed to wear them after an outbreak. Currently, according to Israeli officials,
there are 278 positive cases just within the Israeli school system.
That has helped lead to an overall surge in cases in the country. There are more than 500 cases in the country total. Just yesterday, there were 110
positive cases. That same day one week ago, there were fewer than 30 positive cases in one day.
The culprit, officials are saying, is this new Delta variant that they say is 50 percent more contagious than the previous variants.
Also international travel and unvaccinated children, removal of the mask mandate and that is contributing to this new surge and the call by the
Prime Minister to reconvene the coronavirus cabinet. He is asking people to start wearing masks indoor again although it is not yet a requirement but
it could return if cases continue to tick up.
He is also warning that there could be significant changes to border restrictions. Right now Israelis can leave and come back but that could
change very quickly. He is also calling on parents of children over the age of 12 to get their children vaccinated. Right now only about 2,000
children per day are being vaccinated.
He said we need to get that up to 20,000 children per day vaccinated to reach their goal. He also is warning parents that the current doses will
expire by the end of July, trying to get people in to get those doses before they expire, before Israel could potentially run out of doses.
He is saying that although there the vaccine -- the Pfizer vaccine that the Israelis received is effective against serious cases of COVID-19 that are
infected from the Delta variant, it is still very, very infectious and could still spread and now Israel is worried they could be seeing a new
wave, Becky.
ANDERSON: Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem.
Stay with us. Next hour we look into the impact of that Delta variant. What you need to know wherever you are watching in the world.
We're live in Rome for you where the Vatican is protesting an Italian bill aimed at stopping homophobia and, in the process, it is making some
history.
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ANDERSON: An Italian lawmaker who put forward the bill to combat homophobia says there can be foreign interference in his country's
parliament. This comes after the Vatican made history by invoking its sovereign status to protest that draft law.
Vatican officials claim it could restrict religious freedom. CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen joining me now live from Rome.
Just explain just what is going on.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, Becky, well, your sketch was absolutely right. The Italian parliament is currently considering a measure
known as the Zion (ph) bill for Alessandro Zion, this openly gay lawmaker you mentioned.
And its purpose is to combat homophobia in the country. Italy currently does not have a law specifically targeted at restricting homophobia. And
the Vatican -- and this law by the way, has not yet been adopted, we should say. It was approved by the lower house of parliament in November and is
currently before the senate. So it is still a project, a proposal.
The Vatican has invoked its treaty with Italy. This is a treaty that goes back to 1929, overhauled in 1984, regulating the relationship. Among other
things, Italy promised to respect the religious freedom of the Catholic Church in Italy and the Vatican is objecting that this law, if adopted,
would curb that religious freedom in a couple of ways.
One, it would require private Catholic schools to adopt a state-mandated curriculum for tolerance, which the church believes might undercut Catholic
teaching on sexuality and marriage, in some respects.
The Vatican is also concerned that certain hate speech provisions of this proposal could end up criminalizing public expressions of church teaching
on sexuality and marriage.
It is a little unclear, Becky, what happens from here; as you say, this has never happened before. Many members of parliament say, look, we have to do
our work without outside pressure. Then, if this law is passed, then we can deal with its implications.
Others are saying, no, we should take this into consideration now. We are expecting Prime Minister Mario Draghi to address the situation fairly
shortly. But the fruit of it is, Becky, we are in uncharted waters.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Thank you.
A great number of companies working to get into the space tourism business, successfully putting people at the edge of the atmosphere or into space is
a competition for the very rich, two billionaires are in position to be first although one of them insists it is not a race. Rachel Crane reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we have liftoff.
RACHEL CRANE, CNN BUSINESS INNOVATION AND SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): The billionaire race into space is taking off. Richard Branson and
Jeff Bezos competing to be the first into space with their space tourism flights. Bezos' Blue Origin currently set to be the first up, with his
historic space flights scheduled to lift off on July 20th from West Texas on the 52nd anniversary of the moon landing.
It seems the Amazon mogul leapfrogged Branson, whom many people believed would win this race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sold, $28 million.
CRANE (voice-over): And that is how one unknown bidder is paying to be part of history and take the 11 minute trip into space with Bezos.
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JEFF BEZOS, AMAZON: It's the thing I've wanted to do all my life.
CRANE (voice-over): The billionaire will also be joined by his brother, Marc Bezos --
BEZOS: I really want you to come with me.
Would you?
MARC BEZOS, BROTHER OF JEFF BEZOS: Are you serious?
BEZOS: I am.
CRANE (voice-over): -- and a fourth unknown traveler. The journey is a suborbital flight and going just 100 kilometers into space, allowing
customers to have about three minutes of weightlessness.
And while Bezos is making all the headlines now, Virgin Galactic's tagline is to be the world's first commercial space line.
Does it sting a little bit, that it looks as if Virgin won't be, you know, the first?
And that Blue Origin might win that part of the race?
RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN GALACTIC: I will point out that we've now sent seven people into space. And we've made five, you know, five new
astronauts. We were the first of the space companies to get people up there. But we honestly don't see it as a race.
CRANE (voice-over): Branson tweeted his congratulations to Bezos on their space flight plans, Virgin Galactic telling CNN, while they remain on track
to finish their final test runs, they have not set an official launch date.
Both space companies have had successful suborbital test flights over the past decade. Virgin Galactic had a setback in 2014, when a copilot was
killed during a test flight of a previous model of their spacecraft.
But the company has since sold about 600 tickets at more than $200,000 each -- a cost that is likely to go up.
So far fewer than 600 people have been into space. And whether it's Bezos or Branson, this first flight is sure to kick off a new type of tourism,
allowing those that can stomach the price and the adrenaline rush their own set of astronaut wings and bragging rights for life -- Rachel Crane, CNN,
New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: The pre tournament favorites for Euro 2020, the football championship, staring down the prospect of elimination.
(WORLD SPORT)
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END
