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CONNECT THE WORLD

Mexico City Subway Overpass Collapses, Killing 15; India Tops 20 Million COVID-19 Cases; Nepal's New Cases Hit Record High; Bill and Melinda Gates Split; Deadline Looms for Netanyahu to Form Government; Indian Premier League Cricket Suspended over COVID-19 Crisis. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired May 4, 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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BECKY ANDERSON, CNNI HOST (voice-over): Tonight: disaster in Mexico. An horrific train crash leaves many dead. CNN is on the scene for you.

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CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This hospital is completely overwhelmed. The doctors say that they have about 55 beds. And

currently they're treating more than 100 patients.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The death and chaos CNN witnessed in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.

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ANDERSON (voice-over): And --

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the rig they're exploring to find if there's oil in this region. But if they actually find oil, this

will be just one of many, many rigs like this.

ANDERSON (voice-over): And CNN takes you inside the biggest oil play you've never heard of and the danger it poses to these immaculate scenes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ANDERSON: It's 9:00 am in Mexico City. 5:00 pm in Nairobi. 6:00 in the evening right here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. There's a lot to

connect you to. Let's get going at this hour.

Crews are cleaning up the scene of a deadly subway train collapse in Mexico City. At least 23 people have been killed, according to Mexico City's

mayor. A nearby camera caught the moment when an overpass collapsed, sending train cars onto the traffic below.

You can see bursts of fire, then a big cloud of dust and debris. Dozens of people are in hospital. The mayor adds one survivor was pulled from the

rubble and no one else is believed to be trapped. CNN's Matt Rivers is on the scene in Mexico City -- Matt.

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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, I hope you can hear me. I'm not sure if you can hear me but I'm going to go ahead and tell you

what's going on here.

Basically, we're about a couple hundred meters away from where this incident took place. It happened about 10:30 pm local time last night. And

there's surveillance video that was taken nearby.

CCTV cameras captured the moment where this overpass behind me, as you can see, a section further down the road, collapsed. It was sudden. It was

swift. It was really unexpected. And it resulted in the death so far of at least 23 people.

We know that nearly 80 people have been hospitalized as a result of this incident. We know that, among the people who were injured, there were

children involved. We are not sure if children are among the people who have died as a result of this incident.

But clearly this is a major, major scene here in Mexico City. As of this point, no one remains trapped in the rubble. Even though the two train cars

that were a part of that subway train that collapsed, they are still basically like this after falling down from that overpass. They're still

like that.

But no one remains trapped, according to authorities. Everyone has been accounted for that was inside those two train cars. Also the car, those

train cars, collapsed onto, that was driving along the road, everyone involved has been accounted for. But this is a very serious situation here

as authorities work to clean up the scene.

ANDERSON: Yes, clean up the scene and work out exactly what happened. And that is the next question.

What is the latest on the investigation?

RIVERS: Yes, and that's a great question. Obviously, very much in its initial stages at this point. But there is a lot to investigate, especially

because, talk to anybody who lives in this area, this is a very working class part of Mexico City. They'll tell you there have been problems with

this subway line since basically it was inaugurated in 2012.

There were structural problems, engineering problems, identified as far back as 2014. There was damage to this subway line during the big Mexico

City earthquake that happened here in 2017. Locals question whether that damage was ever truly repaired.

We just spoke to a police officer who lives in this neighborhood. He told us people who live here have been waiting for something like this to

happen.

The government is clearly aware of that because they've already talked about how they're going to bring in an internationally renowned firm, yet

to be named, to complete an audit essentially of this entire subway line to make sure that it's working properly.

But it's the kind of thing that you'd imagine they would have done years ago, not after nearly 2 dozen people, so far, have lost their lives here

due to what happened.

[10:05:00]

ANDERSON: Thank you, Matt. More in the next hour of CONNECT THE WORLD.

CNN's exclusive reporting on the massive people smuggling industry and how it targets Mexico.

We are on the ground at the Mexican border with the U.S. to look at why migrants risk almost everything and rely on human smugglers to get over

that wall. That will be here on CONNECT THE WORLD. That's coming up at the top of the next hour, exclusively on CNN.

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ANDERSON: An unwanted, sobering milestone passed today in India, the country topping 20 million reported cases of COVID-19. And, remember, those

are just the cases that we know about. Those are the official numbers. The actual number could be much, much higher.

Maybe the most remarkable aspect of India's COVID milestone is how quickly it got there. About a quarter of all new cases have been recorded in just

the past two weeks. And another 3,400 people died of COVID today.

This second wave in India leaving the sick literally gasping for breath, their panicked loved ones desperately searching for oxygen and, in some

cases, doctors overwhelmed by the crush of patients. The crisis is worst around New Delhi.

But other parts of India are also buckling under what is this devastating second wave. CNN's Clarissa Ward went to neighboring Uttar Pradesh state,

where overwhelmed hospitals have literally reached their breaking point.

And I want to warn you the material in Clarissa's report is disturbing. The family she spoke with wanted people, though, to see the reality of the

tragedy India is now confronting. This is her report.

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WARD (voice-over): In the next room, more than 20 patients are packed in tightly.

This is what now passes for the intensive care unit. Family members have taken on the role of primary carers, where medical staff are simply

unavailable. This man complains, no one will change his wife's soiled bedding.

Suddenly, there is a commotion.

"Will someone please call the doctor?" This man shouts.

His mother, 55-year-old Rashvalla (ph), appears to be slipping away. Her sons work furiously to revive her.

A doctor comes in and tells him to stop crowding her. The family is inconsolable.

"We've been here for six days and, only today, we got the ventilator for my mother," he tells us. "The oxygen is out. We had to bring an oxygen

cylinder."

It's a story we hear, again and again. One man, approaching us, pleading. His wife can't get a bed.

"No one is listening to me, I've tried everything," he says.

[10:10:00]

WARD (voice-over): "Please help me or she will die."

I'm not a doctor, I'm sorry, I can't help you.

Another man tells us his wife is struggling to breathe outside. They won't let her in. We spot hospital administrator Dr. Gyanendra Kumar and ask him,

what's going on?

DR. GYANENDRA KUMAR, ADMINISTRATOR, LLRM MEDICAL COLLEGE: Yes.

WARD: This man says his wife is dying outside and needs oxygen.

KUMAR: No, there's a central line of oxygen.

WARD: He insists that oxygen isn't the problem but says they are desperately short of staff. Those who do work here risk becoming patients

themselves. These men tell us they move a dozen bodies a day.

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

Are you not worried to be working here and you're not wearing protective gear?

"We should be wearing proper PPE," they say, "but even the doctors don't have it, so how can we?"

We hear screams, coming from the ICU. Rajbala (ph) has flatlined again. Her son, desperately pumping her chest.

A doctor comes in. He takes her pulse. But it's too late.

This time, there is no point in trying to resuscitate.

The agony of her sons is shared by so many in this country, failed by a health care system on the brink of collapse and a government accused of

mismanaging the crisis.

Just a few hundred yards away, the same hospital complex, it's a very different picture. Orderly lines of people, patiently waiting to be

vaccinated following the prime minister's announcement that anyone over 18 can be inoculated.

A state lawmaker is among 600 people getting their vaccine. The hospital administrator and local journalists eagerly stand to capture the moment.

We were just in the hospital over there and it was shocking to see. It was shocking.

DR. SOMENDRA TOMAR, UTTAR PRADESH LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY MEMBER: Why?

WARD: Because the conditions are so bad here.

Why do you think India has been hit so badly?

The hospital administrator interrupts and warns him we have been asking too many questions.

Sir, you don't need to coach him on what to say.

He's telling him what to say.

TOMAR: Ma'am, we are trying our best and some problems are here but we are trying. Now condition is better.

WARD: Do you accept the government has failed its people in the handling of this crisis?

Because I've been talking to many people and I need to tell you, people are quite angry. People feel that this did not need to be so ugly.

"The situation is not only bad here, we are trying to find solutions," he says. "We are increasing the number of beds and we are working, tirelessly,

around the clock."

But, back in the COVID ward, the impact of those efforts is not yet being felt. Rajbala's (ph) body is left for nearly one hour before it is finally

moved.

India's leaders make promises that everything is being done to end this crisis. But for now, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

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ANDERSON: Clarissa Ward joining me now from New Delhi.

India's national capital under an extended lockdown at present. Clarissa, that report just gut-wrenching. Clearly in that hospital, issues about

staffing; clearly, a facility that isn't coping.

The judiciary in India threatening to hold government officials in contempt if they don't sort out the oxygen issue.

Since that statement was made by the supreme court, has there been any difference?

Is there any evidence that this oxygen situation is being sorted out?

[10:15:00]

WARD: We're still seeing tweets online from various hospitals and individuals, saying that they are about to run out of oxygen or they are

desperately trying to find oxygen. The government insists that it has launched this program called Operation Oxygen Express, whereby huge amounts

of liquid oxygen are being deployed to cities across the country, using the country's railway systems.

But there's a growing sense, when you talk to people, that there's a fear it's too little, too late, essentially; that, despite the efforts being

made, despite the fact that medical students have now been drafted in to help supplement the ranks of those beleaguered doctors, who you saw in that

hospital that we visited, that we are just 10 days away now from what scientists predict will be the peak of this curve.

And a very sort of grim reality sinking in, that these measures, while they might be able to do something to improve the situation, are unlikely to

fully mitigate this human catastrophe or humanitarian catastrophe that we have witnessed here.

ANDERSON: On a personal level, what has struck you most about the scale and the scope of what you've witnessed?

WARD: You know, the scenes that we saw in that hospital reminded me of scenes you might see after a natural disaster, just absolute chaos. People

all over the floor.

And what breaks your heart and what stays with you, the wailing of the sons of Rajbala (ph) and the sense here that everyone you talk to has some

experience of grief, that everyone has lost a family member or a friend or a work colleague or a former professor.

No one is immune to the tremendous suffering that this country is in the grips of. And I would say it's pretty rare, outside of conflict zones, that

you really experience that kind of huge widespread heartache and tragedy -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes. Clarissa Ward is in New Delhi tonight. Thank you.

As a result of the growing crisis, the Indian Premier League cricket tournament has been indefinitely suspended. Critics had been questioning

for some time how appropriate it was to spend money and resources on the tournament to sort of -- in this kind of environment.

Tournament organizers tried to bring, quote, "positivity and cheer" but everyone should go back to their loved ones now, they say. For more on

this, stay tuned. "WORLD SPORT" will have all the details in just over 20 minutes' time. And Amanda Davies will be speaking to Indian cricket

journalist Boria Majumdar.

Just a few days ago he took a broader view on the importance of the IPL season. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIA MAJUMDAR, INDIAN CRICKET JOURNALIST: It is very, very myopic to take the IPL as only be about without wholly or an MS tourney or (ph) this

billionaire and millionaire cricketers. It's not.

It's also about the groundsman who earns a few thousand rupees, it's about the bus driver who drives these people to the stadiums. There's a whole

ecosystem that the IPL sustains.

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ANDERSON: The view of Boria Majumdar, who will join Amanda Davies live for the latest reaction to what is the IPL suspension.

And later on talks with the chair of India's COVID-19 modeling committee. More than a month ago, he warned the government to brace for more than

100,000 cases a day. And he laid out a timeline for the second wave peak. We'll find out what he is saying now in the next hour of CONNECT THE WORLD.

The devastation inside India is spilling over into neighboring Nepal. Since mid-April, that country has seen the average number of COVID-19 cases

skyrocket more than 1,200 percent. That's at least according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Just today, Nepal hit an all-time high with 55 COVID deaths and more than 7,500 confirmed new cases, raising the total number of infections there to

more than 350,000. Nepal surges in tandem with cases picking up speed in neighboring India.

To help slow down the virus, Nepal is banning international flights for a week, starting this Thursday. Paula Hancocks has more on what's being done

to try and improve what is the growing crisis in Nepal -- Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, there are serious concerns about this massive increase in coronavirus numbers that we're seeing in Nepal,

neighboring India. This tiny South Asian nation does not have a very sophisticated health care infrastructure.

[10:20:00]

HANCOCKS: It also has a limited access to life-saving resources. So clearly the fact that we're seeing the seven-day average of coronavirus

cases rise 1,200 percent since mid-April is of great concern, certainly if they are to see some kind of a catastrophic outbreak, the likes of which

India is going through at this point.

The prime minister gave a televised address to the nation and there are a number of things they are doing to try to prevent the catastrophic event

happening in Nepal as well.

They have suspended all domestic flights. They are going to suspend all international flights from May 6th until May 14th. And when it comes to the

land border they have with India, there are 13 border crossings. No foreigners are allowed to go through them. Only Nepalese citizens and they

have to have a negative COVID test.

The prime minister also saying they're going to recall medics who have retired, to try and help with this outbreak. They are also banning the

export of oxygen. Private hospitals as well will be designated into specialized COVID hospitals.

And they are saying that they are going to have sporting arenas and schools, which will be converted into quarantine centers. Really doing as

much as they can to try to prevent what's happening in India now from happening in Nepal.

ANDERSON: Paula Hancocks reports.

Gruesome new details emerging about a tragedy at a religious festival in Israel.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A crush of people walking down this ramp, coming to these set of stairs, slipping, sliding all over one another,

turning into a tangle of bodies.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Calls for accountability growing, people asking, how could this have happened?

More details are coming up.

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ANDERSON: And a bit later, Saudi Arabia's oil company sees a big jump in profits.

Does that mean the global economy is recovered?

We'll have a look at that for you.

Plus, two of the richest people on Earth are divorcing. The reason Bill and Melinda Gates say they are ending their 27-year marriage.

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ANDERSON: Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their marriage. The Microsoft co-founder and his wife have been married for 27 years. They founded the

multibillion-dollar Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation together.

The two each released a statement on their verified Twitter accounts, saying, in part, "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our

relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage."

CNN Business correspondent Clare Sebastian has more on their plan for the future which, as I understand it, Clare, still includes the extensive

philanthropic work. This was a bit of a shock, frankly.

[10:25:00]

ANDERSON: Firstly, are we learning any more details of this divorce?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not beyond what those statements they put out. They've asked for privacy. They do say they plan to continue to

work together on their foundation.

But they say we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.

Also got a short statement from their 25-year-old daughter, Jennifer, on her Instagram stories, saying it's been a challenging stretch of time for

our whole family.

This is an interesting marriage. It's 27 years long. We learned about the negotiation within that marriage, which, of course, started on an unequal

footing. He was the founder and CEO of Microsoft, one of the original tech titans in the U.S.

She joined the company as a product manager in the 1980s. Have a listen to what she told our Poppy Harlow in 2019 about some of that negotiation that

went on.

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MELINDA GATES, THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: We would go to dinner parties. And when someone would throw out a question, Bill would

immediately answer it. And he had the perfect whatever answer for it.

And I started to realize that I wasn't using my voice as much. I wasn't speaking up. Or sometimes, not very often but sometimes, I would speak up.

And he would talk over me.

And I was like, you have to stop doing that because you can't either cut me off or you can't -- if you think I said something that was wrong, don't

correct me because everybody automatically assumes at that dinner table you are the smartest person at the table.

And so he learned. And I would give him feedback. And then he took a little while and then he stopped doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So you can see there that that was seemingly successful negotiation between them. She also talked in the past, including in an

interview with Christiane Amanpour, about how she learned to step up and have a voice within their foundation, where they had access to multiple

global leaders and a serious sort of platform on the world stage.

So very sad news today. We don't know much more beyond what they've put out in those statements.

ANDERSON: They are. You look at it; the work that they have done in philanthropy has been remarkable. They're surely the largest

philanthropists on the planet or one of the largest at least. Their foundation together is worth tens of billions.

I think I'm right in saying they've spent something like over $50 billion during the time that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been

working. There will be concerns about whether this will impact their philanthropic work.

SEBASTIAN: Inevitably there's going to be questions around that. We don't know how amicable the divorce is, how closely they'll continue to work.

There's a huge amount at stake.

It's worth remembering this is a big organization, nine offices around the world, 1,600 employees, a leadership team beyond them. There are people who

make decisions beyond them.

Let's have a look at what's at stake here, some of the numbers around the foundation, $43 billion in net assets as of the end of 2019.

They've spent north of $53 billion since 2000 on various initiatives -- public health, poverty alleviation; women's issues are very important to

Melinda Gates; $1.75 billion is the amount they've spent so far in the efforts to help the fight against COVID-19, including promoting

vaccinations, which has been a key sort of signature issue of theirs for many years.

We don't know. We expect their work on the foundation to continue. That's what they're seeing. Perhaps we might see more from them individually on

their signature initiatives. She's very active in promoting women's issues. She has her own investment firm.

And he, of course, is a very key proponent of the fight against climate change. He just published a book on that in February.

ANDERSON: Yes, I'm listening to it. It's putting me to sleep at night. And I mean that for all the right reasons. We, in fact, here on the show have

spoken to Melinda Gates a number of times recently about that COVID-19 vaccination work they've been doing and, indeed, a number of times, we've

talked about women's issues.

And her work is fantastic on that. Thank you. Let's hope they do both continue in the good work that they do.

Time running out for the Israeli prime minister. So far he has failed to persuade his top rivals to join him in a new coalition. And a deadline is

hours away. We're live in Jerusalem up next.

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[10:30:00]

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ANDERSON: Updating our top story this hour. Mexico City's mayor says at least 23 people were killed when a subway train overpass collapsed onto

traffic below. It was caught on camera. You can see the structure fall in, sending up a cloud of debris and smoke.

Dozens more people are in hospital. It happened Monday night in the city's relatively new Golden Line. Crews now cleaning up after the mayor announced

no more survivors were trapped in the rubble. The city is calling on international engineering experts to help investigate.

The deadline looming for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government after two years of political deadlock. It's looking unlikely

that he'll pull off a last-minute surprise. After midnight the Israeli president can assign coalition building to another member of parliament.

Many expect that to be one of Mr. Netanyahu's top rivals, Yair Lapid, whose party came in second in the last election. Let's get you to Jerusalem and

to Hadas Gold.

I feel like we should be putting an asterisk next to the word "deadline" here because we have been here before a number of times. I guess what could

potentially happen at the back end of this is a fifth election.

What's the prospect at this point?

GOLD: Well, Becky, there are many analysts who believe that's what Benjamin Netanyahu ultimately wants. Aside from someone managing to get

together a coalition government that the fifth election is his next best option, what he would want.

He has a few more hours left. Midnight is the deadline here tonight in Israel for which he needs to show that he can form some governing

coalition. Yesterday, in a last-ditch effort, he went to Naftali Bennett, the leader of a small right wing party, offering him a rotating leadership

role where he would be prime minister for one year followed by Benjamin Netanyahu, which is technically the deal we're in right now with Benny

Gantz.

But Bennett did not accept that offer right off the bat. And even if he had accepted it or would accept it somehow in the next few hours, that would

still leave Netanyahu short of the number of seats needed for a majority parliament.

We still wouldn't necessarily have the governing majority. If at midnight, Netanyahu is not able to prove he can form a governing coalition, he can

ask for an extension. The Israeli president, when he first offered Netanyahu this mandate, he seemed reluctant because Netanyahu's still

sitting for a corruption trial.

It's not -- we're not getting the message from the Israeli president, from his first offering of this mandate, that he'd want to give Netanyahu some

extension. He could also give it to one of Netanyahu's opponents; specifically, the leader of the centrist party Yair Lapid, who has also

made overtures to Naftali Bennett about a similar rotating leadership agreement.

It will be interesting that we might even have a prime minister leading Israel who actually only leads a party with seven seats in the Israeli

Parliament. It would be unprecedented but as we've seen here in Israel, we like -- Israel likes to do a lot of things unprecedented.

[10:35:00]

GOLD: We could be heading towards a fifth election if all of these potential options could fail. So, Becky, pretty much where we stand right

now is where Israel has stood for the last two years. They still don't have any idea what any sort of permanent government would look like here in

Israel.

ANDERSON: All of this, of course, is going on in the wake of one of the worst disasters in Israeli history, the crush at Mt. Meron. It's got to be

one of the most pressing issues, if not the most pressing issue in Israel today.

What's the latest on that?

GOLD: What this tragedy has torn open for people here is the question of the responsibility, of course, for what happened on that mountain but how

for so many years, people had been warning a tragedy like this could occur.

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GOLD (voice-over): As more horrific details and videos emerge from the Mt. Meron crush that killed 45 people, growing calls for accountability and

change. Critics say safety regulations are not followed on the mountain, the burial site of an ancient and revered rabbi.

Different orthodox sects control their own parts of the site that surrounds the tomb at the top of the mountain.

During the Lag B'Omer holiday they light ceremonial bonfires, sing and dance on steep and crowded grandstands with haphazard barriers, makeshift

structures and narrow walkways.

GOLD: A crush of people walking down this ramp, coming to these set of stairs, slipping, sliding all over one another, turning into a tangle of

bodies, as police and rescuers down here, trying desperately to pull people out of the heap.

GOLD (voice-over): Attendees at one point tried pulling down the walkway's barriers to relieve the pressure, perhaps unaware that an abyss lay on the

other side. If they had succeeded, the death toll may have been even worse.

The tragedy has torn open a long-running tension in Israel, the closed societies of the ultra orthodox accused of operating in their own world by

their own rules, indulged by the politicians in power, who need their support.

Shlomo Levi, the former head of the area's regional council, says it was only a matter of time before tragedy struck, the mountain just not equipped

to hold so many people. One year he even tried to shut down the festivities, warning his superiors that people would die without

intervention.

But after pressure from the government, he says, nothing was done.

SHLOMO LEVI, FORMER HEAD, REGIONAL COUNCIL (through translator): The government is not in control because the government is being politically

extorted. All those involved in the mountain know how to press and who to press.

It is absurd. The place is run like crime families but the government does not act against them. It acts in their interest.

GOLD (voice-over): Just one day before the incident, the head of Israel's public health services warned she was unable to enforce coronavirus

restrictions.

DR. SHARON ALROY-PREIS, ISRAEL PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE (through translator): It's a disgrace. That's all I can say about it. We've worked long weeks on

the plan. It was agreed by all sides, by the police, the ministries, everybody. And in the end, it collapses because there's no one to take

responsibility for enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

GOLD (voice-over): Arya Gary (ph), an ultra orthodox minister, was one of the most vocal politicians pushing to allow unrestricted access to the

mountain despite the coronavirus regulations.

But addressing the Israeli parliament after the incident, he skirted taking responsibility, calling the disaster "God's will."

There are growing calls for an independent commission that, in its strongest form, could even recommend firings and criminal charges.

But prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not committed one way or another to such an inquiry, saying questions will be answered later. "Now is the

time for mourning," he insists.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: (Speaking foreign language).

GOLD (voice-over): Shlomo Levi, though, has issued a clear warning of a second disaster if nothing changes.

LEVI (through translator): I'm warning that hundreds will die here if drastic changes fail to take place. We need a national commission of

inquiry to examine and recommend. And we need to nationalize this place to take it back from those who have seized it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLD: Becky, the state comptroller announced they're launching an investigation. What a lot of people are waiting for is to see if that

independent commission will be launched because that, they say, is the only type of investigation that would cause any sort of real change -- Becky.

ANDERSON: Fascinating. Hadas Gold is in Jerusalem. Thank you.

Coming up after the break, India's COVID crisis prompts a suspension of the country's Premier League cricket tournament.

Why now?

We'll take a look at that, just ahead.

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[10:40:00]

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ANDERSON: The 2021 Indian Premier League or the IPL now suspended over the country's coronavirus catastrophe. No prizes for timing. Tournament

organizers say they've been trying to bring a little cheer to a crisis situation but then they admitted the competition really couldn't go on as

India's coronavirus cases have now passed 20 million.

The IPL saying it wants everyone to get back to their loved ones.

(WORLD SPORTS)

ANDERSON: More on that in "WORLD SPORT" coming up after this short break.

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