Nerve Agent Traces In Salisbury Pub And Restaurant; Regime Forces Retake Major Eastern Ghouta Town
KINKADE: You're watching CNN, and this is CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Lynda Kincade, welcome back. Wash your clothes and anything you have on it. It will help get rid of any traces of a deadly nerve agent. British authorities telling possibly hundreds of people in a quiet city in England that that is what they have to do if they were in the same restaurant or pub last week as a former Russian double agent and his daughter, both of whom are now critically ill in hospital after being poisoned. This is the latest video in the scene and images from a surveillance camera of what is suspected to be pair walking along just moments before collapsing. They appear to be walking a third unidentified person. SOON after they go past, a police car and other first responders rushed in their direction. Britain's Home Secretary holding an emergency meeting this weekend giving us the latest right after it.</s>AMBER RUDD, SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT: The two victims remain in hospital, and they are critical but stable. Detective Sergeant Bailey who is also a victim, and was also affected is also seriously ill, but I'm pleased to say that he's engaging with his family, and he's talking. This is a serious, substantial investigation. There are over 250 counterterrorism police from eight out of our 11 counterterrorism unit involved. That's over 200 witnesses involved and it's over 240 pieces of evidence.</s>KINKADE: Well, our CNN's Phil Black is on the scene where this mystery began. And Phil, we just heard from that press conference with police chief, fire crews and the medical authorities with a warning to the hundreds of people who may have been in the places where these Russian double agent was. Take us through what they said.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the advice is pretty simple, Lynda. If you are in the Italian restaurant behind me or a pub around the corner called the Mill, wash the clothes you're wearing that day. Wash your personal items, any belongings that you may have had on you. now, the key question, of course, is why are they offering this advice? Why now, why almost a week after the incident itself? Well, officials here are concerned that what they described as trace contamination from a nerve agent has been identified at these two locations and they say as a result of new information and recent analysis, they believe that this is the advice that people should receive even though that they believe the risk of any sort of serious health problem is pretty low. What they're worried about is a long-term health risk from low levels of contamination. This is how the advice here was described at a press conference a little earlier today.</s>JENNY HARRIES, PUBLIC HEALTH, ENGLAND: There may be a very small health risk associated with repeated contact with belongings which may have been contaminated by the substance. So we're recommending a very, very precautionary approach is taken and we're advising people to clean the clothes that they were wearing and any possessions that they had with them at the time.</s>BLACK: Now, what does this tell us about the nerve agent itself? Keeping in mind authorities said pretty quickly that they had identified it, that it is rare, but they're not naming it publicly at this stage as part of the general operational discipline they are maintained over the entire investigation here. While it shows that the authorities here believe that it has the ability to penetrate the human skin through prolonged exposure, even in very small dosage. That's one way that it can enter the human body and attack the nervous system. It also gives us a sense of the timeline between exposure and when Sergei and Yulia Skripal eventually succumbed to the nerve agent. And it really broadens that timeline out significantly, perhaps talking about a number of hours now. Because what it shows is that at some point they were exposed to this substance, then they have</s>KINKADE: And Phil, we know that 21 people were treated for contamination after this incident took place, including a police sergeant who we heard from the police chief today has been moved to intensive care and that the police are quite anxious about him.</s>BLACK: Yes. So, of the three people seriously affected by this nerve agent is obviously Sergei and Yulia Skripal the alleged target of the attack itself, in addition to that, Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey. He was the police officer who was also struck down by the nerve agent, very seriously not long after his exposure to it. We don't know precisely when and how he was exposed to it but we are told that he was one of the first people to attend the scene where the Skripals were said to be suffering the effects of the nerve agent itself. He was in a pretty serious condition for a time but we know that from most of the week now, he has been awake and talking and engaging. He met -- he's met with senior officers, he met with the British Home Secretary and so forth, but the police here have said that his involvement in this, his injury, if you like, has added a very personal dimension to the whole affair, and really affected members of the force here who are involved in policing and investigating this particular incident, but of course, keeping the whole area running and safe as well, Lynda.</s>KINKADE: All right, Phil Black for us in Salisbury, England. Thanks very much for staying across those developments for us. Well, some other stories -- some other stories on our radar right now. More than 8 million Cubans are taking part in elections that won't change much. They are choosing a new national assembly, but as ever, there's only one candidate every seat, and they are all part of the communist party. The big difference this time though, is they'll select a new president to replace Raul Castro come April. Hundreds of women have marched in Tunisia this weekend demanding equal inheritance rights. Under Islamic law, men inherit more than women, usually double. Women in Tunisia do have more rights than many women in parts of the Arab world but the North African state still lags behind Europe and the United States. Counterterrorist and police in Britain are doing everything they can to track down who sent these letters. They designate April 3rd as the so- called punish a Muslim day and offer points for different levels of criminal acts against Muslims. A victory but at a brutal cost. The Syrian military and its ally forces retook a major town on rebel-held</s>JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Lynda, within evolving battle, usually it's very difficult to try and, you know, say specifically how much they actually control. But reports indicate, and that's according also to state media affiliated with the regime, they're saying that they're in control with more than 50 percent of Eastern Ghouta right now. And that wouldn't be a surprise. If you look at what's been going on on the ground, you've had three weeks of this relentless bombing campaign where almost every part of Eastern Ghouta has been pounded almost on a daily basis. This is a part of the country that has been under siege for nearly five years, and we've also seen this ground offensive over the past couple of weeks where regime forces have been moving in on several fronts on Eastern Ghouta and it seems the area where they are making the gains is on the eastern front over the past week. They have claimed to have captured a number of towns and villages and as you mentioned the latest, the town of Misraba on Saturday, and that's not just according to the regime, we've also heard it from activist on the ground. One activist actually telling us that they had captured what he described the semi-destroyed rubble town of Misraba in his word -- in his own word. Now, this is not just about territorial gains here, Lynda. What we're looking at is likely a Syrian regime military tactic and strategies. They are basically trying to cut off different parts of Eastern Ghouta from one another in an effort it seems to disrupt and cut rebels supply routes. So it seems right now that it's a matter of time before they're able to recapture all of Eastern Ghouta. But when you've got both sides, at least publicly, vowing to continue with this fight, determined to fight until the bitter end, the concern, of course, is for the civilians who remain trapped inside this place that has become now what is being described as hell on earth.</s>KINKADE: Yes, absolutely horrific scenes we're seeing coming from there. But of course Jomana, this Syrian civil war is approaching seven years this Thursday. We've seen calls for cease fire by the United Nations and Russia several times. Just give us the sense of the long-term strategy. Is there any end in sight?</s>KARADSHEH: Well, I think as you know very well, Lynda. You know, we can't talk about Syria just as a civil war right now. If you look at it, you know, this is also has become a battlefield for different regional and international powers. So it seems like when you talk about a solution for Syria, it's as if every part of the country to an extent would need its own formula and long-term solution. But when it comes back to this civil war to the opposition versus President Assad, obviously the situation has really changed, especially over the past couple of years with the support that the regime has received from its Russian and Iranian and other allies. And you've really seen this shift in the balance of power which would reflected in any sorts of diplomatic talks or negotiations that would take place for the future of Syria whether those take place, Geneva, in</s>KINKADE: All right, Jomana Karadsheh, a very complex problem. No doubt we will speak to you very soon. Thank you very much. Well, live from the CNN Center, this is CONNECT THE WORLD. The votes are in nearly 3,000 in favor, only two against. Presidential term limits a thing of the past in China. We'll have the details ahead. Plus, could the U.S. President reach the greatest deal on North Korea? That's what Donald Trump says can happen when he meets with Kim Jong-un. More on that highly anticipated meeting when we come back.