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Report: Famine In Northern Gaza Between Now And May; Israeli Delegation In Doha For Ceasefire-Hostage Talks; Netanyahu And Biden Hold First Phone Call In A Month; Putin Officially Secures Another Six Years in Power; Putin Confirms Discussions Over Navalny Prisoner Exchange; Putin Warns Russia-NATO Conflict One Step Away From WWIII; Bank of Japan Raises Rates for the First Time in 17 Years. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired March 19, 2024 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:10]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, starvation stokes Gaza, as aid agencies warn a full- fledged famine could reach northern Gaza at any moment.
Gangs in Haiti are battling for control as the country slips deeper into chaos. CNN goes inside the capital Port-au-Prince, the city at the center of the spiraling violence.
And Vladimir Putin takes a victory lap on the heels of his election win.
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ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM, with Rosemary Church.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us and we begin with the Hamas-Israel war. And new efforts to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal.
The U.S. State Department says Antony Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt this week for talks that would include discussions to reach an immediate ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Release of more Israeli hostages and increase humanitarian assistance to the Enclave.
A source tells CNN, talks between Qatar, Israel, and Egypt are already underway in Doha.
Well, meantime the Israeli military says it arrested hundreds of terror suspects after launching a major operation at al-Shifa Hospital.
CHURCH: The IDF claims, senior Hamas terrorists were hiding at the hospital after turning it into a headquarters.
CNN cannot independently verify these allegations. Hamas's military wing says its fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with the Israeli forces and the IDF says it killed more than a dozen "terrorists".
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REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES (through translator): Hamas has tried to reestablish its space in the hospital and use it as a refuge for terrorists on the run. And we will not allow this, and we will attack and continue to attack wherever Hamas tries to reestablish itself.
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CHURCH: Meantime, an eyewitness tells CNN, military vehicles were firing at the hospital buildings and windows, and the Palestinian health ministry says there were multiple casualties.
The World Health Organization says it is terribly worried about the situation at the hospital.
CHURCH: A new report is warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza, anytime between now and May.
Governments, charities, and U.N. agencies say 70 percent of the population there is already experiencing catastrophic food insecurity.
Regions in southern Gaza are in the emergency phase with famine likely by mid-July. The report says more than a million people half the Gaza population have exhausted their food supplies.
Here is U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS (through translator): Palestinians in Gaza are enduring horrifying levels of hunger and suffering. This is the highest number of people facing catastrophic anger ever recorded by the Integrated Food Security Classification System, anywhere anytime.
This is an entirely manmade disaster, and the report makes clear that it can be halted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: A number of countries have been air dropping food and other supplies into Gaza for weeks now, but it's nowhere near enough.
The European Union is calling on Israel to allow safe unimpeded access to all people in need throughout the territory. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): There is nothing to eat or drink. Children are dying. There are massacres when planes drop aid and people die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They are killing people for five kilograms of flour for God's sakes. Look at us. Arab and Muslim nations, look at us. Look at these poor people, the children, the orphans who are without parents. My son is a martyr his wife died because of five kilograms of flour.
CHURCH: Alon Pinkas is a former Israeli consul-general in New York and was advisor to Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres. He joins me now live from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Thank you so much for being with us.
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ADVISOR TO EHUD BARAK AND SHIMON PERES: Thank you, Rosemary. Good morning.
CHURCH: So, Mossad's chief is now in Doha spearheading Israel's delegation in these negotiations for ceasefire and the release of hostages.
[02:05:03]
Hamas has been demanding a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, but Israel refuses on both points.
So, what is Hamas willing to accept? And what is Israel willing to do to reach some deal?
PINKAS: Well, I have to tell you, Rosemary, you described it exactly right. I don't see how this is bridgeable. Because at the outset, there were three points -- at the outset, I mean, in the last two, three weeks. Not the real outset.
There were two or three points during the negotiations. One was a reciprocal exchange of hostages and an exchange for prisoners. The second was a ceasefire, and the third was, indeed, as you indicated, an Israeli withdrawal.
Now, not only that, but Hamas is demanding guarantees that Israel will abide by the ceasefire and complete the withdrawal. Guarantees not only from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan, but also from the United States.
At the same time, Rosemary, Israel is deliberating an invasion or some kind of a large-scale military operation in the southern part of the Gaza -- of the Gaza Strip, in the city of Rafah -- near the city of Rafah, which is completely inconsistent or incompatible with ceasefire talks.
But right now, I honestly don't see how this is all reconcilable.
CHURCH: Well, let's talk about that, because with pressure building on Israel over its planned ground offensive into Rafah or in Southern Gaza.
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they did speak on the phone on Monday. The first in more than a month, it's been tense between the two leaders over concerns about civilian casualties. The White House says Netanyahu agreed to send a delegation to Washington to work out an alternative approach.
What do you think that means? What is an alternative approach to a ground offensive and Rafah?
PINKAS: Well, militarily, the alternative would be focused or concentrated incursions or commander raids or so-called intelligence driven micro-operations. But that's not going to take care of what Israel defines as a sizable Hamas military infrastructure in the southern Gaza.
Now, what the delegation going to Washington, as a result of that meeting means is that it's all on hold. This is the U.S. essentially, saying to Israel, well come over and explain to us how you intend to do this, and how you intend to ensure that parallel to whatever it is that you plan on doing.
There is also humanitarian -- a steady influx of humanitarian aid.
That means that it's all put on hold. Now, there are two ways of interpreting that.
One is that the American administration has put on so much pressure that Israel is recoiling from this. And the second is that Israel is not that interested about a large-scale operation in southern Gaza. And this provides a perfect pretext to delay this or even not do this. This, of course, Rosemary, leads to something which is completely different, that maybe we should talk about this some other time.
On Mr. Netanyahu, heading for a delivered confrontation with the President Biden, exactly on that point. positioning him, Biden, that is -- Netanyahu positioning Biden some kind of escape goat.
I was this close to eliminating Hamas, I was this close to invading the south -- the south of Gaza, but he stopped me.
So, I don't know which of the two interpretations would prove to be (INAUDIBLE).
CHURCH: Of course, the problem is that so far into this war, months into this war, not a lot has been done in terms of succeeding in the mission of destroying Hamas, both politically and militarily. And many critics suggest that Netanyahu wants the war in Gaza to continue so he can remain in power. What's your response to that?
PINKAS: I think they are right. Look, there were two stages here. The first was not even defining clear political objectives aligned with the military mean. It was just a you know, bomb Hamas as revenge as retaliation that we understandable -- so, understandably so, as a result, or in the aftermath of October 7th. But then came all this talk about -- unrealistic talk about eliminating, eradicating, obliterating, destroying, toppling Hamas. That's unrealistic unless you occupy you being Israel us. Unless you occupy the entire Gaza Strip indefinitely.
Since Israel doesn't intend to do that, and the U.S. is not happy with that. idea and has warned Israel repeatedly, it means that this can't be attained.
[02:10:06]
So, the question is so why is the war lingering? And that leads to the proposition you just presented. That Mr. Netanyahu has a vested interest because of his political survival, because of his personal calculation that there would be no ceasefire, but no major escalation that this atmosphere of a war going on would continue that would prevent public demonstrations against him, that would prevent major resignations that are expected.
The chief of staff, the chief of military intelligence, the chief of the Shabbat, the general security service, all these gentlemen are expected to resign at some point, because they took responsibility for October 7th, something that Mr. Netanyahu declined to do until now.
CHURCH: Alon Pinkas, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
PINKAS: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Some Palestinian patients receiving treatment at a hospital in Jerusalem have been ordered by Israel to return to the war-torn enclave. As CNN's Jeremy Diamond reports. They are fearful for their lives.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Little Sarah (PH) is barely 6 months old. Born in East Jerusalem. All she knows is the safety of this hospital room. This week that will be torn away. War will become her new reality.
I might go back and they invade Rafah, her mother Nima (PH) says. I'll be the one responsible for anything that harms them.
If I go back with the twins, where do I go with them? Where would I get diapers and milk? Gaza is not the same anymore.
For nearly six months these three mothers have been living, sleeping, and nursing their five babies in this hospital room together. Before the war, their high-risk pregnancies made them eligible to leave Gaza and give birth in Jerusalem hospitals.
But now, they've packed their bags after learning that the Israeli government is sending them back to Gaza where Israel's brutal military campaign has made survival a daily struggle.
Hannan (PH), the mother of twins says she's scared of going back to Gaza without a ceasefire. There are diseases spreading, infections, she says, it's not a normal life.
They will be among the 22 Palestinians set to be bused on Wednesday to the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south. Her husband is in the north and Hannan is still trying to find a place to live.
Despite that uncertainty, Asma (PH) wants to return to Gaza.
My daughter is there. She needs me, Asma says. Every time she speaks to me, she asks when I'm coming back. Every time there is an airstrike, children go to hug their mothers. Mine has no one to hug.
At nearby Augusta Victoria hospital, nearly 50 Gazan cancer patients have been receiving treatment since before October 7th, watching from afar as their families endure the horrors of war.
For Mohammed (PH), one of the ten who are in remission and being sent back to Gaza, being far away from his son, Hamza, who is blind has been the hardest to bear.
But going back is also terrifying.
I'm torn, he says. The only wish I have in life is to go back home. I regret even coming here for treatment. I wish I could be with them, because I know how they need me.
In a statement, the Israeli agency in charge of their returns said patients who have received medical treatment and who are not in need of further medical care are returned to the Gaza Strip.
After more than two months of pushing back on Israeli demands, Dr. Fadi Atrash says he was ordered to compile a list of patients to be sent back to Gaza this week.
DR. FADI ATRASH, CEO, AUGUSTA VICTORIA HOSPITAL: We don't want to send them back. It's not our call at all (INAUDIBLE).
DIAMOND (voice over): Now, he fears for his patients.
ATRASH: All the support, all the efforts that we have been -- we have been putting to try to cure them or to put them in a good condition, or to improve their quality of life would be lost, because there is no care in Gaza.
There is no hospitals. There is no health care. The system is totally destroyed.
DIAMOND (voice over): The mothers are preparing for their journey. They've bought sweets and toys for the children who are waiting for them.
If they want to throw away all my belongings, they can, but not this bag for my daughter.
It is All they can bring for the children who have endured so much in six months.
[02:15:03]
And the babies who will soon learn the reality of war far too young.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
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CHURCH: Gang violence is exploding in Haiti, but civilian militia groups are stepping up to fight back. That's still to come.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Armed gangs are turning Haiti into a warzone. New Video shows bodies lying in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Police say, at least, 10 people were killed in Haiti's capital on Monday, as gang violence spreads into more communities.
People are running out of food and basic necessities largely cut off from the outside world.
The U.S. is raising red flags about the growing crisis.
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VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, UNITED STATES STATE DEPARTMENT: It is not hyperbole to say that this is one of the most dire humanitarian situations in the world. Gang violence continues to make the security situation in Haiti untenable, and it is a region that demands our attention and action.
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CHURCH: A U.S. State Department charter flight evacuated dozens of Americans from Haiti on Sunday. They landed in Miami, after leaving from an airport about 200 kilometers north of Port-au-Prince, where the main airport is still shut down.
The U.S. says it's open to sending more evacuation flights if needed.
CNN's David Culver was the first major network journalist on the ground in Haiti's capital. He explains how police are working with militias to fight gangs for control.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Port-au- Prince feels post-apocalyptic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is basically the aftermath of a war zone.
CULVER (voice over): Driving through the battlegrounds between gangs and police, we dodge a massive craters and piles of burning trash. The police controlled these roads leading to Haiti's international airport, for today at least. It's been shut for weeks. Out front, checkpoints to search for suspected gang members and an armored truck to keep watch. It sits beaten and battered. Less than a month ago, we flew in and out on commercial flights here, now it's desolate.
The country is in chaos, essentially held hostage by gangs eager to expand their reign of terror. Over the weekend, more businesses looted and cars stolen, gangs leaving behind a scorched path of ruin.
We're headed to one of the last remaining hospital trauma centers that's still functioning in Port-au-Prince.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: February 29th was probably the worst.
CULVER (voiceover): As soon as we meet one of the doctors, a call comes in.
CULVER: Go ahead if you need to get it.
CULVER (voiceover): A gunshot victim heading into surgery. He takes us to him.
CULVER: Most of those cases that are brought here are gunshot victims from the gang violence.
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CULVER (voiceover): With the patient's family giving us permission, we go in as staff prepare to operate. We're told the 24-year-old truck driver was caught in the crossfire between police and gangs.
CULVER (on camera): The doctor is showing me here images that are very disturbing, but they show an entry wound of a bullet basically around the temple and went right through and caused damage to at least one eye.
CULVER (voiceover): The doctor tells us the man's lost vision in both eyes. Another bullet hit his arm.
CULVER: And so, they will have to amputate his arm?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CULVER (voiceover): We peer into the ICU. It's full.
CULVER: Are most of these gunshot victims?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them.
CULVER: All of them are?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she's in pain. She feels the pain in her leg. CULVER: And so how did it happen? Where were you?
MADELEINE AUGUSTIN, SHOT ON THE WAY TO MARKET: (Foreign language).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was going to the market.
CULVER (voiceover): 86 years old, a reminder no one is shielded from the violence that's gripped Haiti's capital in recent weeks.
Police are exhausted. One local commander telling me morale is broken and that the gangs have more money and resources than they do: low on ammo, their squad cars out of gas. It is personal for the commander.
CULVER: He was forced out with his family from their own home and now this is his home, essentially.
CULVER (voiceover): The police, at least in this community, do have backup in the form of local residents.
CULVER: Do you feel like gangs are trying to move in and take this area?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, for sure.
CULVER (voiceover): While many community leaders call for peace, they admit they're tired of feeling threatened. So much so, some have created their own checkpoints and barricades, staffed 24/7, redirecting traffic and determining who comes in. Not everyone gets out.
CULVER: You can see right here at this intersection, there's a massive burn pile. This is actually where the community takes justice into their own hands. About a week ago was the most recent such case. They captured four suspected gang members. They brought them here, killed them with machetes, and set their bodies on fire.
CULVER (voiceover): The gruesome vigilante acts recorded in part as a warning to the gangs. But even amid utter turmoil, life moves forward, and with it, moments to celebrate. Outside a church, these bridesmaids excitedly awaiting their cue to walk down the aisle.
Port-au-Prince is a city now shattered by the relentless blasts of violence that have forced more than 300,000 of its residents out of their homes.
CULVER (on camera): Where are you staying here? Where's your home in this facility?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
AMOSE LOUIS, FLED HOME UNDER GANG ATTACK: (INAUDIBLE).
CULVER: Right up there.
CULVER (voiceover): They take refuge in places like this school, classrooms turned dorm rooms, where more than 1,500 people cram in. CULVER: So, she is showing us, this is all her stuff --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That her stuff, yes.
CULVER: -- that she is been able to bring and this is where she is set up right now.
CULVER (voiceover): In the classroom next door, we meet this woman, her husband killed by gang members. She and her 5-year-old, like many here, have been forced to move every few weeks.
MAGDALY DESRAVINES, WIDOWED BY GANG ATTACK:
CULVER (voiceover): We're sleeping hungry. We're in misery, she tells me.
DESRAVINES: (Foreign language).
CULVER (voiceover): We'd probably be better off dead than living this life.
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CULVER:
CULVER (on camera): Adding to the complication for those folks is the reality that they are not only facing threats from gangs, but as they describe it to me, they are also being ostracized from the communities in which they are now essentially camping out. And they say those neighbors don't want them there, and will likewise attack them, because they feel like having these refugees now within their community is drawing the gang's attention and potentially bringing more violence to their homes.
David Culver, CNN Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
CHURCH: Coming up, it's been 10 years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea. 10 years of uncertainty and dashed dreams for many Crimeans. We will show you what their lives are like. That's next.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Russian President Vladimir Putin is celebrating an election victory that was never in doubt. Putin celebrated that win on Monday, during a massive rally Red Square, marking 10 years since Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Election officials in Russia report record turnout in the presidential contest, with Putin winning nearly 88 percent of the vote, which means he will continue his rule for another six years.
Putin spoke at that event and Moscow's Red Square, saying Crimea is the pride of Russia. And saying, the, "return of other Ukrainian regions to Russia have been accomplished."
That's not true. Two years since the war in Ukraine, Russia still does not fully control the four regions it partially occupies.
In Crimea. Many are not celebrating the past decade of Russian control. The illegal annexation has upended the lives of anyone with pro-Ukrainian views. They are now at risk of arrest or worse.
And it puts particular pressure on Crimea's native Tatars population, who have already experienced a long history of persecution.
Clare Sebastian has our report.
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CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 10 years ago, the woman in blue dreamed of being a teacher. Life under Russian occupation brought to Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a new calling journalist and human rights activist.
LUTFIYE ZUDIYEVA, JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (through translator): This was the first time I was searched, but I had been preparing for this for many years, I was expecting them.
SEBASTIAN: Are you not afraid? Do you have a family, children?
ZUDIYEVA (through translator): I hope that my work will lead to the end of repression in Crimea.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): This was Zudiyeva's third arrest in four years, this time for several social media posts. Scenes like this are increasingly common, especially in Crimea and Tatars communities. Forcibly deported by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944 and only allowed back in the early 1990s. 2014 brought another decade of persecution to anyone opposing Russia's rule.
President say the full scale invasion intensified crackdown.
ZUDIYEVA (through translator): In the current situation, even those who before this were protected from prosecution are at risk.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): On March 5th, 10 Crimean Tatar men were arrested in mass pre-dawn raids.
They came through this way. The FSB or riot police officers says the wife of one visibly out of breath. A few hours later, she gave birth to her sick child.
KRZSZTOF JANOWSKI, UNITED NATIONS MONITORING MISSION TO UKRAINE: Well, we have seen a systematic effort essentially to erase Ukrainian identity, forcing people to take Russian passports, drafting Crimea men for Russian military.
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SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Another key policy The U.N. says is to replace those who leave.
JANOWSKI: They brought in at least 100,000 Russians to Crimea since the annexation. That changes the demographic composition of the peninsula.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): When unmarked Russian soldiers, the little green men, began surrounding Crimea's military bases in March 2014, I think Russians were already a majority here. But the referendum which delivered a 97 percent yes vote to join Russia was illegal in the eyes of much of the world and at one polling station, our CNN camera filmed a man dropping two ballots into the box.
Ten years on, Russia's propaganda machine is celebrating. This news report showing off shiny new highways.
EMIL KURBEDINOV, CRIMEAN LAWYER (through translator): If you drive along the roads, walk around the shops, it would probably seem like everything is wonderful, but there is another side, all right? I just came back from the pre-trial detention center, visiting my defendants. This is young people being accused of terrorism.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Some don't even get a trial. The U.N. has documented more than 100 cases of forced disappearance from Crimea since 2014.
KURBEDINOV (through translator): This is how we live. Today, you drive along nice roads, arrive home, and then tomorrow, you simply disappear.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): As Russia tightens its grip on Crimea's people, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the peninsula, on land and sea, in recent months in the place this war originally started and (inaudible) tensions arising again.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Vladimir Putin's election win has drawn mixed reaction from around the globe. The leaders of China, North Korea, India, and Turkey were among those congratulating Putin on his re-election, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling it "a convincing victory," but not everyone is cheering the win. The U.S., Germany, and European diplomats were among those criticizing the vote, saying the election was neither free nor fair.
David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst, and a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. He joins me now from Washington. Always a pleasure to have you with us.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So not surprisingly, Vladimir Putin is claiming a landslide victory in the wake of Russia's presidential election, solidifying his power for another six-year term. But any viable competition has been exiled or eliminated with some brave souls daring to protest at the ballot box and on the street, so how much support does Putin actually have? Is there any way of knowing that?
SANGER: It is really difficult to know, but it does seem like he's got a fair bit. You should not measure that by his margin of victory in this election, which was unsurprisingly well above 80 percent. Every time he has run for office, they've arranged for him to get -- show more and more support. And of course, this term would run (ph) him to 2030 and he's hitting the point where he will, if he completes all of that, I believe have been in power longer than Stalin was over the Soviet Union.
The question is, what does he do with this next term?
CHURCH: Yeah, I mean, that is the big question. Of course, he's emboldened by his win. Putin is now invoking the name of the late Alexei Navalny, something he never did when the opposition leader was alive. The Russian president also claimed he would have exchanged Navalny with Russians being held overseas. What do you make of all this?
SANGER: Well, on the last point, the exchange, it was very interesting that he said that, that he was aware of it. American officials tell me that they weren't that close to an agreement, that there had been discussion among the allies because part of the swap would involve releasing a Russian suspected intelligence officer who is in jail for a murder, a Chechen dissident, in Berlin. So, the Germany said that the conversation had not yet reached the point where they had to make a decision on that. Putin made it sound like it was very close.
On the bigger question of what he does now, I think the first suspicion is that he may use the moment to declare another draft essentially and bring in more troops in the hopes that he could finish off Ukraine at this moment when they are running short on ammunition.
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SANGER: Now, whether he can make that work, we don't know. So far, the drafts you've done not appear to have led to any widespread opposition, but partly that's because he was picking the poorest, the neediest, and the most desperate people from far corners of the country.
CHURCH: Yeah. And of course, at that same post-election press conference where Putin talked about Navalny, he also threatened a full-scale World War III if any western troops dared to set foot in Ukraine in response to a suggestion recently made by French President Emmanuel Macron. How should NATO respond to such chilling rhetoric and what should we read into that?
SANGER: Well, it is hard to know, but in the first temptation, of course, Rosemary, is to just ignore this as more noise that he's making. But the fact of the matter is that he recognizes very well that the way that you really get a reaction out of the west is to threaten escalation. He knows that President Biden has been particularly concerned about escalation, that's the reason the president didn't give Ukraine some of America's best weapons early in the war. But later on, he got to doing it.
I think that the big crossing point that Putin is trying to avoid is NATO actually sending troops in. I don't think there is much of a chance that the British or the United States would do that. Of course, we did here Emmanuel Macron suggest it, the president of France, a few weeks ago. He was pretty well slapped down right away by the German Chancellor and by the British as well.
CHURCH: David Sanger, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
SANGER: Always good to be with you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And we'll be right back.
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CHURCH: Nearly two decades of unorthodox monetary policy has come to an end in Japan, rising wages and a healthy dose of inflation have prompted the Central Bank to raise interest rates for the first time since 2007. CNN's Hanako Montgomery is following developments for us from Tokyo. She joins us now.
Good to see you, Hanako. So, what does all this mean for consumers, investors, and of course, world financial markets?
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, I mean this indicates to investors and consumers that this is a really significant policy shift and that Japan believes it has really turned a corner in terms of its economy.
[02:40:00]
MONTGOMERY: So, a bit of background as to why Japan decided to end its negative interest rates. Really, there are two key reasons. One, because we're finally seeing inflation in the country after years of deflation. And two, because wages are finally going up. So right now, the rate of inflation in Japan for core consumer prices, this includes everything besides fuel and food, is hovering at about 2 percent. That magic number that indicates that the economy is in a healthy spot. An expert I spoke to earlier spoke about just how significant this was that we're now finally seeing inflation.
SEIJIRO TAKESHITA, DEAN, UNIVERSITY OF SHIZUOKA GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: Well, what we've been seeing is two decades of deflation, which is basically stagnating the economy and also the minds of the people, including the corporations and the consumer as well. So, we have to get out of that doldrums.
MONTGOMERY: So, this, in addition to the fact that we're seeing wages increase significantly, has really indicated to the Bank of Japan that it was time to end negative interest rates. And in terms of how much we are seeing wages increase, just on Friday, Rengo, the country's largest labor union comprised of the -- of Japan's biggest companies decided to hike up wages by 5.28 percent. This is the biggest pay rise we've seen in 33 years.
So, these two key components were finally met. And now, this will indicate just kind of the economic tone, the economic changes we'll see in Japan in the months to come. Now, in terms of consumers and how this will affect people on a day-to-day basis, so experts I spoke to said that the changes we will see in the coming months, this will be very steady and this will be probably several months down the line instead of more immediate changes. But we will probably see a stronger yen riding on the back of this higher rate of inflation and this will probably mean that input prices will also go down.
Now, this is extremely significant for Japan because it is very resource poor, about 90 percent of its fuel and energy is actually imported, and about 60 percent of its food is also imported. So once we see those input prices go down, it will mean that the cost of living for people in Japan, people like myself here in the country will also go down. But for foreign tourists, it means that it might be a little bit more expensive for their next holiday, Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right. Hanako Montgomery joining us live from Tokyo, many thanks. And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then, I will be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.
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