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CNN International: Blinken Meets With Palestinian Officials In The West Bank; Blinken Calls For Calm Amid Spike In Violence; Fierce Fighting Rages In Parts Of Eastern Ukraine; Nationwide Protests Underway Over Pension Reform; Suspected Bombing Claims At Least 100 Lives; Pope Heads To Democratic Republic Of Congo, South Sudan; Why Is Russia's Economy Forecast To Grow Despite Sanctions?; Iranian Protester Severely Beaten, But Manages To Escape; New Zealand Braces For New Storm After Record Rain, Flooding. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2023 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. Just ahead, the U.S. Secretary of State is in the West Bank holding talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. We'll have the latest out of that.

In Pakistan, rescuers sift through the rubble in search of survivors after deadly explosion ripped through a mosque on Monday. And disruption in France as thousands take to the streets to protest against an unpopular plan to raise the retirement age.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is wrapping up a whirlwind trip to the Middle East where he's found himself calling for calm across Israel and the West Bank. A day after meeting with Israeli leaders, Blinken is now in Ramallah meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials as well. We should hear from them soon after their discussion.

This visit happened to come right after a new wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians erupted in the West Bank and Jerusalem. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us now from Ramallah in the West Bank. We don't know what's happened in the meeting, but what are you hoping to hear or what are you looking out for?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, I think what we would be looking out for is any commitment that Antony Blinken thinks he's got from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, that there would be a softening of the Palestinian position on deciding not to work with Israel on security coordination.

That's a big issue for the Israelis. And it's a big issue for the Secretary of State because the belief is that it helps both sides. This isn't, you know, when the Palestinian Authority makes a move like this, it isn't just a detriment to Israel. This is the belief of the State Department, that it's a detriment for Palestinian Authority. It's not clear that sort of commitment is going to come and then many people here on the street and we've talked to them today, who would tell you, look, we already feel the credibility of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is undermined. He doesn't really have credibility.

What in essence, he would be asked to do there will be further to comply and be complicit in everything that aggravates Palestinians, the expansion of Israeli settlements, the ability of Israeli military to come into towns like Jenin last Thursday, where nine Palestinians were killed in a raid where the Israelis were looking for, they call it a terror suspect.

So these are the sorts of things that if Mahmoud Abbas does what Antony Blinken asked him to do and what the Israelis want, undermines his credibility. I think the other cool thing here is to see what Secretary of State Antony Blinken would say about a two-state solution. A lot of people here in Ramallah and other places on the West Bank will tell you they're not -- they don't really believe a two-state solution is possible.

That's very important for the United States. It gives, in essence, a reason to keep talking on all sides. But the perspective here is that Israel by those actions of expansions of settlements, is shutting down that possibility, indeed. Talk to young people here, Max, and they will really say, we don't believe it's possible at all. And that's a gloomy political horizon for a lot of people here.

FOSTER: OK, Nic, thank you. We'll bring updates of course when we get those statements at that key meeting.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting is raging in eastern Ukraine, as Russian forces battle for control of villages and towns around the decimated and deserted city of Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military says it has repelled attacks but describes the situation as difficult. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it's no time for what he's calling continued reflections and he's once again imploring Western allies to speed up weapons delivery.

CNN's Scott McLean joins me now. What sort of stories are you hearing from Bakhmut?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But this is a town that has been some of the fiercest fighting over the last few days, even over the last couple of months. Really, this has been a thorn in the Russian side because they haven't really been able to make any progress and actually moving the frontline forward there.

It is extremely well fortified both naturally and by the Ukrainians as well, and that's according to the Wagner private military chief. And so now the Russians are resorting to this familiar tactic. They've made some inroads and taking territory to the north and to the south of the town as well. And Ukrainian say that, well, some of their last escape routes have also come under fire over the last few days.

And so right now, volunteers are not able to safely get in and out and what few civilians actually remain. Frankly, they're resigned to their basements though one Ukrainian commander figures that by the time this is all said and done, that there won't be even a single building left standing.

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What's also changed in the last couple of days or the last couple of weeks, maybe, is that the volume of Wagner troops seems to be getting replaced by regular duty Russian troops. And this is significant because, a, they have better equipment, they're more skilled in general, the more experience. And, b, in the words of one Ukrainian commander, they're less willing to die than the Wagner troops which were many of them were ex-prisoners, trying to earn their freedom from from prison.

And so they were essentially used as cannon fodder. And so the Ukrainian say that makes it more difficult to actually take out Russian troops, though, it is still happening, though they say much more slowly. The reality, though, is that the Ukrainians are already talking about the W word which is withdrawal.

One commander said that if -- and again, there's no indication that they're going to withdraw -- but if they were to withdraw, it would be to preserve the lives of Ukrainian troops who are actually doing the fighting. This is something that we also heard in advance of the eventual pull up from Soledar, about 10 miles north.

And we've also been in touch with one Ukrainian soldier who is on the frontlines in Bakhmut. He was previously in Soledar, previously predicted that the Ukrainians would eventually have to withdraw from Soledar. He's seeing a similar situation in Bakhmut. The question now is really when this might happen, of course, if it does?

FOSTER: OK. Thank you, Scott.

Protesters have hit the streets of France yet again over plans to raise the retirement age, the government wants to change it from 62 to 64. If you're looking at live pictures of the protests, you can see how many people have turned up. French unions, of course, for massive strikes, that's creating chaos, as more than 100 schools will be closed and transit services will be severely disrupted.

Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris with the very latest. I mean, this is not a new type of protests in France, but the finances are looking pretty desperate for pensions.

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Of course, this is something France is fairly used to. What's different this time is that once again, they're talking about pension reform. The last time the unions here in France, Max, were this unified and this determined to take on the government.

You have to go back to 2010, under Nicolas Sarkozy, the last time that the French government managed to reform the pension system. That's how sensitive that nerve is, and how long it's been since they've presented such united front. Let me just show you behind me the march is about to kick off here from -- there at Place d'Italie. You can see people are preparing to march. These are colorful and noisy affairs, but a sense of celebration because the unions feel and are hoping that today they're going to get more than the -- more than 1 million they managed to get off the streets on January 19.

Now Emmanuel Macron has really set up a sort of battle of wills going in to this summer. He's a, Max, is to get this reform through that would see the retirement age here go from 62 to 64 by the summer. Now, in parliamentary terms, that could work because even if there's a lot of opposition, he can get it through regardless.

What counts is the opposition from the streets, and just how many people, the trade unions, can get out today, but also in the days going forward. They hope to force the government to back down. And bear in mind, this was a reform that Emmanuel Macron had vowed to bring in when he first became president back in 2017.

He's hoping that this, at the start of his second term, will be the right time for pension reform. The trade unions and all of those out on the street today are determined that that will not be the case, Max.

FOSTER: OK. Melissa, thank you. You'll be watching closely.

Day after a suspected suicide bombing at a Pakistan mosque, meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise. Officials say at least 100 people were killed when an explosion ripped through the mosque in Peshawar. It was located within a police compound and mostly attended by police officers, obviously.

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the wounded in the hospital. It's still unclear who's behind the blast. The Pakistan Taliban called the TTP, they initially claimed responsibility but then denied that which is confusing some people. Sofia, how the investigation is going?

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Max, we've hearing from the chief investigative officer in Peshawar that the man had strapped about 14 kilograms of explosives onto himself and had gone in and blown himself up in that mosque, which was in a heavily secure part of the city of Peshawar, which was within a police compound.

So the majority of the people who have died and who have been injured were law enforcement officials and that mosque itself could contain more than about 300 people. Like you said, 100 people dead, more than 200 people injured. There's a sense of fear. There's a sense of anxiety here in Pakistan that things are repeating themselves.

There's an entire generation that has grown up with the ghost of militancy surrounding it and this is something that was becoming, you know, a distant memory. But ever since the ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban and the Pakistani state fell apart in November of last year, there has been a definite increase in smaller militant attacks, especially in the north of Pakistan, especially in the areas bordering Afghanistan.

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So Peshawar itself is in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and people had been protesting on and off in the northern region, saying -- asking the government, asking authorities to make sure that the kind of attacks that have happened in the past do not get repeated here in Peshawar. And that is, unfortunately, exactly what has happened.

Peshawar, Islamabad, the capital city, has been on high alert for weeks. However, that has not been enough to prevent such an attack from taking place in the very heart of one of the most secure places of Peshawar. There is now simmering anger against the authorities, against the different policies that have taken place with regards to dealing with militants in Pakistan.

Too many people have died. Too many people have died over the past two decades, and too many people have died in the past 24 hours. And many strongly worded questions are being asked to the government and to the military today. Max?

FOSTER: OK, Sophia, thank you.

Pope Francis is on his way to Africa for a six-day trip. He'll visit the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. He can see him leaving Rome a little bit earlier on. He set to arrive in the capital, Kinshasa, in the next hour to shine a spotlight on poverty and conflict in the Congo and exploitation of its mineral wealth.

The Pope will then fly to South Sudan on Friday. Catholics make up nearly half of the populations in both of those countries.

Still to come, the IMF issues a new forecast for the global economy and strikes an optimistic tone despite Russia's war in Ukraine, and that surge in inflation.

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FOSTER: Now, this year, Russia's economy is expected to grow despite the war in Ukraine and the economic sanctions, which is remarkable and somewhat surprising. Meanwhile, the U.K. will be the only G7 economy to shrink in 2023. All the answers to why all of this is going on is in the global economic outlook for the International Monetary Fund that's come out. It predicts the world's economy will look less gloomy than expected.

And it is the job of CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans to pour through this every year. But there are these two big surprises, aren't there, or three big surprises --

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

FOSTER: -- really. Mostly people focusing on Russia and how on earth its economy could be growing at a time like this.

ROMANS: It's really remarkable. You know, after the economy contracted there 2.3 percent last year, the IMF is saying it could actually grow a little bit 0.3 percent. But that would be growth in the Russian economy.

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That comes at a time when there are crushing international sanctions. There's a G7 global oil cap. You know, oil cap at $60 a barrel for crude exports. And what the IMF is saying is that in the early stages here, it looks like Russia has been able to find other partners who do not sanction them for some of their exports. And so far, it's just too early to see if that price cap has really hurt Russia.

So the economy, while basically ground to a halt, is not declining anymore. And then you look at the U.K. The U.K. is likely the only G7 economy to fall into a recession, to be negative in the coming year. Here a negative 0.6 percent. There's a bunch of different things happening here.

Rising interest rates, right? Higher taxes for the past couple of years, the surge of the cost of living, which is really hurting consumers. And then you have sort of the knock-on effects of Brexit, just at an awful time. When you think about the timing of Brexit and then what happened with the pandemic and with all these disruptions around the world, high energy costs, an energy crisis, really, in Europe, I mean, the timing here just really tough for the U.K.

So those are sort of the split screen here between Russia and the U.K. I will say the IMF, you're right, less gloomy when that's a good thing, right? When the world is less gloomy than it was even a few months ago. But the IMF is pointing out risks, Max. We still have a Russia invasion of Ukraine that is grinding on here almost a year now, and that could be a risk to the outlook.

Also, China. China opening up here quite suddenly and quickly is good for the global growth story, unless there is some kind of a COVID, you know, problem that comes back and then you have supply chains shut down again. So the IMF noting that.

And then these high interest rates, you always have to worry about these big debt laden, these big debt burdens on small countries and the risk of a financial crisis because of higher interest rates. So all things to consider for this year.

FOSTER: And when will things start getting better? Obviously, there is more positivity in this report than many people had expected. Does that mean the global recovery will be sooner?

ROMANS: Well, I mean, that's the hope here. And I think they're talking about China's sudden opening here, which is important for supply chains and important for the inflation story, although it can also spell the other side of the inflation story if it actually causes prices to rise, because you have, you know, the Chinese consumer, which is -- so we'll wait to see that, how that pans out.

But the IMF pointing to like a second half of the year resilience around much of the world. We saw that in the U.S., right? A resilience in the U.S. and strong labor markets in the developed countries. That seem to be a really important backdrop. For whatever uncertainty we're going to see in 2023, you're coming from a pretty strong base in terms of labor markets and overall economic activity, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Christine, appreciate it. Thank you very much, indeed.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

FOSTER: Coming up, he was a boxer in Iran with big dreams. He says he was beaten, shot and jailed for protesting. And now he's sharing his daring story of escape and survival exclusively to CNN.

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FOSTER: An Iranian man who says he was shot and beaten by security forces is speaking about his experience after nearly dying such a jail for protesting and fleeing Iran. He says he would do it all over again. He spoke exclusively to our Jomana Karadsheh about his ordeal. And her report contains graphic content that you may find disturbing.

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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was one of the most terrifying videos to emerge from Iran. A protester surrounded by armed regime forces trying to send them off with a knife. Shots are fired before he falls to his knees.

Ashkan Morovati later appeared in intensive care, barely conscious with his parents by his side.

ASHKAN MOROVATI, KURDISH IRANIAN PROTESTER (through translation): I had a severed artery in my leg. I had around 200 shotgun pellets in my body. I had serious wounds. Even after I surrendered and they arrested me, they beat me around 100 times in the head and the rest of my body with batons.

When they were transporting me to the hospital, they shot me from a very close range with a shotgun. They thought that I'll be dead.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): But Ashkan survived, and with him, a tale of unimaginable horror.

MOROVATI (through translation): I was a man who died and was brought back to life. As I am speaking with you, I still have 20 shotgun pallets still lodged in my body.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): He escaped Iran, now a wanted man in hiding, speaking exclusively to CNN for his safety. He won't say where he is.

MOROVATI (through translation): I got out of the country through mountains and deserts while heavily bleeding and in very, very bad condition. I died so many times before I got out of the country.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): As he lay in hospital, hanging on to life by a threat, he was charged with Moharebeh, waging war against God, a crime punishable by death in the Islamic Republic. Regime agents raided this hospital and dragged Ashkan to jail.

MOROVATI (through translation): When someone is taken from the ICU straight to prison, this is kind of a death sentence. In prison, I went through unbearable agony because all my wounds were open. I used salt to try to disinfect my wounds just a little bit. They badly tormented me.

They sent me to an army hospital that was not equipped to treat me. I was there in that condition with both my hands and feet chained to the bed.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): People of his Kurdish town of Sanandaj protested for his release. His family paid all they have to bail him out for medical treatment. And with the help of friends, he made it out of Iran.

MOROVATI (through translation): I was a professional boxer, a fighter. I was so eager about my future and had a plan to pursue this sport as a career. But because my leg and the rest of my body has been severely injured, I can't do that anymore. Being away from my family and all the pressure that they have endured because of me is mentally tormenting me. I'm not feeling OK physically or mentally.

KARADSHEH (on-camera): What do you want the world to know about what is happening inside Iran right now?

MOROVATI (through translation): There are so many like me who sadly gave their life, but their voice didn't reach outside. There are so many brave girls and boys inside Iran. Our only crime is that we demand freedom and democracy and want our women to be equal to our men.

We shouted, woman, life, freedom. And their response to us is only bullets, only torturing, raping prisoners. I saw many young people, 16, 17-year-olds get killed. They killed so many, they blinded so many. I swear to God, I can't sleep at night thinking about those scenes.

KARADSHEH (on-camera): Ashkan remains undeterred. Once he recovers, he says, he's ready to go back and continue the fight for a free Iran.

MOROVATI (through translation): I have no regrets and I am proud of what I did. I will give my life for my people, for my Iran. Not one time, but a hundred thousand times.

KARADSHEH (on-camera): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

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FOSTER: Amazing story. The Iranian government didn't respond to CNN's requests for comment on Ashkan's case and the widespread allegations of torture, mistreatment and killing protesters.

Now it's time for all countries to prepare for the next global pandemic because the world isn't ready to face another one. That's the warning coming from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It's calling for better preparedness at the community level and urging countries to update their emergency plans by the end of the year.

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JAGAN CHAPAGAIN, CEO & SECRETARY GENERAL, IFRC: Friends, the next pandemic could be just around the corner. Hopefully it's not. But we don't know. We did not know three years ago that it was just next door and it hit us very, very fast and it spread around the world rapidly as we do. And if the experience of COVID-19 won't weaken our steps towards preparedness, what will?

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FOSTER: New Zealand's Weather Service has issued a red warning for Auckland, its highest alert level for heavy rain. It comes just days after the highest daily rainfall ever recorded in the city. At least four people are reported dead in the country amid dangerous flooding and landslide as well on the North Island.

A state of emergency has been issued for Auckland. Beaches are off limits, several main roads are closed, and all Auckland schools will remain closed until February the 7th. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says helping Auckland recover is the government's focus.

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CHRIS HIPKINS, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: My focus and the focus of central government is supporting Auckland through what is still, you know, a big challenge ahead of them. There's a big cleanup to go, and of course, we know through the forecasts that there's more bad weather ahead.

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FOSTER: Now it's tiny, but it's potentially deadly, and authorities say it could remain a threat for the next 300 years. Australia's nuclear safety agency has joined the search for radioactive capsule along a vast stretch of highway in Western Australia about the length of California's coastline. It's believed to have fallen off the back of a truck, belonging to a contractor for the mining giant Rio Tinto. The company has apologized and says it's supporting search efforts which have been going on for about a week now.

Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Max Foster in London. World Sport with Amanda is up next.

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