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Thousands Of Israelis March To Illegal West Bank Outpost As Tensions Mount; Pentagon Investigating Scope And Scale Of Documents Leak; U.S., Philippines Begin Largest-Ever Drills After China Exercises; Ukraine: Russia Using "Scorched Earth" Tactics in Bakhmut; U.S. State Department Declares Reporter Wrongfully Detained; Marchers in Derry Attack Police; Brexit Creating Opportunities, Problems for Northern Ireland Firms; North Korean Crypto Heist Funding Nuclear Ambitions; Saudi and Oman Envoys Hold Talks with Houthi Officials. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired April 11, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[01:00:41]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom. Can Israel's Prime Minister restore security as violence plays on almost every front for his most senior ministers leader controversial marched into the West Bank to an illegal settlement?
Can America keep a secret? One of the biggest leaks of U.S. intelligence has Washington scrambling to reassure allies assess how much and what was leaked. And by whom.
And can the U.S. president and the year-long political crisis in Northern Ireland, 25 years after the Good Friday peace deal, Joe Biden will soon arrive in Belfast where anger has been building over a post Brexit trade deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: After a wave of recent terror attacks in Israel, thousands of pro-settlement Israelis have marched at once evacuated West Bank settlement demanding its legalization as well as government approval for a surge in settlement construction on land Palestinians claim for a future homeland.
Protesters waving Israeli flags and seeing religious songs took part of the march which was led by seven government ministers, including the National Security Minister. Nearby the Palestinian Red Crescent reporting more than 200 people were hurt during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
The Israel Defense Forces says two soldiers were slightly hurt after they were hit by stones thrown by Palestinians. And this clash took place near that abandoned Israeli outpost, where Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister that a call for Israel to legalize the outposts are getting more Jewish settlements in the West Bank is one way to prevent Palestinian terror attacks.
Meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's enemies not to take advantage of deep divisions within the country. And he announced his defense minister who he fired last month will remain in his post.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): There have been disputes between us even difficult disputes on certain subjects. But I have decided to leave these disputes behind us Gallant remains in his post and we will continue to work together for the safety of the citizens of Israel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Live now to Jerusalem journalist Elliott Gotkine with us again. So I guess, Elliott, after almost 20 years since the father of the supplements, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began disengagement as a policy settlement expansion seems to be very much Israeli government policy once again and legalizing this abandoned outpost. It's just one of dozens that the ultra-right within this coalition government what legalized. So what's the latest with that? And where is this all heading?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: So, John, I suppose legalizing supplements is certainly the policy of some of the members of the governing coalition and certainly Prime Minister Netanyahu seems sympathetic to that. Indeed, since this government came into office, the most right wing coalition in Israel's history, they have legalized at nine illegal outposts. They did that in February. And they said at the time that it was a kind of response to violence perpetrated by Palestinian militants against Israelis.
But at the same time, the government did promise the White House, the Biden administration, that it wouldn't be legalizing any further outposts in the coming months in its word. So for now, there doesn't seem that Eviatar is likely to be legalized in the short term, although the process began to do so some time ago, there was quite a long drawn out process to there's no guarantee that it would happen.
And that's not to say that legalizing that settlement where we were filming out yesterday isn't going to happen at some point in the future, although this government, as I say, has promised that it won't happen in the coming months.
And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under pressure not just from within his coalition, of course, in order to legalize a settlement and take a tougher stance against Palestinian militants but also of course, within the country itself. There were further protests last night in Tel Aviv blocking the main highway in response to Netanyahu news conference in which he blamed the previous government, which was in power for just one year for the upsurge in violence that we've seen not just in the West Bank, not just rockets fired from the Gaza strip into Israel, but also the biggest barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel since a war between Israel and Hezbollah militants to hold sway in southern Lebanon in 2006.
[01:05:08]
And Netanyahu coming out, blaming the previous government for the upsurge in violence, saying in his words that he will reestablish deterrence and fix the damage we inherited. He's also trying to show Israelis that his hand is still on the wheel, and I suppose to show Israel's enemies, both among the Palestinians, among militant groups, and also in other countries, whether it's in Syria or in Lebanon, that despite the deep divisions in Israel right now, prompted by his push to get this judicial overhaul paths, which would remove pretty much all checks and balances on the government to warn his enemies that Israel is still able to defend itself and also to take offensive action as and when it feels the need to do so.
And of course, again, this backdrop, we're not just seeing rising violence. We're also seeing Netanyahu's polling numbers plunge a poll for Channel 13 earlier in this week, showing that not only is he no longer Israelis first choice for prime minister, he's not even the second that -- and that if an election were to be held tomorrow, his ruling coalition would be turfed out of office.
And I suppose that's another reason for Netanyahu and his coalition allies to find common ground and to avoid allowing their government to fall apart because if it were to do so, then perhaps it would not find itself able to get back into office.
Other couple of things to watch out for today. Today's the last 10 days of Ramadan is beginning so we're waiting to see if Jewish visitors or non-Muslim visitors are allowed on to Temple Mount, the Haram al Sharif something that they are not usually allowed to do. We should know more about that in the coming hours.
And also we've got the funeral of Lea Dee (ph). This is the mother of the two British-Israeli girls who were killed by a Palestinian gunman and who are buried a couple of days ago. The mothers are coming to her wounds. Yesterday that funeral expected to happen in the same settlements of Etzion just south of Jerusalem this afternoon, John.
VAUSE: Elliott, we appreciate the update. Elliott Gotkine there live for us in Jerusalem. Thank you.
Joining us now is Steven Cook, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies with the Council on Foreign Relations. Steven, thank you for being with us.
STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES WITH THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: My pleasure.
VAUSE: So right now the Israel facing a flare up of violence on pretty much almost every front there's East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had this message for the nation a few hours ago. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU (through translator): Citizens of Israel, our country is under terrorist attack. The government under my leadership will restore calm and security to our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: How? How can Netanyahu restore calm given the divisions within the IDF of his plans to weaken the judicial system? How can we restore calm to a country which is anything but calm right now?
COOK: It is a very, very good question. And in fact, the country that Netanyahu inherited when he became prime minister again, was in a excellent security situation the -- but the divisions within the government. A terrorist from a genuine terrorist problem on the West Bank has been made worse by a series of policies that the Netanyahu government has pursued.
This has led to flare ups in Gaza, has led to flare ups along the northern border with Lebanon. And of course, most recently, in quite unusually, there have been rocket attacks on Israel from the Golan Heights. Clearly, groups within Syria are seeking to take advantage of the situation and the deterioration of security in Israel to open yet another front.
VAUSE: It's notable that during his previous terms as Prime Minister Netanyahu, despite what anybody else thought of him, he was seen by most Israelis as a safe pair of hands when it came to security. That just doesn't seem to be the case anymore.
COOK: That's right. Throughout Netanyahu's previous turns into prime ministry, he could build himself as Mr. Security. However, the government that he now leads is very different from the ones that he's led in the past. And he's essentially held hostage by a group of religious nationalist settlers who have really no regard for Israel's relations with the countries around it and have no regard for the Palestinians who live within their midst. Many of these ministers are actually in fact settlers themselves, who care really only about settlement annexation of the territory. And of course, their interpretation of what of Judaism.
VAUSE: Well, those ministers on Monday, the Israeli security minister, who is one of the far-right members, who are one of the leaders of the settlement movement, and about half a dozen other government ministers. Their response to this recent spate of terrorist attacks was to match it -- was to match rather to an abandoned settlement in the West Bank and demand its legalization. Listen to this.
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ITAMAR BEN GVIR, ISRAELI NATIONAL SECURITY MINISTER (through translator): We won't give into terror, not in Avitar, not in Tel Aviv, whoever will surrender to terror in Avitar will also surrender to terror and Tel Aviv. [01:10:10]
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that Ben Gvir, the National Security Minister. So, you know, this march call it provocation, call extremists, call it illegal. Isn't this what the people of Israel essentially voted for legalization as part of the coalition deal, which brought Netanyahu back as prime minister? This is the state of Israel. The march was approved a battalion of Israeli soldiers were deployed to ensure their security. This is official policy now.
COOK: It is official policy now. But of course, more Israelis voted for the opposition and actually voted for Netanyahu and his coalition just happened to be that Netanyahu was able to forge a coalition government, whereas the opposition would -- was unable to.
What you have with this march and the participation of seven ministers is something quite extraordinary. Essentially, the government ministers are inciting against the laws of the State of Israel, that settlement that they marched to was closed by the previous government because it was illegal even under Israeli Law, forgetting international law.
So what you're seeing is really this kind of extreme polarization and extremists within the Israeli government who are fulminating and inciting against the laws of the State of Israel. This is an unprecedented situation in Israel's history.
VAUSE: Very quickly. Here's how the Palestinian leadership see the current crisis. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOHAMMAD SHTAYYEH, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRIME MINISTER: All what we have seen the incursions into the mosque and to the refugee camps that killing house demolitions, land expropriation, this is a recipe for disaster. This is a recipe for violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, few years ago, Ariel Sharon was Prime Minister, the man they called the father of the settlement movement, number of settlers grew by about 100,000 between 2001 and 2006. That also coincided with the second Palestinian intifada, is history about to repeat itself?
COOK: I think it likely will as long as its government hangs on. The response on the part of the ministers and on the part of Prime Minister Netanyahu, two incidents of violence and terrorism is to authorize additional settlements. That is been the response of governments of the right within Israel.
So I think we're going to see the -- a government effort to push more people in more Israelis, more Israeli Jews into the West Bank.
VAUSE: Steven, thank you so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time and your insights. Thank you.
COOK: Thank you.
VAUSE: Who, how and what? Who is responsible? How did they do it? What exactly has been leaked? Three questions which senior officials within the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Justice are scrambling to answer, while at the same time trying to reassure global allies after one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in recent memory, which has revealed top secret information about U.S. surveillance of close partners, including Israel and South Korea, that Washington was spying on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as sensitive intelligence about Ukrainian losses on the battlefield, their air defense capability and shortage of missiles.
The Pentagon is still trying to determine the scope and the scale of this breach, and just how much top secret information might still be dumped online via social media for the world to see.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: We don't know who's behind this. We don't know what the motive is. And I think I can't remember who asked before, but we don't know what else might be out there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The Kremlin says it's looking closely at the information which has been leaked from the Pentagon. And when asked to comment if Russia was somehow involved, spokesman Dmitry Peskov was dismissive.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLIN SPOKESMAN (through translator): We know there is a tendency everywhere to blame Russia for everything. This is a general affliction, so there's nothing to comment on here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Dozens of these leaked documents were still posted on Twitter as late as Monday. Some are questioning if they're actually authentic or maybe they've been doctored in some way. CNN Oren Liebermann has details now reporting in from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A damaging leak from some of the highest levels of the Pentagon, rattling U.S. officials who fear the revelations could jeopardize sources and hurt us relations abroad.
Among the 53 classified documents reviewed by CNN, a detailed look at key shortages and Ukraine's air defenses, and battlefield assessments with the war and a critical phase and Ukraine preparing for a counter offensive.
The documents were posted on Discord a messaging and chat platform in recent weeks, where they resided unknown to the Pentagon until they were picked up and disseminated further. The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the leaks. U.S. government is reviewing how this type of Intel is shared. The Pentagon has already taken some steps to tighten the flow of such sensitive information.
KIRBY: We're taking this very, very seriously. There is no excuse for these kinds of documents to be in the public domain.
[01:15:05]
LIEBERMANN: At the top of some documents an alphabet soup of government secrecy. Top secret SI-GAMMA is signals intelligence. NOFORN is no foreign nationals and FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
The documents also reveal us efforts to spy on allies around the world. A CIA Intel update from March 1st says Israel spy agency, the Mossad, advocated for protests against the government. The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said the report was without any foundation whatsoever.
Another document has information and internal deliberations within South Korea to sell artillery ammo that could eventually go to Ukraine. The report came from Signals Intelligence, which includes intercepted communications and drew backlash from Seoul.
KIM BYUNG-JOO, SOUTH KOREAN LAWMAKER (through translator): We strongly regret that the top U.S. intelligence agency had been illegally spying on allies like our country. We strongly demand a thorough investigation and urge that similar incidents do not occur.
LIEBERMANN: On official from one of the countries in Five Eyes a crucial intelligence sharing arrangement between the U.S. and some of its closest allies said they expected the U.S. to share a damage assessment even as they conduct an assessment of their own.
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's not only the kind of intelligence we collect on foes, but also the kind of intelligence that all nations connect -- collect on their friends too. We do this, other nations do it too, but you don't like it to be put into the public space.
LIEBERMANN (on camera): On the diplomatic front, it'll be Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who will smooth things over with allies and partners if that's needed. Meanwhile, the Pentagon hasn't named who will lead the interagency on this end to make sure this sort of damaging leak doesn't happen again.
And to get a better control, a tighter control, if you will have of this sort of sensitive information but a crucial open question. Are there more documents that have already leaked or that could leak? And is there more damaging information that will come out? That is a question the Pentagon is watching very closely. Oren Liebermann, CNN at the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: See Steve Hall is a CNN national security analyst and the former chief of Russia operations for the CIA. It's good to have you with us, Steve.
STEVE HALL, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be here.
VAUSE: OK, so the big question says seems to be who, and how, I guess once investigators know who leaked the information, that sort of answers the how part? A lot of other stuff as well.
HALL: Yes, you know, at this point, it is early on. I'm sure that the U.S. government certainly knows, or I hope certainly knows more than we do at this point. But right now, it's extremely difficult to tell because we just haven't been clued in much on the status of the investigation or keeping it pretty close hold.
But I do think it's worth asking the question, who benefits from this happening? Who benefits from these leaks getting out there? And I think that the first country that comes to mind, obviously, is Russia on that one. Russia does benefit by driving wedges between America and its allies. It does benefit when it says things like, well, you know, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost a lot more have been apparent, or that has been made public, and that the Russians have lost a lot less.
So, when you look at it, the Russians certainly have a lot to be gained from being involved in this, at least from the start, or perhaps later on just jumping on and trying to take as much advantage as they can from the situation.
VAUSE: I want you to listen to Chris Meagher. He's the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Here he is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CHRIS MEAGHER, ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS: The Department of Defense is working around the clock to look at the scope and scale of the distribution, the assessed impact and our mitigation measures. We're still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue. There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom. We're also still trying to assess what might be out there.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VAUSE: You touched on this. He said, Well, maybe we're not being told everything. But at this stage of the investigation, should we still be the we don't have much of a clue stage is more than five days since the defense secretary was briefed about the leaks. And does this explain why there's been no briefing by the U.S. for the other members of the Five Eyes? The UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand?
HALL: Yes, well, there's a lot of layers to that. So I think what the spokesman was saying is absolutely true. In other words, the investigation is still very young, and there's -- still trying to figure out what has happened and how it happened. It does allude to the second possibility. If it's not the Russians, then could it have simply leaked from the, you know, someplace in the U.S. government, perhaps the Pentagon, that, of course, has to be investigated very, very carefully.
And that gets to one of the earlier questions that you asked, which is, OK, how if it wasn't the Russians who produced this themselves, or somehow, you know, got access -- access to this information, then how did this information get out? And that is what I think the Department of Justice, the Pentagon and a lot of counterintelligence folks are trying to figure out exactly what happened.
[01:20:03]
I'm sure that behind the scenes even though there may have been no formal briefing with the Five Eyes, you can be sure that our liaison, our intelligence liaison relationships with those people is robust enough to have offline discussions about what's going on. And the idea of keeping our liaison partners involved in this and up to speed as to what's going on will be a critical part of that intelligence relationship.
VAUSE: POLITICO has this reporting, which I found interesting, the saga has left the U.S. relationship with its allies in a state of crisis, raising questions about how Washington will correct what officials worldwide view as one of the largest public breaches of U.S. intelligence since WikiLeaks dumped millions of sensitive documents online from 2006 to 2021.
So on top of that, you can add the recently found hundreds of classified documents which were scattered around the Florida home of the former now indicted President Donald Trump. And then there was the Edward Snowden NSA leaks back in 2013. Before that the WikiLeaks released the Iraq War logs that was back in 2010. They're just the major ones. So, you know, is the anger or concern among allies over being spied on? Or just the fact the US doesn't seem able to keep a secret?
HALL: Well, again, a lot of different layers in this complex situation. The first is, I think it's a vast overstatement to say that there's some sort of crisis between the United States and its allies with regard to intelligence or really anything else on this particular issue. I mean, the level of, of unity that we see, vis-a-vis, Russia and the war in Ukraine is actually quite remarkable.
Secondly, when you compare the simply the volume of information that is out there with this particular situation, and you compare it to the WikiLeaks, or to Snowden's case, I mean, those leaks of information dwarf in both size and importance, the type of intelligence that's getting out there.
And to your question with regard to can America keep the secret? Well, this is one of the challenges that open societies that democracies have, it's easy for Russia, for China, for other authoritarian regimes, to use their security services to make sure that this kind of thing never happens, because they have no rule of law, they can simply crack down however they want. In our societies in the West, you've got open laws that allow people to say what they want, and to try to get it out there publicly. And it's much harder to deal with that tension between secret information in an open society much bigger philosophical question, one that the Department of Defense is probably not that much focused on right now. They're trying to get to the bottom of how this got out there and who put it there?
VAUSE: Yes, probably I got question for another day, I guess. But certainly one to one to think about. Steve, thank you for being with us. Really appreciate it.
HALL: My pleasure. Just ahead, Ukraine accuses Russia of scorched earth tactics in the battle for Bakhmut. Those who escaped a city which is mostly in ruins share their stories of survival.
Plus, China wraps military exercises around Taiwan as U.S. prepares for annual military drills with the Philippines. The messages behind the exercises.
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VAUSE: U.S. and Philippines marked the start of their annual military drills just a few hours ago. Over the next two weeks, more than 17,000 participants from both countries will train bases across the Philippines. It comes just one day after China wrapped its own military drills in which simulated attacks on Taiwan. The island detected 54 Chinese warplanes just outside its airspace Monday, the most in a single day this year. CNN's Selina Wang has more now reporting in from Beijing.
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SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): China launched three days of military exercises around Taiwan after the islands president met the U.S. House speaker. China's military said the drills create an all-around in circle moment of the island and simulate precision attacks on key targets and reaction to the military drills, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China's quote, provocative measures have clearly challenged the international order undermine peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and the region.
WANG (voiceover): China's fighter jets fly around Taiwan skies, military ships sail off its coast. China says it simulating precision attacks on key targets in Taiwan. While Beijing has not launched any missiles, its military released this animation showing missiles fired from land, sea and air into Taiwan, two of have them explode in flames.
Beijing is showing the world its fury, launching the three days of military exercises around Taiwan after the islands President Tsai Ing- wen met with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.
For the first time it appears Chinese simulated strikes with more planes that took off from an aircraft carrier. This video shows Taiwan's Coast Guard confronting a Chinese ship. The Taiwanese sailor says you are now seriously damaging regional peace and stability and safety. Please turn around immediately and leave. If you keep proceeding forward, I will take eviction measures.
The encounter highlighting the risks of any miscalculation in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing seas democratically ruled Taiwan as a part of its territory that will eventually be reunified with the mainland. Chinese military said the drills are quote a serious warning against the Taiwan separatist forces collusion with external forces and unnecessary move to defend national sovereignty.
Experts say Beijing is normalizing military activity around the island. It already sets military jets and ships around Taiwan every day. On China's heavily censored social media, some are commenting that the drills do not go far enough. One writes, let's just take Taiwan, another says if you're not going to attack that don't waste taxpayer money.
When then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last summer, China responded with military drills that simulated a blockade for the first time China even fired missiles over the island. Experts say the military response this time is more restrained because the meeting between Tsai and McCarthy was held on American soil to avoid provoking Beijing.
Both Washington and Taipei have called the visit just an ordinary transit stops. The symbolism was undeniable.
TSAI ING-WEN, TAIWANESE PRESIDENT: With stronger when we are together.
WANG: With Washington support for Taipei only growing, Beijing's anger will only intensify.
WANG (on camera): On China's third day of military exercises around Taiwan, the U.S. Navy sent a destroyer close to a contested Island to the South China Sea. Now Beijing claims the island is theirs and called the move illegal. Meanwhile, the U.S. says it can operate wherever international law allows. So it's not just Taiwan but the South China Sea is another source of tensions between the U.S. and China.
And with these latest exercises around Taiwan, experts say China's military is flexing its military might showing the world that it has the ability to conduct blockade and missile strikes on targets in and around Taiwan. Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Two prominent Chinese civil rights lawyers have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for subversion. They were originally detained after privately meeting with other activists in 2019.
Ding Jiaxi was given a 12-year sentence according to his wife who lives in the United States. His partner Xu Zhiyong was sentenced to 14 years. They both have corporate accountability in China's government and expressed pro-democracy sentiments. Both men were tried in separate cases behind closed doors. They pleaded not guilty to charges. They're notable for using China's constitution in freedom cases for dissidents.
Still to come. A march in Northern Ireland turned violent with petrol bombs thrown at police just a day before a visit by the U.S. President. More on what all this means for the Good Friday Agreement in a moment.
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[01:32:21]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
A Ukrainian commander is accusing Russia of switching to so called Syrian scorched earth tactics in the battle of Bakhmut, destroying buildings and defensive positions with airstrikes and artillery fire.
The Ukrainian military also says dozens of Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine had been repelled since Sunday. And a Russian helicopter and six drones have also been shot down.
Meanwhile some residents from Bakhmut, a city which has already been left mostly in ruins, are now taking shelter in a nearby town of Chasiv Yar.
CNN's Ben Wedeman went with some evacuees who shared stories of tragedy and survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the safest way out of Bakhmut, but not really safe at all.
Video obtained by CNN of the view from a Ukrainian armored vehicle shows the wasteland the city has become. And it was in a vehicle like this that Marina and Yevgenia (ph) escaped from Bakhmut.
They're building was hit in a bombardment last Thursday, killing three. Among them Yevgenia's 33-year-old grandson.
"I had to help him," she recalls. "But I couldn't do anything."
They waited in their ruined homes with the dead for three days before the army could rescue them. Marina's daughter was married to Yevgenia's grandson.
"What will I tell my daughter," cries Marina. She and my grandchildren are in Poland.
The shelter nearby Chasiv Yar provides them some comfort and warmth, but they're still not out of danger. This town is well within range of Russian guns, and since the battle for Bakhmut began seven months ago, it has regularly come under shelling. On this day, the Russians were firing incendiary munitions over the
city designed to cause fires. One resident showed a spent capsule from the rocket.
Officials say there are perhaps 1,000 civilians left in Chasiv Yar. Evacuations are possible, but there don't seem to be many takers.
Oleksandr (ph) drags firewood home. There's no electricity or running water here. He fled to Chasiv Yar from Siversk, an hour from here, where his home was destroyed.
[01:34:55]
WEDEMAN: Is he leaving? No, he replies. My wife died here. My parents are buried here.
Sergei Chaus (ph) heads the town's military administration. "Since last April, we've been trying to convince people to leave talking with them, reasoning with them; he tells me. But we can't make them leave.
Yet again, the old and infirm refuse to leave despite the danger.
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The U.S. State Department has officially designated "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich as wrongfully-detained by Russia. The designation gives more credibility to previous allegations by the U.S. that his charges of spying are baseless. It also opens options like a prisoner exchange.
His case will be handled by the State Department's special envoy for hostage affairs, which most recently negotiated the release of Trevor Reid and Brittney Griner from Russia.
The State Department briefed reporters on Monday's developments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VEDANT PATEL, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We believe that it is a matter of human dignity to ensure that Mr. Gershkovich can meet with consular officers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you do? Do you have any recourse at all?
PATEL: We have a number of tools at our disposal, Matt to hold the Russian Federation accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Gershkovich was detained late March, formally charged with espionage on Friday. As of Monday, officials from the U.S. embassy in Moscow have not been granted consular access to Gershkovich.
Police in Northern Ireland came under attack Monday during a march commemorating this month's anniversary of the 1916 Easter uprising in Ireland.
Masked men threw petrol bombs at police vehicles in Derry during the march organized by the political wing of the New IRA. Police say nobody was hurt in the attacks, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland, an historic peace deal which brought an end to decades of violence known as The Troubles.
In Belfast pro union loyalists marched Monday in their own peaceful Easter parade. All this, a day before U.S. President Joe Biden leaves for Northern Ireland to commemorate the Good Friday agreement, which was brokered by the United States.
Instead of a power sharing government between pro-British protestants and pro Irish Republicans, which according to some people is now beginning to falter.
Irish journalist Malachi O'Doherty is the author of the book "How to Fix Northern Ireland". He joins me now from the town of Strabane in Northern Ireland. So thank you for getting up early. We appreciate your time.
I would like to quote the "New York Times" for you to begin with. It says, "On Wednesday in Belfast, Mr. Biden will greet the leaders of Northern Ireland's five political parties, including the pro Britain Democrat Unionists who have yet to support a new trade deal, a new post-Brexit trade deal or agree to return to the government."
So what are the chances the new approach of the U.S. president doing more than a meet and greet, perhaps sitting down for talks to end what has been a year long boycott by the DUP over this post Brexit trade deal.
MALACHI O'DOHERTY, AUTHOR, "HOW TO FIX NORTHERN IRELAND": Well it would be a little surprising if there hadn't been some communication with the DUP, they are after all an essential partner to government to part-sharing government in Northern Ireland. And they're boycotting it, and we haven't had government now here for over a year.
So you know, Mr. Biden and the Americans have a strong interest in things working here because that is the evidence of the Good Friday agreement was indeed a valid agreement. It's not working. He must want them to work. And I suppose we must remind that he has communicated with the DUP and although there's nothing billed in terms of an actual meeting with them, it would be a little unusual if nobody was making contact with them today and tomorrow.
VAUSE: Yes. Because President Biden in the past, has said that essentially the Northern Ireland assembly and the fact that there is this power sharing arrangement, which is at the very core of the Good Friday agreement, given the fact that there hasn't been an elected representative government there for more than a year, what does that say about the current state of the Good Friday agreement?
O'DOHERTY: Well, it shows that the Good Friday agreement failed to provide a pattern or a framework for stable government in Northern Ireland. In a sense to address the problems up to that time. But it has not set out a good future for us.
The Good Friday agreement was radically altered in 2006 through the St. Andrews Agreement, and now we -- people are much more aware now of a core vulnerability, which is that one of the partnership parties can walk out and bring the whole thing down. And people don't like that -- that double veto.
I think there's a lot of interest now in the idea of reframing it yet again so that it can't simply be collapsed by one party walking away.
[01:39:57]
VAUSE: What you're referring to is part of the power sharing arrangement from the Good Friday agreement, which calls for a mandatory coalition between the British Unionists and the pro Republican Nationalists.
So basically, if you look at the deal as a whole, is it time to move on? Is it time for a new deal? Is it possible to get a new deal that you know, look towards the future not just the immediate problem?
O'DOHERTY: Well, I mean there's elements of the deal which are solid and sound like I mean, it's called a three-stranded arrangement.
Strand one, the internal arrangements inside Northern Ireland is clearly flawed. It does not provide a formula for a stable, continuing government and people want that. So how are they going to get it other than by people getting around the table yet again and trying to hammer right?
Not a new deal, but certainly a revised form of this one, but I don't see how the political parties can get to the point of negotiation at this stage.
We're pretty much deadlocked on issues around Brexit protocol, Republican urgency with getting a border poll to try and get a united Ireland. The parties would need to come together, have good, strong interests and not actually coming together.
VAUSE: It does seem like an opportunity for a visiting U.S. president to do some head knocking and maybe some cajoling, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what Joe Biden has to do.
O'DOHERTY: Well, I wish him luck.
VAUSE: Malachi O'Doherty, thank you so much, sir. We appreciate your time. Good morning to you.
Thank you.
Well, before Brexit Northern Ireland's imports and exports could flow freely between that country, the rest of the U.K. as well as the E.U. Now it's a whole lot more complicated.
Finding both a political and practical solution has been difficult to say the least. But while some of Northern Ireland's companies are struggling after Brexit, others are thriving as CNN's Nic Robertson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Blinds maker Bloc and its boss, Cormac Diamond, are at the cutting edge of their business.
CORMAC DIAMOND, DIRECTOR, BLOC BLINDS: We'll take orders up to 4:30 of any day and they'll be turned around the same day.
ROBERTSON: And are an object lesson on beating Brexit's impact on Northern Ireland.
DIAMOND: And there's going to holla (ph). This one is going to (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTSON: In the Netherlands.
DIAMOND: In the Netherlands. And then there is --
ROBERTSON: This whole palette to places in the E.U.
He can sell direct to the E.U. without the Brexit problems mainland U.K. companies have.
DIAMOND: You're a third country within the European market, so there's additional paperwork and tariffs associated with selling products directly to consumers.
ROBERTSON: So this is your advantage.
DIAMOND: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The problem with getting plants from England is that the (INAUDIBLE) don't want to do groupage (ph).
ROBERTSON: But Brexit isn't working for everyone, even with the new U.K.-E.U.-Windsor framework deal.
BETH LUNNEY, SAINTFIELD NURSERIES: It doesn't say that it's going to get any easier. We're now not only have we the border down the Irish Sea, we also have to adhere to all these European rules.
ROBERTSON: Beth Lunney runs Saintfield Nurseries. Says she'll still face a near impossible challenge to get some plants from mainland U.K.
LUNNEY: There's just all of the strings are being cut and we're being cast adrift, and that's how it feels.
ROBERTSON: In pro-British communities, the issue is totemic, the power-sharing government here is stalled over it. Yet business here is somehow powering ahead.
STEPHEN KELLY, CEO, MANUFACTURING NORTHERN IRELAND: A miraculous thing has happened. Our exports to the U.K. the E.U. and the rest of the world are all increased whilst the rest of the U.K. market has decreased.
ROBERTSON: But political sensitivities are not Brexit only challenge here. Better business is putting a squeeze on labor.
U.S. mining giant Terex, which first invested here right after the Good Friday peace agreement and now has eight sites, turning close to a billion dollars in sales last year, needs to grow their 2,000-person workforce and is taking untraditional steps.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're on a massive recruitment drive. We are actively trying to recruit females into our business. So when we actually actively went out under a female academy, we were very successful in attracting women into the workforce.
DIAMOND: So this is the next generation of blind production.
ROBERTSON: Blind maker Cormac Diamond has a solution too.
Or robots.
DIAMOND: Yes largely robots and the type of employee that we would see in the future state will have the skills relating to advanced manufacturing techniques.
ROBERTSON: So successful breaking into the U.S. blinds market selling the robots, not the blinds.
So this is where the future is going to be for you more --
DIAMOND: Absolutely.
ROBERTSON: -- automated system.
[01:44:51]
DIAMOND: Replica systems of this here deployed around the world. We might help manage it on a day to day basis.
ROBERTSON: Business groups estimate that for every job generated in advanced manufacturing another three are created in the wider economy.
And right now in Northern Ireland, one in every four families is estimated to rely on manufacturing for their income.
The political issue in play is business delivering more Brexit winners than losers? The answer to that likely seen at the ballot box next month.
Nic Robertson, CNN (INAUDIBLE) Northern Ireland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, they don't call North Korea the mafia state for nothing. We have a CNN exclusive on a major crypto heist -- all evidence pointing towards the secretive regime of Kim Jong-un. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone.
In the U.S. State of Kentucky, a mass shooting at a bank has left at least five people dead after a young bank employee, being told he was about to be laid off, opened fire at a staff meeting before the bank opened for business Monday. The shooter livestreamed the attack.
These shots ring out from the old National Bank in downtown Louisville. Eight people were wounded. The gunman was killed by police during the shootout.
One of the dead, Tommy Elliot is the senior vice president at the bank and a friend of the governor of Kentucky.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR, KENTUCKY: Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career. Helped me become governor. Gave me advice on being a good dad. He's one of the people I talked to most in the world and very rarely were we talking about my job?
He was an incredible friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The 25 year old shooter had a masters in finance had worked at the bank for more than a year.
A CNN exclusive investigation now to how Kim Jong-un has used high tech bank robberies to fund his illicit nuclear arms program.
CNN's Alex Marquardt has the story now reporting in from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: As North Korea's nuclear and missile programs race ahead, their hackers have been busy on a newer front.
CNN has exclusively learned about a counterpunch against North Korea's aggressive efforts to steal cryptocurrency by the hundreds of millions to fund Kim Jong-un's military programs.
JOHN PARK, DIRECTOR, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL, KOREA PROJECT: Right now with North Korea, China figure out ways to open up border trade again. The only sustainable recurring source of revenue in any meaningful way is the crypto theft angle.
MARQUARDT: Last year, according to the crypto firm Chainalysis (ph), North Korea stole an estimated did $1.7 billion nearly half of the $3.8 billion in crypto stolen in '22 globally.
[01:49:52] NICK CARLSEN, GLOBAL INVESTIGATIONS, TRM LABS: It's the kind of return on investment that North Korea can only dream about. Other things they can do like mining, selling coal, iron ore involved tens of thousands of laborers, slave laborers. But this they can do it with a handful of people and make enormous sums of money.
To cut off this revenue stream, the U.S. and South Korea are stepping up efforts with increasingly sophisticated tactics.
Last June, the California based crypto startup Harmony was hacked for $100 million, primarily in the cryptocurrency Ethereum. The FBI determined that North Korea was behind the hack.
South Korean intelligence and American crypto investigators were quickly on their tail able to track the stolen crypto through the system until the moment they tried to convert it to a dollar pegged account.
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: So there's a moment you know a matter of minutes where the North Koreans have to send the crypto money to other accounts that they're not controlling, and that's when these private investigators, the South Korean spies, the FBI, they try to pounce right then and there.
MARQUARDT: But the sting seized just 1 percent of the amount stolen or $1 million, showing just how big the challenge is to disrupt North Korea's crypto schemes.
CARLSEN: To act at that moment of opportunity, when you -- when you can do something, it's extremely time intensive and difficult.
To be able to, you know, provide law enforcement with the tools they need to track those asset movements in real time. That's the real innovation here.
MARQUARDT: The synergy between private crypto companies and intelligence and law enforcement is growing. The Biden administration credited with taking the threat seriously.
LYNGASS: In my conversations with senior administration officials, they're emphasizing that this is indeed a regular part of the president's intelligence briefing.
MARQUARDT: This is North Korea and its criminal ways moving into the virtual age. As cryptocurrencies become more and more popular, it means the opportunities for North Korean hackers also continue to grow.
This is clearly an area Kim Jong-un is prioritizing, and it is far less labor intensive than other efforts. Now in just the past few days, the State Department envoy for North Korea met with Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Seoul and together they issued a statement calling out North Korea's crypto theft and reiterating they're working together closely to try to block it.
Alex Marquardt, CNN Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We'll pause for now but we'll still be here 90 seconds from now. See you soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Italian coast guard is working to rescue more than a thousand migrants adrift on three separate vessels in the Mediterranean. One overcrowded boat with about 400 people on board was taking on water when the captain reportedly abandoned ship, left the migrants to fend for themselves.
Italy is grappling with another surge of migrants this year, mostly from North Africa, The U.N. says almost 28,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea since the beginning of the year.
The United Arab Emirates says it's supporting Saudi Arabian efforts to bring a political solution to the long running war in Yemen, that's according to a senior Emirati official.
Over the weekend, Houthi run media reported that envoy's from Saudi Arabia and Oman (ph) were in Yemen's capital for talks with Houthi leaders, along with Iran -- aligned with Iran, I should say -- part of the ongoing efforts towards a permanent ceasefire.
CNN's Becky Anderson has details.
[01:54:52]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A handshake between Yemen's Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, a major moment between two warring sides. Saudi Arabia now meeting with the Houthis to negotiate a permanent ceasefire. The talks mediated by Oman.
MUHAMMAD ABDUL-SALAM, HOUTHI CHIEF NEGOTIATOR (through translator): Our just demands are stopping the aggression completely, lifting the blockade completely, paying the salaries of all Yemeni employees from oil and gas revenues, as well as the exit of foreign forces from Yemen, compensations and reconstruction.
ANDERSON: A nearly nine-year-old conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and left the country heavily dependent on international aid. Yemen's war just one of several proxy conflicts between rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Negotiations gaining momentum since those two countries agreed to reestablish relations. In 2014, the Iran aligned Houthis toppled the Saudi backed government in the capital Sanaa and have de facto control over northern Yemen.
Al Qaeda also present in the country.
The talks, raising more questions than answers at this point. ABDULGHANI AL-IRYANI, SANAA CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: No party can
take control over all of Yemen. The Houthis are the strongest faction in Yemen, but they will not be able to control even all of north Yemen, let alone all of Yemen. So talking about, a degree of disintegration. If we do not, if the -- if the other parties, are not involved included in the current conversation with the Houthis.
ANDERSON: What happens to the UAE-backed southern transitional council forces in the south of Yemen. A senior Emirati official telling me quote "From the start of the Yemen crisis the UAE has always supported Saudi Arabia and fully supports current efforts by the kingdom to bring a political solution to the crisis. And to bring peace and a permanent end to hostilities between all the various Yemen parties."
The UAE hopes for the beginning of a constructive process between all Yemenis. A prisoner swap on Saturday saw 13 Houthi prisoners released by Saudi authorities.
For now, a permanent ceasefire agreement expected to shore up trust on both sides. But for peace to hold, Yemen needs a political solution.
Becky Anderson CNN -- Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: On that, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
The news continues right here on CNN with my friend and colleague, Rosemary Church.
I'll see you right back here tomorrow.
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