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U.N. Reports At Least 180 Killed And 1,800 Injured In Sudan Fighting; Vladimir Kara-Murza Convicted Of Treason After Criticizing War; Kremlin Critic Sentenced To 25 Years; FBI: China Set Up Secret "Police Operation" In New York; Amid War's Fury, Some Residents Refuse To Leave; Macron Insists Pension Changes Were Necessary; China's GDP Up 4.5% in First Quarter; Sega Buys Rovio Entertainment for $774 Million; State Government to Probe Killing of Former Lawmaker on Live TV; Survivor Shares Story of Holocaust So Others Remember; Survivor Shares Story of Holocaust So Others Remember. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 18, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour on CNN NEWSROOM.
Power struggle for Sudan, with two rival military factions locked in urban warfare in the capitol, hospitals are now under fire, many residents left for days without power or water.
Death sentence, the Russian dissident already in poor health after being poisoned twice, sentenced to 25 years in a penal colony for speaking out against Putin's war of choice in Ukraine.
And Apple's big push into India, with its first retail store opening Tuesday in Mumbai, the second opening in Delhi on Thursday.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: Thanks for joining us.
Violence continues to escalate in Sudan with hospitals now coming under fire by forces loyal to two military leaders locked in a deadly power struggle. The U.N. can confirm at least 180 dead after three days of fighting, at least 1,800 wounded, although the actual numbers will almost certainly be much higher.
According to residents in the densely populated capital, Monday saw the worst of the fighting with heavy shelling late into the night, while airstrikes and artillery fire have left many parts of Khartoum without power, water and internet service.
Witnesses report heavy clashes in the presidential palace and the army command building. Khartoum's airport is no longer in operation after airstrikes from fighter jets and attack helicopters.
Each side accuses the other of violating a temporary ceasefire. With the violence forcing the U.N. and other humanitarian groups to shut down aid programs nationwide.
Residents of the capitol have been told to stay indoors. Both sides are accused of targeting hospitals, which are short on blood and other crucial supplies.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with leaders of both military factions urging a ceasefire and sources say Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are working on a peace plan.
But the U.N. envoy to Sudan says neither side is willing to negotiate. We have more details now from CNN's Nima Elbagir.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sudan's military with a show of strength over the capital Khartoum.
As birdsong and artillery fire echo, this country roiled in recent years by conflict and coups, is once again the placing of strongmen and what the military is calling an attempted coup.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan's military's leader, is fighting for dominance with Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which gain notoriety in the western Darfur region, and it is the most vulnerable who are paying the price.
Two doctors organization say that in Khartoum, both sides have hit hospitals in the fighting, at least half a dozen, though both sides deny it. CNN obtained eyewitness accounts from doctors on the ground who told CNN that the paramilitary Rapid Support Force directly targeted a hospital where wounded armed forces, soldiers and their families were being treated, including one doctor who says she witnessed the RSF approach Al Amal (PH) hospital in central Khartoum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I have to be strong enough to speak to you, you're the one that's going to tell the world what's happening to us. The evacuation was chaos. We were running as soldiers were shouting run and then someone else would yell stop it's not safe. But what choice did we have?
ELBAGIR: Three separate doctors there described to us coming under intense bombardment. The country's Central Committee of Doctors tell CNN that with no doctors to tend them, the dead and injured are left to rot in their beds. And the Sudan Doctors Trade Union called the targeting of hospitals and the housing of military personnel there a clear breach of international humanitarian law, a charge both sides denied.
[00:05:14]
Both military leaders now fighting for control, were key allies in subverting the country's nascent democracy after the popular uprising in 2019, which deposed Sudan's longtime dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who now languishes in prison. The memories of those protests and the symbolic photo that became its emblem are slowly fading, as has the promised transition from military to democratic civilian rule.
But in an interview with CNN from inside Army HQ, the leader of Sudan's military tells me that the RSF militia is staging an attempted coup.
ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN, SUDAN'S MILITARY LEADER (through translator): Yesterday and today a humanitarian ceasefire proposal was put forward and agreed upon. Sadly, he did not abide by it. You can hear right now the attempts to storm the army headquarters, and indiscriminate mortar attacks. He's using the humanitarian pause to continue the fight.
ELBAGIR: I asked him why the Sudanese people should trust him, given his previous partnership with Commander Dagalo.
AL-BURHAN (through translator): The Sudanese Army is the people's army. It is not owned by specific people or specific organizations.
ELBAGIR: General Burhan also committed to a return to civilian rule.
The leader of the Rapid Support Forces also told CNN this weekend that he wanted to ensure democratic rule.
GENERAL MOHAMED HAMDAN DAGALO, LEADER OF PARAMILITARY RAPID SUPPORT FORCES (through translator): I don't want to be the leader of the army. There's a framework agreement between all the Sudanese stakeholders that should be adhered to. I don't want to lead anything.
ELBAGIR: Neither general could tell us when the people of Sudan could expect this deadly fight to end while many languish without water, food, electricity, and no way to bury their death.
Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: With us now is Will Carter the country director of Sudan for the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Will, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
WILL CARTER, SUDAN COUNTRY DIRECTOR, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL (on camera): Thank you for having me, John.
VAUSE: OK. So with this outbreak of violence in Sudan getting worse it seems, world leaders have been calling for some kind of ceasefire or return to talks for this transition from military to civilian rule, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE FRANCIS (through translator): I call for prayers that they lay down their weapons and that dialogue prevails, so that together we can resume the path of peace and concord.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: People in Sudan want the military back in the barracks. They want democracy. They want a civilian led government, Sudan needs to return to that path.
JAMES CLEVERLY, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: We call upon an immediate cessation of violence, or return to the talks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So, that was the Pope, the U.S. Secretary of State, the British Foreign Secretary, those calls seem to make this assumption here that someone is actually in control of Sudan. Is that the case? And if so, who is it?
CARTER: Thanks, John. Well, I've been talking to our team across the country. And it's clear that there really is no control at the moment, there's a confrontation between two armies in the capital city in some of the major urban centers around Darfur.
Neither side is one yet, it's clearly everything to play for, and so much at stake. So, it's difficult to say that any one is in control. Just given the heavy civilian casualties that have happened. We wonder at what costs they'll come to bring their armies to heal.
VAUSE: And the destruction of the capital, even though Sudan itself has seen a lot of violence over the years has been spared the worst of, you know, the violence in the war of the years.
But right now, it seems that the violence has arrived in the capital and a lot of people aren't used to this. So, what's happening there at the moment?
CARTER: Well, it's a terrible situation for many. You know, it's not just violence, there's been repression and other you know, strong handed tactics for months, if not years, but we've seen heavy weaponry used. We've seen machine guns, we've seen air strikes, anti-aircraft guns, explosive weapons used in densely populated areas.
You know, so extensive civilian casualties, hospitals, health clinics, other facilities are damaged. So, it's really terrible and terrifying situation for millions of civilians, and hundreds of thousands of refugees who have to live there as well.
You know, people are locked in their houses, they're terrified to go out. Many have been injured and killed.
VAUSE: Well, general leading the faction known as the rapid support forces accused his rival, the current head of the military, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of bombing civilians from the air in a tweet adding that his army is waging a brutal campaign against innocent people, bombing them with a MiGs. A Sudanese army claimed to be operating within the rules of conflict and international humanitarian law.
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You know, both sides who want to claim this high moral ground, it seems both sides are guilty of targeting civilians, especially in hospitals. Is there equal guilty to share or is one side more to blame than the other?
CARTER: Both sides have a responsibility to limit civilian casualties. I don't think the rank and file by the sides are under complete control to be honest. It's true that one side has power and is using it in an urban area.
But no, this isn't the time for investigation. It's the time for action and these actions are that the generals have to instruct to pause, to stop because using explosive weapons in densely populated civilian areas causes widespread harm which is completely avoidable.
VAUSE: And right now Egypt, Chad, Ethiopia and Libya have troops based somewhere in Sudan and the U.N. Secretary General is calling on those countries to try and help stabilize Sudan, here he is, listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECURITY-GENERAL: The situation has already led to horrendous loss of life, including many civilians.
Any further escalation could be devastating for the country and the region. Urge all those with influence over the situation to use it in the cause of peace, to support efforts to end the violence, restore order and return to the paths of transition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Do you see the chance that these countries could actually make this crisis worse, get directly involved in the fighting and make this more of a regional conflict?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: While the threats to some of those countries have, you know, widespread conflagration in Sudan, spilling over into -- to be honest, very fragile situations in their neighbors, they also have something at stake here.
Of course, all countries have different interests and different partners as well. So, it's complicated.
It's not clear that the United Nations itself -- by itself can help restore law order stability in Sudan at the moment. And so, I think there's a desperation and an obligation from all sides or regional bodies or neighboring states to echo the same calls to stabilize what is a rapidly unraveling -- rapidly unraveling situation in the country.
So, it's -- there's high risks, but there's very few options at hand to make an effective change right now.
VAUSE: Will, thank you for being with us. I'm sure we'll talk about this in the coming days, this doesn't seem to get any better. So, we appreciate you being with us. We appreciate the update.
CARTER: Thank you. VAUSE: Moscow court has handed the toughest punishment so far for
criticism of Vladimir Putin toward Ukraine. Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in a penal colony, severe even by Russian standards. With the U.K. now considering sanctions and all those involved in what many have called a sham trial.
The dual British Russian citizen was found guilty of treason to his public criticism. CNN's Matthew Chance has details now reporting in from London.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, RUSSIA OPPOSITION ACTIVIST: Today, the whole world sees what the Putin regime is doing to Ukraine, the cluster bombs on residential areas, the bombings of maternity wards in hospitals and schools.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It was this speech before the Arizona state house that Russian prosecutors used as part of their case against Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine just a few weeks earlier, and the veteran Kremlin critic, like so many others, was incensed.
KARA-MURZA: The war crimes, these are war crimes.
CHANCE: Less than a month later, Kara-Murza was arrested in Moscow, accused of discrediting the Russian army. He was later also charged with the much more serious offense of treason.
In a court in Moscow, Kara-Murza stood motionless as he was sentenced to 25 years in jail. Outside, there was international outcry.
LYNNE TRACY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: Criminalization of criticism of government action is a sign of weakness, not strength. We support the right of Mr. Kara-Murza and every Russian citizen to have a voice in the direction of their country.
CHANCE: More than 40 other foreign diplomats were at the sentencing, too. While in Britain, where Kara-Murza is a dual citizen, the Russian ambassador was summoned over what was called a politically motivated conviction. It would by no means be Russia's first.
The country's most high profile opposition figure, Alexey Navalny, is already serving an 11-1/2-year sentence amid renewed concerns for his health behind bars.
Another prominent Russian opposition leader Ilya Yashin was recently sentenced to 8-1/2 years in jail for criticizing the Ukraine war. This will all end soon, he shouted out in court. But there's no real reason for optimism.
[00:15:17]
In fact, the Russian crackdown on free speech is getting worse. Only last month, U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich of "The Wall Street Journal" in Russia was arrested for espionage. The paper vehemently denies the charges against him, but it all sends a chilling Kremlin message aimed at silencing the voices against it.
Matthew Chance, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Speaking outside the court after the sentencing Kara-Murza's lawyer says her client has been diagnosed with polyneuropathy, a condition that develops when the body's extremities are damaged and says his poor health is getting worse.
Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny himself sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison, had this to say about Kara-Murza's sentencing.
I assessed this verdict is illegal, shameless, simply fascists. The term he received is revenge for the fact that he did not die at one time, having survived two poisonings, which were apparently committed. And then this has already been proven by the FSB of Russia.
I spoke with CNN's Russian affairs contributor and Georgetown University adjunct professor Jill Dougherty about Kara-Murza's sentencing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FORMER MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: We can look at what he's accused of, or as he found guilty of apparently, it would be a treason discrediting the special military operation, the armed forces and belonging to an undesirable organization.
And any of these laws can be interpreted in various ways, so that almost no matter what do you do, although he was very overt, he's definitely against the Putin government. But no matter what you do, it's very easy to go afoul of these laws and then ended up being arrested.
VAUSE: And before the sentencing, he made a final address to the court last week, and he likened the current climate in Russia to the Stalin years. And these are incredibly defiant words.
Here's part of what he said, I subscribe to every word that I've spoken, and every word of which I've been accused by this court. I blame myself for only one thing. But over the years of my political activity, I have not managed to convince enough of my compatriots and enough politicians in the democratic countries of the danger that the current regime in the Kremlin poses for Russia and for the world.
I also know that the day will come when the doctors over our country will dissipate from this realization, from this reflection, the long difficult but vital path towards the recovery and restoration of Russia is returned to the community of civilized countries will begin.
Those words are just incredibly defies it. How did that play into this sentencing here for 25 years? DOUGHERTY: Well, I don't -- I don't think that -- I think the problem here is that he went back, he went back like Navalny, because he believes that he has to be there in Russia.
And unfortunately, in order to, as he said, convinced his fellow Russians, it's going to take something you know, very brave like this, and that may not even do it.
So I think, you know, he's in the line of dissidents, and people who have really put their lives on the line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: My fully interview with Jill air next hour here on CNN.
Well, jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be appealing his detention in Russia within the coming hours, but the court is expected to uphold a decision to keep him in custody until at least May 29th.
On Monday, Gershkovich was granted a consular visit for the first time since he was detained on spying allegations more than two weeks ago. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. repeated calls for Gershkovich to be released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: We're absolutely delighted that we have had the opportunity to see him, but we still call for his unconditional release. He's being held unfairly and unjustly and the Russians need to allow him to return to his family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.S. Justice Department is filing charges against dozens of people accused of running a secret and illegal operation in New York City to track and intimidate Chinese dissidents. CNN's Evan Perez has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR U.S. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The FBI arrested two U.S. citizens for allegedly acting as Chinese government agents by operating an illegal Chinese police station in New York's Chinatown neighborhood. The arrests are part of a sweeping set of charges against more than 40 people that federal prosecutors say were part of a vast spy operation that targeted dissidents with physical threats and online harassment.
The two men arrested appeared before a judge Monday in Brooklyn and were released on bond and ordered to stay away from any contact with Chinese consulates.
Also, among those charged were a group of alleged Chinese security agents who ran an operation to disrupt Zoom calls held by dissidents. Among them was an employee of Zoom based in China, who the FBI alleges worked with other Chinese government agents to disrupt Zoom meetings where anyone said disparaging things about the Chinese government. That includes any mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests.
[00:20:19]
And the police station in Chinatown was one of several that the Chinese operated in the U.S. and around the world. It has now been shut down.
Chinese agents allegedly threatened dissidents to return to China. Charges were also filed against a group of Chinese agents who allegedly use social media accounts to promote the government propaganda. In some cases, they posed as Americans. The FBI says to criticize the U.S. government.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Even as the front lines move closer to their front doors, many in Ukraine are refusing to leave.
When we come back, how to convince the most resistant residents it's time to go.
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VAUSE: Even as Russian forces targeted civilian areas, commit atrocious war crimes, indiscriminately killing innocent men, women and children, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow is wants Putin's war on Ukraine to end as soon as possible.
He made that comment in Brasilia Monday as he met with President Lula da Silva and his Foreign Minister. Lavrov also said Brazil has an excellent understanding of the situation in Ukraine, and thanked Brazil for trying to help resolve the war.
Brazil's President has proposed a council of independent countries to broker a peace deal. But it was this comment in Beijing over the weekend, which infuriated both the United States and the European Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The United States needs to stop encouraging war and start talking about peace. The European Union needs to start talking about peace so that we can convince Putin and Zelenskyy that peace is in the interest of everyone. And that war is only interesting for now to the two of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That brought a blistering response from the White House on Monday. "It's deeply problematic how Brazil has approached this issue by suggesting that the United States and Europe are somehow not interested in or that we share responsibility for the war. Brazil was parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts.
Two former Russian convicts who say they served as commanders for the Wagner Mercenary Group have confessed to murdering children in Ukraine, then gave video interviews to a human rights activists who posted them on his organization's website.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZAMAT ULDAROV, PURPORTED FORMER WAGNER COMMANDER (through translator): I don't want this war. You see the cigarette in my hand? With this hand by command, I killed children. You understand? It was an order.
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We were given the command to advance and kill everything in our path and set up our defense in the area. Do whatever it takes. And we went and killed everyone.
There were women, men, kids, elderly folks, male and female, and kids. Or women, men, kids, elderly folks, male and female, and kids.
Now, there's a little child dead, five or six years old, and I shot her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That former commander is putting the blame squarely on Wagner's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, saying he gave orders to annihilate everyone in two Eastern towns.
When confronted about the claims, Prigozhin said he has not seen the video but added this. No one ever shoots civilians or children. That wasn't the assessment in Washington where top law enforcement officials from the U.S. and Ukraine met to discuss war crime prosecutions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRIY KOSTIN, UKRAINIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL: We are intensifying our work to freeze the Wagner Group's overseas assets to deprive the group of the resources to finance its criminal activities in Ukraine and worldwide.
MERRICK GARLAND, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: For over a year, Russia has engaged in an unjust war against Ukraine, committing atrocities at the largest scale of any armed conflict since the Second World War.
And for over a year, the people of Ukraine have fought with courage and conviction to protect their country. They have worked with unflagging resolve to record the brutalities committed against thousands of Ukrainian men, women and children and to hold the perpetrators of those atrocities accountable. Under the law, they have risked and sacrificed their lives in the
defense of their country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In some villages and towns just kilometers from the war's frontlines, many residents are just refusing to leave. It's our home, they say.
CNN's Ben Wedeman went along with Ukrainian police to try and use a little kindness to persuade people, it's time to move.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Another family is moving out. Leaving the frontline town of Krasnohorivka with the help of the police.
Perhaps to lessen the blow to his children, Yevgeni Kwips (PH) will be back. It's just a vacation.
84-year-old Raya (PH) doesn't sugarcoat it.
It's like torture, she says. But don't worry. We'll survive. Raya has lived in Krasnohorivka all her life.
Rustam (PH) and his colleagues venture out to these frontline villages several times a week trying to convince people to move to safer ground.
It's dangerous work but for Rustam, it's worth the risk to get these children out of harm's way.
Looking into those eyes, he asks, what else can you do? If friendly persuasion doesn't work, there are other means. There's an order from local government requiring the children be evacuated from areas close to the fighting.
This is how Vasilii (PH) goes about the job of friendly persuasion. Sitting, talking, trying to convince those who remain if their lives are in peril. The people in this basement turned bomb shelter have been down here for more than a year. And clearly, that has taken a toll.
Their homes are here. Everything they know is here. They refuse to leave. The eastern end of Krasnohorivka is the hardest hit. Yet even here, there's a stubborn holdout.
WEDEMAN (on camera): They've come to this building to try to convince an old man to leave. They've already evacuated his wife. As you can see, this area has been seriously smashed by incoming rounds. The Russians are just five kilometers, around three miles from here.
WEDEMAN (voice over): He didn't want his face to appear on camera.
I'm not going anywhere, he says. I was born here and I'm going to die here. The chances of that happening here are perilously high.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Krasnohorivka, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Kansas City, Missouri, a homeowner is facing two felony counts after allegedly shooting and wounding a 16-year-old. The teenager who was black went to the wrong address to pick up his siblings. 84-year-old Andrew Lester, who is white, were charged with assault in the first degree and armed criminal action.
The prosecutor says there is a racial component to this, arrest warrant has been issued for Lester who is not in custody.
The teenager Ralph Yarl was shot twice in the forehead and the arm, according to the probable cause statement, now has now been released from hospital and will recover.
In France, an Airbus had been acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in a criminal trial of a 2009 plane crash which killed all 228 people on board. The ruling angered families who were hoping to prove criminal liability for France's worst air disaster.
[00:30:12]
The flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down mid-flight over the Atlantic. An investigation later found the pilots failed to respond properly to problems with icing on the plane's speed sensors.
But even the prosecutors admit at trial it was impossible to blame either company.
The court did find Airbus and Air France liable for civil damages. That hearing is now set for September.
Still to come on CNN, protests continue in France over controversial pension reforms. Details on the president's new plan to try and appease demonstrators and calm the country.
Plus, good news for the Chinese economy, maybe for the world. We're live in Beijing as the country's recovery from COVID lockdowns appears to take an uptick.
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VAUSE: Protests in Paris Monday over the government's overhaul of retirement benefits. At the same time, President Emmanuel Macron delivered a nationally-televised address, calling for 100 days of healing, unity and action, promising improvements to public services, and said the prime minister would announce new policy initiatives from next week.
But the French leader did not say how those policies would work, what they will actually be, or how they'll be funded.
Macron continues, though, to defend the new pension laws, saying the changes were necessary. He's also called for talks with unions over better pay and working conditions.
CNN's Nada Bashir reports now from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was President Emmanuel Macron's first address to the nation since he signed into law his controversial and deeply unpopular pension reform plan early on Saturday morning.
And during his address, he acknowledged the challenges that his government is facing when it comes to the economy, particularly in terms of improving wages and working conditions. But he maintained his defense of the pension reform, which will see the retirement age here in France being raised from 62 to 64, describing this as a necessary measure, although he did concede that he holds regrets for not being able to come to some sort of consensus with the union leaders.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Clearly, this has not been welcomed or accepted, and a consensus have not been able to be found, which I regret. And we have to draw all the lessons from that process.
Faced by this anger, we have to act together, over and above the divisions in society.
[00:35:04]
BASHIR (voice-over) But in the same moment that President Macron was calling for unity, we also saw protesters taking to the streets across the country, including here in Paris, where some protesters carried flares and set fire to bins in the center of the city in protest, once again, against President Macron's pension reform.
We've heard from the union heads, calling for further demonstrations, including on Thursday. This would mark the 13th week of protests against President Macron's pension reforms. And in fact, one of France's largest unions has called for historic protests to take place on May 1st, which is Labor Day here in France.
And there has also been fierce criticism from President Macron's opposition. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen describing President Emmanuel Macron as having turned his back on the French public.
Meanwhile, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon describing the president as being out of touch from reality.
BASHIR: And there is certainly still a lot of anger, a lot of frustration being directed towards President Macron for the way in which this legislation was forced through, bypassing the lower house of parliament, where President Macron party crucially doesn't hold an outright majority, for going that final vote and being forced in using executive powers typically reserved for budgetary legislation.
So there is still certainly a lot of anger being directed towards President Macron early on in his second term, and that could threaten future reforms he plans to put in place.
Nada Bashir, CNN, in Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: China's economic growth off to a solid start for the first quarter of the year, with an increase in GDP of 4.5 percent, a sign that China's economy might just be rebounding after a slowdown caused by the world's harshest pandemic control measures.
Production is now back to pre-pandemic levels, according to analysts, but demand for goods remains weak.
CNN's Beijing bureau chief Stephen Jiang-- Where have you been? It's been ages -- joins me now live from Beijing. So Steven, these look like pretty good numbers on the surface. What's below them? What's below the surface?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, John, I was actually part of that recovery, because I was on vacation, you know, going to ski resorts a little while ago.
But that's the thing. You have to dive a bit deeper beyond these healthy-looking and robust numbers, which, of course, officials here were so proud to present to the world.
Because first of all, you alluded to that you have to remember what kind of baseline we are comparing these numbers against. In 2022, especially the month of March, because the first two months of the year, always seeing things slow down because of lunar new year holidays. So March is what matters.
March 2022 what was happening? That was when Shanghai, the financial hub of the country, the biggest city of this country, was about to enter a very brutal two-month lockdown. So that was the kind of baselines were against, these very healthy rebound numbers against. So not entirely surprising.
And the other thing is these rebound not evenly distributed across different sectors and across different segments of the population. For example, the officials here very proud to talk about consumer spending, especially in the service sectors. Anecdotally of course, we have seen that. Hotel rooms, flights and resorts once empty, now filled with people again, with prices for airfares and hotel rooms shooting through the roof in some cases.
But people are not buying new homes, not buying new cars. These big- ticket item purchases not coming back.
Speaking of homes, the real-estate sector still described by some experts in a slow motion crash as developers are running out of money to not only not starting new projects, but even having difficulties finishing already pre-sold apartments.
Same thing about unemployment. Officially urban unemployment, 5.5 percent, very low. But when you dig a bit deeper, youth unemployment -- that's the people between the age of 16 and 24 -- that number shot up to 19.6 percent in March. That's the second worst number on record.
So as you can imagine, that is very worrisome for this -- for this leadership, who, of course, is very much always concerned about social instability. And we have hundreds of thousands of college students graduating in the coming months.
So John, a lot of underlying currents. A lot of underlying challenges ahead for this economy, despite these very robust numbers they announced today -- John.
VAUSE: Yes. I always wonder about those numbers. Sometimes, you know, it's a little bit too good, a little bit too good to be true. They do a little bit of a massaging there. Who knows?
Steven Jiang, live for us in Beijing. Thank you.
In the next hour, tech giant Apple expected to open a retail store in India for the first time.
It's located in Mumbai and is expected to expand the company's footprint nationwide.
Apple has had a presence in India for more than two decades. But that was by third-party. It sales also has increased its manufacturing operation there.
But Apple makes up about 3 percent of India's smartphone market share. But sales have been up ever since it launched an online store in 2020. It now hope sales will increase by three-fold by 2025.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEIRDRE O'BRIEN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF RETAIL AND PEOPLE, APPLE INC.: And since our first opening of our app store online here in India, we've been able to make really meaningful connections with our customers all across the country.
[00:40:06]
And now we have an opportunity to take those connections and those relationships and go deeper with our two stores: one here and one in Delhi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Apple had 100 team members in the Mumbai store, whose design was inspired by the city's iconic black and yellow taxis.
But wait, they will not be one Apple retail store this week, which is opening. There'll be two. Another one opening in Delhi on Thursday.
Japanese gaming company Sega is buying Finish firm Rovio. That means Sonic the Hedgehog is now teaming up with Angry Birds.
CNN's Anna Stewart has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sega Samy, the company best known for Sonic the Hedgehog, is gobbling up Rovio, the Finnish games company that makes Angry Birds.
And really, it gets two birds with one stone. Or should that be two pigs with one bird?
Firstly and rather obviously, this deal will bring Angry Birds into the Sega family, and it's much more than a game. It is a huge franchise, with not one but two movies to its name, plus a lot of Angry Bird game versions.
Just look at all of these: Angry Birds Star Wars, Angry Birds Reloaded, Angry Birds Football. In fact, you could question whether there is any room for growth when it comes to Rovio's star franchise.
But secondly, it gets a company that has seen huge success in mobile gaming. And this is an area that Sega Samy wants to grow in. The company sees this segment outpacing others in terms of gaming growth. They expect mobile gaming to account for 56 percent of the global market by 2026.
Rovio's board backs the deal, and as for shareholders, well, they were as happy as pigs in mud Monday, with the share price up significantly on the news.
Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Bad luck, Shaq. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) caught up with Shaq O'Neal. Apparently, he was hiding for months. He's finally been served with legal papers.
Shaq is just the latest celebrity endorse -- endorser, rather, to be sued by a group of investors who lost money with the collapsed cryptocurrency giant FTX.
The NBA Hall of Famer was served outside his home on Sunday as part of a class action lawsuit. That's according to the lawyers representing the investors.
The lawsuit accuses the FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, and several public figures who endorsed the platform, of defrauding investors. Those other endorsers include Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and Stephen Curry.
O'Neal told CNBC last December that he was just a paid spokesperson doing a commercial.
U.K.'s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, under investigation for the possible failure to declare an interest in one of parliamentary standards watchdogs.
It's focused on his wife's shareholding, specifically in a childcare firm called Kura Kids. The MP code of conduct says members must be open and frank in declaring interests.
Downing Street says Mr. Sunak will clarify how the shareholding was declared.
Well, the great Pacific garbage patch larger than previously believed, so being, in fact, it's created its own ecosystem. How about that? Aren't we doing well? Details in a moment.
Plus, an investigation into the shocking killing of a former Indian lawmaker live on television. What we know about the gunman so far.
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[06:45:27]
VAUSE: In India, authorities have announced two special task forces to investigate the killing of a former lawmaker.
Atiq Ahmed was convicted of kidnapping, was shot dead live on television. So, too, his brother Saturday, while in police custody. The three gunmen reportedly posing as journalists.
CNN's Vedika Sud has details now and a warning: this report contains some disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(GUNSHOTS)
VEDIKA SUD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Gunshots fired over and over again. Seconds later, police officers restrained two men chanting Hindu religious slogans. They pinned down a third.
These dramatic scenes of the cold-blooded assassination in India's Uttar Pradesh state were broadcast live on television.
It all went down within minutes. A former Indian lawmaker, Atiq Ahmed, convicted of kidnapping, and his brother stepped out from the back of a police car.
Police believe both men were part of a local organized crime ring, handcuffed and flanked by policemen, Ahmed was being escorted to a hospital when approached by reporters. The attackers were hiding among the TV crews.
Ahmed carried questions from the journalists, his response brief and dismissive. Seconds later, the first gunshot went off. Ahmed fell to the ground.
And then more gunshots, over a dozen, killing him and his brother.
Facing heavy criticism from opposition leaders, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu nationalist, ordered a probe into the killings.
Amid media glare, Ahmed was laid to rest Sunday, but this vicious attack on him raises several serious questions in state security, broadcast for all to see.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: So it turns out pollution from the U.S. oil and gas industry, whole lot worse than previously thought.
A new study by the National Academy of Science has found 70 percent more methane was released by those industries than initially estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Methane can create 80 times more global warming than carbon dioxide.
Scientists say the discrepancy is because of inefficient monitoring of methane leaks.
A new swirl of trash floating on the Pacific Ocean has grown so large, it now has its own ecosystem. Scientists have found thriving communities of coastal creatures living within the so called great Pacific garbage patch, a 620,000 square mile collection of plastic waste stretched out between California and Hawaii.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: There's an estimated 170 trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans, most of them put in since 2004, most of them tiny little micro plastic as they degrade.
But this is stunning. This new science that shows there's enough permanence out there to mimic a coastal ecosystem for these creatures.
But long term. This is a crisis that needs addressing because petrochemical companies are on record, saying they want to increase production of plastics two or three times in the next decades. And obviously the oceans can't handle that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. The garbage patch now three times the size of France. According to estimates from the Ocean Cleanup Initiative, it contains about 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, as Bill just said, weighing roughly 80,000 tons.
Marine scientists have discovered an extensive coral reef that no one knew about until recently. It's secluded (ph) off Ecuador's Galapagos Island. It's about 400 meters under the ocean's surface.
This is just the second now Galapagos reef to survive the severe El Nino weather of the 1980s that wiped out much of the area's coral.
Researchers say they have a lot to learn from this new discovery. Let's hope we leave it that way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STUART BANKS, SENIOR MARINE RESEARCHER, CHARLES DARWIN FOUNDATION (through translator): It's a pleasure to share that we've discovered old and vast corals, the only ones adapted to cold and profound environments, named cold water corals.
What's surprising about them is that they form old reef structures. We haven't found such extensive and developed coral reefs in this depth. They are at least thousands of years old or more, and they are in original state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More than half of the coral in the reef is still alive. The reef itself has all sorts of marine life. Again, let's just leave it alone.
Over the course of 12 years, six million people, most of them Jews, killed in the Holocaust. Murder on an industrial scale.
And one survivor tells her story in hopes the world never, never forgets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDITH GROSS, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: I fulfilled my sister's wish, but the she always said you must survive, because otherwise, we never lived.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT (through translator): But this year is no ordinary year. And this Remembrance Day is like no other this year. This ear, feelings are rough shoulders are hunched, as if to attest to the weight of the discord bearing down on us. I appeal to you citizens of Israel with a simple prayer.
Let us leave the sacred days, which begin tonight and end on Independence Day, above all dispute. Let us all come together as always in partnership, in grief, in remembrance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Israeli President Isaac Herzog there, calling for peace and unity on Israel's annual Holocaust Memorial Day.
This year's remembrance comes as Israel remains deeply divided over plans by the most far-right government in the country's history to overhaul the nation's judicial system. Just over two hours from now, Israelis will pause as sirens sound across the country, marking this day.
Also Tuesday, the United States will honor those lost in the Holocaust. It was mass murder on an industrial scale the world ignored away too long.
CNN's Dana Bash spoke with one of the survivors ahead of this day of remembrance, who's sharing her story so future generations never forget.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GROSS: I fulfilled my sister's wish, because she always said you must survive, because otherwise, we never lived.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR (voice-over): Edith Gross is a survivor. She beat unimaginable odds, endured the horrors of the Holocaust and lived to tell her story.
GROSS: In 1944, we heard that the Nazis coming.
BASH (voice-over): Edith was 15 years old, living in occupied Czechoslovakia with her older sister and brothers.
GROSS: In the first week, we had to wear a yellow star. If you didn't put it on and you were caught, they killed you, right away.
BASH (voiceover): As the Nazi grip on the country tightened, Jews were forced into ghettos and not allowed to run businesses.
Then the transports to concentration camps began.
GROSS: They told us, pack everything you can -- you can carry, and you have to leave everything behind. We went for days. It seemed like for years. It was a nightmare. Terrible.
But finally we arrived in Birkenau-Auschwitz.
BASH (voice-over): Many did not even survive the journey to the camps.
GROSS: When we arrived, we did see a smoking crematorium, and the smell was terrible.
I remember lining up and walking from the train into Auschwitz, and there sat Mengele, with a little stick in his hand, first for women and then for men.
And he directed the people. This way went to work and this way went to -- went to the crematorium.
I ran over to my brother, and I gave him a big hug. And I could see his eyes. He was so frightened.
BASH (voice-over): Edith managed to follow her sister to the line. She never saw her brother again.
After Auschwitz, Edith and her sister were moved to a forced labor camp.
GROSS: It was very, very, very hard labor, and there was a quota. And my sister always had back pain, so I -- I was very fast. I always made sure that I made a quota.
BASH (voice-over): As the Russians began to close in on their location, the Nazis moved them again, this time to Stutthof concentration camp.
GROSS: Stutthof was a very, very rough place, waking us up during the night. And watching somebody being hung.
[00:55:07]
BASH (voice-over): Edith's sister became very ill. Her condition deteriorated rapidly.
GROSS: I remember she was on the other side of the electric wire, and I was yelling, "Dwartijja," my sister's name. I wanted a last glance, because I knew we were never going to see each other again. And that was one of my saddest days, of course.
BASH (voice-over): The Nazis, becoming desperate amidst Russian advances, started forcing the Jews on so-called death marches.
GROSS: We didn't have any warm clothes, of course, and no food. No nothing. And we started to march. People would just bend down. They were shot.
BASH (voice-over): They marched from Stutthof to Danzig, finally reaching Konigsberg, now known as Kaliningrad in Russia, where they were liberated by Russian troops.
GROSS: Russia tanks arrived, and they said to us, You are liberated.
BASH (voice-over): Edith slowly made her way back to Czechoslovakia, but there was nothing left for her in her hometown. She eventually ended up in America, where she enrolled in school and learned English.
Edith now has seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Today, as more and more Holocaust survivors pass away, Edith has made it her mission to continue to tell her story. She says even if she changes one mind, she's accomplished something.
GROSS: Stop hate and take people the way they are. That's my aim, too, because I have never, never thought that in my life I would see anti- Semitism again. And I'm shocked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.
BASH (voice-over): Through the Habad Organization in the town of Islip, Long Island, a community center was dedicated in Edith's honor. She recently took a trip to Israel, where she visited the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial.
Though it has been 80 years since that horrible time, all that she has lost will always remain.
GROSS: When I hear Holocaust survivors saying, I'll forgive and forget. No, there is no such a thing. I will never forget, forgive and definitely not forget.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news after a short break.
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