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CNN International: Violence in Sudan; Russia: Emergency Air Munition Drop Caused Belgorod Blast; Sources: Biden to Announce Reelection Bid Soon; Chaos Reigns as Twitter begins Purge of Blue Checks; The Legacy of Stephen Lawrence's Murder, 30 Years On. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired April 21, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London, just ahead eyewitnesses, in Khartoum tells CNN that heavy fighting is underway around the Sudanese capital. But will a new ceasefire change anything on the ground? Then Western allies are meeting at the Ramstein base in Germany to discuss further military support to Ukraine and the promise from the NATO Secretary General.

Ukraine will eventually become a member of the alliance and chaos and confusion on Twitter. Thousands of well-known figures are no longer verified on the social media platform.

In Sudan fierce clashes are taking place in neighborhoods in and around Khartoum, despite pledges of a new temporary peace. I live pictures here of the Sudanese Capital, where it's two o'clock in the afternoon. You can see smoke there very clearly in the distance the parliamentary group RSF announced a three day ceasefire to coincide with the Eid holiday.

The army says it will comply but only if the RSF abides by the truce. The violent power struggles between both sides now in their seventh day, the World Health Organization says more than 400 people have been killed. And a doctor's union warns 70 percent of hospitals near conflict areas remain close.

CNN's Larry Madowo joins me live in Nairobi. It doesn't look like there's a ceasefire there, but that's what they're saying.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Max. And I think the clue here isn't that latest statement, excuse me from the Sudanese Military. Earlier this morning, the paramilitary group rapid support forces said they would adhere to this 72 hour ceasefire that was proposed by the United Nations even though the African Union wanted a one week ceasefire.

A short while ago, the military now saying we will abide to the ceasefire if the RSF abides to it. But all morning we've been hearing of some gunfire, some fighting still continuing. So it's still very confusing. This says if you're counting the fourth time, there's been an attempt as a ceasefire. This one should be taken a bit more seriously because it is the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. This is the end of the holy month of Ramadan, both of these generals who are involved in this power struggle confessed to be Muslims. And this should be a holy time for the country it should be times for people to at least reconnect with families get basic supplies.

That does not seem to be the case. I want to show you a video sent to CNN by Sudanese Activist who says she had to flee Khartoum to go to a safe house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALIA MOHAMED ABDELMONIEM, SUDANESE ACTIVIST: It's traumatic, it's real. It's scary. It's frightening. And it's really frightening because frightening in the sense that we don't know what's going to happen next. We don't know what steps we need to take and if we can even take those steps.

Do we vacate? Do we move? Do we go somewhere else? Do we move to another city? Do we look to leave the country? And at the same time if we leave the country, what are our chances of being allowed in? Can we come back home? Can we not? We don't know. We really don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADOWO: That is the state of terror and confusion for many people in Sudan, as this fighting is now in day seven. The U.S. says it's adding additional capabilities nearby. That means that it's sending more military support in Djibouti, which is next to Sudan. And this includes some of the hundreds of marines who are stationed at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti.

It will also include some aircraft that are possible that can bring in on the ground personnel to secure the embassy and even carry out an evacuation if that were necessary. We've also heard from South Korea that is sending military planes to Djibouti at the same U.S. Military base to evacuate the citizens if that were necessary.

So as many people as possible foreign nations trying to pull out the citizens if that will come in to handy and at least one U.S. citizen is now reported to have been killed in this conflict that broke out on Saturday, Max.

FOSTER: Larry in Nairobi, thank you. To Ukraine where we're hearing reports of new attacks on the capital Kyiv after weeks of relative calm. Ukraine's armed forces say Russia unleashed at least 12 drones, but it says most were destroyed and there were no casualties or damage.

This as a Russian state media says a large blast in the Russian City of Belgorod. Close to the Ukrainian border was caused by an emergency release of an air ordinance from a Russian warplane. There was significant damage at least one analyst described the scenario as odd. Let's bring in Ben Wedeman, who joins me from Kyiv but does sound rather odd. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Odd indeed, this happened at about 15 minutes past 10 o'clock last night, local time, where an SU 35 twin engine fighter bomber dropped a bomb. I mean the use of this emergency release of an airborne of air ordnance. They dropped a bomb on a busy street in the middle of this city of 400,000 people now we saw on CCTV that it hit sort of on a sidewalk by the side of this busy road, causing one car to fly up into the air.

[08:05:00]

Now according to the mayor of Belgorod, two people were injured in this incident. Now it is odd that this would happen in the middle of a town normally if a pilot is experiencing problems, if he has to drop his bomb by mistake because of technical difficulties, he would do it in an unpopulated area not in the middle of a city.

Now Belgorod is only 40 kilometers from the border with Ukraine and on more than one occasion, the Ukrainians had fired back in the direction of that city. I think, in the early months, weeks of the war, actually, a Ukrainian helicopter conducted a strike on the city. I think sometimes its hit by Ukrainian drones as well, but this incident certainly will be jarring to many of the residents of that city, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Ben, thank you. The U.S. says Western allies have now provided $55 billion in security assistance to Ukraine and are promising to build on their progress. The U.S. Defense Secretary spoke at the Ukraine defense contact group meeting in Ramstein, Germany where he said America rejects flooding their Putin's view of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: All of us have come together to stand up for Ukraine and for a world based on rules and rights. We reject Putin's grand vision of a world where tyrants get to assault their peaceful neighbors and tried to impose self-declared spheres of influence at gunpoint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Also, speaking from Ramstein, the Head of NATO, who said the alliance remains committed to Ukraine's eventual membership?

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JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: All NATO allies have agreed that that Ukraine will become a NATO member. But the main focus now is of course on how to ensure that Ukraine prevails.

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FOSTER: Clare Sebastian here with more and Ukraine always wants more than what has been promised. What do you expect we're going to get today?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, so we know so far that Alexei Resnikoff, who was the Defense Minister, has held a bilateral meeting with the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who you just saw there. He said it was fruitful. We don't know exactly what kinds of promises were made.

The U.S. went into this meeting, saying there were three key issues air defense ammunition, and what they call enablers, which are things that sort of help the overall mission things like heavy duty trucks and stuff to transport equipment. The Ukrainian side went into it specifically asking for NATO standard fighter jet.

So it would seem that there is some daylight but of course, they are very clear, rhetorically, certainly the NATO side that they are in this for the long haul that they stand with Ukraine, and going to continue to tailor their response to the situation on the battlefield.

I think the other elephant in the room clearly at this meeting is the issue of those Pentagon leaks how that happened. The U.S. trying to smooth things over a little bit, with its allies. Take a listen to what Lloyd Austin had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN: As I discussed this issue with our allies and partners. I've been struck by your solidarity and your commitment to reject efforts to divide us. And we will not let anything fracture our unity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So it would seem that's not just a message to his allies in the room, but also to Moscow that NATO is standing firm and its support for Ukraine. We did get a Kremlin's response not to that, but to the comments from the NATO Secretary General, saying that the alliance is essentially united on the view that Ukraine should join.

The Kremlin says that NATO continues to show its aggressive nature at they said we're dealing with a dangerous block that counts our country as an enemy.

FOSTER: OK, Clare, thank you. U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab resigned earlier on Friday. This follows an official inquiry into bullying allegations made against him. In a letter to the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Rob said he decided to step down after that review concluded some of the claims against him were justified.

The inquiry looked at eight formal complaints. Rob says the report dismissed all but two of them. U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to formally announce he's running for reelection as soon as next week. That's according to several CNN sources who say Mr. Biden's team plans to release a video announcement most likely on Tuesday.

The date is significant because it's four years to the day after he entered the 2020 race. Arlette Saenz signs has details from Washington for us and a lot of people making the point about his age as he goes into this next set of election campaigning.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there had been a lot of speculation about whether the 80 year old president would in fact seek a second term but it appears the waiting game may soon be over. President Biden himself for months has said that he intends to run for re-election, and it appears that the plans to formally do that are finally taking shape.

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We've been told that his aides have been working towards a possible announcement as early as next week. I on Tuesday as the possible date that that could come they would likely do this via a video message and it really coincides with a very symbolic and personal moment for President Biden as it would be the four years after he launched his last run for the White House back in 2019.

A campaign that he billed as a battle for the soul of the nation, but this would put to rest months of speculation about his intentions and whether he actually would go through with a second run for a second term. Now, we are still waiting to hear what some of the campaign apparatus for this operation might look like.

Sources have told us that they've settled on Wilmington, Delaware, the President's hometown as the campaign headquarters, but there are other questions about how exactly this campaign would be run and who the campaign manager might be. Now, this expected announcement if it were to come next week, it would come during a very packed week for President Biden.

He on Monday is set to meet with those three Tennessee Democratic lawmakers who face expulsion votes over gun protest in the Tennessee state legislator. He is also planning on hosting the South Korean President next week for a state visit.

Now one thing that his advisors have a very keen eye on is the need for him to fundraise as this is expected to be a very, very expensive campaign. Sources have told us that they've invited top donors from President Biden's 2020 campaign to Washington D.C. next Friday to meet with the President.

As they know they're going to need to mobilize both grassroots supporters and big dollar donors to fund this possible campaign. So all eyes will be on next week waiting to see when President Biden exactly will announce his next run for the White House.

FOSTER: Arlette in Washington, thank you. Illegal victory for now for actor Alec Baldwin, prosecutors in New Mexico say they are dropping charges against him in connection with the deadly shooting on the set of the movie, Rust. Citing new facts in the case prosecutors say they'll focus on their follow up investigation.

In the follow up investigators will reexamine the weapon, Baldwin was holding. An outer cargo keeper in Canada a container filled with more than $15 million worth of gold and other valuables has been stolen from Toronto's airport. Police say the heist happened on Monday and they're looking at all the angles to figure out who stole it and how?

And in South Korea an outpouring of grief over the late K-pop Star Moon Bin fans are leaving flowers cards and post it notes at the office of his music label in Seoul. Police say the 25 year old was found dead Wednesday. At his home they believe he died by suicide. Still to come, chaos and confusion the Twitter begins to purge legacy verified accounts. We'll have more on its new verification system next.

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[08:15:00]

FOSTER: Elon Musk Twitter has started purging blue ticks from users who haven't signed up for its subscription service with some of the world's best known figures losing their verification, like the Pope, Beyonce, and even Bill Gates. Those who have kept it while they are LeBron James, for example, and Stephen King, but they aren't paying out of their own pocket CEO Elon Musk confirmed that he's personally paying for some subscriptions.

The changes have caused confusion amongst users we're already seeing a greater risk of an incipient misinformation as well. The City of New York's account or accounts fighting over who is the real New York City government. Some are worried that changes could cause more impersonation on the site.

Let's bring in Dan Ives, his Managing Director at Wedbush Securities eyes regularly covers technology and joins me to further discuss Twitter's purge. Dan, thank you for joining us, there are a few issues here. Aren't there? A lot of people very upset about what's going on, on Twitter.

A lot of people also saying that Elon Musk ultimately does find a way through the problems he has with his companies. And he will find a way of making this work. And he does have a strategy, even though it doesn't seem as though there's a clear one right now.

DAN IVES, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF EQUITY RESEARCH AT WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Yes, I mean, too much. That's always been the issue. And I think right now, everyone's trying to figure out what the monetization looks like on Twitter, in terms of how many ultimately go down the verification paths.

But there's no doubt I mean, this is going to cause massive confusion. And it's definitely an issue for Twitter and Musk, because this is essentially a poker move that him in Twitter making to see how many now we'll try to get that blue check and pay the monthly fee.

FOSTER: In terms of what we've seen happen today, verified users, legacy users, they're calling them losing their ticks that does undermine credibility on the site doesn't it, because you're not clear on whose who anymore in terms of those big influential users?

IVES: Yes, I mean, I think this is the biggest problem. I mean, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. And I think ultimately, there are a lot of unintended consequences in terms of impersonations, fake accounts, bots and other things. And that's what that's going to be the big thing. I think this is a multi-step process, in terms of how much can Twitter, handle on this?

Remember their backs against the wall 44 billion that he paid for Twitter, and especially with debt, loud pressure to monetize that, and I think that really speaks to what we're starting to see here. But I mean, this is really almost a game of chicken to sort of see how many ultimately, especially in terms of big names, whoever it is, go for the blue check.

FOSTER: The suggestion there is you're saying he's doing this he needs to get revenue in he said he was doing it to democratize effectively allow anyone to have a blue tick.

IVES: Yes, I mean, look, that sounds great. But the reality is there are 44 billion reasons why he's doing the blue check. Because he ultimately needs to monetize Twitter, for something that right now we believe is worth 12 to 15 billion with the debt load.

That's been the issue for Twitter, subscribers, monetizing advertisers have come back onto the platform. But that's why this is all a game of poker that's being played. Now, what does conversion look like on verification? That's going to be the question, I think is a key.

I'll call it, you know, 10 to 15 days ahead to see what this whole thing looks like in terms of person, nations, and how many potentially leave the platform.

FOSTER: Are the other platforms, getting ready to try to? Obviously there are some platforms that the China offer what Twitter does, but is there a realistic option for people to start turning to do you think?

IVES: Look, I think the fundamental problem is that Twitter, I mean, it's really the epicenter from information for media for celebrity is in there, even though there's alternative platforms, many, you know, for good or for bad are going to stay on Twitter. But I think you're starting to see more and more this whole premium model take shape, Face book matters, --.

They're watching this closely, because that's ultimately the goal. Social media is under massive pressure digital advertising. And that's why right now Musk is making an aggressive move, seeing what conversion looks like, but now it's a waiting game.

FOSTER: OK, Dan, really appreciate your time. Thank you for joining us today.

IVES: Thank you.

FOSTER: Still ahead, 30 years after the murder case that shocked the U.K. we look at racism in London's Police force and what's changed since then.

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[08:20:00] FOSTER: It's been 30 years since Stephen Lawrence a young black man was stabbed to death on the streets of London by a group of white teenagers. His death prompted a moment of national reckoning about racism in the U.K and in London's police force. But even now the issue remains as heated as ever. Casey Paul glaze investigates claims of racism in the police force today and hears from Stephen family as well three decades on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE PULGIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 30 years after the killing of Stephen Lawrence the pain still endures for his father.

NEVILLE LAWRENCE, FATHER OF STEPHEN LAWRENCE: 30 years of my life gone. You know my life been turned upside down by somebody I don't know.

PULGIA (voice over): Lawrence was killed in a racist attack by a group of white teenagers at a London bus stop in 1993. But it took nearly two decades for two of his attackers to be convicted and sentenced. The institutional racism blamed for the delayed justice remains unaddressed.

First documented in an official report commissioned after Lawrence's death in 1999 and then again this year in the case you review, saying the police have a culture of denial.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We fully accept the findings of the case in review.

PULGIA (voice over): The Met Commissioner admitted there was still racism in the force, but stopped short of calling it institutional.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Institutional, it's not so I use myself.

PULGIA (voice over): This racism takes on many forms, including the lack of police accountability for the death of black men and people of color.

MARCIA RIGG, SISTER OF SEAN RIGG: These are the four officers there.

PULGIA (voice over): 15 years ago, Marcia Rigg lost her brother Sean, after he was pinned down in a police arrest while experiencing a mental health crisis. He died of cardiac arrest after he was restrained in a prone position for approximately eight minutes, according to the findings of an inquest jury.

RIGG: So that's the restraint. It says four officers face down in grants with excessive force to his neck he could not bring.

PULGIA (voice over): Five police officers were cleared of gross misconduct. Despite the findings of an inquest jury, we said police did use an unnecessary level of restraint, which more than minimally contributed to Rigg's death. The statistics showing racism and British policing are alarming.

A recent report by the charity inquest found that black people are seven times more likely to die by police restraint than their white counterparts. Rigg was restrained in a similar way as George Floyd whose death at the hands of U.S. officers sparked a global protest movement against police brutality in 2020.

RIGG: I was horrified. It was so traumatic because it was because it reminded me of Sean.

PULGIA (voice over): Raju Bhatt, the leading criminal lawyer who was brought cases against the Met police for decades.

RAJU BHATT, FOUNDING PARTNER AT BHATT MURPHY SOLICITORS: So whether we are talking about racism, whether we're talking about misogyny, whether we're talking about homophobia, or any other ills. We're talking about lack of will and ability to address wrongdoing.

PULGIA (voice over): The case the review found the Met does not represent the city it serves. Black Asian and other ethnic minorities make up just a fraction of the fourth compared to nearly half of Londoners. Over the years the anger has spilled onto the streets, sparking riots over the police killing of Mark Duggan in North London in 2011. A jury later ruled this killing lawful. The lack of change has caused some families to despair.

PULGIA (on camera): Do you have hope they will change in the future.

LAWRENCE: I don't think I'll ever see that. I'm 81 years old now. Right so its 30 years ago since this happened.

PULGIA (voice over): Neville's families have found one main source of comfort each other.

[08:25:00]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you exceptionally well?

LAWRENCE: Thank you really do and smart -- Well, I know I know that the kind of hell that they're going through.

PULGIA (voice over): Lawrence's father says he can't live in the U.K. anymore. The memories are just too painful. But when he does return, he meets with other families going through the same ordeal.

LAWRENCE: But when I'm here, I think about it all the time. This is a place where I thought I'd be happy. I'm not happy here.

RIGG: Every time you hear about another death, it's like you relive it again. So as it just doesn't go away.

PULGIA (voice over): Yes their only hope for justice is to keep the cases alive. Katie Puglia is CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The Met Police has yet to respond to CNN regarding Sean Rigg and Stephen Lawrence's cases and the accusation that the force is institutionally racist to mark the anniversary that released a statement apologizing to the Lawrence family stating that significant progress has been made in the in the last 30 years, but it has admitted that there are still cultural and systemic failings.

Now just before we go British Vogue is hoping its May issue will further the conversation about diversity and inclusion. The magazine is featuring 19 disabled talents from the worlds of fashion, sports the arts and activism that includes five cover stars, like activist Sinead Burke, actor Selma Blair, and sign language performer Justina Miles.

Vogue also worked with the U.K. Royal National Institute of blind people to produce a braille version of the issue. Thanks for joining me here on CNN "Newsroom", I'm Max Foster in London. "World Sport" with Amanda is up next.

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