Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sudan's RSF Claims Control Of Major Darfur Camp; Judge: No Evidence Orders To Bring Him Back Being Followed; Trump Threatens To Tax Harvard As A "Political Entity"; White House: At Least 15 Trade Deals Under Consideration; Journalists Linked to Navalny Sentenced at Moscow Court; Hamas "Studying" Israeli Proposal for Gaza Ceasefire; Biden's First Speech Post-Presidency; Extended Heat Wave in India, Pakistan Testing Human Limits. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired April 16, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, destruction, famine, disease and death, the grim milestones of Sudan's brutal civil war as the nation enters the third year of conflict with no end in sight.

Protesters turn out in support of a man who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Plus, in India and Pakistan, summer is getting hotter, arriving earlier, and is expected to last longer. We'll explain why just ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. And we begin with the worsening situation in Sudan, which has now entered the third year of its devastating civil war. There's no end in sight to the violence. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. Millions more have been displaced. And the U.N. warns the conflict has set off the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Port of Sudan has been inundated with refugees from the capital, Khartoum, and other areas consumed by the fighting. Many of those now living in camps are dealing with a lack of basic services, severe shortages and spreading famine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): As they say, the displacement itself is very deep and we are deeply in pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We were suffering before the war began, but when the war began, we were stopped from the usual suffering, and our thoughts, we became lost. We couldn't comprehend anything. We are not able to understand, and we can't adapt to our situation until this moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Key players pledge hundreds of millions of dollars at a conference in London, Tuesday. European foreign ministers are pushing for an immediate ceasefire, along with the return of a civilian-led government, and for desperately needed aid to be allowed into Sudan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LAMMY, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Very simply, we have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first.

JEAN-NOEL BARROT, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER: We will not abandon Sudan, because it is our security and our responsibility as a permanent member of the Security Council.

ANNALENA BAERBOCK, GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER: No amount of humanitarian assistance will be sufficient if this war continues. As said by the African Union, there cannot be any military solution. This war must end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Sudanese officials complained that no representatives from either of the warring parties were invited to the conference. Rights groups have accused both the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary rapid support forces of war crimes.

But most atrocities have been blamed on the RSF. Some of the worst violence has played out at a refugee camp in Darfur that's endured a heavy assault by the RSF. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking in Foreign Language).

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at images of a famine-stricken camp where families forced out of their home by war were attacked by a militia accused of genocide. This video, verified and geolocated by CNN, shows the rapid support forces known as the RSF attacking the sprawling Zamzam camp in the Darfur region of Sudan, forcing thousands of hungry and desperate people to flee for their lives.

This is what we know right now. The RSF raided the camp, killed dozens of people, set fire to tents in marketplaces, deliberately targeted health clinics and killed at least nine medical workers, according to Relief International, an aid agency. This satellite imagery shows that the RSF carried out a scorched earth policy across an area of 165 football fields. The RSF, which is seen here celebrating, has denied targeting civilians. Now, Darfur, the region where this took place, is the epicenter of a genocide that was reignited when a civil war broke out between the RSF and the Sudanese army. That war is now entering its third year, and it has triggered what the U.N. calls the world's greatest humanitarian crisis.

[01:05:23]

Once again, those with a Black or African tribal identity are being systematically hunted and killed by Arab militias like the RSF in what has been determined to be a genocide by the U.S. State Department. And there is no end in sight to this conflict. Millions of people are unseen, battered, bruised, bombed and besiege, denied medical care and basic services, while the warring factions only exacerbate the suffering.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Deepmala Mahla is the chief humanitarian officer for the global aid agency, CARE, and she joins us now from Nairobi in Kenya. Appreciate you being with us.

DEEPMALA MAHLA, CHIEF HUMANITARIAN OFFICER, CARE: Thank you.

CHURCH: So how would you describe to our viewers the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Sudan two years since the start of the war in that country?

MAHLA: Imagine three people that you meet out of every five are in need of urgent basic things like food, water, safety. Imagine people living through two years. We have been talking about two years, 1 million minutes. And the reason I mentioned it in minutes, Rosemary, because it's a matter of a minute between life and death for many.

People have been running through forests, fields, and this is the largest displacement crisis in the world. And what do I mean by that? More than 12 million people have been forced to flee. So imagine entire villages emptied, children on the run, and people don't know where they are going. And the health care system has been catastrophically destroyed.

People are hungry. Children's bodies are shutting down, not because the food does not exist, but because it cannot reach them. And amidst all this, humanitarian workers, local volunteers, almost all of them Sudanese, are risking their lives every single day to make sure aid reaches those who need it the most.

Are they always successful? No. Aid workers have been targeted, killed, detained, looted. So indescribable is the word. And I would say that more than 600,000 people are living in famine, meaning starving. So as we speak, Rosemary, people are being killed, starved, women raped, girls raped. That's what Sudan looks like right now. And of course, it does not have to be that way. CHURCH: Indeed. And a new report from the NGO forums in Sudan, Chad and South Sudan, reveals that more than 30 million Sudanese desperately need aid. So how do you go about providing aid to so many desperate people?

MAHLA: We are on the ground. We have been on the ground, CARE and several other agencies. What we need is unfettered humanitarian access, ability for us to reach the people. That is one. And the second is the humanitarian response needs to be resourced. Only 10 percent of the humanitarian response plan is funded.

So we can go about. We have responded in humanitarian crisis. We have the experience. However, the ongoing violence, the targeting of civilians, civilian infrastructure, not having enough resources is really tying our hands, it's really tying our hands. And as you mentioned, the report and when we engage with women, our local partners, harrowing stories we hear like women running with their children, not knowing if they're alive. Girls being raped while their family members are at gunpoint.

Some children so weak that they cannot even cry. So, yes, we can go about delivering aid and saving lives if we are allowed to, if we are supported to do that. It seems that the world is looking away, but it must not anymore. It's the last minute or the last second of the 11th hour.

CHURCH: And as you mentioned, the humanitarian crisis is made worse by the continuing violence in the country, which has led to the world's largest displacement crisis, forcing more than 12 million people in Sudan to flee their homes, as you mentioned, more than 8 million of them internally displaced. So what is life for most of those displaced Sudanese like?

MAHLA: Life is a luxury. Surviving is a luxury. For many, many people one meal a day is something rare. And when I say one meal, we have heard from communities, they are mixing flour with water. And these 12.6 million people, majority of them who have not even crossed the border. And those who have crossed the border to places like Chad, they never thought they would cross the border.

[01:10:16]

So and then when they have reached Chad, for example, almost close to 1 million people are in Chad. That country is struggling with the weight of the refugees, local Chadians, local groups are coming forward to help. But do they have the resources? And all this is happening, Rosemary, when the heat, the temperature is extremely, extremely high.

So for people, life, I mean, life, what is life? Life is with safety, with dignity, with protection, with the ability to keep your children healthy and safe. That does not exist. And humanitarians have been sounding alarms for two years now, for two years. So, yes, let us make sure that Sudanese civilians have a life, thrive. And that is still possible. Right now, what I see is the only thing that is growing in many places is graveyards. CHURCH: And your organization has joined with other NGOs to call on the world to act now for Sudan. Key countries just pledged hundreds of millions of dollars at a conference in London, Tuesday, and called for an immediate ceasefire along with the civilian-led government and for aid to be allowed into Sudan, as you've mentioned. How likely is it that any of this will happen, do you think?

MAHLA: Humanitarians work in extremely tough conditions and inherently we are optimistic. That is the only option that we have. If I look at the trends in the past about the response to our calls, safety of civilians, safety of aid workers, donors stepping forward, I don't feel hugely encouraged.

But given the pledges, the promises, the highlighting of the crisis, the massive scale at which it is, I want to say that I feel positive and hopeful. But my positive feeling or my hopefulness is my feeling. It is not in our hands to make it real. It is in the hands of the world leaders and the parties to conflict. So yet again, with folded hands, we plea. Let the people of Sudan survive.

Let the humanitarian aid workers do the life-saving work, which is our mandate. And donors, please step forward. Without their step forward, it -- it will clearly be the world is looking away. Let's not make that happen anymore.

CHURCH: A powerful message. Deepmala Mahla in Nairobi, many thanks for talking with us. We appreciate it and all you do.

MAHLA: Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: The U.S. federal judge overseeing the case of a wrongfully deported man says there's no evidence the Trump administration is following her orders to facilitate his return. Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador's notorious mega prison last month, a move that has sparked massive backlash against the Trump administration.

Protesters gathered outside the courthouse demanding justice for Abrego Garcia and for others deported from the U.S. without due process. His wife says her children have now spent several harrowing weeks without their father.

JENNIFER VASQUEZ, WIFE OF KILMAS ABREGO GARCIA: As we continue through Holy Week, my heart aches for my husband, who should have been here leading our Easter prayers. Instead, I find myself pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more on the judge's demands.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Tuesday marked yet another tense hearing in the case over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, according to the Trump administration, which called it, quote, an administrative error. Now, the federal judge in this case has been quite frustrated over the course of multiple hearings, finding that the answers that the Justice Department has been providing are not satisfactory. And that was also the case on Tuesday as she asked for more evidence as to what the administration was doing to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. Now, the Supreme Court had required the administration to facilitate, but stopped short of requiring his return, sending it back to the lower court in terms of how to -- how they would effectuate that and having the lower court define that further.

Now, the federal judge on Tuesday saying that she hasn't received any evidence to that point and the Justice Department pointing to the Oval Office meeting that happened on Monday between President Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

[01:15:05]

Federal judge, however, saying that that doesn't quite cut it, that she needs to have record -- a record in the court. Rather, she needs to have the evidence submitted to the court that it's not just what happens in the public forum. To that point, she said, quote, I don't consider what happened yesterday, Monday, really evidence before this court, yet.

Now, the Trump administration's position has been that in addition to the emphasis on deference of foreign affairs that the Supreme Court put, they also have to, or rather read this decision to me, that they have to remove domestic barriers only for his return. Federal judge taking issue with that, saying, quote, when a wrongfully removed individual from the United States is outside the borders it's not so cut and dry that all you have to do is remove domestic barriers.

Now, she ordered an intense two-week discovery, which is to say, to gather that evidence to create that record that she has been seeking. She also said that she is prepared to issue an order, which expands on the definition of the word facilitate.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Donald Trump is putting more pressure on Harvard University, now threatening the school's tax-exempt status after freezing billions in funding for one of the nation's most prestigious universities. We'll have new details next.

Plus, what Hamas is saying about the fate of an Israeli-American hostage who's still being held in Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:58]

CHURCH: Donald Trump's ideological battle with some of America's most prestigious universities has risen to a new level with Harvard. The President now threatening to strip the oldest university in the United States of its tax-exempt status and tax Harvard as a political entity after its leaders refused to make key policy changes that the White House is demanding. Harvard's President says the school will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.

The Trump administration has since frozen more than $2 billion in federal grants and contracts at Harvard. More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump engaging in an extraordinary back and forth with one of the nation's most prestigious universities, Harvard University, threatened to hold back some $2 billion in federal funding.

He says he has not seen enough action from Harvard in terms of eliminating DEI programs and others. Now, this all stems from a charge this administration has made against what it believes has been anti- Semitism on college campuses. Now, many universities, like Columbia University, has fallen into line and done what the administration has -- has liked.

Some faculty members have said this is a, you know, an abridgment of First Amendment rights. But the White House press secretary said President Trump is looking for something specific from Harvard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He also wants to see Harvard apologize, and Harvard should apologize for the egregious anti-Semitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So Harvard University is standing up to the White House, at least so far, unlike other institutions of higher learning. One reason for that is they have a $50 billion endowment, more than any other university by far. They're also engaging with some conservative lawyers to push back against this administration.

So it's clear that this is likely to end up in the higher courts, perhaps even the Supreme Court. Now, we know the president has always talked about the Ivy League, the importance of Ivy League education. He's a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, of course the vice president, also a graduate of an Ivy League school, a Yale law school. But the President is seizing on this fight. It's one way he can make a fight against an elite institution like Harvard.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: Earlier I spoke with John Fansmith. He is the senior vice president for government relations and national engagement at the American Council on Education. He says the Trump administration is trying to weaponize funding. I asked him what he means by that and why President Trump is doing this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON FANSMITH, SVP, GOVT. RELATIONS AND NATL. ENGAGEMENT, AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EDUCATION: Well, there's very clear processes in American law for how you deal with concerns, allegations of discrimination at a college campus. And the end of that, when there has been an investigation and evidence and a finding, and the institution and the government cannot come to terms on how to resolve that situation, at that point the government can take away funding.

What we've seen from the Trump administration is rather than follow the law, rather than follow due process, they've started with the punishment by taking away the funding and saying we'll only restore it if you do these things we ask of you. And -- and as Harvard releasing the letter of demands it received indicates, the things that are being asked of them go far beyond anything that could remotely be connected to addressing anti-Semitism on campuses. It is direct federal government interference in who Harvard admits, what they teach, who's allowed to teach them, even what student organizations are allowed to be on campus. It is grossly over the line of what has ever been accepted in American higher education.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:24:46]

CHURCH: Still to come, China's economy growing stronger than expected ahead of Donald Trump's tariffs. But the U.S. President argues China needs the U.S. more than the U.S. needs China. More on the global trade war just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:13]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. President Donald Trump is said to be considering at least 15 trade deals with various countries at the moment, according to the White House press secretary.

If true, it could mean the Trump administration's aggressive push for trade agreements that benefit the U.S. may be working after pausing the president's so-called reciprocal tariffs. But the White House gave no details on whose proposals are being considered or what's in those deals.

It's safe to assume China is not on that list. The 145 percent tariffs the U.S. imposed on Chinese imports last week are still in effect.

On Tuesday, the press secretary read a statement from President Trump, who says the onus is on Beijing to come to the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The ball is in China's court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don't have to make a deal with them.

There's no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger. And China wants what we have, what every country wants, what we have -- the American consumer. Or to put it another way, they need our money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has the latest now from Hong Kong. She joins us live.

So, Kristie, new economic data is out as Donald Trump raises the heat on Beijing. So how's China's economy looking?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, China's first quarter GDP data is out and it reveals growth in the world's second largest economy just as U.S. President Donald Trump dials up the pressure with his trade war.

China's economy grew some 5.4 percent year on year, and that defied expectations. We've got to remember that China has been struggling to rebound from this post COVID-19 pandemic slump, as it deals with a number of economic headwinds.

Here's a reminder of them. You got low consumer confidence, low consumer spending, high youth unemployment, as well as a prolonged and ongoing property slump.

Now China has set a pretty ambitious growth target of the year for around 5 percent. Economists say it's going to be really tough for China to reach that given the trade war.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been jacking up tariffs on China now to an eye-watering level of about 145 percent. China has retaliated in return, and that is sparking fears of a prolonged trade war.

And that is why we're seeing a number of investment banks slash their growth targets for China for the year. In fact, UBS slashed its forecast for China's growth from 4 percent to 3.4 percent for the year.

Also adding this in a statement -- let's bring it up -- from UBS saying, quote, "We expect China's exports to the U.S. to fall by two- thirds in the coming quarters and its overall exports to fall by 10 percent in USD terms in 2025. The latter also takes into account slower U.S. and global growth," unquote.

We also heard this from Citi. Citi adding this quote, "We see little scope for a deal between the U.S. and China after recent escalations."

So, Rosemary, all eyes now because they're feeling the pressure on when China and its policymakers will reveal any new stimulus. We note that the high-level politburo is set for a meeting by the end of the month, so we may expect to see some new policy agenda setting then.

Back to you.

CHURCH: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, many thanks.

STOUT: Thank you. CHURCH: To discuss all of this, we are joined now by Justin Wolfers.

He is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. Good to have you with us.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: A pleasure, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So we all saw U.S. and global financial markets tumble in response to President Trump's tariff policy. But last Wednesday, he paused his tariffs for 90 days when treasury bonds took a hit. An alarming moment for this country. Even Trump, acknowledging the bond market was getting a little queasy.

So how are his tariffs continuing to impact the bond market?

WOLFERS: Well, the good news is things have been pretty stable over the last couple of days. So what we're worried about is things getting worse. They've gotten, if anything, a slight fraction better.

Let me try and translate that into English. We don't worry about the bond market because we care about bonds. We worry because it's an important part of the plumbing behind our economy.

And if we ended up with burst pipes down there, things could get messy as we learned during the global financial crisis. And so far, he didn't even call the plumber in. He went and had a look at the pipes, was a little bit worried. But things seem like they're holding pretty well.

[01:34:43]

CHURCH: Well, that is good news. So, investors apparently abandoning the U.S. dollar and treasuries, so scared off by the trade war. What could this potentially mean for the U.S.?

WOLFERS: Yes. So really, to understand this, you have to understand the entire macro-economic landscape and realize there's not just one thing going on at the moment. There's three.

So let's go through them. The first thing is there's a tariff shock. A tariff shock is an aggregate supply shock. It's the sort of thing that will boost prices everywhere.

And that's one of the reasons we expect to see higher inflation over coming months. It can also lead to a slowdown in the economy as we try and rejigger everything all at once.

The second thing is really two demand style shocks. One is tremendous uncertainty, the sort of uncertainty that's leading CEOs to sit on their hands, to not invest and just wait till we see what the heck, where everything is going to shake out.

The other part of this is there's a real crisis of confidence in the competence of America's policymakers. And that's leading people to have a second think. Do they want to save for a rainy day rather than spending? And that's what's leading to the recession talk. And then the third thing on top of all of this is we have a country

with a very large government debt. We have very high budget deficits. But more than that, we have, it looks like an economic team that's never going to tell the president hard truths, a Congress that rolls over and a set of tax cut hopes that are simply unrealistic, enormous, and might raise the possibility of a fiscal crisis.

And so that's part of what you're seeing with the bond market going on, and also with the U.S. dollar.

CHURCH: So how will Trump's actions alter America's economic standing on the world stage, do you think? And how more likely is recession now? You touched on it there.

WOLFERS: Yes. America's standing on the world stage is profoundly damaged. Look, I think a trade war under any conditions is a bad idea. But if you were going to have one, you'd bring your allies tight and you'd say, well, you know, we're worried about China for geopolitical or trade issues.

Let's band together. Let's make sure to look after each other and lets go it together. What Trump has done instead last week was he essentially blew up the global trading system all by himself. There's not a global trade war, there's an American trade war.

And that's really undermined his bargaining position here because, yes, we're in a trade war with China. But the Chinese consumers, the stuff they might have bought from the U.S., or they might have sold to the U.S. well, they're not in a trade war with anyone else, so they've still got literally billions of other people around the world willing to do business with them.

For U.S. consumers, well, the stuff we were going to buy from China, we could buy from other countries but all of a sudden now we're also facing a 10 percent tariff on that as well.

So our next best options are that much worse. It's inflicting greater pain at the moment on the United States than on China.

CHURCH: So what will it take to get U.S. and global markets back to pre-Trump tariff levels, or has irreparable damage already been done?

And is a deal with China possible at this juncture, or is that not going to happen either?

WOLFERS: Well, what we really need is sanity. So again, let's go through the three big shocks. So there's a tariff shock which has really turned the economy upside down.

The China part of this is huge. Trade between China and the U.S. is the largest two-country trade flow in the world. In fact, the largest in the history of the world. And both sides seem to want to stop that all at once.

That's going to cause massive disruption. So if we can solve that problem, my guess is they're going to solve it at some point. But what would be really good would be to solve it today, rather than going through a lot of pain, restructuring all of our global trade relations, and then in 12 months' time saying, you know what? Just kidding. It's not 145 percent tariffs. We worked out a deal and we actually really like to do business with each other.

So that is an absolutely critical one.

The other is this White House has to show itself as having a steady hand is showing some -- having done its homework of having thought ahead, of having a rationale for what it's doing before it acts, for having internal debate rather than simply listening to the king and moving ahead, no matter how foolish the idea. That has really shaken the faith of markets all around the world, in America and American leadership.

CHURCH: Justin Wolfers, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

WOLFERS: A pleasure, Rosemary.

CHURCH: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, is pledging the alliance's unwavering support for Ukraine. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Odessa on Tuesday. Ukraine's state news agency reports the two men talked about the country's need for weapons and air defense systems days after a Russian missile attack on Sumy that killed 35 people.

Rutte expressed NATO's backing for efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine.

[01:39:48]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence. But we all support President Trump's push for peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Rutte and Zelenskyy also talked about guaranteeing Ukraine's security if a ceasefire deal with Russia can be reached.

Four journalists linked to the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have been sentenced to five and a half years in a penal colony. Russian state media says the reporters were accused of working for an organization founded by Navalny.

Prosecutors say they produced material for the YouTube channel of a banned anti-corruption foundation. The journalists denied the accusations, and their lawyers say they will appeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELENA SHEREMETYEVA, ARTEM KRIGER'S LAWYER: Strongly disagree with the verdict. The verdict is illegal and unfair. The preliminary investigation did not provide a single piece of evidence, reliable evidence confirming my client's guilt. Therefore we intend to appeal the verdict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: According to Human Rights Watch, since Navalny's death in a Russian prison last year, authorities have been trying to erase his political legacy. They point to the arrests of mourners who gathered in February for memorials marking the first anniversary of Navalny's death.

Hamas says it's studying an Israeli ceasefire proposal and will respond as soon as possible. A Hamas official says the deal calls for the release of ten hostages from Gaza in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

The framework for a 45-day ceasefire is also on the table. The proposal also calls for the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander on the first day of the truce, as a special gesture to the United States.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more now from Tel Aviv in Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hamas' armed wing is claiming to have lost contact with the militants holding the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander hostage in the Gaza Strip.

They say they lost contact with those militants after an Israeli bombardment on the location where Alexander was being held.

Now, CNN cannot independently verify this claim made by the Al-Qassam Brigades. We have reached out to the Israeli military as well as to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum for comment on this matter.

The Al Qassam Brigades spokesman says that they are still trying to reach those militants, but have not been able to so far, effectively suggesting that those militants as well as Alexander, could very well be dead or gravely injured.

Now, it is also important to note that the Al-Qassam Brigades has previously lied about the fate of at least one hostage. Last November, the Al-Qassam Brigades released images of the body of what they said was a deceased Israeli female hostage.

Her family was actually able to identify her based on a tattoo on her arm, and that hostage was the Israeli soldier Daniella Gilboa, who was released by Hamas during the second ceasefire agreement earlier this year.

She later said through her family that she had been forced to stage her death in those images that were later released and led her family to believe that she had died.

So it's important to note that because we simply do not know the veracity of this Hamas claim, but certainly it is consequential and it comes at this critical moment when we are seeing some progress, or at least some momentum towards reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas over another ceasefire agreement.

And Edan Alexander has been central to all of those proposals. In this latest Israeli proposal, which Hamas, we are told is indeed studying, reviewing and considering, Edan Alexander would be the first of ten living hostages to be released in exchange for a 45-day truce and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli jails.

We do not know whether this proposal will actually become a reality. There is certainly a sense of optimism, a sense of progress, but it's also very clear that many gaps still remain.

One of those is that this proposal calls for Hamas to disarm, which is something that a senior Hamas official told us they are simply not willing to do.

So again, it's clear there are still many gaps, a lot still needs to be done for this proposal to become a reality.

[01:44:42]

DIAMOND: But certainly there are very, very active discussions right now about another ceasefire in Gaza that could see the release of at least some of the 59 hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Former U.S. President Joe Biden is back on the public stage. We will tell you about his first speech since leaving office, slamming his successor.

Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:49:50]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.

Joe Biden has taken the stage for the first time since leaving office. The former U.S. president spoke at a conference for advocates of the disabled, warning the Trump administration against cuts to Social Security.

CNN's Arlette Saenz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former President Joe Biden offered his first public critique of President Donald Trump's second term specifically painting his administration's approach to the Social Security Administration as destructive.

Now, Biden's remarks came at a speech at a conference for disability advocates in Chicago, marking his first public remarks since leaving the White House.

Biden never mentioned Trump by name, but he did talk about the administration's efforts around the Social Security Administration, including that massive reorganization of the agency that's been led by DOGE'S efforts to make cuts to the federal government.

Biden called out the thousands of jobs that have been cut. Also, issues with the Web site and crowded phone lines as Americans are expressing some concern about the future state of their benefits.

Take a listen.

JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Fewer than 100 days this new administration has made so much done, so much damage and so much destruction. It's kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon. They've taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration.

SAENZ: Biden's remarks also coincided with an effort from Democratic congressional leaders to launch a day of action focused on the need to preserve Social Security at a time where there are fears about potential cuts that could be made to the program under President Trump's watch.

Now, for Biden, he is the latest in a long list of Democratic -- prominent Democratic officials who have stepped out to take on some of Trump's actions at the start of his presidency.

In recent weeks, we have heard from former President Barack Obama, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris, who have criticized Trump in their own ways.

But for Biden, he is in a very unique position. He is the only man to have defeated President Trump back in 2020, and then saw his return to the White House when Trump won this past November.

And Biden is still navigating what exactly his post-presidency will look like with this speech on Social Security really marking his first foray and first public criticisms of the man who succeeded him in the White House.

Arlette Saenz, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, a true test of survival in India and Pakistan, where summer heatwaves are getting hotter, starting earlier and lasting longer.

Back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A somber moment in Boston as the city rang a bell to honor the victims and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing. Tuesday marked 12 years since two bombs exploded near the race's finish line. Boston's mayor and families of loved ones in the attack -- who lost

loved ones in the attack, held a moment of silence and laid wreaths at the site of the bombings. Three people were killed in the explosions, and more than 250 others were injured.

The climate crisis has become a real test of survival for hundreds of millions of people in India and Pakistan.

[01:54:50]

CHURCH: They're already in the midst of a heat wave, and the hottest months of summer are yet to come.

CNN's Derek Van Dam reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Testing human limits, pushing the boundaries of what's quote, "survivable", India and Pakistan are expected to be the countries worst affected by the climate crisis in the coming years experts say. In many ways, they already are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is severely hot. Hot winds keep blowing. It has become difficult to step out of the home. The sunlight is too harsh.

VAN DAM: Summers in these regions aren't just getting hotter but starting earlier and are predicted to last longer. Temperatures could climb to dangerous levels this week in South Asia.

Parts of India already hit 44 degrees Celsius on Monday, and Southwestern Pakistan threatens to reach 49 degrees Celsius. Numbers that rival summer temperatures in North America's Death Valley.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The heat is unbearable we have applied sunscreen and we are taking halt wherever we see shade.

VAN DAM: The searing heat causes farmers and other outdoor workers to fall ill and babies to be born prematurely, leaving workers, mothers, children, virtually everyone, vulnerable.

Power outages caused by the increased demand for electricity during the heat wave only make matters worse. It's a vicious cycle.

In Jaipur, locals reverting to traditional cooling techniques to combat a compounding problem.

As temperatures in India and Pakistan rise, scarves and umbrellas help, but they can only do so much, and the summer season has hardly begun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it is so hot already in April, what will happen in May, June and July?

VAN DAM: A burning question that for more than 1 billion people will test their limits even further.

Derek Van Dam, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Two mountain climbers have set a new speed record in the Swiss Alps. A Swiss climber and his Austrian partner completed the hike up Switzerland's world famous Three Peaks in only 15 hours and 30 minutes. They shattered the old record of 25 hours, which was set back in 2004. The duo completed the climb in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland last Wednesday.

I want to thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church.

I will be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break. Do stay with us.

[01:57:21]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)