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CNN NEWSROOM

Dow Falls over Amazon Trade War Fears; China Slaps Tariffs on U.S. Goods; Trump Gets Earful on DACA from Easter Guests; Trump Syria Statement Contradicts Military; London's Murder Rate Tops New York's; Winnie Mandela Dies; Syrian Artist Paints Powerful Images About Refugees. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 3, 2018 - 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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ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour: fears of a trade war along with more tough talk from U.S. President Donald Trump send stocks plummeting. A check on Asia markets is straight ahead.

Plus what could be a major victory for the Syrian regime. State media claims the last rebels are leaving Eastern Ghouta.

And she's being remembered as one of the greatest icons of the struggle against apartheid. We will have a look back at Winnie Mandela's life and impact.

Hello and thank you for joining us. I'm Isha Sesay. This is NEWSROOM L.A.

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SESAY: Donald Trump's latest attack on Amazon plus renewed fears of a trade war with China have not been good for world financial markets right now. Asian investors are feeling the heat. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai all in negative territory. Markets in Sydney have just closed where trading has been flat all day.

The big drop to tell you about came on Wall Street where the blue chips lost 459 points on Monday. Shares of Amazon down more than 5 percent. CNN's Anna Stewart joins me now from Tokyo.

Anna, give us some perspective on Tuesday trading in Asia.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The second quarter has certainly started on the back foot. Yesterday with the U.S. and now into Asia. Let's bring up those markets again and have a deeper look.

We have the Nikkei down some 0.6 percent. That actually started much lower at -1.4 percent. So it's had a bit of a bounce back. Australia has been pretty flat all day and the Shanghai has been down nearly 1 percent. So it is a more muted reaction than we saw on Wall Street yesterday

but it's a reaction on the left. And this is Wall Street and investors around the world reacting to President Trump on two separate fronts.

Firstly, they're saying stop this trade war with China escalating any further. Yesterday we had the Chinese retaliatory tariffs. That was on steel and aluminum. That could just be round one, Isha. We could see round two if Donald Trump follows through on his plans to wage tariffs on some $50 billion of trade, China, you can bet, will react as well and we will see even more fallout for investors.

Secondly, this is investors saying lay off Amazon. Yesterday Donald Trump was tweeting about Amazon. He's continuing to attack them. He has done since even before he was made president.

And this is spooking investors who are very concerned that maybe there was going to be some regulation announced soon on Amazon and other tech stocks, which dragged them all down yesterday.

SESAY: It certainly was a busy day for you guys, looking at those market numbers. Anna Stewart, always appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Joining me now Democratic strategist Caroline Heldman, CNN political commentator and Republican consultant John Thomas and global business executive Ryan Patel.

Welcome to you all.

Ryan Patel, to your first. As you saw Anna's breakdown, U.S. markets were down on Tuesday, spooked by the president's tweets on Amazon and those fears of a trade war with China.

President Trump breeding uncertainty and we know that the one thing markets hate is uncertainty.

RYAN PATEL, GLOBAL BUSINESS EXECUTIVE: Yes, especially started this thing with a tweet from the president causing this uncertainty. When you really go after Amazon like he's done, you really, one of the leaders in that tech stock, tech, the blue-chip companies, it is to take a whole effect on the whole market.

And when you mess with margins and people's bottom line and what he is doing, he is saying that we are going to tax them more. He has got a easy, cheaper deal that will get the market to react. It does not matter if it was Trump or any president that steps in and gets into the corporate governance side and tries to meddle themselves in the middle of this, markets going to react to the way it is.

I wish it would not. But since I think March 28-29 is when there was that report that he came out and said -- it was reported that he had a vendetta against Amazon, they lost almost $60 billion dollars in market cap.

SESAY: I think it was million. Ryan, to focus on China for a moment, Monday China imposed tariffs on more than 100 American products. Talk to me about how much this is going to hurt the U.S. and as you look at the landscape right now, are we heading toward a broader trade dispute?

PATEL: Yes, first off you've seen a lot of Wall Street from Goldman Sachs, General Electric, a lot of agricultural companies come out and said we cannot get into this. The biggest thing that I take away from this is that China didn't --

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PATEL: -- put tax on soybeans. And so I would -- and that is a pretty -- being -- the U.S. being one of the biggest exporters to China on this, to me, that is an olive branch. This is round one like we were talking earlier. But this is an opportunity for the U.S. government to come to the table.

China's obviously holding something back to be able to retaliate furthermore and if I'm the U.S., this is the time to come to the table because China's asking to come to the table to make a better deal.

So I think when they're slapping tariffs, they did not have much of a choice. I think any country put in this position would have to. But they only did about $3 billion. When I say only, they could have done more.

SESAY: How much of a drag would a U.S.-China trade war be on the global economy?

PATEL: Huge. It would it would mess with the entire global supply chain. And think about when I say that. We mess with the supply chain, you mess with cost, profit margins to all the countries.

And China, if they -- if they really want to go after certain supply chains, where the U.S. isn't the main importer or exporter, they can then go to other countries that would benefit.

But then again we are going to be seeing different charges from Asia, Middle East to Europe really having a global economy crisis potentially.

SESAY: Ryan Patel, we appreciate the insight. Stand by for us. I want to bring it back to our guests here in the studio, bring them into the conversation.

So guys, we talked a little bit about China but I also want to talk about Amazon specifically the lay of the land here on that front. The president hate tweeting all weekend, specifically on Amazon and many other things besides. Clearly no love lost for the e-commerce giant.

Let's give you a small taste of what he had to say. Let's put this up on screen.

He said, "Only fools or worse are saying that our money losing Post Office makes money with Amazon. THEY LOSE A FORTUNE, and this will be changed. Also, our fully taxpaying retailers are closing stores all over the country...not a level playing field!"

Is the president deliberately ignoring the facts?

Amazon does pay state taxes. They pay the same taxes as other bulk shippers. The post office has said this is a good deal. They don't feel like Amazon's errand boy.

So why is the president deliberately misstating the truth?

JOHN THOMAS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this war between bricks and clicks has been going on for better part of a decade now between mom-and-pop retailers, saying Amazon has -- e-retailers have an unfair advantage over them. So the fact that Donald Trump is standing up for the mom-and-pop retailers is a good thing.

But in terms of the post office the president is wrong on that fact. But it does beg the question as to why the government helps to facilitate a giant like Amazon, why not force them to use FedEx, to use nongovernment resources to get their product out?

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SESAY: They're making money from it. This is a deal that is making money for --

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THOMAS: -- it causes to reevaluate, in my view, the institution of the post office. Why do we have it in a modern era when we have these other for-profit enterprises that could probably do it for less, do it better?

I like the idea that he is going to war with Amazon to make sure there is a level playing field. I think that is going to turn out well for the small guy in the long term.

SESAY: Caroline Heldman, you hear John Thomas say that this is about the little guy, that it is about the mom-and-pop shop. That is why they believe that this is nothing more than a personal right on the part of the president, that this is really about Amazon's owner, Jeff Bezos, who also owns "The Washington Post."

The president seems to be conflating the two, making -- he has tweeted that basically Amazon is a lobbyist for "The Washington Post" and the light, those at "The Washington Post" say that is not true.

I will want to read you want Gabriel Sherman (ph) wrote to give us a little bit more insight as he has done his reporting. Take a look at this. This is what he said to give some insight into what is motivating the president.

He says this, "He is off the hook on this. It's war, one source told me. He gets obsessed with something and now he's obsessed with Bezos, said another source. Trump is like how can I F with him."

Surely this is a gross abuse of the presidential bully pulpit. He's talking about bringing about changes which would potentially be crossing all kinds of lines.

CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: And it's not entirely sure what changes he would bring about because he, as you pointed out, it is not factually correct right.

The -- Amazon is getting the same bulk rate as other big retailers. It is paying state taxes. It is not getting some sort of special benefit.

And John, as you pointed out, this has been going on for decades and global online shopping has won. That is a ship that has sailed. It's not an issue of bringing back bricks and mortar. It's an issue of dealing with a new economy. This has nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with the little person.

And in fact, he just cost many investors $36 billion just today --

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HELDMAN: -- in this personal vendetta. So this is a shockingly unpresidential act.

THOMAS: This must be a long-running personal vendetta because he has been complaining about this for years --

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SESAY: The president has known --

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THOMAS: -- he has had an ax to grind politically with Jeff Bezos before he even ran for office. And that does not think -- this is something, as a real estate developer, that he understands.

HELDMAN: He isn't attacking Jeff Bezos since before -- yes.

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THOMAS: But President Trump understands as a real estate owner the advantages, the unfairness advantages that e-commerce has over the brick-and-mortar shops.

SESAY: I just want to say, Ryan Patel, let me bring you in here as we talk about this.

The president is going after Amazon and they're saying that effectively they're not paying the taxes that they should be. That basically seems to be the gripe and then effectively it's affecting mom-and-pop small businesses.

This is the same president -- correct me if I'm wrong. This is the same president who has made a great deal of the fact that he has managed to not pay all the taxes that he is liable for and that makes him smart.

So how is it that that is good for him but not good for Amazon who's doing, if we're to go down that line, exactly the same thing?

PATEL: Listen, if the shoe -- if you ever replace situations right now, Trump would be saying he got the best deal known to man. You know, what I -- what I do not -- what I do not agree with is that, you know, this blame on Amazon, it's Amazon's fault that retailers are closing stores.

If Amazon wasn't here, it would have been some other -- another company. E-commerce is here and the mom-and-pop, they are e-commerce as well stores. So I think the protection here is you evolve as an industry, as the retail industry is doing, and you know you talk about taxes.

So is Walmart, these other big companies are in e-commerce, are they going to be affected, too? I really heard other companies get into this play and as Caroline said, it's other companies are -- they're just doing -- they're not doing anything illegal to my knowledge, Amazon is. They're just doing the same deal; USPS, the CFO came out and they are not allowed to do negative bad deal losses. So they are making a profit on this Amazon deal.

SESAY: Ryan Patel, we thank you. Looking forward to digging into this a lot deeper in the hours ahead.

Back to my guests here in the studio, the president's Twitter storm included many subjects. It was kind of exhausting to keep track of it all. In one tweet, it was DACA, it was immigration, it was the wall, it was crime.

In case you don't know the one I'm talking about, let's put it up. Let's read it for our viewers. Here is what the president tweeted.

"DACA is dead because the Democrats didn't care or act, and now everyone wants to get onto the DACA bandwagon... No longer works. Must build Wall and secure our borders with proper Border legislation. Democrats want No Borders, hence drugs and crime!"

Caroline.

HELDMAN: There are two things that are factually incorrect here. One is that the Democrats did this to DACA. No, Donald Trump did this to DACA.

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HELDMAN: He is the one who rescinded it and he is the one who could have gotten a deal --

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THOMAS: He attempted to make a deal and the Democrats wouldn't accept the deal.

HELDMAN: All he had -- he rescinded it in the first place. He cannot blame this on the Democrats. He just can't do that.

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HELDMAN: And the second factually incorrect -- well, it's not factually correct. The second factually incorrect thing is that he is claiming or insinuating that immigrants have higher rates of crime. They do not. They have lower rates of crime --

THOMAS: Illegal immigrants --

HELDMAN: No, they don't.

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HELDMAN: That is also a myth. That is absolutely a myth.

THOMAS: First of all, they're criminals. We're a nation of laws. We have -- what set off this tweet storm was the thousands of illegal migrants that are on their way to try to cross the border --

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THOMAS: -- to get through the catch and release program and then --

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THOMAS: -- fundamental campaign promise was building the wall --

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HELDMAN: -- using fear and threat tactics over --

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HELDMAN: -- no, he referred to Mexicans as rapists, did he not?

He used racialized rhetoric throughout his campaign. This is a continuation of that.

THOMAS: -- our borders right now, thousands of them, they think they'll be able to legally stay here or perhaps get through a DACA chain migration deal. They are.

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SESAY: -- coming across the border, isn't that number down?

Hasn't the president made a --

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SESAY: -- so what is this, all these --

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THOMAS: It's because the people say, oh, it's just -- he's sitting there just having a tweet storm. No, it's because it was topical in the news that Mexico was helping these illegal migrants cross the border. That was prior to --

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SESAY: Or could it be a case of guess who came to dinner?

Let's put up the graphic right quickly and show who the president dined with on the weekend. Because that, some people say, may point some -- give some insight -- could it be that it was because he was dining with Sean Hannity, Janine Perino (ph), Bill Shies (ph), Stephen Miller and (INAUDIBLE) -- I'm not sure about Don King's (ph) position on all of this.

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SESAY: These are the four a badly FOX, a badly conservative.

Could that have been a little bit of --

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THOMAS: I am sure that was an additional spark but it was also in the news. It was top of the "Drudge Report."

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HELDMAN: -- right-wing rags. It was on FOX that there were people moving toward the border --

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THOMAS: -- focused on this and the president reads that. The president also watches FOX --

HELDMAN: Which is unfortunate (INAUDIBLE) get it from a better source because he's responding to these fear tactics that FOX is putting out with fear tactics. It's not factually correct. These are not criminals. These are people who want a better life.

THOMAS: -- this is an easy issue to --

SESAY: I can see that. I can see that. Thank you. We have two more hours. Caroline Heldman, John Thomas, appreciate it. Thank you.

And our thanks to Ryan Patel as well.

We're going to pause for a very quick, much needed break here. As the war in Syria grinds on, one of the last rebel strongholds is repeatedly about the fall. The details ahead.

Plus Big Ben, Parliament and murder, why the streets of London have gotten deadlier.

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SESAY: The largest rebel group in Syria has begun evacuating the town of Douma. That's according to the Syrian state media, which adds the group made a deal with the government. You can see here a line of buses moving people out of the area. Representatives for the group have not yet confirmed that agreement.

If it is confirmed, will it mean the end of fighting in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta and another rebel stronghold gone?

Is there any more (INAUDIBLE) peace in Syria, the U.S. might not be there. Last week U.S. president Donald Trump said the 2,000 American troops in Syria may be coming home soon.

However, that contradicts top military brass who say the war against ISIS is far from over. Barbara Starr explains.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that military plans are in the works that could send dozens of additional U.S. troops to Northern Syria, defense officials say just as President Trump was saying this.

TRUMP: We'll be coming out of Syria like very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.

STARR (voice-over): Killed in Northern Syria hours after President Trump said the U.S. should get out, Army Master Sergeant Jonathan Dunbar and Sergeant Matt Tonroe of the U.K., both killed in an IED blast while on a classified mission to capture or kill an ISIS operative.

Dunbar, part of the Army's elite Delta Force. The National Security Council meets Tuesday to discuss Syria and the 2,000 U.S. troops there. So far no one is rushing to agree.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), S.C.: All of his military advisors have said we need to leave troops in Syria.

STARR (voice-over): The president's top diplomatic envoy for the fight against ISIS tweeted, "Our fight against ISIS is not over."

The Pentagon press secretary, just before the president spoke:

DANA WHITE, CHIEF PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: While the coalition has significantly degraded ISIS, important work remains, to guarantee the lasting defeat --

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WHITE: -- of these violent extremists.

STARR (voice-over): The White House press secretary again trying to soften Mr. Trump's words.

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We want to help but at the same time we want other people to step up and put a little skin in the game.

STARR (voice-over): President Trump also has frozen $200 million in recovery funds for Syria for restoring water, power and roads. And early U.S. pullout will only benefit Iran and Russia, skeptics warn.

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET.), CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Russia also wants to keep their foothold in the Middle East. And that the only one that they have right now is really through Syria. So they do not want to give that up.

STARR (voice-over): And Iran could then achieve its goal, a trade route from Tehran to Damascus.

GRAHAM: It would be the single worst decision the president could make.

STARR (voice-over): And if the president goes against Defense Secretary James Mattis and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs...

KIRBY: I think it is too early to say that this is the litmus test, that if it does not go their way, they walk. But I do think it will be very interesting to see what their advice is and the degree to which it is being followed.

STARR (voice-over): Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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SESAY: Let's take a closer look at the latest developments in Syria's civil war. Joined by CNN national security analyst Gayle Tzemach- Lemmon.

She's an author and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

What are the implications here if the president does indeed follow through with this?

GAYLE TZEMACH-LEMMON, CNN U.S. SECURITY ANALYST: I think right now what you see is a really critical moment for U.S. policy in Syria that has been years in the making. This started well before the Trump administration and I would argue that you've seen Washington really struggle the entire time.

What is Syria policy?

Is it Assad must go?

Is it Assad can stay for now?

We talk about the counter ISIS fight, which really froze the battlefield. But there is a real sense on the ground -- I was just there a few weeks ago -- among U.S. forces that we have a victory here. There is actual stability in many of these towns that were taken from ISIS. And I think you see a U.S. military and national security apparatus that does not want to jeopardize that.

And certainly does not want to see those gains give way to rising Iranian and Russian influence. And I actually do think that the president is open to that. I think everybody's been using his comments as a Rorschach test, as a what does it actually mean?

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LEMMON: Yes, but there's been seven years of Magic 8-Ball policy on Syria in the U.S.

SESAY: And what about the Kurds? Talk to me about the Kurds, what it would mean for them if indeed this happened.

LEMMON: It would mean everything for them because really Turkey, the whole time, since 2014, since the U.S. started fighting alongside the Syrian Kurdish forces, think about this, the United States has taken tragic battlefield losses, including the loss this week of the member of the U.S. Special Operations community.

But they have been -- one U.S. Special Forces told me this weekend, remarkably small compared to the fact that they have retaken all this territory from ISIS. Walk through Kurdish towns and their cemeteries and you see row after row of young people who were killed in the ISIS fight.

And they really do think that the United States, we fought alongside you when you needed us. And all we ask now is for you to stand behind us as we face a Turkey that really considers us terrorists. And really we just want local self-governance.

And so you see this push me-pull you of U.S. policy really playing out now in real time before the camera.

SESAY: You talk about this is a policy point that was years in the making and it is, as of yet, undetermined what will happen. But the president has frozen some $200 million funds that was earmarked for infrastructure, redevelopment, money that was promised by Secretary Tillerson at a conference in Kuwait, I believe.

And it also does beg the question everything we've be doing soon until now has not been imposed on the president by Tillerson.

Is the president now breaking free?

LEMMON: I think there are so many questions but if you look at Secretary Tillerson versus Secretary Mattis, there is no question as to who has more influence, who had more of a voice in the president's ear.

And this really is a policy that the Pentagon has believed in, gotten behind with very little guidance from Washington for years.

What is actually U.S. policy in Syria?

There are far more questions than answers and there always have been from the very start of this conflict. So I think you see now as people are trying to basically have these tarot cards spread out, is what is U.S. policy. And I think we will get the answers or more answers this week.

But if you look on the ground, what is happening in the town of Manbij, U.S. forces are not going anywhere. Turkey is also right across but the U.S. forces continue to patrol, continue to stand behind the Syrian Kurdish forces. And you don't not see much change on the ground yet.

So I think while the headlines --

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LEMMON: -- are very dramatic, the actual policy shift certainly has not happened yet and everyone will be watching to see this week is there's a shift.

SESAY: And you say it's because of the National Security Council meeting and the expectation what is that they are fierce for and against on both sides.

How heated, how protracted would this meeting be?

LEMMON: That's always the question. I think you saw a much more dramatic contrast in the Obama administration, where you had a one side that was for intervention and another side that really said we are an administration elected to end wars, not begin them.

With the Trump administration, it is far less clear, right, in part because there have been so many shifts in who is actually inside the national security apparatus. And also, because it is very clear, where Secretary Mattis is. It is fairly clear where Secretary Tillerson was.

Slightly less clear where the incoming secretary of state will be --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMMON: And you've got John Bolton coming in. He has said things that really do make it clear that he would like to counter rising Russian and Iranian influence in the region. But it's also unclear as everybody gets settled exactly whose voice will carry the day. But it is very certain that Secretary Mattis and his team have outlined a policy where they build on the gains that have been made.

And I'll tell you, you see it on the ground, Isha. I met a mom who we met this summer and then I went back in and saw her again in Raqqa, in a town that was the caliphate's capital.

And just the change in how much she said she is working now. She is supporting her family. All her children are in school. Six months ago she had given birth to a 2-kilo baby in an IDP camp. She, her husband had been in jail. She has no way to support her family.

So you see people who say, we are here to do the work of rebuilding our lives. But we need the world to help us.

SESAY: We'll be watching the NSC meeting very, very closely. Gayle, always a pleasure. Thank you.

LEMMON: Great to join you.

SESAY: Thank you.

All right, next here on NEWSROOM L.A., one of South Africa's most revered and polarizing figures has died. A look back at the life and legacy of Winnie Mandela.

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SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. The headlines this hour:

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SESAY: London is getting a reputation for murder. For the first time in recent history, London's murder rate has surpassed New York City's. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has a view of the violence in the streets and a possible cause.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just killed a mouse in my house, dead.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): This was the scene the night of February 20th in the London neighborhood of Camden.

Below is the body of Sadiq Adan Mohamed. The 20-year-old slashed to death. Mark Hall was there and filmed these clips. It's his voice you hear on the video.

MARK HALL, VIDEOGRAPHER: And the guy was lying on the floor and all the -- like a river was coming of him. But people were shouting and screaming (INAUDIBLE) balcony and just kind of watched from there in horror, really.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Mohamed was not the only one murdered in the area that day. Just hours earlier, 17-year-old Abdikarim Hassan was found fatally wounded in a nearby street.

The murder of these two young men, both Somali, are part of a growing epidemic of violence. Since February 2018, London's murder rate has overtaken that of New York City's, according to London and New York police. Crimes committed with a knife, the most common weapon used, have risen by a staggering 21 percent in the 12 months to September 2017, according to government figures.

The Somali community here in Camden is still reeling. But this isn't an issue of one specific community or one specific part of the city. The violence has been described as a virus and the fear is it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Former Metropolitan Police superintendent Leroy Logan says the rise had been fueled by poor policing and shrinking budgets.

LEROY LOGAN, FORMER METROPOLITAN POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: It's basically leave and the police service is not the fine force and not a service. Then young people in particular are not going to deal with them.

And so if they have any differences, they use street justice, start of the justice system, they believe that the police overpolicing them and underprotecting them. They don't feel the trust and confidence.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Last month, an ad campaign was launched by the home office to deter people from carrying knives and London's Met Police released a statement on the latest figures, saying, "One murder is one too many and we are working hard with our partners to understand the increase and what we can all do to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place."

Paul was moved to action by the horror he witnessed that night. He and other local residents have founded a community outreach charity.

PAUL: This is why we're doing something here, to try to give people a little bit of hope as well. But at the end of the day, we'll never recover, I do not think, from what we saw. But I think we're trying to do our best to make a change now.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): London is struggling try stem the bloodshed and save the beating heart of this city: its youth -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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SESAY: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, one of South Africa's foremost icons in the struggle against apartheid has died. Her family says she passed away after a long illness. She was 81 years old. CNN's Robyn Curnow gives us a look back at Madikizela-Mandela's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winnie Madikizela- Mandela considered herself a warrior. She was a powerful yet controversial figure in the anti-apartheid movements.

WINNIE MADIKIZELA-MANDELA: We not only fought on political platforms. I was one of those who were with the people fighting physically against the apartheid regime. CURNOW: While her husband, Nelson Mandela, was incarcerated, she became the face of Mandela's fight against oppression. When he was released from prison after 27 years, she was right by his side. She told CNN what was going through her mind at the time.

MADIKIZELA-MANDELA: I was thinking about the liberation of my country and the trust culmination of (INAUDIBLE).

CURNOW: While their marriage withstood the battle against apartheid, couldn't withstand the pressure of freedom. They divorced in 1996, two years after Mandela was elected the first black president of South Africa.

MADIKIZELA-MANDELA: He is very difficult to (INAUDIBLE) and even through me.

CURNOW: In the years --

[00:35:00]

CURNOW: -- after the fall of apartheid, the woman who was once revered as the mother of the nation fell sharply in the public's esteem.

She was convicted of theft and fraud and the Truth Commission accused her of gross human rights violations, allegations she denied.

When Nelson Mandela died in 2013, Winnie was at his funeral, grieving alongside his widow, (INAUDIBLE) Michelle. The scars of apartheid wounded Winnie Madikizela-Mandela deeply right until the end.

She remains disappointed with the South Africa she had so fought so hard to liberate. Nevertheless, she said it was well worth the sacrifice.

MADIKIZELA-MANDELA: We won in the end. We were free.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Our thanks to Robyn Curnow there for a look back at Winnie Mandela's life.

Next on NEWSROOM L.A., you will recognize these faces. The Syrian artist paints a picture that may hit a little close to home for some world leaders.

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SESAY: For a 13-year-old boy who's getting much-needed fresh air after being trapped in the sewer drainage pipe for some 12 hours. Rescuers used floating cameras to locate the little one early Monday morning. He was trapped in what they call dangerous and toxic conditions.

It all started Easter Sunday when he fell about 7 meters into a sewer pipe at a park in L.A. He had been playing on an old shack when boards coverage the pipe gave way.

He is very lucky indeed.

Malala Yousafzai big an emotional farewell to her native Pakistan after a surprise four-day trip. The Nobel Peace Prize winner flew back to Britain Monday from the capital, Islamabad.

It was the first time she had been home since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head more than five years ago. Malala said it was a dream to return Pakistan without fear or violence.

It's a case of art imitating the way life could be. A Syrian artist is painting refugees with the faces some of the world's most powerful leaders. Our Hala Gorani goes inside the art that is a powerful mix of pain and politics.

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HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abdalla Al Omari left Syria in 2012. After being forced to run from a conflict that was tearing his country apart, he found inspiration for a new series of artwork that would go viral online.

ABDALLA AL OMARI, SYRIAN ARTIST: Using these familiar faces, a very accessible faces to the media, to a bigger, the most wider scale of audience was a tool for me to talk about a more elevated idea which is the vulnerability.

GORANI: His work titled, "The Vulnerability Series" depict refugees and people in desperate situations but with a major twist. He paints in the faces of world leaders.

OMARI: My personal experience as a beginning of being exiled --

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OMARI: -- and being a refugee. That was the beginning. I have the anger and the frustration that anyone would have in this situation.

GORANI: Omari claimed asylum in Belgium and now works from a studio in Brussels.

I particularly like the one of Donald Trump, because he's holding a small girl and he's got a mat kind of rolled up on his back and he's holding a picture like some refugee sometimes when they hold up a picture of their family to say, this is the family I've left behind.

These are the people I've lost. And the picture he's holding up is inspired by one of your family or family photos.

OMARI: Yes, a black and white family photo I have. There was this moment like almost the transition from the anger I had towards something more powerful which is the impact of vulnerability that I started feeling empathy towards these characters that's absolutely don't need our empathy.

GORANI: What is your fantasy version of Bashar al-Assad would think to himself if he saw your painting?

OMARI: If Bashar al-Assad would look at this painting, I'm very sure he would emotionally be triggered. He would look himself and in his eyes in this very vulnerable state. And he would think that wow, how difficult that could be if I'm in that position.

GORANI: One of Omari's most powerful painting was inspired by a photo that went viral in 2014. It shows people lining up for food in the Damascus district of Yarmouth, where Omari himself lived for the first 20 years of his life.

OMARI: These people were in the most vulnerable situation, they didn't have food to eat. They were eating grass. They were eating pets, their pets, so that they can survive. It was the most apocalyptic image that he could see that he wouldn't imagine this could happen in reality in the world.

GORANI: And so then you put all these leaders in that group. Is it satisfying sometimes to see them suffer?

OMARI: Absolutely. You would feel satisfied at some point, but just the layer underneath is the most important for me which is realizing the connection that he would suddenly have with this face. I didn't want to humiliate any of them. It wasn't actually criticizing them and it's very superficial for me to criticize political leaders in this case.

GORANI: One of Omari's current projects is a work he called "The Boat," a painting of a refugee boat crammed full of people. But look closer and you notice a differences, the faces of Vladimir Putin, Theresa May, or Benjamin Netanyahu. The pieces being moved from gallery to gallery around the world and Omari constantly updates with the faces of new world leaders.

OMARI: The idea is to point out that political leaders are always changing, so the power has being inherited with the problems, just being passed from one political leader to the other.

GORANI: Omari's art, he says, will continue as long as the world's problems persist -- Hala Gorani, CNN, Brussels.

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SESAY: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "WORLD SPORT" starts after the break then I will be back at the top of the hour with more news from all around the world. Stay with CNN.

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