rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping. visit petmeds.com today. ♪ protesters gather for a fourth night to demonstrate over the killing of daunte wright. the police officer involved will appear in court later today. after 20 years, $2 trillion and more than 2,300 american lives lost, president biden says now is the time to end america's longest war. and the johnson & johnson vaccine is stuck on pause after an emergency review came and went with no new

recommendations. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta welcome to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world, i'm kim brunhuber. this is "cnn newsroom." ♪ >> hundreds of protesters took to the streets of brooklyn center, minnesota, for a fourth night demanding justice following the fatal police shooting of daunte wright. the crowd was largely peaceful, but once a nighttime curfew set in demonstrators threw fireworks and bottles at police. police used flash banks and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and some two dozen people were arrested. more than 3,000 national guard troops have been activated across the twin cities area.

cnn has been on the streets of brooklyn center every night following the unrest. law enforcement officials say the tension was easing wednesday after the arrest of the officer who shot wright. still, protesters were dug in ahead of the curfew wednesday night as sara sidner reports. >> reporter: early on the crowd being a bit more angry earlier and you're seeing sort of the exchange that happens. somebody there firing less than lethal rubber bullets. we have seen several people hit with those bullets, we have also seen people -- you can see there, they're spraying pepper spray just over the fence. there is a lot of folks, the very front, closer than normal right up on to the fence who have umbrellas, you can see those black umbrellas and now you will see bottles being thrown and now they are firing again the rubber bullets, the rubber bullets are quite large, they leave a big mark and they hurt, but they're meant to push people back and that's what you're hearing fired. you're also seeing bottles being

thrown, every now and then there is a rock being thrown. i'm going to bring you here, we will show you what they've done. this is a much smaller crowd, frankly, than yesterday and the day before, but if i can get around here, i can show you what some of the protesters have done to try and get close enough to yell at police but not get hit with the rubber bullets. if you look just there you will see they have put up make shift barriers, barricades, to try to hide behind those to keep themselves from getting hit because this is really, really, really, really close. if you get hit with a rubber bullet right here it is going to probably do more than hurt. they really leave large bruises and sometimes if you're close enough they can break a bone. so the bottom line is folks are planning on being out here after curfew, you are seeing a little bit of that back and forth going on now. a lot of pepper spray and now you've seen a flashbang. >> these latest protests began

just hours after the ex-officer involved was arrested and charged with second degree manslaughter. kim potter has been released from jail on bond. she's expected to make her first court appearance later today via zoom. fencing and barricades have been put up around potter's house and two police officers and cars were seen in the driveway. if convicted the former officer could face up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. attorney benjamin crump says daunte wright's family appreciates that the district attorney is seeking justice, but nothing will bring him back. crump says everything was wrong with the traffic stop that resulted in his death from start to finish. >> it boggles the mind why she would pull him over in the first place, or is it the rules are set aside when you are really being targeted for driving while

black. because when you get down to the crux of the matter, when you look at what this officer did, she overpoliced from every point. >> just ten miles away from where daunte wright was shot and killed the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin is under way. on wednesday the defense called its own medical expert who pushed a series of alternate theories for what caused george floyd's death. cnn's omar jimenez is following the trial from minneapolis. >> reporter: day two of defense witnesses in the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin and the topic shifted from use of force to cause of death for george floyd. >> did you form in your opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty what you thought was the principal cause of mr. floyd's death? >> yes. >> and what is that? >> cardiac arrhythmia due to

hypertensive@row sclerotic cardiovascular disease during restraint. >> reporter: in other words, a bad heart while being restrained by police. no mention of asphyxiation or low levels of oxygen brought on by being chest down on the street, handcuffed with the weight of three officers. dr. david fowler went on to testify about what he thought were several possible contributing factors to george floyd's death. >> so we have a heart that's vulnerable because it's too big, there are certain drugs that are present in his system that make it -- put it at risk of an arrhythmia. >> reporter: he added the potential for carbon monoxide from the squad car's exhaust. >> it is an extremely toxic gas. >> reporter: fowler testified that the force applied by the knee of chauvin would not have directly impacted george floyd's ability to survive. >> is it your opinion that mr. chauvin's knee in any way impacted the structures of mr.

floyd's neck? >> no, it did not. none of the vital structures were in the area where the knee appeared to be from the videos. >> reporter: but outside of this trial dr. david fowler faces his own legal issues, among others, accused in a federal lawsuit filed of covering up police responsibility in the 2018 death of 19-year-old anton black in maryland and falsely attributing the cause of death to a heart condition, bipolar disorder and or other natural causes thereby blaming the victim for his own death and obscuring financial responsibility according to the complaint. a representative from fowler's legal team told cnn our case is in litigation and we cannot comment. back in this trial during cross-examination prosecutors pushed back on the doctor's assertions. >> it's a yes or no question. >> yes. >> reporter: they specifically focused on the cause of death, the central argument in this trial. >> if a person dies as a result of low oxygen, that person is

also going to die ultimately of a fatal arrhythmia, right? >> correct. every one of us in this room will have a fatal arrhythmia at some point. >> right. because that's kind of how you go. >> yes. >> reporter: taking the witness to a familiar bottom line. >> do you feel that mr. floyd should have been given immediate emergency attention to try to reverse the cardiac arrest? >> as a physician i would agree. >> are you critical of the fact that he wasn't given immediate emergency care when he went into cardiac arrest? >> as a physician i would agree. >> reporter: and by all accounts jurors were taking lots of notes during dr. fowler's testimony. i should mention they did not hear in court about his prior controversy but nonetheless they were engaged, even talking to each other at points during side bars. for the defense overall this was really a chance to counter medical expert after medical expert, prosecutors brought to the stand at really a critical time for the defense, trying to

make an impression on jurors in this final lead up to closing arguments expected to now just be days away. omar jimenez, cnn, minneapolis. >> one question keeps coming up after hess deaths, a police reform the answer? one democratic lawmaker says no. instead representative rashida tlaib wants policing to be stopped all together calling it inherently and intentionally racist, but her fellow progressive senator bernie sanders tells cnn that isn't the solution. >> no, i don't. i think that what we need to do is to understand that there needs to be major, major police reform all across this country. we are tired of seeing the same thing week after week and year after year. we do not want to see innocent african-americans shot in cold blood. so i think that is an area that

needs significant amount of work and i hope that congress begins work on that immediately. u.s. troops will begin leaving afghanistan in just over two weeks with a total draw down by september 11th. the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in new york and washington. after announcing the withdrawal president biden visited arlington national cemetery the final resting place for u.s. troops killed in combat. the cost of america's longest running war have been staggering, $2 trillion over two decades and more than 2,000 american servicemen and women killed. president biden says the prolonged conflict is no longer aligned with american priorities. >> i concluded that it's time to end america's longest war. we went to afghanistan because of a horrific attack that happened 20 years ago. that cannot explain why we should remain there in 2021.

we cannot continue the cycle of extending our expanding our military presence in afghanistan hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result. i'm now the fourth united states president to preside over american troop presence in afghanistan, two republicans, two democrats. i will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. >> nato's secretary general says the troop withdrawal isn't the end but the beginning of a new way of working with afghanistan. he says allies must turn from combat force toss diplomacy, economic tools and humanitarian aid. >> our draw down will be orderly, coordinated and deliberate. we plan to complete the draw down for all our troops within a few months.

any taliban attacks on our troops during this period will be met with a forceful response. >> u.s. secretary of state antony blinken stood alongside the u.n. secretary general and related the importance of the moment for the nato alliance. >> the united states and our allies will coordinate closely on our next steps. we have always said as the secretary general noted that our plan was in together, adjust together, out together. and today we began to hammer out what out together looks like. we will withdraw our troops responsibly, deliberately, safely. >> cnn's international security editor nick paton walsh is live this hour in kabul. nick, now that we have a bit more details about the timeline and so on, what's been the reaction there to this decision and what this will mean for

afghans? >> reporter: the president was gracious in the tweets he put out immediately after his phone call with president joe biden saying that they respected the u.s. decision to withdraw their troops here and they would do all they can to ensure a smooth transition. the government here has been clear, it thinks it can as it has been in the past years maintain security, but i think privately there is a recognition that things will be extremely tough if not potentially victorious to some degree for the taliban if there is not some sense of international assistance moving forward. but if you listen to what joe biden actually said, there is quite a lot of scope for u.s. assistance to continue in the months ahead. he did say they would continue funding afghan security forces, that's a vital thing here, frankly, throughout which much of it would stop. there was a suggestion possibly that if the u.s. forces or the afghans were attacked during this withdrawal period that the u.s. would respond, that could

potentially mean air strikes if the taliban move forward at some point. a lot potentially the u.s. can still do in these forthcoming months. you have to also realize the key element in this is the taliban's reaction. so far publicly it has not been good. it has persistently said that it will not attend peace talks in istanbul on saturday week which the biden administration hopes will kick start moves towards a transitional government which may eventually lead to a new constitution and the ultimate political resolution in all of this. in fact, yesterday the head of the biden speech it said that the u.s. had 16 days to get out. while the troops, biden said, will start withdrawing on may 1st they won't all be out by then as the taliban demand. we will see this slow process over the months ahead during which diplomacy could succeed or fail or we could see an escalation in violence here, possibly against american targets, that's not to be excluded, as we see that

withdrawal begin to take place. but listening to joe biden talk there, kim, from an american perspective there's quite a lot of logic behind his decision. the americans have tried everything here, they've tried surging to over 100,000 troops, they've tried just a counterterrorism mission, they've tried peace talks as well and still at this point with 2,500 troops here they are seeing it's fair to say even by u.s. treasury assessment al qaeda gaining strength and also the taliban doing well on the battlefield, too. if those 2,500 troops aren't shopping that the only real choice you have is to send more, you won't do that again because you tried that ten years ago. what's the only thing the u.s. hasn't tried left and that's leaving. there is also a dynamic here to actually enable an afghan-brokered peace, most afghan officials i have spoken to don't think that's the likely forthcoming move here, that the taliban aren't to trust a worthy negotiating partner and we will see a return to violence here in

what's called the fighting season in the warmer summer months ahead. great uncertainty, yet more after the many decades of war and an increase in violence in recent years. kim? >> all right. appreciate the reporting. thanks so much from kabul, afghanistan. cnn's nick paton walsh. an emergency review of the johnson & johnson vaccine didn't deliver many answers. we will explain why the vaccine is still on pause and what has regulators so concerned. and the question of which vaccine to use is dividing europe and confusing europeans. we're live in paris when we come back. stay with us.

the johnson & johnson coronavirus vaccine will remain on hold for now. a cdc advisory committee said more time is needed to investigate a possible link to severe and very rare blood clots. nearly 7 million americans have received the vaccine yet only six people have reported this issue. nick watt explains why the cdc advisers are delaying their decision. >> reporter: johnson & johnson's one-shot vaccine remains on pause. >> in the coming weeks we are

going to gather more information. >> it should not be interpreted as a signal that there is an increased concern, but a desire to better characterize the risk. >> reporter: this pause also provides time to advise physicians on how to treat these clots and to advise the public of what to watch out for. >> five of these six cases really headache is the initial presenting feature. >> reporter: johnson & johnson believes the benefits outweigh the potential risks. >> based on the current data the overall benefit/risk profile for our vaccine is positive across the population for which it's authorized. >> reporter: note, those clots reported in .00008% of people who got the johnson & johnson shot. also not a single case of this kind of clot after the more than 182 million doses of the moderna and pfizer vaccines

administered. all right. more brighter side. >> our vaccination program is accelerating. >> reporter: now averaging nearly 3.4 million people dozed every day. pfizer has boosted production, says they will now deliver 220 million doses by may's end. >> and i know moderna is on track and we're working with moderna to do everything we can to accelerate those doses. >> reporter: today is day 450 since the first confirmed covid-19 case in this country and we're now averaging over 70,000 new cases a day, up 10% in just a week. >> hospital admissions also continue to increase. >> reporter: just look at that line climb, that's hospitalizations in michigan where a doc posted this after an er shift. >> we're like five times the number of inpatients in covid than we had just a few weeks ago. our hospital is full. we have to do better, folks. the light is there at the end of the tunnel but we are just not going to get there unless we do all of it.

>> reporter: nick watt, cnn, los angeles. the european medicines agency is expected to issue a recommendation on the johnson & johnson vaccine next week, but for now regulators say the benefits still outweigh the risks. sweden and spain have both received the vaccine but aren't administering it yet. france is. french health authorities say they have 200,000 johnson & johnson doses on hand and intend to use them. denmark hasn't made its mind up yet about johnson & johnson, but announced wednesday that it's removing oxford/astrazeneca from its vaccine program. let's go now to cnn's melissa bell who is live in paris for us. melissa, you know, we've talked about there's so much chaos over vaccine rollouts in europe, obviously this latest uncertainty over the johnson & johnson vaccine won't help. >> reporter: well, more uncertainty over vaccine that was really considered crucial to try to help european countries try to improve their vaccine rollout strategies and

campaigns. remember that it was shortfalls in the first quarter that were blamed by the european commission for the slow pace of the vaccine rollout here in europe. 107 million doses were delivered overall then but the commission had said, look, we're going to get 360 million doses overall of those four vaccines already approved by the european medicines agency and that will help us to achieve our targets. now this news, the suspension of the rollout of the johnson & johnson, a real blow to that when you consider that it was 200 million doses of those johnson & johnson that the eu was expecting the second dose -- second quarter. so more than half of those crucial doses it was expected and that it expected could really help it improve its vaccine rollout. as you say, denmark has announced that it will not be using the astrazeneca vaccine in the end, it was one of the first countries to suspend its rollout over fears of blood clots even as other countries have picked up the rollout of that vaccine, again, denmark saying it simply doesn't need to. it is the european country that is faring the best in terms of

its vaccine rollout, 8% of its population vaccinated so far, that is the best performer in the eu. in the rest of europe as you say here in france they say that those 200,000 doses of the johnson & johnson they will be delivering and along the same lines as they've been delivering the astrazeneca that is to people over 55, over those very rare cases of blood clots in younger populations, but all eyes very much on the european medicines agency next week to try to see what its verdict will be beyond its recommendation to far that the benefits outweigh the risks. it's actual conclusion once it's investigated these fears of blood clots in the johnson & johnson vaccine, it will be delivering that verdict next week, all eyes very much in europe on that since it was those crucial doses that were really expected to help make things better here in europe. remember, the target is 70% of the eu population vaccinated by the summer. that depends to a great extent on johnson & johnson being rolled out as planned, kim. >> we will be following that for sure. thooings so much, melissa bell

in paris. british researchers say they've moved into phase two in a pioneering trial looking into mixing and matching vaccine doses. they are also expanding the trial to include four coronavirus shots instead of just two. cnn's cyril vanier is standing by in london. testing the ability to mix and match, take us through the process and especially why this might be so important. >> reporter: this is a world first. it's a major scientific trial that's under way here in the uk, kim, to test whether you can combine vaccines in a two-dose regimen. for instance, get a first dose of astrazeneca and a second dose of pfizer. those combinations are actually going to increase because moderna and novavax are now part of the trial. imagine the combinations you can have with four vaccines in there. the point of this is that, number one, there are encouraging early signs, even though we don't have definitive

results, that combining vaccines could actually improve the overall immune response in vaccine recipients, but for the moment that research has been done on mice and that is why this entire trial is currently taking place. results expected this summer. the second potential advantage is that it could greatly facilitate vaccine rollouts across the world because imagine if you can just administer the first dose of your vaccines without necessarily earmarking those second doses and having them sit in a fridge to make sure that they're available for the recipients of the first doses and imagine if you can no longer be as dependent on the supply and delivery of specific vaccine brands because you now have the ability to mix and match and combine and not only does it not hurt the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, but, as i said, it might actually increase and improve immune response. so those are the two clear advantages that this might have.

now, for the moment, it is not an official policy in very many countries at all, it doesn't happen here in the uk, it doesn't happen in the u.s. where the centers for disease control say for the moment they are not interchangeable. it is happening, however, it's going to start to happen in france. mostly under duress because remember that the astrazeneca vaccine in france has been ruled out for under 55s, over fears of rare but serious blood clots, and because some people had already received a first dose of astrazeneca under 55, what the french health authority announced last week is those people will be receiving a second dose, a booster jab of a different brand. so there will be some real world data to rely on in addition to this uk trial currently under way. >> interesting to see the results of that real world experiment as you say. cyril vanier in london, thank you very much. appreciate it. the police officer involved in the fatal shooting of daunte wright has been charged but that

didn't stop hundreds of protesters from gathering outside the brooklyn center police department for a fourth night. we will have more from minnesota in a moment. stay with us. ♪ beds get sick too protection. lysol laundry sanitizer kills 99.9% of illness-causing bacteria detergents leave behind. proven to kill covid-19

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disperse the crowd. law enforcement officials say tensions have been lower since ex-officer kim potter was arrested and charged with second degree manslaughter. she makes her first court appearance later today. even with charges being brought against the officer in this case many of the protesters say the system is failing black americans. we asked cornel west, a professor of public philosophy at harvard university, what needs to be done. >> the question becomes how do we work on the inside of a system. the system is a failure. we know that. all investigations and so forth, they can spend months and months on that. it is failing black people. so the question becomes what is the response? do we come up with our own forms of protecting each other? do we generate mechanisms of accountability for police and others who are killing black people? we cannot just have

conversations over and over again about this must stop, this must stop. no. we need more than that. >> sources say the u.s. is expected to announce sanctions targeting russian individuals and entities as early as today in response to the solar winds cyber hack and u.s. election interference. up to a dozen russian diplomats are set to be expelled as well. this comes just days after president biden proposed a summit with vladimir putin during a phone call with his russian counterpart. the kremlin said it would study the proposal but said it was too early to talk about specifics. cnn's nic robertson joins us now with more. tell us what's been the response so far from russia. this doesn't seem like the best enticement for a summit. >> reporter: i think, yes, you could read it diplomatically not an enticement for a summit, but it's possible to read this as, you know, president biden made this phone call knowing that these sanctions were coming and, therefore, hoping to have, you

know, direct future conversations with president putin. in effect saying i'm going to sanction you for these actions, what we heard from the white house was very straightforward, that two countries need to be candid and honest with each other where they have differences and work together where they can. so in some ways you can see this as president biden trying to create a way that the two countries can manage this dispute. biden this come into office promising to get tough on russia and its hacks and human rights abuses specifically alexei navalny the opposition politician. these issues were front and center for president biden, but the sanctions are clearly going to raise the diplomatic temperature between the two countries and a face-to-face summit afterwards is a potential way to get on top of the outfall of these actions. and there will be outfall and the russians have made that clear. we've heard from one of their

senior officials tweeting -- one of their senior officials at the u.n. tweeting that this may be the last opportunity to avoid as he calls it a great powers confrontation from these baseless accusations that he says the united states is making against russia. it's significant at the end of his tweet he says "not our choice." the message from president biden, of course, is that russia's own actions whether it's cyber espionage or the u.s. intelligence assessment that russia is paying militants in afghanistan to kill u.s. troops, that it is actually russia's choice and the united states is responding. but it seems very clear from what this diplomate is saying that there will be an adequate response so russia's early response on this is likely to expect tit for tat, whether they escalate beyond the dozen or so the u.s. will expel, not clear yet. >> great to get your analysis as

always. nic robertson, thanks so much for joining us. indirect talks on salvaging the iran nuclear agreement are set to resume in a few hours. the meetings came back the backdrop of tehran preparing to boost uranium enrichment to 60%, far out of compliance with the deal. iran says it's doing it as a response to the attack on its nuclear facility in natanz but that move is raising alarms with the u.s. and europe and saudi arabia is calling on iran to deescalate saying 60% enrichment can't be for peaceful purposes. for more on this let's turn to fred pleitgen in berlin. fred, iran very defiant. what effect could this have on the nuclear agreement? >> reporter: well, i think you're absolutely right, kim, defines was the word that i was going to open up this live report with. you're absolutely right, that the iranians are showing that they can do this enrichment up to 60% n fact, the international atomic agency told us, told cnn yesterday that they have been at

the natanz nuclear site, this he had a visit there yesterday and that the preparations to enrich up to 60% are almost complete on the iranian side. what the iranians are saying, look, you had this incident that happens at the natanz nuclear facility but that facility is still very much operational. in fact, the iranians are saying that some of those old centrifuges that were apparently damaged in that incident that those will be replace bd i newer centrifuges and those newer centrifuges also instrumental in going up to that enrichment of 60%. that seems to be well under way. you're absolutely right that does raise a lot of alarm bells in the u.s. we've heard from the white house saying that they are not sure whether iran is sincere anymore about these negotiations that are going on in vienna. we've heard from the european countries also calling on iran not to do this as well but the iranians very much defiant and they are saying that, yes, they want the nuclear agreement to survive but they also say they want sanctions relief as fast as possible.

i think one of the really important things that happened over the past 24 hours is that iran's supreme leader has weighed in on all of this. he is the top authority in iran, he would have to sign off on anything that happens regarding the nuclear agreement, anything those iranian negotiators do and anything decided upon. he has said he does not want protected negotiations and also once again has said that iran wants sanctions relief before it comes back into compliance. certainly it's going to be very, very difficult negotiations and of course we've been talking about this in the past, kim, and the way that the negotiators there in vienna are trying to do this is they're trying to compartmentalize the negotiations, talking to the u.s. about sanctions relief, talking to the iranians about what they're willing to do to come back into compliance, doing those talks separately and then sort of trying to marry those positions to get to then try to have everything happen simultaneously. it is very difficult, it is very complicated, however, even after the incident that took place this past week, the iranians and the u.s. are saying they still

have committed to try to salvage the nuclear agreement, bing bring the u.s. back to the agreement and bring iran back into full compliance. the iranians are saying even with that 60% enrichment that is possible fairly quickly. >> complex and fraught here. thanks for your analysis, fred pleitgen in berlin. ahead on "cnn newsroom," new details on the flurry of allegations of drug use and sex trafficking against u.s. congressman matt gaetz. stay with us. want to eliminate odors without heavy, overwhelming scents?

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ing. sex, drugs and digital payments, those are some of the things that allegedly went on at late night parties, u.s. congressman matt gaetz attended allegedly, again, sources tell cnn federal investigators are examining whether gaetz had sex with an underaged girl and violated federal sex trafficking laws. gaetz has denied the allegations.

cnn's paula reid has more. >> reporter: congressman matt gaetz avoided questions from reporters as he was spotted back on the hill for the first time since news of a federal investigation first broke. cnn is learning more about drug use, sex and payments to women involved in late night parties with gaetz. cnn spoke directly with two women who attended these parties with the lawmaker and others. the women told cnn these parties were held at a house in a gated community in suburban orlando. the first thing some women were asked to do was put away their cell phones as the high profile men in attendance often including congressman gaetz and other state republicans, did not want the night documented. cnn has learned that people mingled and shared drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy. one of the women said she saw gaetz take a pill she believed was a recreational drug and that he behaved like a frat party

boy. some of these people at these parties had sex. the justice department is investigating whether congressman gaetz violated federal sex trafficking and prostitution laws as a result of the probe. cnn learned money was exchanged after some of these parties. this comes as a source familiar with the matter tells cnn that gaetz's friend joel greenberg has been providing law enforcement with information about the congressman's activities since last year. greenberg is seeking a plea deal. the former seminole county florida tax collector faces 33 federal charges. his lawyer offered a signal last week his client may be sharing information about the congressman. >> i'm sure matt gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today. >> reporter: a source familiar with the case confirms greenberg told investigators details about how he and gaetz would pay women for sex with cash and gifts, in possible violation of prostitution and sex trafficking laws. >> i'm built for the battle and i'm not going anywhere. >> reporter: gaetz is trying to

deflect and has previously denied the allegations. >> they aren't really coming for me, they're coming for you. i'm just in the way. >> reporter: according to receipts reviewed by cnn, gaetz and greenberg used digital payment apps including venmo to send hundreds of dollars to at least one woman who attended these parties. the receipts viewed by cnn record payments that took place between 2018 and 2019 and include at least one indicated in its label that it was to compensate for travel. another woman said she received money from greenberg after some of the parties but she never received a payment directly from gaetz. both women we spoke with say they never saw anyone at the parties who appeared to be under age. >> that was cnn's paula reid reporting. the man who admitted to running the world's largest financial fraud in history has died in prison. bernie madoff was serving a 150-year sentence for

masterminding a multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme that ruined thousands of lives. he was arrested in 2008 after investors demanded he redeem $7 billion that he didn't have. a judge denied may do have's request for an early release due to a terminal illness. he called may do have's fraud one of the most egregious financial crimes of our time. bernie madoff was 82. coming up, u.s. climate envoy john kerry is in shanghai hoping to convince china to partner with the u.s. to combat climate change but he has got his work cut out for him. i will have the latest from beijing live next. stay with us.

rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping. visit petmeds.com today. cuba is set to enter a post-castro era in week for the first time in well over half a century. raul castro plans to step down as head of the communist party, the transition of power will happen at the party congress scheduled to begin friday. it will be the first time since the 1959 revolution led by fidel castro and his brother that a castro won't be in charge. haiti's government has stepped down, a new prime minister is in place.

the resignation comes after months of violence and political turmoil. cnn's patrick oppmann has the latest on a nation deeply divided. >> reporter: haiti's president says he has accepted the resignation of his government and appointed a new prime minister. the move comes as haiti deals with increasing political violence and uncertainty. haitians say worsening economic situation and blatant official corruption has led to widespread corruption. they say it is to address the killings and kidnappings with i have plagued the country. his critics and the opposition say that he is the problem and the haitian president shouldn't be in office. according to the opposition his five-year presidential term already ended and he was supposed to have left power last year. so far the u.s. has not called for moise to step down.

moise has vowed to reform the constitution and hold elections but the opposition says they no longer believe the haitian president and that he is the one that needs to go. the director of the fbi says the bureau has more than 2,000 investigations linked to the chinese government and is opening a new one every ten hours. in testimony christopher reyes says their ability is deep, wide and persistent. >> i don't think there is any country that presents a more severe threat to our innovation, our economic security and our democratic ideas. >> but despite those threats u.s. climate envoy john kerry is hoping the two nations can find common ground over an escalating global crisis, climate change. kerry arrived in shanghai late wednesday for his talks with is

chinese counterpart. china is the world's number one greenhouse gas emitter and experts say the only way to tackle this environmental catastrophe is with beijing on board. kerry's visit to china comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions on other issues between the two nations. steven jiang joins us from beijing. as i said with the atmosphere between the two countries frosty to say the least, can any progress on this vital issue really be made here? >> reporter: well, kim, it's requesting to be a very tall order for kerry and the fact he's not even here in beijing, the seat of this very centralized government, tells us that sensitive and delicate nature of this visit. the chinese probably want to put him in a more political mutual setting and not having two wore about if president xi jinping will have to meet kerry and answer the question of whether or not he will attend president biden's virtual climate summit

next week. these climate talks are taking place at a time when the political climate between the two governments cannot get any worse on a whole range of issues. both sides already trying to really manage expectations. china state media has been saying that these talks have to be conducted based on both parties being equals not on u.s. terms and the chinese are not going to make unilateral concessions to restore america's global leadership on this issue. from washington's perspective, though, as kerry himself has said repeatedly in the past few days this crisis cannot be resolved without china being at a table. that is why he is talking about cooperation but also reminding the chinese of the gap between their leader's ambitious pledges including going carbon neutral by 2060 and the reality on the ground which is they have been expanding the use of coal in the past few years despite this being one of the biggest contributors to their greenhouse

gas emissions. kim, as you know, this trend appears to continue despite all the talk about green post covid-19 economic recovery. kim? >> steven jiang in beijing, appreciate it. the royal family is back at work after the death of prince philip. queen elizabeth held her first in-person royal engagement since the loss of her husband, a ceremony for the outgoing lord chamberlain. the duke and duchess of cambridge shared family photos on social media remembering prince philip as a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. family members are in a two-week mourning period. preparations are under way for the funeral saturday at windsor castle. that's it for us here. i'm kim brunhuber, thanks for joining us here in the "cnn newsroom." "early start" is next.

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♪ welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world, this is "early start" with live reports from kabul, minneapolis, london, berlin, capitol hill and tokyo. i'm christine romans. laura is off today. it is thursday, april 15th. exactly 5:00 a.m. in new york. we cannot continue the cycle. 20 jurors after the u.s. went into afghanistan president biden says now it's time to bring the troops home. his deadline for the troop withdrawal is september 11th. the anniversary of the attacks that led the u.s. into afghanistan. the president faced push bac