from berlin. tonight, french president emmanuel macron lays out his vision of europe and gets heckled in the process. during a state visit to the netherlands, macron tried to emphasize economic reform in the eu but protesters interrupted, calling macron the president of hypocrisy, not democracy. also coming up, after dozens of classified u.s. documents surface online, the pentagon is

now in damage control searching for the source of the leaks. and we take a look at the migration crisis inside africa. why the fate of thousands of zimbabweans is suddenly in the hands of a south african judge. ♪ i'm brent goff. to our viewers watching on pbs in the united states and to all of you around the world, welcome. we begin this tuesday with the french president emmanuel macron trying to stay on message. the french president was heckled today in the hague while delivering a key speech outlining his vision for the european union. macron is facing furor at home, criticism abroad,reporter: so wl macron met omicron dig heels or

backpedal? students in the hague eagerly awaited the french president's key address. over the weekend, macron had given an interview that i draw attention due to his remarks about taiwan. and the threat of conflict between the u.s. and china. the worst thing would be to think that we europeans must be followers, and must adapt ourselves to an american rhythm and a chinese overreaction. this raised the question whether his views were in line with the eu's position. his later speech seemed more cautious in spite of his grand flourishes. >> european sovereignty is not just a concept or fantasy, but is absolutely in a dangerous world, a subsidy. reporter: over easter, beijing's military exercises in waters off taiwan demonstrated just how dangerous the global situation is. but other europeans draw different europeans -- different

conclusions to macron. >> the fact he sides with china and against america at the very moment military exercises are taking place on taiwan's borders does not align with european interests. reporter: the polish prime minister stressed the relationship to the u.s. is critical to poland security. and one u.s. senator said what many conservatives americans think. >> we ask europe, does he speak for them? because we are pretty heavily involved in ukraine right now, we are spending a lot of taxpayer money on a european war. reporter: emmanuel macron has given europe fresh impetus, but not everyone is pleased with the direction he is taking. brent: earlier i spoke to our correspondent jack parrock in brussels and i asked if there is anything in macron's speech today that would assure anyone recently unsettled by his recent remarks on taiwan. jack: not really. he was not making a speech to try and cover those comments by taiwan. he made those comments on a flight in china where he said

that europe should not be america's followers. on the issue of taiwan. taiwan is the island nation that china wants to retake into its direct sphere of influence and they have not ruled out doing that by force. the americans are against that. but macron said we should not be necessarily taking the leadership of the united states on this, and the u.s. senators who have said perhaps we should not consider supporting europe and ukraine so much, the war on european soil. he did not really mention that during his speech in the netherlands today, but he did talk about european sovereignty, the need to lead for itself. and that was sort of an interesting thing that happened, that he did directly address the taiwan comments. and the questions that came afterwards at the nexus institute in the netherlands, nobody asked him about it either when a lot of us were hoping that someone would. brent: so what was his main

message then today? jack: the messaging that came out was similar to what macron has stood for politically for pretty much his whole career, which is the idea that further european integration, firstly on things like capital markets, which means money flowing around different companies and in the markets, also on industrial integration. so what macron thinks is in order to do the green transition -- i will add this not only macron, this is broadly most of the rest of the european union thinking and planning is around this. for things like the green transition, europe should try to ween itself off of dependency of other countries. he talked about the eu not being a customer any longer, not buying solar panels, not buying the materials needed to produce batteries, etc. this is something he has been really keen on throughout his entire presidency and has full political career. but he laid it out quite clearly

during this speech today. brent: that message may have been overshadowed somewhat by the interruptions that took place today. we saw it happen live, the speech was interrupted by protesters at one point. what was their message? jack: in the upper echelons of the auditorium there, there were a few protesters holding flags and saying he was the president of hypocrisy. macron kind of batted it off. he said listen, i want to answer your questions, i want to be able to have a talk about the issues that those people wanted to raise, but there was so much noise and there was quite a lot of shouting and in the end it looked like security removed some of those demonstrators. but it is a reflection on how much pressure he is under himself, both domestically for his plan to try and raise the pension age in france, which we have seen multiple protests bubbling over and erupting across france, specifically in paris in recent weeks. but also, that domestic issue is

weakening him on the international stage, when he is talking about these european issues, when he is struggling for support on his domestic issues. brent: jack parrock with a lid is tonight from brussels. as always, thank you. in the united states, the biden administration is reeling from the fallout of the most difficult leak of government secrets since the wikileaks back in 2010. as we search for the source of the leak continues, washington is busy with damage control. revelations suggest the u.s. spies on key allies including israel and south korea. tuesday, seoul dismissed a significant number of the files, calling them fake. the pentagon says it has ordered an internal review, describing the leak as a very serious national security risk. about a decade ago, it was revealed that the u.s. national security agency had spied on the cell phone that former -- of former german chancellor angela merkel. we asked a social democrat who

sits on the digital affairs committee if what we are seeing right now, if this is not familiar territory for germany, and not also a cause for concern. >> to be honest, i would not be too much surprised. because you honestly have to be pretty naive to expect that there is not some kind of mutual intelligence gathering. so in that regard, i do not think it will damage any existing relationships. it's more of an embarrassment, actually, for the various u.s. agencies. we still do not know exactly where the leak is coming from. that is obviously a source of concern for the u.s. it shows a lot of the classical components of a disinformation campaign. so you have a couple of genuine documents, you have a couple of

documents which are obviously tampered with, and you have a couple of other document where you do not know if they are genuine or fake. so you actually january -- generate a lot of mistrust. brent: let's focus on the documents that reportedly concerned arms deliveries to ukraine. i mean, we know that the picture being painted right now is a ukrainian military that is not on the brink of collapsing, but almost at that point. is that going to put pressure on germany to deliver more heavy weapons to ukraine? there has been controversy and criticism of germany dragging its feet and it comes to delivering tanks, for example. holger: i think the documents so far, at lease for the people who arr -- at least for the people who are closer, do not contain

surprises. everyone knows the ammunition situation is pretty dire. and i do not think it will add increasing pressure on either germany or the other allies. what i think it does, however, is generate a discussion about logistics, and of course the question, how can we actually safeguard deliveries, because that is actually one of the more concerning issues on these documents if they are genuine. of course it puts deliveries of weapons and ammunition in danger. brent: you know there were comments made over the weekend in the interview by the french president regarding the situation with taiwan. basically president macron was saying that europe should be sovereign enough that is do -- that it does not have to follow

the u.s. if there is a conflict with china, that it should be sovereign enough to decide who its allies will be. is he speaking for germany when he says that? holger: not at all. i actually had the pleasure to spend today with the taiwan representative here in germany. we obviously discussed macron's statements. and it becomes pretty clear that this is not a statement which has been cleared with the european partners. it is clear that all the like-minded nations will have to stand together and we will urge china to really stick to the current status quo. that is the message we have to send. and i do not think the statements of macron were meant to somehow distance ourselves from the u.s., and also to

distance ourselves from the situation we have in taiwan right now. brent: perhaps the comments made by president macron are filling a vacuum that has been created with the departure of angela merkel from the european scene. we know that the former german chancellor was very strong in her transatlantic cyst attitude, and now it seems the voice of germany is not as strong with chancellor olaf scholz. that is allowing president macron to put his vision out there. am i giving an accurate description of the situation? holger: i would not say that. these were the same allegations which were actually made during angela merkel's term as well. i think what we definitely have to do is we have to put more emphasis on developing joint european positions in the changing geopolitical situation. that's for sure. and i am actually urging

politicians, especially on the european level, to come up with a more integrative process to formulate these european positions. in a world which is obviously changing rapidly, and the phrase cannot be overemphasized, because it really has shaken our fundamental beliefs in geopolitical policies. and that is actually what is happening right now, is of course we are trying to develop national strategies in our relationship to russia, to china, but that can only happen and will only be successful if that is not in a european context. brent: there is still a lot to talk about. we hope you can come back to talk with us again. mr. holger becker, we appreciate your time tonight. holger: thank you very much.

my pleasure. brent: the international monetary fund has warned the global economy faces a hard landing and a significant risk of recession if soaring inflation does not ease soon. in its latest outlook, the imf scesney war in ukraine and instability in the banking sector are other key risks. the world economy is only expected to go 2.8% this year, down from 3.4% -- in 2022. u.s. treasury secretary janet yellen says she is cautiously optimistic, saying the global economy is doing better than expectations. >> during the g20 in february i said that the global economy was in a better place than many predicted last fall. that basic picture has remained largely unchanged. basic commodities like food and

energy has stabilized. supply chain pressures have continued to ease prude and global growth projections remain higher than they were in the fall. brent: that was janet yellen. let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world. turkiye is president recep tayyip erdogan has kicked off his reelection campaign with a rally in ankara. a month ahead of elections. a raging cost-of-living crisis and the slow reaction to the february earthquake disasters, it all means that the president and his ak party are facing their biggest challenge since coming to power in 2002. the charity group catholic relief services says that two of its staff have been killed in the amhara region of northern ethiopia. they were shot in their vehicle while returning from an assignment. it comes amid massive antigovernment protests in that region over the dissolution of a regional security force. airstrikes by myanmar's ruling

military junta left hundreds dead on tuesday, including many children. these pictures show the aftermath of the deadly attack, which took place at a village ceremony being organized by groups opposed to the country's military rulers. italy's far right government has declared a six-month state of emergency following a sharp rise in the number of migrants crossing the mediterranean in recent weeks. the move comes after thousands of people crossed the sea between europe and africa over the weekend. major rescue operations have been launched to assist two boats that together a carrying at sea now 1200 people. the group sea watch says a third boat near malta carrying 400 people also needs urgent assistance. i spoke earlier with founder and director of the people for change foundation, a malta-based

human rights organization. i asked him for his take on that six-month state of emergency that the right-wing government has just announced in italy. >> i think we're overreacting very quickly and trying to find a pretext in the law to allow us, to allow italy and european countries to violate their international obligations, including the obligation to individually assess every asylum application by individuals seeking protection in europe. we know that eu member states and the international community as a whole has obligations both to rescue people in distress at sea, but also after the rescue has happened to facilitate disembarkation and a place of safety. the idea of saying there is an emergency in order to allow

repatriation clearly flies in the face of international obligations, and is clearly a pretext for violating some of those international obligations. sorry, yeah. brent: if i could, i know there was a little delay, i apologize. the prime minister of italy is going to say that there is no cohesive plan among all eu member states for dealing with these migrants, and that it is left up to italy to deal with these hundreds, if not thousands of people arriving every day. jean-pierre: and i think that is a fair assessment of the situation in europe, we we see that because of the doubling system, because of the lack of a european approach to migration, because of the lack of effective solidarity between eu member states, some states at the border of europe are left to bear the responsibility of everyone who is arising -- arriving. however, the response to that

cannot be that we violate our international obligations. it also cannot be that we put the blame and therefore the repercussions on people seeking protection in europe who are vulnerable. and there is a need for europe to do more. there is a need for more effective solidarity in europe. we have seen this happen in other situations. we have seen this happen in the context of ukraine, where we are seeing significantly higher numbers of ukrainians having been displaced in the last 1.5 years then we are seeing from other countries. so we know that europe can do this if it wants to, and it is the responsibility of europe to share that responsibility for people who are, at the end of the day, seeking international protection in what europe has said is a place that respects fundamental human rights. brent: but you know as well as i do that that is not going to happen in the near future. what would you like to see happen in italy right now, realistically? jean-pierre: i think given the

numbers, italy should continue to facilitate the search-and-rescue of people distressed at sea, taking advantage of the various assets of sea bots -- boats owned by the state but also private vessels. to allow disembarkation and a place of safety, be that in italy or in other places of safety, coordinating with other states who might be willing to share some of the responsibility. and allowing people access to an asylum procedure, continue to advocate for greater response and greater solidarity between eu member states, both within the narrow view and the wider european context. brent: jean-pierre gauci, we appreciate your time and your insights tonight. thank you. jean-pierre: no problem. thank you very much for having me. brent: imagine having settled in a new country, only to find out

years later that you are being kicked out. that is the case for about 200,000 zimbabweans in south africa. they were granted residency back in 2009. human rights groups have taken their government to court, but the clock is ticking. the resident permits expire at the end of this coming june. we met a teacher in johannesburg whose family is nervously awaiting the outcome of this legal challenge. reporter: far from his home in zimbabwe, he is contemplating the future. his life in south africa might soon be coming to an end. he has been earning a living in johannesburg, teaching and waiting tables. >> it typical day for me, go to school in the morning and then later go to a restaurant.

i have to make some more money. my family, two children and a wife. they look forward to what i send to them. christine: he can live and work legally in south africa because he has a zimbabwean exemption permit. they were offered to zimbabweans who were living in south africa undocumented, and those who were seeking asylum after zimbabwe's violent election in 2008. now after 12 years, the south african government is canceling the permits, and permit holders have been told to apply for work visas. but these will only be given to applicants with critical skills. like the majority of permit holders, his work is not considered to be critical. over the border, his wife and

two daughters worry about him having to return to zimbabwe. >> it stresses me a lot. [indiscernible] i want to afford to pay for all the children's fees. >> it is really life-changing. it will mean i'll have to drop out of college. i started college and i'm about to finish. it will mean i will have to drop out of college. christine: living standards in zimbabwe have been in decline since the early 2000's. today, about half of the population is reported to be living in poverty. zimbabweans had migrated to neighboring countries and big numbers. many have come to south africa. and there's a growing

anti-immigrant sentiment in south africa that has at times escalated to violent attacks on foreign nationals. some have suggested that the government is peddling to this populism in taking the decision to end the zimbabwe exemption permits. but authorities have maintained these permits were always a temporary arrangement, and never a pathway to citizenship, or permanent residence. rights groups have asked a court to stop the government from canceling the permits. >> there was no public consultation with the stakeholders prior to the decision being made to terminate the permits. if you have enabled people to find families, find lives here and careers, that you give them a fair opportunity to make representations. so that you understand the circumstances of their lives and what they face when you make the decision to terminate. and that is absent in terms of

the decision that has been made by the south african government here. christine: he hopes the court will rule in favor of the appeal. he does not want to go back to zimbabwe. >> i do not want to go back and start again. i do not want to go somewhere else. christine: if the court rejects the appeal, he and other exemption permit holders have until the end of june to leave south africa. brent: let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. take sandstorms have cloaked beijing for the fourth time in a month. measurements from the city's air quality index shows a serious level of pollution, as dust drips in from the nearby gobi desert. china's meteorological agency has warned the storms are likely to effect a dozen provinces until wednesday. south korean officials say at least one person was killed in a

fast spreading wildfire in the eastern coastal city. more than 500 people were evacuated from their homes after the national fire agency issued its highest alert. the flames were fanned by dry weather and strong winds. as they say, like a mother, like son. 24-year-old australian pro surfer ethan ewing has won the same title that was clenched by his late mother, helen lambert, back in 1983. it's been a dream of his ever since he lost his mother to breast cancer in 2005. reporter: 40 years ago, it was ethan ewing's mother who wowed judges on the way to victory in australia, the longest running event and competitive surfing. ewing used to sleep next to his mother's trophy as a child. by repeating her success, he's achieved what he has been aiming for his entire career.

>> it has been my biggest goal in my career to win this. just all my heroes have won this. yeah, my mom back in 1983. it's an honor to compete here and put my name up there with hers, it is really special. a crazy week, a lot of emotions. yeah, i am over the moon. reporter: the victory sees ewing move up to number four in the world surf league rankings, becoming the first australian male to win the title at bales beach since 2016. brent: after a short break i will be back to take you through "the day." stick around. we'll be right back. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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>> hello and welcome. the headlines this hour. united states says he denies plans a was -- it was making rockets for russia. a man band until the end of ramadan, security concerns regarding the decision. united nations reviewing its presence in afghanistan after taliban ruling decided to refuse women work inside of