hello and welcome to the programme. we began in new york city where two men have appeared in court charged with operating a chinese secret police station in manhattan. they are accused of acting on behalf of china s military to monitor and intimidate dissidents. unlike typical officers, they are not focused on preventing crime, ratherthe are not focused on preventing crime, rather the complaints charged these nps offices with engaging in transnational repression schemes, targeting members of the chinese deist for a community in new york city and elsewhere in the united states, and as shown in these complaints, the nps has repeatedly and flagrantly violated our nation s sovereignty including by opening and operating a police station in the middle of new york city. station in the middle of new york city- station in the middle of new york ci . . . , ., york city. that was the federal district attorney york city. that was the federal district attorney in york city. that was
hello and welcome. let s start with the situation in sudan, and the us secretary of state antony blinken has spoken on the phone to the leaders of the warring factions there and called for a ceasefire. he s said to have expressed grave concern about civilian deaths and injuries in separate calls with the heads of the armed forces and the rival paramilitary rapid support force. this is the latest footage coming out of the conflict. sudanese citizens have been seeing this barrage of artillery fire light up the night sky in the capital khartoum. both sides now claim to control key sites in khartoum, where most of the violence has taken place. the european union says its ambassador to sudan was assaulted in his home there. caught in the middle, are sudan s civilians. it s one of the poorest countries in the world, and millions need humanitarian aid. let s hear from some of them. actually i live in east khartoum, less than 15 minutes away from the military headquarters and airport
let s start in china, where the latest figures just released show the world s second largest economy grew faster than expected in the first three months of the year at 4.5%. this is the first set of quarterly gdp figures following the end of strict covid 19 restrictions in december. they also follow the easing of a three year crackdown on tech firms and property. lets get reaction from julian evans pritchard, head of china economics at capital economics. this is better than expected. most people are saying we re looking at 4% growth, give us your take on this number? really the strength is all about the consumer centre, we saw the vigors beads on the retail sales numbers are more generally in qrs or the household savings rates, so households are feeling more comfortable, households are feeling more comfortable, spinning again, they have comfortable, spinning again, they have the comfortable, spinning again, they have the possibility - comfortable, spinning again, they ha