france twenty four on the lawn- to susan where life in paris the headlines this hour my compare continues his african tour with a stop expected in ethiopia the secretary of statee is the first us cabinet official to visit the continent. in eighteen months. i yes bizarre replaces fonts as health minister and she throws her hat into the race for paris mayor. a late entry coming off the bench among people dropped out over a sexting scandal. i lawmakers in france begin debating planned reforms of the country's a pension system opposition lawmakers introducing some forty thousand amendments in a bid to delay passing the text. mike palmdale

was in angola on the second leg of his african tour today the us secretary of state touting american business this is the aims to promote u. s. investment as an alternative to chinese loans. his trip to the continent is the first by cabinett official in eighteen months it also comes at a titime when west african governments are worried about the possibility of u. s. troop withdrawals.s. muddy francis by the support. an angola u. s. secretary of state mike pompeii- praise the couountry's president for fighting corruption. but there's anonothr fight t taking cenenter stage during pompepeii owes tour of africaca. it's the battle againt terrorism in this the whole region were west african countries are fighting islamist militants with the help of us

and french forces. the. us has a military presence in several african countries with a total of six thousand troops that includes five hundred special operation forces in somalia and eight hundred personnel in west africa. pompey was trying to reassure african allies following reports that us secretary of defense mark asper was weighing a troop reduction to devote more resources to asia and eururope will get it right i will get it right collectivelyly i'm i'm convinced of that. our european partners french and i'd say it's mamargot with wee have an obliligation to get sececurity right he in the region. the french have about five thousand troops in the region and president emmanuel macron says they count on the u. asking for air support and logistics. us officials have said a decision on possible reduction in troop levels as expected sometetime next month. fofor more on thisis story we cn bring in a william lawrence former us diplomat and professor of political science

and international affairs. at the american university in washington dc thank you very much for joining us on france twenty four now the trump administration has largely ignored the african continent the president has even reportedly. referred to some countries in africa as she told so what's the aim of dispatching the uss top diplomat. well certainly to reverse that. impression of the united states as having nothing but disdain for africa or more importantly neglecting africa. the administration did articulate a policy for africa. during the period we're bolton- was national securitit adviserer in the king'ss speech here in washington.. and the general tenor of it was trying to do more with less more security with less troops. more assistance to africa with actually less money- and it's sort of competition with russia and china which we've seen glimpses of during. his trip but without necessarily i i cler stratetegy on how to do that.t.e

posititive of this trip has been that from here- his- signed a number of new investment agreements- and they sort of. making the right noises about- assisting democratic developments and conflict resolution and health intervention- and so it's all good in terms of an upside foror you wasas africa policy. it's al good but one of the country's at my palm pl is not visiting he's a nigeria that's africa's. largest economy why is that. well certainly would be very tough at that for him to go to nigeria given it's one of the four countries that. trump is trying to include in that in the travel bans- and certainly if you look at the three countries they chose their countries that having very positive forward momentum right now. a single a commercially angle in terms of the democratic dividend ethiopian a whole rangee of issues in the horn of africa. and so in that sense is sort of it it's trying to attach american efforts to good news stories and i jury

doesn't have that type of a good news story to attract american not. engaged in at this time. now the us is trying to position itself as an alternative to china chinana right now he is struggling to contain the corona virus could do. you know a mix of lock and timing. what can the us iss favovor. 101% a and there's- bea number of us officials and others in washington. talking about- how terrible would be if the corona viruses spread it to africa the other one point three million chinese. workers and others who are live in the african continent. i am so it's a very good moment for a a whole range of reasasons includiding. that difficuculties going on in china in part due to the trade war with the u united states- ad so t there's's a there's a thers a lot of our economic opportunity right now. however the americans could very easily shoot themselves in the foot if there's- you know tweets from trump or other negative. movements you know and during the pumping visit right now

that thehere's a l lot of f upse you was engagement. and getting back to your set up- the us is the largestst private investorrn africa and that's grorowing significantly. by china of course in this on a public model and that his hat. and that's because a fair amount off heartburnn lately in terms of high debt loads and other things. and so it's a very good time for the us to make this happen again. not enough of an effort but a good start not enough and often after it in. detail william lawrence of an athlete for that thank you very much for joining us on the program today. now the world has organization says every scenarario regararding the coroa virus is still on the table. the head of the body reacting to and use of the decline in new cases from china. now three hundred american cruise ship passengers who were evacuated from japan are in quarantine. in a texas andnd california whie the fourtrteen people tested posititive for the corona virus on that flight. h had been sent to nebraska. from one quarantitine to another a after nearly two weeks in isolation aboard the diamond princess

cruise liner. planes with u. s. evacuees finally landd in the uniteded statates. but for manye dedecision which came just a few days before the scheduled disembark meant. dashed hopes of a quick return to normalcy. we would just like to finish the quarantine on the ship is planned. g. compressed in a non quarantine environment in japan for a few days. and fly back to the u. s. pursuant to our own arrangements what's wrong with that. many of thank you we've had expressed fears about being exposed to infected passengers. among the more than three hundred americans flown home at least fourteen who tested positive for covert nineteen. nor consequently isolated on board from the otherer passengers. upon their return to the united states they will begin another fourteen days of mandatory quarantine. meanwhile australia will also evacuate more than two hundred of its citizens from the diamond princess the two will be isolated for an additional two weeks. it's frustrating and

it's unfortunate but it is absolutely necessasary to ensure that we put the measures implies that have been so effective in containing the spread of this farce and ensuring the strides here. can go about their lives on a daily basis- without any concern about the impact of this farce on on their health. on sunday at seventy new cases of the novel coronavirus aboard the ship were confirmed bringing the total to more than three hundred and fifty and making it the largest cluster of casess outside china. leaked database out of china hasas detailed how officials- decide whoho goes in and out of detention camps. the documents were obtained by the associated press and it shows how with the woodies focused on religion and not extremism as a reason for detetention. ordininy activities such as attending a a mosque or even growing a long beard were used. authorities in beijing once again dismissing the leak saying thehe centers ae for voluntary job training and nothing else. france is a new

health minister livia valid taking over off to and yes bizarre. was named as a candidate for paris mayor her late entry coming off the bench among keevil dropped out of the race over a sexting scandal for more on the trio at the heart of people's full here's judy came. reporting alexander the today you. could have been ski and one plank of the trio out the hearts of the cleaver a fast. a thor he's extended the weekend the tension of the russian artist on his girlfriend. as a sequence of events became clear. evelyn ski took responsibility for publishing manage among previews sex videos on his website. but the original recipients of these images was alexander i did today. the twenty nine year old law student goes in touch with cleveland social media in the spring of twenty eighteen she clclaimed it was justt to talk politics. but then their relationship turned into mats.

at the time the today you and have lynskey one north a couple leaving many wondering how he obtained the videos. have lynn skis lawyer one bronco is also a person of interest punk co has admitted to giving his client legal advice before the videos publication. the paris association has opened an inquiry into whether his legal representation of public ski presents a conflictt of interest. we'll call right myy work as his lawyer was to assure that he respected the law. the unfounded insinuation that i was implicated in this affair is to me an absolute disgrace. not just because it's an attack on my reputation because it's attack on the regular representation. the tree a regularly socialize together b before the scandal hits. lawmakers i in france had begun debebatin planned reforms of the country's pension system the process is expected to last several months with opposition lawmakers introducing some forty one thousand amendments. in a bid to delay a passing the reform. france with is the

longest transport strike in decades over the government's plan to streamline pensions for more his funds when he forced chris more reporting. from the national center. initial opposition to these pension reforms a cutut onn the streets with the longest strikes in decades getting under way at the end of last year unions eating out public transport workers and others. the battle against these reformsms and now switches to- the french parliament now the french government says. the currentnt system is no longer fit for purpose is born with- with forty two a separate pension plans depending on what a sector of the economy what can. they say that means over to many- normally some people retiring relatively early on recipe generous pensions. others working later into life for less money of the skeptics say the this that. his reform was simply create a new- section of loses within the french workforce teaches for example i'm not supposed to be doing particularly- went out of it. they say it's an- abandonment also if the a

principle of solidarity nineties i was in the workforce- paying for those in retirement little shift- the focus of the way the system workrks. more towards okay more towards capitalization. now in theory micron shouldn't have too much trouble getting a full see paul and georgy with a price to position. being led by a genre jones. wing left also has a maze movement- they and others of type would- over forty thousand amendments. tend to uss got pulled a face the french government client the first is the performance. of the next week. they could. take. small bring that now the king is dealing with the aftermath. of storm. if the second storm to hit brick in this of a we- bring a hundred club. per hour wind. i a month's worth rain just two days. but the danger is now yet severe flood. remain in as bro quinnnn now reports.

towns flooded. rescuers seeking out trapped residents. relief efforts were underway monday in wales and western england after storm dennis barreled through the region over the weekend. the tempest dumb to more than a month'h's worth of rain over soe parts of britain in just forty eight hours. over four hundred homes were flooded as waters in some areas continued to rise we have morning but normally what happens is it comes at. it gets up to the top of the front doorstep- and then it goes away games. this just kept coming. and at four o'clock this morning it was just. rising and rising and rising. onene woman s believed dead after h hing been carried away by flolo waterss near thehe town o ten very.y. te u. k. coastt guardrd m mnwhile used a helicopter sundaday to rescue a man stranded in a mobile home in south wales. hundreds of flood warnings remain in place across the u. k. with five severe flood alerts issued monday forecasters say more evacuations may be necessary as

river levels in parts of northern england have not yet reached their peak. andd it's also hit northern france cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. struck barely a week a after storm kira which alsoso disruptedransport flooded homes and left thousands without electricity britain's e environment secretay says climate change is making events like storm dennis ever more likely. syrian president bashar al assad congratulated his troops to recent gains in the northwest of the country in a rare televisised address he said the one time economic hub for the apple will become stronger than it was before the statement from my side comes. as the ongoing military offensive has created with united nations cools a humanitarian catastrophe with over nine hundred thousand people displaced. on a lighter thinking we should not rest. but continue to prepare for the coming battles will be there

for them the battle to liberate the aleppo countryside and it leaves will continue the mobile despite the empty noise that is coming from our neighbors to the north. even if i'm not we will continue to fight to liberate all syrian soil to crush terrorism and to achieve stability. please take off. bashar assad speaking them now you foreign ministers agreed to launch a new maritime f. as in the mediterranean sea aimed at enforcing you an arms embargo in libya the mission will be replacing operation sophia set up back in twenty fifteen. to crackdown on migrant smuggling austria lifted its objections to the new mission saying it will remain vigilant for any signs migrants will being attracted to europe. seeing no other way to effectively stop the flow of arms into war torn libya i ii you foreign ministers agreed to a new naval mission in the mediterranean sea. replacing operation sophia which was launched in twenty fifteen. sophia was covering the holy and cost. from one

side to the other when a mumbled with other the country. if we want to control the elgin marbles. we'll have to concentrate our surveillance. on the east bloc where thehey armsms because comoming from. operation sophia was effefectively suspended last yer amid disputes between e. u. countries over where libyan migrants picked up at sea should end up. in addidition to concentrating on the eastern mediterranean you officials said the new mission will include ships as well as air resources and the possibility of ground forces. the plan faced opposition from austria and hungary whose governments have taken a tough anti immigration stance. details are still being finalized including a possible provision to halt the operation if ship start to attract migrant. the availability it's that i'm we will now work on the details of a new mission. in which the monitoring of the arms embargo will be a focal point. making

the arms embargo work is seen as crucial to stabilizing the libyan conflict where the tripoli government backed by the u. n. is under a attack from the forces of military strong man khalifafa haftar who contros much of the country south and east. elton john's tour of new zealand and australia will be going ahead as planned the singer was forced to leave the stage halfway through a concert on sunday night after being diagnosed with walking pneumomonia. the seventy two yer old elton john apologized to fans saying he played and sang his heart out until his voice. could signal more. is in your vacation felton joan way through his concerts. t t seventy two year old musician broke down and he is. of the systems to cultural to set in new zealand on sunday on the losing his voice. he had been diagnosed with leukemia i was with the- buttons both insisted

that the show must go on. well to joan apologized to fans on social media saying he wanted to g give the best show humanly possible. i want to go out with a bang and say thank you i leave the concerts was part of the thing is t that well yellow brick road. ruleses a grueleling schedule on hold of a trip to los angeles to sing at the oscars. when he picked up the award for best original song. but the british style is still standing promoted sets a common set set for tuesday in oakland has been pushed back to wednesday on the influence of doc says. and that the rest of elton john's farewell tool. would go ahead as plans. ten x. for me watch with a james eye cream goddess james on other starting with what this. off of weeks last for. concrete and it's- all anyone could talk in the city it seems absolutely it's sort of you could say it's the french version of the on to the weiner scandal- winner gauge and- full of as many sort

of new jokes and- images on social media that i can't. show you are but you know you can go and find yourself excellent. hush tug people gates- so it really has- captures the imagination of many and- what's interesting too is definitely been a bitit of an oppositionn n terms of how- it's kind of like this is treated in the- in france in france contacts. and in- in the us or in britain. i hear very the focus is very much on protection of private life here the fact that this was the transgression of privacy. and there have been many saying that- because he put his family front and center of is not not front and center but he did have photo shoots. for example here what with his wife and three children. that's that you know if you're if you're if you're if you're showing your private life as a part of a- you know image that there is a degree for pop chrissy. at where this can be run back against you and images such as the court at this from his campaign as well grab and social media which on people felt was. we're cheesy and sort of i'm trying to portray himself in a folksy- celebrity type manner that that p. please austin was a call here in

france the kind of. the blurring of the line between celebrity and politics i'm not as water at one bronco in that report that you were showing earlier. a lawyer who advised- the that the russian active as to who's responsible for on failing these videos. he said look the hypocrisy here is. in dos at the activist felt justified at this at this. this don't feel like sharing at this video- on indeed dot has been a big focus of the of the media coverage in the last couple of. in the last day or two the fact that. his partner so this is a russian activist who had previously nailed. his *-*- to red square it's a detail that is difficult to repeat but he did this. as a protest. he was then given political asylum in france. and decided that i minor michael government is. has has an awful of things to answer for as well. this all of course he was the kind. for city hall for the ruling and ari and party is a very close ally. of a manual michael said this some would say. it was it you know that the well it's nott

some would say he- this is kimberly add tone. as as device. it to. not just one before by ththink but the aryan party in a minimum. so they of course. are in place custody. alexander at the that today i'm whole lot of. i to. who did they ought to. or was this a something. some more soon. were the rush. in of course the- artistic. is russian refugee here in france but- some to wonder could have acted alone would have acted alone. what was the motivation. for all of those who would win i would have something like this and indeed minor michael himself. spoke us the munich security conference over the weekend i basically. insinuated das. russia with what he said this is to coach in russia is going to continue to try to destabilize western democracies. through manipulation of social media and operate and- operations on. in cyberspace. which many people felt was an indirect reference to. at borns monkey vote so whether or not. it pause at something where these

people acted alone. i certainly that's what the bones among people was lawyer one frankel has been saying or whether it was something broader and more sinister. is for now. okay not twitter france is being accused of censorship. is a credible. well they- a again a lot of a- on here of pop. well as you as you could imagine this story. and five to ten seconds on. eve the eva valentine's day. when bushmen people announced he was stepping down it was all over treasure was a huge twitter ststorm as they say- yes it was not appearing in the trans topics- until. after midnight so despite a whole evening of mass of. a comment on mine is the sort of curiously didn't appear onn the front of the trigger when asked about it they say. they didn't directly response the accusations of censorship on the trend topics but they said that we have zero tolerance policy. when it comes to- add new. content photos that are new to become worse this was a- a phone a private photo so sad and i i'm with our shared with the consent so they're sort of indication the props. the content might have

been taken down for was being shared now another. at a kind of relation i suspect is. many politicians will come out to say that those who should not honestly. if you've an anonymous account on social media and share content like this that it that this and not on on any t. should. be questions and that the legal system should look into whether or not you have a right to be anonymous. online that received a massive blow back people calling into a full a full policy or sort of a false- debates really. because in fact this. intimacy image i was shared not on social media but on. the website and all of those involved in it were actually identified so the fact that it's sort of veered into this debate about. anonymous profile sharing a drawing attention to this online. is kind of issue and not run but the president of the of the not assembly. i very sought politic me. at the- moment. i'm your mind on something which. as it

is part of the- paul whehen i called him. sleep in all sorts of. and with the- exact revenge. like a mind now finally from your black. can on french to. that's this. this on tape. teller and it was a it's on there. i we to show is in use. because i every sunday evening at this it was and- once to remain and- they- have as people come on and for whatever reason want to reremain anonymous. and she's actually not african as are are of african origin i told. the game for black face basically and push and off an awful sort of weight on her. now that led to an absolute slew of criticisms on. line people thank. so to. hide her identity. and they you know they gave her an offer- at wake and- so what is this you're you're disguising people as- black again the usual criticism to come back. all of a black face. no presenter of the show harry. rules on mac. you'llll notice he's not caucasian. and he said that he was shocked by it by all of the blowback. and he said that the third previously been. on the show. in order to hide their i. dizzy. at their core was locations. now you would almost

one of the stops to drop. incheon the show to get free publicity. the whole. it has come. as no. under good. to check be offensive to a lot of. people are for at a but in any case i that they they put the move was defend. by the press. of the show despite causing. a stir degreree of disco. and chr. online so i guess you say this to their- issues were a maybe a- black face it's kind of unanimously considers. to just be absolutely not acceptable in maybe an anglo american context. similarly for you know- intimate images all politicians online but it's over t the and you know that thy were there will be a moral judgments. as they would not be defended for some funds. both of these situations in top. a different cultural approach i think it's a it's a composition gonna k keep having for years ad years to come unfortunately we- never landed. safely the chance thank you very much thanknks a lot of james crayton t there wih media what's going to take a quick break stay with us is. more coming up. as far as me for

02/17/20 02/17/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now!w! >> we will not create the energy and excitement we need toto deft donald trump if that candidate pursued, advocated for, and enacted racist policies like ststop and frisk. amy: with the nevada caucuses