>> russia's most prominent opposition leader fighting for his life after a suspected poisoning. the latest on his health coming up with our correspondent in moscow. harristic senator kamala makes history becoming the first black woman candidate for vice president. she is on the ticket with joe a against donald trump inn november. the international community reacting to the coup in mali. , theing to what they see

president was s rced to resesn two days ago. us on "francening 24." we start with that developing story out of russia where alexey navalny is in the hospital followowing a suspected poisoni. dr. say he is fighting for his life. ny has been a fierce critic of vladimir putin. to get to the latest, let's bring in our moscow correspondent, evan gursky mitch. what exactly is happening there? evan: alexey n navalny was tourg siberia this week ahead of lolol electionons. he was flying outut this mornrng from a city in siberia to return to moscow. heut an houour into the flight reportrtedly fell ill and was screaming and moaning in papain

according g to a video released after the plane landed d in an emerergency landing in another city. he was taken to the hospital and has been in a coma. we havenen't had any reporort c. apparently blood tests have been run. theyny'y's close aides say haveve not been given n that. they belelieve he was poisisone. so far, state authorities have not said what their explanation is. genie: what are the authorities saying about this? i imagine what the kremlin is saying is really quite differert from what the doctors are saying . saw a site stating an anonymous law enforcement saying ththey would not be e looking io poisoning. we have seen proclaim on saying kremlin website saying he was drinking last night and took something.

according to people too close to him and according to photos tea at seen was drinking the airport this morning. he did not consume anything g on the plane according to the airline itself. his close aides believe the t -- there was something in the tea that led to his poisoning. they are laying the blame in some way possible. reportedly security officers are asking to see his belongings so we will have to follow and see what the official line is. so far there is a clear divide claiming he was poisoned and the authorities trying to sort of make it more murky. genie: could you tell us a bit more in detail about who alexey navalny is?

evan: he has been the de facto opposition leader in russia. he is the leader that is able to stir up these big street protests we see every so often. pressure forcredible this. he has been jailed 13 separate times. his brother spent three years in prison overcharges they believe were to pressure alexey. was summer, a year ago, he -- during one of his jail sentences he had an acute allergic reaction. this is not something new and it is a big deal for the opposition. we will see what happens. it is really big news. genie: thank you for that. just last week the president of ofarus accused navalny organizing the mass protest there against his reelection. protesters in belarus are still on the streets and now have the european union behind them.

they have called the reelection of the man known as europe's , fraser jackson has the latest the president may have ordered the police to clear the streets but these protesters remain. they demand a new government and new president. >> [speaking foreign language] frorom exile in neighboring with the way and yet, opposition leader's has formed a coalition council. their goal is to oversee the transition of power. laureate,of a nobel lawyers, a former ambassador, and others, the council held its first meeting on wednesday. [speaking f foreign language]

in brussels, the president refused to bow to pressure from the streets.s. he believes -- blames foreign actors for inciting the protest that are the biggest threat to his 26 year rule. there reportedly positioning dronones on the western border. he is determined to remain his grip on power. the united states where california and senator kamala harris made history last night. she is the first ever black woman to accept a spot on a major party's presidential ticket. harris becomes the democratic vp nominee. ae former running mate of vice president himself -- the running mate o of a former vice president himself, joe biden. kamala harris' shining

moment. >> greetings, america. reporter: she focused on her backgrouound. all at once she made tribute to her community and jamaican heritage. the movemenent and honored d her immigrant mother. >> i keep thinking about that 25-year-old indian woman. all of five feet tall who gave birth to me e at kaiser hospital in oakland, california. on that day she probably could have never imagined that i would be standing before you now and speaking these words. nomination for vice president of the united states of america. silencece took the plplace of applause. seated journalists instead of cheering crowds. large parties and video endorsements added some but the coronavirus has been ever present t at this convention..

be it in the format or the content, there were digs at donald trump saying his failure at leadership has cost lives and livelihood. the big punches came from former president barack obama. obama: i hopemr. for the sake of f our country tt donald trump would show some interest in taking g the job serious. he never did. for four years he has shown no interest in putting in the work. reporter: o obama said like the other speakers of the night, hillary clinton, elizabeth warren, nancy pelosi, that voting in the selection is paramount. that they feel american democracy to be hanging in the balance. thee: also in the u.s. trump administration is planning to move to counter the iran nuclear deal at the u.n. on friday it failed to approve the extension on the arms

embargo on iran. the u.n. resolution says if iran fails the sanctions could be reinstated against it. the problem is donald trump pulled out a year ago. it's legal standing is anything but assured. washington's latest latest unraveled the 2015 iran nuclear deal uses a procedure at the heart of thee u.n. resolution that adopted it. the sanction snapped back. if iran breaches the agreement, n couldcould -- u reinstate sasanctions against i. since the u.s. pulled out two years ago, pressuring others to do the same, tehran has breached limits on the stock of enriched uranium.

that's what the u.s. wants to use of the security council. today i'mtrump: directing the secretary of state, mike pompeo, to notify the un security council that the u.s. intends to restore virtually all of the previoususy suspended united nations sanctions on iran. reporter: there is at least one problem. those who could use the um nrovision have to be -- you provision have to be part of the deal, president trump pulled the u.s. out of it. some security council members and has no legal grounds. even harsh iran critics oppose , like former defense secretary john bolton. trump says the u.s. could still start the procedure because it is one of the participanants cid at the top of the deal. if other security councilmembers trying to pass a resolution to

extend sanction relief, washington threatens to use its veto right to block it. genie: several countries and international bodies have reacted to the unfolding military coup in mali unanimously condemning what they see as an illegitimate power grab. arrested and was forced to resign two days ago. some m : while have talkedeveral down on the coup that forced him out. country spendnds $1.2 billion a year on peacekeeping missions. >> the secretary-general calls for an immediate restoraration f constitutional order and rule of law to mali. we reiterate it. reporter: france joined the core

for order. tweeted aboutn civil rule. france has the power grab jeopardizes the fight in the north of thehe countryry. [speaking french] reporter: the eu urged the soldiers to release the outgoing president and members of the government. west african states also denounced the coop. the blockhead tried to denounce the block k in recent weeeeks, y pledge a series of sanctions against the mutineers. genie: a little over two weeks a after the explosion ripped through beirut, bringing

aiding goods to the location is vital. the situation has worsened by the economic crisis in the country. beirut was where most container ships would arrive to feed -- provide lebanon with food and goods. this has changed as you will see in ourur report. reporter: the port of tripoli was never the preferred point of entry for container ships applying lebanon with essential goods. with beirut's infrastructure destroyed, the situation changed. [speaking foreign language]

reporter: lebanon produces little and relies heavily on imports. to avoid shortages, staff and the tripoli terminal have been stepping up efforts. beirut,g the blasted the economic effects felt 80 miles south. >> [speaking foreign language] reporter: an investigation is still on the way to identify the exact cause behind the devastating blast here at the port of beirut. british and french ships notably managed to dock your to bring in much-needed aid. authority said the port could operate again but the level of

destruction is such that the situation is extremely complicated and there are no longer the necessary warehououss to store the goods coming in. thanknks to him, thanks too yoyou for watching, stay with u. there is more to come. today warns of the planet where the economy has collapsed. the air is unbreakable, new diseases have been unleashed. a planet no longer fit for humans. that is the grim scenario david critics in his portrayal of climate change in his book the uninhabitable earth, the story of the future. also deputy e editor of the new york magazine, it is a pleasure to welcome david to the france 24 studio.

this book is often described as a call to action. journalist or activist? david: i think of myself as a journalist and the book as a work of journalism. its main job is to describe the state of science. to get beyond the science a little bit into what we know or could start to think about how human life beyond climate impact will be impacted by dramatic climate change. what he waves and natural disasters what might be brought and how it could change our politics, culture, sense of relationship to capitalism and technology. the changes are likely to be so profound all of those relalationships will be e chang, too. we will live in a different world as soon as a few decades from now if we don't change course. by 2050 if we don't change course we will add about two degrees of warming. that will mean we will have damages from storms growing 100 fold from where they are today. we have hundreds of m millions f

climate refugees according to thee u.n. it will be so hot during summer you won't be able to walk outside. 2.1 degrees w we probablbly lok inin the permanent loss of i ice sheets. enough to drown two thirds of the world's major cities if we did move them. that impact will take place over centuries so we could adapt. some of these other impacts will happen sooner, they are already here. i think about houston. a city hit by its fifth 500 year stororm in five years. this is a stormy expxpect to see once every five centuries. five centuries ago cortez had just landed in houston. a storm that was supposed hit once in all that time, houston has been hit by five of them in the last five years. we are already living in an unprecedented world. in very short order it will

become unrecognizable. >> y you say it is much worse tn you think. now famous first line of your book.. is fear the best way to o get people to act? david:d: it is one very good wa. everyone will be motivated by different forces and will be moved by features of the story. i think this is a saga that is enormous, all touching, and affects every aspect of modern life. a very long time, scientists and activists, certainly journalist were reluctant to scare the public that they w weren't actually beg honest about what the science said. the public was relatively uninformed. they had a misleading impression of what was to come. we were long told climate change was a slow story, that it took place over centuries. of it was produced in the last 30 years. we are doing this damage very

much ourselves. we were told about this in sea level rise. which means if you didn't leave at the -- live at the coast you are safe. the economic declines are twice thee size as the great depressin and permanent, to the effect on conflict, which could double if we don't change course. the impact on agricultural yields could fall by half. this is not a story that is happening in one particular place that we could escape. no matter who you are or how wealthy you are. the story will be part of your story. it is all-encompassing saga. we were told for a very long time that two degrees was about the worst case we could expect. we are at about 1.1 degrees today, already hotter than the planet has ever been. ,e are likely to get to degrees one more degree. that level of warming, which scientists call catastrophic and island nations call genocide is looking more and more like best case scenario.

for all of these reasons the urgency in part because there wasn't sufficient alarmism. as a journalist, if the signs are scary, the best thing to do is share it with the public. to not share it is patronizing. i agree my book is alarming, i don't think of myself as an alararmist. all i'm doing is being transparent about whatat the scientific community knows and trying to produce some effect where we were -- where we respond. thatat is the impression in recent years the language has become more alarmist to the point that nothing shocks anymore? we talk about the lack of food and total cocoastal nations disappearing. language is terrifying, the scenarios are terrifying, what needs to h happen for the tippig point to happen? david: we are moving in the

right d direction. there is a new sense of urgency on the rhetoric that started lastthe u.n.'s report from october. the last couple years and becomes more intense. , these greta thunberg really remarkable climate protest movements, unprecedented actually. millions of people expressing much more concern that has ever been expressed before. we are starting to see policy changes in response to it with the british parliament. denmark, norway, finland committed to have zero relatively quickly. the u.s. primary inn which the candidates are competing with one another to be more ambitious on climate change. no pledge to reduce emissions in the history of climate change has ever been fulfilled. it is reasonable to be skeptical of some of these promises. i think it reflects in addition to the change in the political

landscape the fact that there is a new economic conventional wisdom. it economists believe that was too expensive to be worth it. the impacts will be relatively small they said. we are better off growing however we could grow. almost every economist will tell you we are better off if we act faster rather than slower. we are just beginning to see policy change. emissions are setting records every year. the u.n. says we have 10 years to cut them in half. we are not just moving too slowly, we are moving in the wrong direction. their reasons for thinking that will change soon but it is clear we are not moving nearly fast enough, even given the unprecedented mobilization we have seen. >> you mention greta thunberg, you spent time with her. i wanted your opinion on her, issue the best news for the climate movement in years? is she a media friendly distraction from the real topic? david: i don't ththink she is a

distraction at all. i'm grateful she has done what she has done. friendlessshe was a 15-year-old sitting outside the swedish parliament by herself. now she is leading a movement of millions around the world. sheeed more than greta but would tell you the same. she's not trying to take control of policy or ask for particular concessions. she's not even trying to express the state of the crisis in her own words. when she was invited to the u.s., she declined and handed over the report and said you don't need me to tell you, listen to the scientists. her message is not one of the seself-aggrandizing -- rand brand. she wants the leaders of the world to respond to it according to the scientists. that message is almost inarguable. that is why she has been such a powerful spokesperson. it has been helpful that you about thelearly

matter of intergenerational justice and could articulate in the ways no adult c could deny. regeneration generation will be suffering. think this has had an effect on not just the e teenagers of e world but the adults, they feel guilty for how little they have done on this issue. again, i would not want to put greta in charge of global climate policy but i'm in norma slate grateful and even exhilarated that -- i'm enormously grateful and exhilarated. these protests are changing the landscape of what was possible even a year ago. >> i wanted to speak about david wallace. you said you are a journalist more than an activist, what could you do as an individual to contribute to the direction we need to go about not eating meat, not flying, what could in

individual do? big tothis crisis is too address with anything but politics. we need a thorough transformation of nearly every aspect of modern life. if we have a hope of stabilizing the temperature, not even a comfortable level if we want the warming to stop. completely zero them out. at least as an endgame we need to get to a place where all of our food is raised in ways that don't produce carbon, our air carbon,oesn't produce our industry doesn't produce carbon. to do that, at anything like this be that is required means politics. you and i can't build a new electric grid. we can't deploy a whole nation of -- >> isn't enough to stotop flying and force the industry to change? david: there is a way it could

bring about some of these large-scale changes. it is only important as a steppingstone to those changes. there are other reasons why it is valuable. first of all it is good to live with your own values. living in accordance with the way you see the world and want to see the world. it is good to signal to those around you that you care. climatepeople carry exciting around privately. eveven discucussing it with ther loved ones, family, friends means it is the political --- beginnnning of a political acti. even more than that it is good to support people who prioritize climate action, to hold those in action -- an office accountable and ideally to put extra political pressure in the form of protest on the powers that be. the politics we have now in almost every country in the worlrld, even when leaders are committed to the principle of climate action -- those politics are moving too slowly. >> a pleasure to have you here in the "france 24" studios.

stay tuneded, we have more news cocoming up here on "france 24."

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