correspondence around the world. >> you're watching live from paris on france 24. here is what is coming up. a former french president sentenced to jail. gless sarkozy convicted of trying to bribe a judge and handed a three year sentence. we explained why he is unlikely to see a jail cell. armenia's prime minister offers snap elections to the angry opposition facing demands to resign. he says the people should choose if he stays in office. and, seen for t firstime

since me and -- since myanmar's coup. ♪ former french president nicolas sarkozy has been found guilty of corruption and influence peddling. he was handed a three-year prison sentence but is unlikely to actually spend time behind bars. the court ruled sarkozy can serve one year at home and the remaining two years are suspended. the former president will appeal the ruling. a closer look at what sarkozy was convicted of. >> from president of france to convicted criminal, nicolas

sarkozy has been handed a three year prison sentence after a paris court found him guilty of corruption. a verdict his lawyers says he will appeal. at the heart of the matter, what has come to be known as the phone tapping scandal. back in 2000 13, sarkozy was being wiretapped, suspected of taking illegal contributions from libya. investigators soon unearthed a secret phone line. sarkozy's friend and lawyer was on the other end. prosecutors say intercept conversations revealed a plot to bribe a prestigious magistrate with a job in monaco. in exchange, they wanted formation about an investigation into claims sarkozy received payments from an heiress. just chats between friends according to the defense. the courts said they had sealed

a pact ocorruption three men received identical sentences. sarkozy has always maintained his innocence. >> is it acceptable that i be spied on in my most intimate conversations, that i be held in custody for 15 hours? they are trying to humiliate me. >> sarkozy is unlikely to spend any time in prison. the court allowing him to request to be detained at home with an electronic tag instead. verdict by no means marks the end of sarkozy's legal woes. he is already due back in court later this month on more charges of illegal campaign financing. >> for some more context on the story, we welcome paul smith to the program. he has an associate professor of french history and politics at thank you for joining us onm. france 24. was sarkozy expected to be found

guilty or was this a shock? paul: i think the writing was on the wall when we saw the charges in december that there was probably going to be some kind of sentence handed down. the real shock here is that any part of it that is not completely suspended, that there is this idea he will have to or probably will not -- but there is that idea that there is at least a year of some form of detention involved. >> what has the response been like from other french politicians and members of his own party, the republicans? paul: watching the news feeds and twitter, it has been one of solidarity. the right does not like this jurisdiction, this particular prosecutor's office that was set up to look into these kind of political affairs. the national financial prosecutor's office. after the charges were laid back

in december, one of them had tabled a private member's bill to abolish the jurisdiction. various others saying they find the sentence is completely out of line with the offense or that even there has been a miscarriage of justice. there were various responses but outrage -- there is a great deal of what we might call harrumphing amongst his friends. >> it is a fall from grace for a man who a decade ago sat atop the highest rung of fr ance 's political letter? >> the situation for the party is very difficult. the republicans have been scrambling around to try to find

a candidate for next year's presidtial election. ever since last october, the candidate we were anticipating announced he would not be standing. that created a crisis within the party to try to find someone else. what some of the party, the barons as they call them, want to avoid is a primary. they saw the impact that had in 2017. the idea that maybe sarkozy might be the comeback king was kind of pushed forward. that is forgetting he lost the popular election in 2012. he did not even when the primary in 2017. it was kind of -- even win the primary and a 2017. when you look behind the scenes, there were other things happening. this has -- this clearly undermines the possibility of a sarkozy 2022 candidature.

>> in some countries, it is not strange at all for a politician or former president to be sentenced to prison or jail time. what about in france? how president theodore unprecedented is this -- precedented or unprecedented? >> one man was found guilty when he was mayor of paris -- fake jobs was what hfound guilty of. employing jobs that did not exist. he finished in 2007. found guilty in 2011. senten.a two year suspended that was that. this is -- there are some teeth to this. also, it is the beginning of a

whole series -- skozy's whole political career has been beset by various cases. its absolutely the first timely. it has been on quite the scale. >> paul smith from the university of nottingham. appreciate you lending your expertise to the program. armenia's embattled prime minister making an offer to the opposition. he told thousands of rallying supporters monday he is ready to hold early elections to let the people decide if he stays in power. elsewhere in the capital, thousands of opposition supporters also protested, continuing their demands that he resign. the rival rallies. ♪ >> a demonstration of support for the armenian prime minister as political tensions reach a

boiling point. thousands of people attended a rally in republic square. the 45-year-old said he would be willing to hold snap elections if the opposition agrees to his conditions. he has come under increasing pressure over the last few months. earlier on monday, dozens of protesters demanding his resignation broke into a government building. the prime minister has faced a backlash since signing a cease-fire agreement with azerbaijan to end fighting. the deal saw a number of districts previously under armenian control fall into azerbaijani hands. last week, the army demanded the prime minister step down, prompting him to cry a coup attempt. >> the army does not intervene in politics. the army must execute the decisions of those elected by the people.

>> in another sign of mounting tensions, the armenian president refused to sign off on the general's removal, calling it unconstitutional. >> ousted leader aung san suu kyi appeared in court on monday via video link. it was the first time she has been seen in public since her government was toppled. it is the first time her lawyers have seen her since she was detained in the february 1 coup. at the same time, her supporters marched in several towns and cities in defiance of the military's brutal crackdown on protests. >> not seen in public since being ousted and detained by myanmar's military, aung san suu kyi appeared by video in court on monday. >> together with the president

and the chairman. added two more cases in this hearing. >> according to one of her lawyers, she appeared to be in good health. the ousted leader's next hearing will be on march 15. in myanmar's largest city, protests continued on monday. security forces firing on crowds on sunday killing more than a dozen people. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [spking foreign language]

>> myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized power after alleging fraud in november election. daily protests are getting increasingly violent as police and the army have tried to stamp them out. >> joining the program now is an associate fellow for the asia program at the think tank chatham house. thank you for joining us this evening. the previous charges against aung san suu kyi were viewed as trumped up to keep her detained. how serious are the new charges? >> i think the myanmar military indeed has a sufficient track record of flying all kinds of charges during aung san suu kyi 's detention. 2 to take these charges seriously

would be a for volunteer. the point is -- a frivolity. they do create the rationale to keep her detained. in a sense, it is clear the military is not in the mood for backing off. and they will continue with the detention of aung san suu kyi and of its opposition and rather violent opposition of the demonstrations. >> another sign is that these protests are getting increasingly violent with police and troops stepping up their control tactics. can the public keep up their pressure campaign in the face of these deaths? >> it is quite clear by now tha the public is composed of every element of society. you have students, you have the trading community, housewives,

women, men of all ages out on the streets. it is so infectiou that there will not be any backing off. in all probability, there will be more bloodshed. that is a really ominous prospect. this group on the streets at the moment has tasted democracy and they are not in the mood to bow down to this very abusive regime which is in any case deeply unpopular with the burmese population. >> today, we saw countries including the u.s., the u.k. and france condemned the violence against these protesters. to put it bluntly, does the military actually care about this international pressure?

>> i think the honest answer, which is not a very popular answer, is that they do not care. they know their reputation. they do not care about western approbation, western criticism. there are leverages that can be applied, but how far they will be successful remains to be seen. it needs to be a very coordinated approach. the asean countries would play an important role in terms of a united joined up message that is sent. is that feasible? is that likely to happen? it remains to be seen. asean so far has not shown much of a backbone whent comes to civil liberties or democracy in myanmar included. there are countries -- beijing has issued a clear message it is

not happy. there is a huge amount of japanese investment in myanmar as well. it is a question of how far the west can coordinate with asean countries to apply the pressure. on its own, it is likely to be ineffectual. >> thank you so much. next up, it is time to run the numbers and that means business. today, coal joins me -- cole joins manny the studio purity you are starting with the northeastern border region in france. it is bracing for a costly bout of new restrictions on travel over the border with germany. >> there are about 16,000 people who worked jobs across the border in germany. starting at midnight, that commute is going to get a lot more complicated. those employees will have to show authorities evidence of a negative covid test. that is after berlin moved to

classify the region as an area of concern due to its relatively high caseload. regular commuters are not thrilled with that measure. >> separating the french and german border towns, the river. the two will see something else divide them even further, new covid restrictions. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> with france's eastern region seeing the spread of a newer variant of the coronavirus, germany is taking few chances, bringing restrictions in from

midnight on tuesday. questions and doubts multiply with a 16,000 cross-border workers, any of them in blue-collar jobs. french authorities have been seeking to find a compromise with berlin. >> [speaking foreign language] >> regional cross-border public transport is also to be suspended, leaving private vehicles the only way across and drivers fang random checks from german police as they go. >> staying here in france, one of the country's biggest firms is facing a shakeup in the boardroom. after meeting with the board of directors, the firm says it will begin the search for a new ceo. the current one will stay on

temporarily before being limited to the role of president. it comes after a group of investors raised doubts about the leadership. he is known foor defending a moe environmentally friendly vision. investors reacting to declining u.s. treasury yields. there is a decrease in the borrow -- the cost of borrowing in the u.s. the s&p up over 2%. gains on the tech heavy nasdaq up over 3%. another factor behind against his growing optimism over the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan in the hands of the u.s. senate. the ftse and the dax all up around 1.6%. monday also marked the first day on the job for the new boss of

the wto. born in nigeria, the first woman and first african to head the wto. she also wants to hit the ground running. she called to local vaccine production. she called for a deal to reduce overfishing. >> in 20 years, and 20 years is enough, that is my slogan. >> and finally, taiwan is striking back against anglin china by encouraging people to buy more pineapples. the ban takes effect on monday. taiwan says there is nothing wrong with the fruit. the government is encouraging citizens to support local farmers by consuming the tropical plant. taiwan's president posting photos of pineapps to her instagram. consumers have a lot of work to do. about 90% of taiwanese pineapple

experts went to china last year. >> i guess they are doing their part for the advertising side. i did not know pineapples were a big taiwanese export. thank you for that business update. time for our focus report. today, we take you to afghanistan. peace negotiations between the taliban and afghan government recently restarted with the aim of ending the 20 year long conflict. since the start in september, negotiations have been very slow. on the ground, violence has only increased. the latest targets for assassination are journalists, human rights defenders and government officials. how this has spread a new fear through society. >> every morning, kabul wakes up to the sound of explosions and gunfire. unlike in the fast, police officers are no longer the main targets.

in the past three years, civil society activist engineers -- activist and journalist have been killed. among the killed our staff members from a news channel. >> journalists were killed in a bomb explosion at the roundabout in kabul in 2018. among them were our colleagues. nowadays, reporters are directly targeted. previously, they were targeted but not individually. many journalists have left the country. most of our female colleagues have left their jobs. their safety is more important than anything else and right now, it cannot be guaranteed. >> one of the few journalists who continue to report from the field. he has already been injured twice while at work. for the past three months,

meetings have been held remotely. on the other end of the line are two of the editorial heads. they have been forced to leave the country after receiving threats. >> about 100 district police chiefs have been reported. because of the threats, some of our colleagues are working from home. the threat of targeted assassinations has increased in recent months. many journalists have been killed. security services have told us to be careful. >> shot dead by a group of armed men in the heart of kabul. the attack occurred only a few meters away from the home of one of them. >> said goodbye and left. four minutes later, i heard

gunshots. we ran into the streets. we saw the car had stopped. my sister was in the back. she was dead. >> a major step forward, since the fall of the taliban regime in 2001, which did not allow women to work. >> she had been working for 34 years. she loved her work. her country. her people. her family. she traveled to france, the united states and korea. i told her several times not to come back home, to stay there because of the situation here. she always refused. she told me, i le my country and i want to come back. the government has failed to protect them. no one from the supreme court came to offer their condolences because they are afraid for their safety. but they clearly do not even care about the safety of their own judges.

>> government employees are among the main targets of the insurgents. a former tae kwon do champion. three years ago, she escaped death and she was stabbed by a group of men near her home. >> i tried to defend myself and they hurt my hand here. there were three of them with knives. they tried to stab me in my belly but they did not succeed i wa hit in the elbow. i have scars all over my body. >> throughout the country, women feel particularly persecuted. >> women have no rights in afghanistan. it is a country that wants women to stay indoors, to work like slaves in the house and that is why i cannot say that only the taliban are behind these attacks. they may come from several groups who have a conservative

mindset and do not want progress in afghanistan. >> [speaking foreign language] >> most of the families here [indiscernible] an 80-year-old girl has been forcibly married to a 14-year-old boy -- an eight-year-old girl has been forcibly married to a 14-year-old boy. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> in afghanistan, there are many subjects that need to be reported on. poverty, economic problems, security, forced marriage, underagearriage. it is risky to be out there. it is also our duty.

>> like so many others, he could pay dearly for his courage. meanwhile, the outcome of the peace negotiations still remain uncertain. on the ground, violence increases day by day. >> we are going to take a short break. i will be back in just a few minutes with more news from around the world. ♪

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03/01/21 03/01/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we have done by the actions we have taken is really not to rupture the relationship, but recalibrate it, to be more in line with our values. i think we have to understand as well this is bigger than any one person. amy: the biden administration is defending its decision not to sanction saudi crown prince