>> single women in france celebrate the passing of a bill giving them access to -- treatment for the first time. forces say they have the ethiopian government troops on the run. it's reported they have full control of the city in a sharp reversal of eight months of conflict. 20 million jabs in one day. china is speeding ahead with his and its covid-19 vaccination

campaign. this is live from paris. thank you very much for being with us. a major law change in france has been voted through. adopted by 326 votes to 115, it means that lesbian couples and single women will be able to acces fertility treatments for thise first time. the change will put france in line with belgium and spain. two top destinations for french lesbian couples and single women looking for help to conceive. >> supporters of the campaign to legalize fertility treatments for lesbian couples and single women joined the thousands who took to the streets for paris

pride celebrations on saturday. all women under the age of 43 will now be able to access medically assisted procreation regardless of their marital status or sexual orientation. only heterosexual couples currently have those rights. single women and lesbian couples must travel abroad to see procedures like ivf or artificial insemination. campaigners say the change is long overdue and finally brings the country into line with some of its european neighbors like belgium and spain. socialist president francois hollande had pledged to introduce similar legislation but was caught off guard by mass protests in 2013. the bioethics bill introduced by the current administration has also faced strong resistance from conservative and catholic groups and comes after two years often acrimonious parliamentary

debate. public opinion is firmly behind the new law, suggesting that 67% of people support it. the legislation will -- allows children conceived with donor sperm to learn their identity when they become adults and for women in their 30's to freeze their eggs. but the bill stop short of legalizing surrogacy. >> a much debated law change will go through in france. the latest news on covid-19 in france. france reporting some 84,500d deaths. that is a rise of 28 over the past 24 hours. 1250 our intensive care, down by 54 from the previous day. 202,314 new cases over the last 24 hours. china's vaccination program is

accelerating at a pace. 4.2 billion people have been jabbed, that is more than 20 million over theast 24 hours. >> with every injection the world gets a little closer to normality. china accounts for a third and county. after an initiallyhow -- slow start as lockdowns brought local infections down and china prioritized vaccine diplomas instead, exporting its vaccines to over 50 developing countries in africa and asia, free of charge. > [speaking foreign language] >> in april chinaas vaccinating less than 5 million

of its people a day, but now the tide has turned with 100 million doses administered in five days amid mounting concerns over the delta variant after a cluster of infections was identified. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the outbreak prompted the inoculation campaign with the majority of its 120 milli residents vaccinated in just a month. >> let's get some wider analysis. the senior fellow for global health at the council for foreign relations joins me. good evening to you. would be fair to say that china's vaccination policy now is to steal almost a phrase from

donald trump "china first." >> well, china is a nation of -- this is just another example that with mobilization and campaigns the country can achieve objectives that many countries found mission impossible to achieve. >> one of the advantages of being almost totalitarian in terms of policy. >> i think, you cannot say this just because it's autocrat state that i think china is also different from any other non- democracies and that the state is extremely powerful in that it has the ability to mobilize resources and capacities to get things done in a very short time. >> will china continue with the campaign of the soft power

campaign of pushing its vaccine to other countries to try to push its influence more in that direction. will that continue, do you think? >> i think now that china has 40% of the population fully vaccinated and has also managed to ramp up the production of its vaccines, so now it has the more capabilities to support other countries in their vaccination efforts. >> in terms of china's information exchange, are there lessons china can give to other parts of the world? you look at how vaccines have taken -- in europe, for instance. is there any advice china could give, do you think? >> you mean if china can help european countries to -- >> i know it is a longshot and there is a lot of ground to be covered before that could possibly happen. a lot of hurdles to be crossed but in terms of how china has made things work within its own borders, do you think there is a lesson he could export to other

countries, other regions? >> absolutely. i think, first of all, it is the political will that once the leaders are truly prioritizing the vaccination campaigns as we have -- once there's a will, there is a way. and secondly, you need to be able to mobilize a grassroots health care institutions and health care workers to mobilize them to the administration efforts. >> i am working off script. i'm going to put the question anyway. you can decide whether you answer or not. do you feel the vaccination is going really well. china making a great impact on its own population. but going back to the original source of this entire story, the outbreak and where it came from, do you feel that china will ever reveal fully the truth about what happened? >> what happened in, outbreak of

the covid-19? >> where it came from, yes. >> [laughs] i think about this issue of the origins of the pandemic itself is a very complex issue. now, especially that issue has been so politicized with the political stakes so high, i think that makes it even more difficult for us to uncover the truth. and so, i think the deterioratg relationship between china and e west. we may never find the truth. >> thank you very much for answering that question. it wasn't one you were brought here to talk about but i appreciate you the grace to respond. thank you very much, indeed. thank you, sir, for joining us very much, indeed. next, let's move onto to the situation in ethiopia. tigrayian forces claimed to have

the ethiopian troops on the round. taking full control of the city and a sharp reversal of eight months of conflict. people -- where communications have been cut for 24 hours said the incoming fighters were greeted with cheers. there were similar scenes and video footage -- where residents says government allied eritrean forces have pulled out with rebels entering. >> there were sounds of jubilation in northern if you own as rebel forces -- in northern ethiopia as rebel forces took back power. from every angle there was little to celebrate. there was no sign the eight-month conflict is winding down, and the tigray is gripped by t world's worst hunger crisis in a decade. despite the declaration of the cease-fire by the government of prime minister abiy ahmed, the

u.s. state department is taking a hard line against not only abiy's administration but also neighboring eritrea, which has joined in the attack against tigray. >> at the government's announcement, cessation of hostilities does not result in prudence and -- in improvements, and the situation continues to worsen, ethiopia and eritrea shld anticate further -- they will not stand by in face horrors in tigray. s >> those horrors include reports of gang rape. an airstrike killed 64 people including many civilians. and there were that ethiopian soldiers were blocking rescue workers. 12 aid workers have been killed in the fighting and humanitari groups say they have been unable to access a vast majority of tigray to bring desperately needed help. >> we're not able to access for

reasons such as the roads being blocked, such as our humanitarian supplies being loed. the conflict has displaced 2 million people and according to one estimate almost one million people are on the brink of famine. >> next, south africa's highest court sentence former president jacob zuma to 15 months in jail for failing to appeal or in a corruption inquiry and gave him five days to a p or before police. zuma failed to up your at the inquiry -- back in february. the lawyers approach the constitutional court to seek an order for his imprisonment. >> it is the first time in south africa's history that a former president has been sentenced to prison. found guilty of contempt of court, jacob zuma was slapped with a jail term on tuesday after failing to show up at a corruption inquiry earlier this year. >> not only has mr. zuma failed

to dispute the contempt of court, h e has also failed to contest the degree of the contempt. instead, he has aggravated it. the majority judgment orders an un suspended sentence of imprisonment for 15 months. >> zuma is accused of ebling the plunder of state coffers from 2009 to 2018. most of the claims involve three brothers from a wealthy indian business family, the guptas. the family won lucrative contracts and were allowed to choose cabinet minister's. zuma and the guptas deny wrongdoing. before the 79-year-o was forced from power, he set up the corruption inquiry himself. the panel, however, has come up against years of resistance from zuma. he only testified once in 2019 before staging a war council days later and accusing the commission chairman of bias.

the inquiry is just one of zuma 's legal woes. he's also facing charges related to bribes he received during south africa's 1999 arms procurement deal. the former president now has five days to hand himself into police or authorities will taken into custody. >> we'll be watching that story on jacob zuma. time now to look at some of the days business news with our very own -- good evening, sir. starting in france where authorities have been heavily courting the financial sector post brexit. >>, this is been a goal for some time this idea of having paris replace london as a e.u. hub for finance. tuesday president macron paid a visit to the j.p. morgan's new headquarters in paris. he touted the creation of 3000 financial sector jobs in recent years. but also from morgan stanley and

bowman sets. -- and goldman sachs. they vowed to create another 3000 jobs by the end of the. -- of the year. brexit has been a major setback for the e.u., but it has been an opportunity as well. let's take a look at tuesday's trading action. covid concerns weighed on investors. the s&p was able to extend its streak to four days. maoderna's shares rising. the tech heavy nasdaq finished up a fifth of a percent. facebook, it shares were down over percent after it hit a big milestone on monday closing above the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold for the first time ever. meanwhile u.s. president joe biden is on the road to defend his infrastructure plan despite some report from. republicans, the $1973 billion package faces an

uncertain future in congress where is linked to another spending plan on education and health care. still, president biden wants to sell the bill to voters directly. beefing up public transit and renovating power grids, biden says the plan will create jobs. president biden: this is a generational investment to modernizer infrastructure, creating millions of good paying jobs. that is not coming from me. that is coming from wall street. millions of good paying jobs and position america to compete with the rest of the world in the 21st century. because china is way outworking us in terms of infrastructure. >> to lebanon where the crisis continues to deepen. on tuesday officially's height fuel prices by 30%, momving subsidies -- moving subsidies to reduce the strain on deep coffers.

>> as the people grapple with an economic crisis the world bank has dubbed the worst since the mid-19th century the government height fuel prices by 35% on tuesday. to relieve pressure on the country's currency reserves while easing massive fuel shortages that have seen crowds queuing up at petrol stations with scuffles commonplace. >> i am not thinking about whether the price rises or not. i have a family. we rent. we have a thousand things to pay for. pretty soon, people will be killing each other for fuel. >> increase the prices, lines increase. something is wrong with this country. >> importers blame the shortages on the central bank still lay in opening credit lines to find imports due to an exhaustion of lebanon's foreign currency reserves. the country's deep economic crisis has forced the government to rely on these reserves, which have dropped dangerously low from $30 billion to $15 billion

currently. in less than two years, the collapse has sunk the currency by the 90%. the hikes come the same week that a sharp currency valuation brought angry protesters onto the streets. the lebanese pound has been pegged to the dollars that $1700 pounds since 1997. on saturday it raised up to $17,000 on the black market. >> united airlines has filed the biggest plane order in his country. at a list price of $35 billion. while air travel continues to lag, the carrier is painting the order as a sign of faith in the recovery. united also says it plans to add 25,000 jobs by 26. finally, while cryptocurrency regulations may be tightening in china and the u.k., the platforms for exchanging it continue to become more and more mainstream. crypto.com which bills itself as

the fastest growing crypto app is in partnership with formula one. racers will introduce the new prize at the belgian grand prix in august. the five year deal reportedly worth more than $100 million. despite some of the regulatory uncertainty, major brands still apparently no qualms about doing deals in the crypto space. >> cole, thank you very much, indeed. stay with us. it's focus coming up next. ♪ >> we want this to be a safe space for everyone here. please express yourself. tell us how you feel. >> they try to put the class at ease and inform young girls about the dangers of cyber harassment and revenge porn.

>> it's better to set your social media profiles to private to avoid being harassed online. everything you post, photos, messages, it can all be traced on the internet. >> the two speakers are also -- and want to raise awareness based on their own experience. >> we were checking my instagram profile so they could share it, so people would harass me. and that is what happened. i was in a state of panic. i change my name, switched my phone off. and i started crying. >> she's one of the founders of an organization that fights cyber harassment. the sharing of intimate photos online without people's consent. during the first lockdown in france, the number of social media accounts used to share such images skyrocketed. >> [speaking french] >> you never really know who is watching you, who the person following you really is. when i came across this, i was

shocked. social media changes people. because, when they are hiding behind the screen, some people take the liberty of doing unacceptable and unforgivable things. >> there are quite a lot of people who threaten to add other people faces into pornographic photos and other things like that. >> they don't want victims to feel guilty. >> if you do send intimate photos, it is important cannot see your face, any jewelry or anything else were people can recognize you. >> but you are free to post and send whatever you want to whoever you want. >> what's important is that both of you consent to it. this is your right. it is your decision only. >> the main goal of this stop phisher organization -- which

translates as stop you relation is to close down these accounts. to do so, they must report them on a platform set up by the french state. >> there are hundreds and hundreds of accounts that need to be reported. i'm looking at this one so i can send evidence. now i can take a screenshot. this sends evidence to the platform. snapshot aren't responsive. they never get back to us. it is the states platform tickets the accounts closed. >> it is a painstaking task taht never seems to -- that never seems to end, because it only takes seconds to open a new account. her phone is constantly ringing. >> hello? hello. >> how are you? >> i have to read -- to do all by myselft. having brothers or sisters or friends would help me in the situation. >> i'm here for you.

and all the other girls will always be here for you. even though sometimes i just want to put my phone down and take a break, i can't. i think about all of the victims who are waiting for me to reply. sometimes it gets difficult coping with all of this psychologically. >> sharing sexual images without the person's consent can be punished by two years in prison and a 60,000 euro fine, but such sentences are rare. the organization's lawyer says social media companies could do more, like helping identify users who are behind these accounts. >> cooperating with some of these platforms where content is shared is not always easy. taliban, for exam, is where i believe most of these accounts -- telegram is where i believe most of these accounts are. they do not cooperate with the justice system at all. >> many police officer still

need to be taught how to do with these complaints. >> investigators, police officers, they are the first poinof contact for young girls or boys who want to file a complaint. so, it's essential they receive suitable training about these platforms where the number of offenses will increase every day. >> in january, france set up a new digital department within the public prosecutor's office. it should provide faster court action as part of the country struggle against the lack of reaction from certain social media and messaging companies. >> thanks very much for staying with us. time for eye on africa. >> all the latest in politics, economics and the arts in africa on "france 24." our journalists are in every region, every country to report

on the emergence of a continent of unparalleled riches, bringing african stories on "france 24." >> thanks for joining us. do so again.

06/29/21 06/29/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> biden has inherited the strate of donald trump and is now engaging in rotella terry terary strikes with iran potential return to a nuclear deal is looking bigger than ever. amy: a u.s. militaryase near a syrian oil field came under attack monday, one day after