♪ >> and desperation at kabul airport. thousands of foreign citizens and afghans are trying to get out of the country. while hastening evacuations. any american who wants to come home, we will get you home, president biden vows to evacuate afghanisn, but as the u.s. care is one of the most difficult airlift in history, president biden cannot promise with the final outcome will be. and angela merkel makes her less trip to russia, as german

chancellor -- last trip to russia, as german chancellor, vowing to maintain a dialogue. you are watching "france 24." good to have you with us. u.s. president joe biden has defended his country's to mull to his exit from afghanistan as chaotic scenes continue to unfold at kabul airport. speaking from the what has come about and promised every american who wanted to would be evacuated. he also said the u.s. government does not know how many of its citizens are enough kenaston biden has pledged to get those with siv visas out of the country, too. >> there's no one mourn port and then bringing american citizens out, but they are equally important as almost all those siv's, who in fact help us to --

helped us, they were part of the operation. as well as we are also trying to get out as many ngos nongovernment organizations, women's organizations, we are doing all we can. >> we spoke to france 24's washington correspondent earlier, to unpack a little bit of what he said during today's speech. here's what she had to say. reporter: he started by saying the americans had made significant progress. that was really the messaging that we have been hearing from the white house over the past few days, trying to focus on the fact that things are moving along, a getting better. are making progress in this evacuation process, compared of course to the dire situation that we saw over the weekend, those chaotic scenes. so the comparison of course makes what is happening right now look much better than it actually really is, because so far, as the president said, they

have evacuated 13,000 people since august 14, but there are tens of thousands of u.s. citizens, siv applicants, their families still trying to leave the country, still needing to be evacuated. and all of these people need to be out by august 31st. that is at least the goal. there was something else that sort of seemed to respond to some of the criticism that i've been hearing here in washington, which is the tone of the speech. in the past few days, with the previous beach on monday about afghanistan, joe biden had been criticized for being a little bit too cold, something that he is never criticized for. he is usually seen as a who shows empathy, who can care, who can show and share the pain of other people. that was totally absent of his comments. this time around, he did say

that those images were tragic, that he could not do anything t feel the pin of these people. you kind of saw the old joe biden that empathetic -- joe biden, that empathetic, joe biden coming back in the speec. >> the taliban are stepping up their door-to-door manhunt of afghans who worked for u.s. led forces for the previous government, despite promising there would be no reprisal attacks, the militants are said to be targeting people and threatening their family members. we have the head of the norwegian center for global analyses, which wrote this report. >> we do not know how many people are on these lists. it is certainly not a constant thing. we are constantly expanding as we hearing that the vaccine in kabul -- the taliban in kabul are moving to other areas to

expand networks. what we do know is that even in the early hours of entering kabul, taking control of buildings, establishing roadblocks, there are swaths of taliban fighters that moved to private homes and apartment are former members of the security services and others, in an attempt to arrest them. so this was in advance of the moving into kabul. >> so what would have an -- what would happen to these people if they were caught by thealiban, can what would happen to their family members? >> we have seen written statements from the taliban military commission, the emirate of afghanistan, stating these vigils should report themselves to the tele-bent or not covered a tele-been the families and

prosecute them according to their version of cirillo. -- of sharia law. they will likely get arrested. they will be interrogated, with what means we can only imagine. some of them are very likely to eventually become executed. >> afghanistan was one of the main topics of angela merkel's last trip to moscow as german chancellor. put in criticized the u.s. and its allies over a roll and if kenaston. put in criticized the response of a policy of imposing outside values on the country. >> [speaking russian] >> let's turn to haiti, where

aid is trickling in almost one week after a devastating earthquake which killed around 2200 people and injured some 12,000 others. a tropical storm on the heels of that disaster hampered rescue efforts even further. haiti is still recovering from 2010's earthquake, which killed over 200,000 people. reporter: residents continued to rummage through the rubble, with heavy machinery scarcely available, it's difficult to find bodies missing. >> [speaking native language] reporter: in the southeast of the caribbean island, near the epicenter of the quake, around 50,000 homes have been destroyed, many others, damaged. her house has huge cracks running in its walls. it is unsafe to live in. she and her many family members

are staying in a makeshift tent. like most of the survivors. >> [speaking native language] reporter: the town's hospital is overrun with the injured. some severely. many are lying on the floor. some even without a mattress. there are not enough doctors, medicines, and food. starving residents line up along the airport's fences, appealing for humanitarian relief. international aid has finally arrived. >> we brought in a lot of medical relief supplies. the infrastructure we need to operate in this kind of environment, where there is little electricity. so we are fully prepared to self-contained. reporter: a u.s. coast guard helicopter lands in this

village, which has become an excessive obey road. the most seriously injured can finally be evacuated. >> to the french antilles next, where covid-19 lockdowns on the caribbean island of martinique is now in its second week. those measures appear to be having a positive effect, with the pace of new infections going down. in nearby guadalupe, the situation remains dire, with over 7200 new cases last weeks and some dozen daily deaths. our colleagues have this report. reporter: bodies, piling up on the french caribbean island of guadalupe bay, the covid-19 crisis has gotten so bad, morgues cannot keep up. >> [speaking french] reporter: to preserve bodies, backup refrigerated containers have been installed in the parking lot, but they, too, will soon be full. >> [speaking french]

reporter: what a loop -- guadalupe's infection rate was 47 at the begin of july. at this hospital, there are no rooms left. patients on supply mental oxygen crowd the hallways and the sick continue to apply. -- continued to arrive. >> [speaking french] reporter: patient's here, younger and younger, like this man, just 44 years old. >> [speaking french] reporter: in a nearby room, another patient is an even more critical condition. >> [speaking french] -- in even more critical condition. >> [speaking french]

reporter: more than 300 doctors and nurses are being sent from mainland friends to the antilles on friday to help ease the pressure on hospitals. medical evacuations for the most serious cases arelso ongoing. >> australia's largest city has extended its two-month lockdown by another four weeks. sydney residents will also have to wear masks outdoors and respect a curfew. the city has been under lockdown since late june, after detecting a case of the more contagious delta variant. we have more. reporter: residents of new south wales are now facing tougher restrictions. authorities on friday further extended the lockdown in sydney until the end of september, despite the capital being in lockdown since late june. the australian state is battling to contain the delta variant of covid-19, and police forces have been given new powers to enforce theules. a new night curfew will also

begin for monday in certain areas come after the state reported 642 new cases on friday. >> we will be implement in curfews and those -- in those areas of concern from 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m., you cannot leave your home, unless of course it is for authorized work or emergencies. reporter: pulsifer for monday, masks are no mandatory if leaving the house, unless exercising the allotted one hour per day. it is a swift turnaround for the country, who managed to suppress the spread of the virus for most of the pandemic. critics say the state should have acted earlier to prevent the outbreak and express frustration of the slow vaccine rollout. just over a quarter of us trillions are fully vaccinated, with the prime minister securing another million doses from poland last week. >> delta may have changed the game, but it hasn't changed the character of us trillions. -- of australians.

i'm seeing that everything will they as they are going out there getting vaccinated, doing what they are needing to do to push through. reporter: amid outbreaks in melbourne and canberra come over half of australia's population is living in lockdown. >> finally, tourists and joggers on the shum sillies they are in for a surprise next month. the arc de triomphe will be fully wrapped up and packaged. it is an idea from a late artist who was a specialist in this type of artwork. he died in 2020, before seeing it completed. the project is being spearheaded by his nephew after being initially suspended due to the pandemic. >> he came up with the idea 60 years ago. but it is only today that the late artist's dream is becoming a reality, to wrap up the arc de triomphe, being brought to light by his nephew. let -- life by his nephew. >> just keeping promiseo him.

it is as simple as that. >> you promised him? >> yes. reporter: cristo was known for his larger than life projects, which he created alongside his wife. the duo already wrapped this bridge in 1985 and also this building in 1995. 10 years later, he also famously installed over 7000 nylon gates throughout central park. the new project is entirely financed by the sale of his blueprints and drawings. workers already erected scaffolding for the 19th century monument, to set it up for the silvery blue recyclable plastic wrapping and red rope. exactly how the artist wanted it. >> hopefully, cristo will be most happy if somebody looks at it and says, it looks just like the drawings. reporter: visitors will be welcome at the finished project, which is due to open september 18th. >> there's more news to come.

stay with us. ♪ >> thanks for being with us. this was released 30 years after the release of your previous academy award winning film, "jfk," a fictional take on the story. why is now the right time to revisit it? >> i would say it is a dramatized take on facts that i discovered, not fictional,

condensing characters, simple find sometimes, this is very close -- the original was pretty accurate. we wanted to go back, because there was the assassination record that was treated by congress, which is very rare in that department, to allow a third official investigation of the murder. d it led to a lot of work 19 any four to 1998 -- in 1994 to 1998. a lot of records were classified . there is a collective hold about the assassination. although people are interested, the media does not seem to be interested. the media is more and more corporate controlled and they do not want to take risks, they do not want to upset americans. americans have become more conservative, frankly. this is frustrating.

2015 was the 15th anniversary of his death, the murder, and at that point i was rather frustrat to seal the official parroting the same line, we ares past that warren commission. a lot of information has come out, the media will not admit it. this film is in response to that. it is an angry film, but also a measured film. it has all the facts we have been able to uncover. i think that is about as far as we can go. in my lifetime, anyway. because it is obvious that people are dying and dead, documents are still there, those that exist, a lot of them have been rejected and destroyed, as we show in the film. but still, there are other documents that can be released in the future. >> the fbi concluded all three bullets struck inside the car. >> the tip of the first or the third hit the governor. the first shot took a large foot of the president had off. >> the commission put itself in

a straitjacket. they could not possibly allow more than three shots, because four shots were more would've indicated clearly conspiracy, and they were not going there. >> there was a very visible ma, where it had struck. the fragment of the bullet scratched my face. >> those two films, the drum and documentary come our compounding pieces, but very different in their form. a meticulously researched documentary, the other, a drama starring kevin costner. which did you find more satisfied to make? >> obviously the dramatized film, i am a filmmaker, that was a major attempt to interpret this murder for the american people. it was very successful abroad and in america, too. it was a huge success. i was nominated for awards. we got to academy awards. almost a very satisfied experience. of course, time gives you more perspective. there are things that i would

change of a do it again. but i am happy with it. and this film today is a satisfactory triumph, for may, but it's a smaller audience, because documentaries do not get worldwide attention. in 19 anyone, it was a surprise, people were not dealing with the kennedy assassination. we tried to keep it in the public mind. in the public eye. i think this document re-helps to do that. we are selling it veryicely here in europe. we will see where we go. but america will remain a tough mark. >> why do you think we are still so fascinated by it 60 years on? >> murder is always fascinating. and crime apparently never ends. people watch crime series and serial killers and all that. but this also has a political occasion. it is for more serus than -- as i tried to point out. no american president has crossed certain lines since he was killed. these lines are in the military sector, the intelligence sector,

for me, and this is the story , i am notnterested in conspiracy. -- this is the story, i am not interested in conspiracy. but conspiracies are natural. they make a big deal about it in the america because the cia came up with this psychological warfare concept and then 1950 -- in the 1950's, discrediting conspiracy theorists. america was pretty good at sign upsell around the world. it was a terminology of dismissal. it doesn't matter to me. this is consider -- there was clearly a conspiracy here. the question is, who? but the more corn question is, why? -- the more important question is, why?

that reflect on today, because those changes are necessary in the american experience. we have to change our military posture and intelligence agencies' posture. they have too much power. >> arlen specter is one that gave birth -- our inspector is the one that gave bth to this theory. >> what if it went in his neck, then went into his back, piercing the lung, into his right thigh, whatever you want, whatever you need, this bullet is indeed a magic bullet. >> if jfk hadn't been assassinated, if his policies had prevailed, what america do you think we would have today? >> a whole different world. i think his brother was also a progressive. he would've followed. there would've been probably hopefully 16 years of kennedy. who knows? teddy kennedy was another

factor. certainly they knew this. roosevelt had a significant effect on the american psyche, as well as the economy and made a huge difference in world war ii, but kennedy would've had a similar hold on the american public. and i think we would be less conservative, less violent. i think war breeds more violence and callousness in society. kennedy was a man of peace. he had been a decorated combat veteran. he said himself, you can't follow the general, you can't believe the generals -- he was that kind of man who called the shots as they saw them. he saw it coming. he said, we do not need a world of pox americana, supported by mickens of war -- my weapons of war. we are in a world now highly rigid and stigmatized by the difference between various enemies, we call them enemies, russia, china, iran, north

korea, europe -- europe is in a sense a captive satellite of the u.s. they are under our nuclear umbrella. i don't think any of this would've happened if the kennedy echoes had succeeded. -- ethos had succeeded. >> you mentioned your film prompted action by congress, "jfk." but today, we may distribute and consume cinema in a different way. do you think the film still has that same power? >> it should have, there's no reason -- film is eternal. the russian revolution breed at certain films. freedom movements, south america, here and there, everywhere in the world. america needs to be questioned and shaken up. questioned above all. filmmakers need to travel, they need to see the world and understand there's a former president obama perspective here. too many americans -- there is a global perspective here. too many americans aside and said the american bubble. >> thank you for your time.

>> it was the magic bullet. all government investigations so far have treated that bullet as absolutely foundational to this case. ♪ >> this dark colored honey is produced in the north of the region at the foot of the mountains. these collect -- bees collect that actor of the flowering trees. the result, a delicacy, and also a source of great pride for this beekeeper. >> we make the efforts of keeping the product natural, with no chemical fertilizer, which is better for the trees. their fruits and the well-being of bees. we don't use pesticides. and if we did, there wouldn't be any bees.

pesticides kill them. reporter: 600 trees grow on the farmer's property. it's also the home of beehives. he is the only beekeeper here to produce this type of honey. but with local bees being particularly aggressive, harvesting the gold treat is difficult. once harvested, the honey's taken to the nearby farm, where it is slowly strained through a wooden machine. >> we put the honeycombs in the baskets. then, we leave them to leak. and it takes time. it is different to what is done by machines. and to what you can find in supermarkets. reporter: only 500 kilos have been produced last year. but this precious nectar

has half of its production sent to europe, especially france, where 100 grams is sold for 10 euros in a dark. >> this honey has a taste of caramel, but also of cocoa and hazelnut. it is an externally tasteful honey, which is appreciated like a fine vintage. reporter: the luxury item is helping improve the livelihoods of the [indiscernible] the beehives are there collective property. they used to produce only butter, but things to the new project, the income has increased twofold -- thanks to the new project, their income has increased twofold. the trees grow throughout west africa and appear more than ever, worthy of their local nickname, the tree of life. ♪ >> a year after the explosion, the devastating explosion of beirut, france to four visits

the people who still live there -- france 24 visits the people who still live there. they share their pains, their worries, and demand for justice. lebanon is on its knees. >> i need just a spirit i will fight for justice. -- i need justice. i will fight for justice. reporter: beirut revisited, on france any four and france 24 dot com. ♪

"france 24." 20every artform -- >> "france 24." every artform. ♪

08/20/21 08/20/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> how many more generations of america's daughters and sons would you have me send to fight afghanistan civil war went afghan troops will not? amy: as thousands of afghans try to flee afghanistan after the taliban seized control, we will look at the roots of the longest u.s. were in history.