tv France 24 LINKTV September 7, 2021 3:30pm-4:01pm PDT
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mark: welcome to "live from paris," news and analysis from france 24. these are the headlines. the taliban supreme leader says to uphold sharia law. this is women lead a demonstration. a legal ruling in frae needs the case for allegedly aiding anabetting the islamic state group in syria will be reinstated. money paid to the terrorists to ensure safe passage of workers.
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france prepares to relieve the horrors of the november 13 terror attack with the trial of the surviving terrorist and alleged accomplices. tonight, hear the story of some of the first responders who were on the scene. this is "live from paris." ♪ mark: thank you very much for being with us. the taliban has announced a government and immediately the group's supreme leader called on the group to uphold sharia law. few expected other than this declaration even though the taliban pledged to be different when they seized power in kabul. sharia law, islam's legal system derived from the koran and the
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sayings of prophet muhammad, is being used to suppress women and girls tough marriage and denying education rights. let's hear the taliban spokesperson. >> the islamic emirate of afghanistan has decided on a cabinet to be constituted to take care of government affairs. there will be a department which will oveook the functions of me ministries are yeto be finalized. deserving candidates will be sought and appointed. mark: let's get the reaction of our correspondent in kabul, who now of course is based in toronto. great to see you. thank you for joining us. the taliban government, is it fair to say no surprises?
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>> well, it is made from taliban leaders. the taliban have brought hardliners, people who were on the u.n. sanction list, wanted by the u.s. government, for example. the taliban have also not included any position for women. they got rid of the ministry of women affairs and replaced it with their notorious enforcer, the promotion of virtue. it is not an inclusive government that everyone was looking for. a lot of these figures have been brought into the finance ministry, to the ministry of economy, they are people that don't have the skills to run those ministries. we will see how the world will react to that. we will also see how the taliban can guarantee international legitimacy and funding. but this is definitely a
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government for the taliban, run by the taliban. this does not include anyone outside of the taliban. mark: of course, this flies in the face of the announcement made on august 16 after the taliban took hold of afghanistan, going into kabul, saying there would be more room for women, more room for -- they would be an inclusive administration. how hard-line do you think tings will become? how hard-line will this administration turn out to be? bilal: well, there were serious ideological differences. even there was opposition from within the taliban. we are being told there were a lot of internal meetings being held in the city of kandahar. we are already seeing the taliban imposing restrictions and limitations on afghan women, for example, the media. one of those restrictions was
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the introduction of separate classes for male and female students. in some cases, there has to be a curtain dividing both of the genders. to be honest with you, the taliban have not changed. if they have changed, they are more rigid. they are more hot-blooded. it is their commanders and leaders who have been having influence by foreign fighters, by al qaeda. they have this destructiveness in their mind. they have been fighting. and they have no love for afghan media, for afghan women. they still look at afghanistan in a way that they used to rule the country, meaning the 1990's. despite all the claims that this was taliban 2.0, the taliban have changed my the taliban have learned -- changed, the taliban how learned from their mistakes. they are announcing the
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islamic emirate of afghanistan, saying sharia law has to be enforced and announcing the faithful. this will be sending shockwaves to central asian countries. ey havell along been opposed to such an idea. they have feared thousands of central asian fighters who have been fighting alongside the taliban under the islamic movement of uzbekistan and could pose a security threat to those countries. mark: there was a protest today calling for an end to pakistani influence in afghanistan. pakistan of course the backer, the supporter of the taliban. what are your fears going forward from here for the future of your country? bilal: well, afghanistan no doubt will be facing international isolation with the current leadership of the taliban and their vision.
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the gains of the last 20 years have been washed away. state institutions have crumbled. pakistan's spy chief when he visited kabul's hotel, that was not welcomed by afghans because pakistan's notorious agency, the ici, has been overseen by the dutch has been always seen by the afghan population -- has been always seen by the act in population as -- has been always seen by the afghan population as the taliban. when you talk about the assassination of certain moderate figures in the afghan society, i think it had a very negative impact on the image of the taliban as well, that visit. so when female protesters confronted taliban leaders and this issue is raised thes where taliban simply say, we are now the state. we will welcome our foes and we
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will also welcome our friends. but what is interesting, after the visit of the general, we see a government almost made of mullahs, and the taliban de facto leader was the candidate to lead this caretaker government. so now he has been not promoted to that position. he has been demoted. definitely, afghans continue to look at the pakistani military with deep suspicion. mark: thank you very much for giving us your assessment of the situation. thank you for joining us from toronto. bilal, formerly -- bilal, formerly our correspondent in kabul. we have more reaction to come. next, a renewed legal case overprotection payments in syria, allegedly financing
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terrorism. french courts ruled there are still questions to be answered. with 13 million euros played to the islamic state to ensure the safety of workers at the cement factory, it is argued to finance terrism. th was discovered by journalists in 2016. here is friends 24's group -- here is france 24's reporter. >> is most serious charge to be brought to the company over its dealings, complicity and crimes against amenity. courts of appeal in late 19 but now in light of the ruling by france's highest court on tuesday, it will be referred back to registering magistrates. it is suspected of funneling at least 13 million euros to groups including the islamic state group to keep its operations in northern syria up and running during the country's civil war. >> it has been decided actually
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in the course of international case law that lafarge could be charged for a crime against amenity even though there is no evidence they were going with isis regarding their plan of mass destruction. but there was enough that they only knew that the money was going to isis and of course that they were aware that isis were committing crimes against humanity. >> uncovered in the summer of 2016 by a group of journalists, the investigation sparked a major scandal. later that same year, the french economy minister reap launched a preliminary investigation of the company. in 2017, the scandal forced the resignation of someone and later a probe was launched into lafarge under suspicion that it funded terrorism. a year later, lafarge was indicted on multiple charges.
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it claims it was in the dark about any connection the groups may have had to terrorism. mark: france is braced to relieve the horror of the november 13 trial attacks. the trial of the surviving terrorist is scheduled on wednesday. 130 lives were taken by heavily armed suicide bombers in a series of attacks in central paris. the horror of november 13 changed lives forever. in our next report, we meet a man whose job now is inspired by his heroic instinctive actions to help others on that fateful night back in 2015. >> since the paris attacks on november 13, 2015, he goes everywhere with his first aid kit in his bag. a former physiotherapist, he has changed careers and is now a professional first responder. >> [speaking non-english
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>> since that night, jean-luc can't stop thinking whether he could have saved more people. he offers first aid training to the public. >> [speaking non-english language] >> jean-luc says he still is struggling to live with the memory of what he saw. he filed a civil lawsuit in the trial of those accused of involvement in the attacks. mark: the latest in the reports looking at how things have changed in the wake of these terror attacks of november 13, 2015. for more on that line, we are
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joined by a lawyer who represents some 40 families affected by those attacks. always a pleasure to see you. thank you for joining us. ahead of the trial which starts tomorrow, i am wondering if you can tell us about the state of mind of your clients right now. what are they thinking? what are they feeling? it must be a terrible ordeal to relive. >> to be honest, today they are feeling bad. why? because they are anxious. tomorrow, they have been waiting for six long years, which is too much for victims, but at least this time it will happen. this is important. it is important for victims because they are waiting to at least be recognized. because unfortunately we don't talk about the victims between trials. we know we've got trials.
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yes, we talk about the victims. but after, no word about them. tomorrow and during nine months, we will speak to explain the situations, the mind, the expectations of victims. and they have many expectations after six years. they want to know their expectations are simple. mark: people want answers. this is the big thing. but the one member of the terrorist cell will be on trial. he has not spoken since, has he? >> when it comes to talk about him, first about i want to say there is not only him, there is also 14. i discussed to my victims as well there is only 15 defendants.
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because they are dangerous. they made a huge and criminal act in our society against our democracy, against our rule of law. it is important. but of course, he will -- still silent unfortunately. i hope he will answer some victims' questions. today, they want to know everything about the terrorist attack, at least how their loved ones died, how they faced death, and we hope that tomorrow at least,, not only salah, but all of those criminals will give at least some simple answers. mark: you are a lawyer, but in many ways, you have to act as a psychology in some ways in
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helping prepare your clients. samia: you have to. we have to. we are with our clients for those six years. we are in permanent contact with them. they call us. we say a word about the victims. we don't talk about them. not only about this trial, but the expectations about their life. they are facing a huge problem psychologically. financially as well. let's talk about it, but nobody is taking care of them. tomorrow and during the nine months, we have to talk about them because those victims were targeted because france was the target. so please respect them. this trial is for them. and this trial will give some answers to let them go forward. mark: you have seen how not just
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paris but the whole of france and europe has changed in the wake of what happened that night. you have seen how these changes have affected people and affected everybody's daily lives. what are you hoping to get out of this for the people you represent? clearly they want answers and may not get answers. compensation, money, money cannot replace who they have lost. samia: they will never ever get back their loved ones. sad. after one trial, it took more than five years to understand some answers, the philosophy of those terrorists. there is an approach that still we do not know about it. after these nine months of trial, we will start to
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understand what is the islamist protocol because if we don't understand it, we will never ever fight terrorists and make the good policy of counterterrorism. we will not succeed in it if we do not understand quite well what is terrorism. mark: indeed. we have already seen a reorganization of france in terms of its structure, in terms of its institutions. started trying to tackle that with revisions on how these institutions cooperate. samia: hardly. hardly unfortunately because the cooperation between the intelligence all around europe, it is not still now today may very well. we still have a lot exchanges of information. -- lack of exchanges of information.
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we still have a lack of cooperation. we still have defendants in brussels. why do we have only one trial and a european trial? we still have a lack of cooperation between different intelligence systems. this is the problem. this is the problem. it took us 10 years, and unfortunately, we need more than 10 other years to understand quite well what is the protocol, the islamist protocol that they want to impose to us in order to destroy our democratic institutions. mark: thank you very much indeed for joining us. samia represents some 40 of the plaintiffs in this trial, families whose lives have been it is fair to say ruined by what happened on november 13, 2015. thank you for coming here and sharing with us your thoughts
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ahead of the trial tomorrow. thank you very much indeed. we are covering all development in the trial and will continue with our special reports throughout the week. thank you for joining us again. let's turn now to business. great to see you. starting in the u.k. with many shops suffering from stock shortages. i am smelling a brexit story. kate: a little bit of brexit. our top two stories. covid has disrupted supply chains and left the trucking industry in desperate need of drivers. our reporter tells us more. >> canceled deliveries, empty shelves, and slow sales. this convenience store in london is struggling to stay afloat. >> without products, we have no business. because you need to have the products to sell. if you have empty shelves like this, know what is going to come into the shop. >> businesses across the u.k.
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are grappling with shortages with the food sector hit especially hard. following brexit, imported goods has become more challenging with changes to customs and border rules causing backlogs at ports and delivery delays. issues that have effected this tea company which packs its products in sri lanka and india. >> selling is the easy part. actually getting the products to the cuomers is the challenge. >> supply problems also stem from a lack of truck drivers. new post brexit immigration rules have slammed the industry, which relied heavily on drivers from the eu. the u.k. is short roughly 125,000 truck drivers. the logistics complications have prompted some businesses to look for creative solutions. >> we have problems with the supply chain. trying to use as much
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locally sourced produce as possible. each time, we buy locally produced sources. >> british business hoping supply will soon rise to meet demand, which has rebounded following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions. kate: the english prime minister meanwhile is breaking a campaign promise and raising taxes. boris johnson is proposing a 1.25% tax increase as well as a similar increase on shared dividends. the government hopes to raise 36 billion pounds, that is about 42 billion euros, for the national health service and social care. in particular, the u.k.'s aging population. >> instead of individuals having to bear the financial risks of catastrophic care costs themselves, we as a country are deciding to share more of that risk collectively.
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the only alternative would be to borrow more indefinitely. but that would be irresponsible at a time when our national debt is already the highest it has been in peacetime. kate: france's national to statistics -- national statistics office expects growth this year. gdp growth expected from 6% to 6.25%. economists saying at least for now the fourth wave of coronavirus infections that interrupted france's controversial health plans have not seemed to affected the economic recovery. let's take a look at the day's trading action now. wall street has closed mixed on concerns of the delta variant. the dow jones down at the closing bell. but when share is percent. just the nasdaq closing slightly above the flat line. losses of about half a
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percentage point each in london and frankfurt. about half of that in paris. we will be tuning into the european central bank's policy meeting later this week. el salvador has officially become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. that is along with the u.s. dollar. the government has launched its own digital wallet and promised $30 worth of bitcoin for new users. there are even new atm's which in theory allow peop to convert to dollars and witraw the dollars without commission. the first day was hit by technical snags. many people say the app was not available to be downloaded on popular app stores including apple and huawei. the government saying that was ju a blip and problems would be sorted out. it's a lot of skepticism about this move, partly because bitcoin is so volatile. it is unregulated and could be used for criminal resources. also, half of the population has
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no internet access. lawmakers approved this back in june. some areas of the country have already been using the digital currency. bitcoin beach is a hotspot on the pacific coast. the manager there says he is excited about the opportunities ahead. >> any time you roll out a new technology, especially as quickly as they have here, it is expected to be problems. and there will be people two months from now saying it is a failure but we believe two years from now everybody will look at el salvador making this great decisionnd kind of leading the world. we think it will be the first of many countries that go in this direction. kate: one other reason cryptocurrencies have become so popular is to liberty endorsements. kim kardashian is among those to have supported various crypto investments. on monday, the u.k. financial industry leader slammed the reality star for posts on her and succumb account back in june which promoted a digital token. it is not related to the slightly more mainstream
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etherium. reminding potential crypto investors should be prepared to lose all the money they put into such investments. a real warning coming from someone. that is repeatedly what we heard from the united kingdom, anyone who puts their money into cryptocurrencies could lose it all. mark: indeed. wise is where it's coming from you as ever. stay with us. -- winds words -- wise words coming from you as ever. stay with us. ♪ >> this is a land where resilience grows, where companies put their faith in us know they are on firm ground, know that they arerowing stronger again. this is a land where confidence grows as we continue to open doors for existing and new
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