>> it is 10:00 p.m. in the frank n you are watching "france 24." here are the stories making headlines. one billion euros in emergency aid is on its way to afghanisn. leaders made the announcement at the g20 summit as afghans face an unfolding humanitarian disaster. preliminary results from sunday's elections in iraq put populist cleric moqtada al-sadr in the leader position, delivering a blow to sheer militants back by iran. and it is called france 2030,

usually ambitious plan to reshape the french economy by turning to green technology. emmanuel macron is making it a centerpiece ahead of next year's presidential election. your watching "live from paris." ♪ hi, everyone. thanks for joining us. the european union has cleared the way for afghanistan to receive more than e billion euros in emergency aid. the announcement came during a virtual meeting of the g20 hosted by italian prime minister mario draghi. the summit was focused on the humanitarian disaster unfolding in ahanistan following the taliban takeover about two months ago. e.u. leaders said the money is needed for the country to oid a catastrophe.

>> this humanitarian situation in afghanistan is very serious. and with the onset of winter, it is only getting worse. monte: our correspondent has more on the meeting from room. reporter: we do know is that the european commission president made it very clear that this package is a package for the afghan people and the neighboring countries that are having to deal with afghans coming into their country and learning to deal to help the afghans themselves. money is not meant for the taliban government. so they want to make that very clear. for countries like italy and it perhaps the g20 countries, is the issue of migrants and refugees, because if they don't deal with the humanitarian and

financial and economic crisis happening in afghanistan right now, you will see a flow of migrants and refugees coming into countries like italy, turkey, other neighboring countries. if you don't deal with the issue right on the ground, it is going to end up knocking on your door. in that sense, perhaps that was the reasoning behind putting in place this financial aid of such magnitude, in order to help the afghans help themselves, particularly as we are seeing a situation of banks closing, as well as essential services being suspended. the price of food has increased, and many people are not getting their salaries. so this is a financial situation that needs to be dea with on the ground to prevent a further humanitarian crisis. monte: that is our seema gupta reporting from room. western leaders also held face-to-face talks with the taliban in doha today, the first such meeting since the militant

group came to power. but e.u. and u.s. officials say, just because they are holding talks i does not mean they are recognizing the government in kabul. andrew hillier has a story. andrew: more than two months after sweeping to power in afghanistan, the taliban are on a diplomatic offensive, intent on getting international recognition. they sat down with the u.s. and e.u. officials in doha, desperate for foreign help to stop the country's slide into economic misery. andrew: e.u. and u.s. officials have ruled out recognizing the government in kabul for now, a

state of affairs that the taliban argue could worsen the plight of the afghan people. that in itself, the central topic at the g20 in rome. speaking at the summit, italian prime minister mario draghi underlined the need to act before it is too late. >> [speaking in italian] andrew: but western leaders face a delicate balancing act -- how to get aid to the afghan peoe, without endorsing taliban rule. ahead of the summit, you've obama leaders agreed to unlock one billion euros of aid. the bloc insisted it would go to aid agencies working underground, and not to taliban officials in kabul. monte: we have some preliminary results from sunday's elections in iraq. for the moment, it appears that

the populist cleric, data outsider, is in the lead position, with the most seats in parliament -- moqtada al-sadr. if that holds, it is a gr blow o candidates representing sheer militia backed by iran. there was a record low turnout in the election, suggesting that the public had little fate that the outcome would bring meaningful change. our correspondent has the latest. reporter: following huge wins for shiite cleric moqtada al-sadr and major gains for comping shiite former prime minister nouri al-maliki the coalition has rejected that results of the election on the 10th of october. fatah represent many shiite paramilitaries that are close to iran. there that their leader has said "we will defend our candidate's writes with full

force." we don't exactly know what that means yet, but it is concerning rhetoric. we will have to see if that will entail some sort of violence which comes with it. at the same time, moqtada al-sadr said in a speech that "only the state can wield force." these words clearly directed at the paramilitaries that are represented by the fatah coalition. this is highly hypocritical, coming from moqtada al-sadr, who himself controls an armed wing which runs parallel to his political operation. it points to the possibility of significant discord between the very many shiite factions and conflict as well. we have seen sectarian conflict in iraq in the 2010's between the sunni and shiite, but we have not seen inter-shiite conflict before and people are concerned it could lead to that. at the moment it could just be saber-rattling between groups,

but in a country with so many weapons and so many military groups there is always the possibility of escalation, so it will bworth observing to see how these disputes will be resolved as they attempt to form a coalitiogovernment. monte: that is our correspondent in baghdad, jack houston. french president emmanuel macron has unveiled a hugely ambitious plan that he says will transform the french economy. the initiative is called france 2030, and it would spend 30 billion euros on green technology that includes electric cars, more efficient nuclear plants, and more hydrogen fuel. he is gearing up for next year's presidential election, and claims that france is behind many other countries when it comes to having a thriving green economy. >> [speaking in french]

monte: and for more on this story, we are joined onset by nikolai bergman, a research fellow at the institute for sustainable development and international relations. thanks for being here. guest: thank you thanks for the invitation. monte: as we mentioned, macron is getting ready for the election, so there is a political side to this. but what about policy, what do you think of this plan? guest: the plan is interesting because he chose two things related to the ecological transition. first particularly says that it is part of the main challenges of our times, in line with what has been done in the french and european ecology package. ecological transition is

something we should invest in. the second thing is linking the climate issue with innovation. we need innovation to make progress on this front. it was mentioned that half of the technology we need is still yet to be market-ready. so there is a place there for public policy to help them get to the market. monte: where would you put the focus of this initiative? nicolas: we can discuss priorities, but i would say that the one thing that is really interesting there is it is really pivoting on the industrial decarbonization. we know that we need industrial decarbonization, because the industry today is 20% of our emissions. it is a very important topic for

now, because in the industry, the investment cycles are long, the industry plants will still be there in 2050. so it is important to, right now, invest in clean ironm and steel plants in the industry. monte: macron said france would spend one billion euros on compact nuclear reactors known as small, modular reactors. what do you think of that part of the proposal? nicolas: there is something that is logical there. why, because france, particularly in this aspect, is nuclear-powered. it is 70% of our electricity production in france, 200,000 jobs. so there is a logic in making this bet.

it is not the only thing we invest in, it is only $1 billion of $30 billion, but if we consider energy production, that is also one billion euros in innovative energy. so in a sense, it is not all in for nuclear. monte: you just mentioned that 70% of france's energy comes from nuclear electricity. macron is saying that france is behind other countries when it comes to green technology. do you think that is the case? nicolas: well, it is true that france is kind of behind. big market share in renewable energy. but it doesn't mean that for other technologies, france needs to be behind in the long run. there are still a lot of market to take in the way, a lot of technologies to come, one of them is hydrogen.

for many reasons, france can have some advantages in updating this, partly because it has the nuclear industry, but also because france is one of the countries that is the most renewable energy production potential in europe. so in a sense, there is still entering the mart for renewable technologies. monte: this is a very bold proposal. what do you think of e chance that it can actually be accomplished? nicolas: i think one of the main points that will make the success of it is the european dimension of it. it is a message also to the european partners -- investing in this technologies, we want to decarbonize our economy, that france cannot do it alone, and the rules of the game are decided at the european level, so it is really interesting. because the commission unveiled a full package that is under

discussion now in brussels, on how to increase it in 2030. part of the rules in terms of emissions for cars, this is linked to the priority on electric vehicles. so the rules of the game are defined at the european scale, and it will be necessary to have good agreements at this level. the second dimension is what europeans can do together, full resources together. there is a genuine interest, to pool resources. think about what is being done today on batteries. what is being done, what europeans are trying to do on hydrogen. on other technologies, it would be key to see if the resources can be pulled together to bear the cost of risk.

innovations that come to the market. there will be vast losses but also shared benefits so all european actors benefit from this. monte: nicolas berghmans is a research fellow at the institute for sustainable development and international relations, thank you so much for your time. nicolas: thank you for having me. monte: finally we have this. superman has a new love interest. dc comics -- that the son of clark kent and lois lane is bisexual. the superhero and his boyfriend share a case in the series. the character is breaking ground in more ways than one, he also fights climate change, tackles social justice issues, and is on the frontlines lines of the refugee crisis. our correspondent has more. reporter: is it a bird? a plane? no, it is the first bisexual superman. and dc comics' adventures follow jon kent. like his father, he also falsely

reporter, this time a male friend. they will share a case in issue 5. superman writer tom taylor said he did not want this to become a missed opportunity. >> it is not a gimck. we didn't want this to be" the dc comics creates new queer superman." we want this to be "superm finds himself, becomes superman and then comes out." there is a really important distinction there. reporter: the news took social media by storm. many uploading the decision. >> i have been a comic book geek since pretty much the tom meighan first read. this news about superman makes my queer heart glad, knowing the positive impact it will have on so many young folks today and in the future. reporter: superman first appeared in comics in 1938, and he is arguably america's most famous superhero. now, his son is breaking new ground, and not just with his sexuality. jon kent fights climate change,

tackles social justice issues, and is on the frontlines lines of the refugee crisis, part of the dc comics' efforts to have their characters reflect today's world. monte: time for business with a guest, you cover your. what does the future hold for nuclear energy. france's president calls for new more efficient reactors. yuka: he wants to make friends more competitive and also more independent and for that he is calling for the development of new work and more efficient nuclear power plants. france is not the only country looking into the generation of very small atomic reactors called smr's. but opposition voices are also strong. >> reclaiming france's crown as a leader in innovation is emmanuel macron's aim for a

nine year investment plan. >> we must prepare ourselves for breakthrough technologies and for transmissions in a nuclear power, the promise of small modular reactors. we must open up the game in any way. we are ready to invest one billion euros between now and 2030. reporter: this is the world's only small modular reactor, and experimental floating plant that russia commissioned over the past decade that has been operating sin 2019. however, china, too is planning its own smr, and france, reliant on nuclear power for 70% of its energy, hopes new and smaller designs will open up its horizons. traditionally they produce more power, tt are incredibly expensive to build, with many such pnts seeing cost overruns more than development and construction. the smrs' modular design makes them safer, with improved waste

management, a huge concern for nuclear power skeptics, which see atomic energy as dgerous at worst, and a necessary evil the clime crisis. concerns of turned their back on nucleary power in the aftermath of the fukushima disaster and decade ago, the european union agreed it could be part of decarbonize in its economy and eventually reaching net zero essions. yuka: the international monetary fund slightly downgraded its forecast for the world economy, now projecting this year's growth to reach 5.9 percent, 0.1 percent lower than earlier estimated in july. the global lender warns that a dangerous recovery between rich and poor nations -- a divergence in recovery between rich and poor nations continues to be a threat. i spoke with the representative of the imf.

>> behind that modest downgrade, we do have some significant downgrades for some countries. we downgraded t fecast for that group because of supply chain disruions. for the low income developing country group, we downgraded the forecast for this year by close to 4%, mainly because of the worsening pandemic dynamics and the anticipated slow vaccine rollout, which would mean shallow recovery going fward for that group. in a nutshell, the two main concerns we have at this point, the inequitable access to vaccines, slow vaccine rollout especially in low income developing countries, and as a result of the pandemic, continue to make -- in the economy, we have seen the supply chain options in many economies.

yuka: finally, the indonesian government has decided to finally reopen the island of bali and neighboring islands to foreign tourists after a year and a half. all international flights to and from valley had been suspended since april of last year, which really hampered businesses, in a place where tourism accounts for more than 30% of the economy. the decision to reopen value to travelers from 18 countries including china, new zealand, and japan starting thursday, is welcome news for many locals and business owners. certainly, they have been keenly awaiting this reopening. monte: hopefully things can turn around there. yuka royer, thank you so much. we will turn now to our daily fact shaking segment with james kreider. today you have been looking at one concrete example of how chemtrails are proven false? james: that's right. if we look at what you can see if you put it into google images, they are contrails, the

steam and water vapor coming off the back of a jet or plain. there are endless theories online about whether or not these trails are coming out of the back of planes and could be something else. the most ambitious of these conspiracy theories and one that goes the first test is that these are chemicals being used for weather engineering for worse, for poisoning or controlling humanity. you get the tone and tenor of its. in any case, theseheories have been doing their rounds for long, long time, just to show you some ways in which these are complete falsehos. the idea tt these containers you have iide some planes are spreading the chemtrails, and that the leaders are in on that -- there is angela merkel -- but

these were actually water containers that were being used, at least in one of the examples, to balance out test flights, to simulate the weight of a human being. so there are a lot of hot falsehoods going around. some pilots got in on the joke at one point. you can see there, the dashboard of an airplane. here you can see chemtrails, was added in instead of apu -- auxiliary power unit -- a crude photoshop. and airline pilot did this in 2015 and put it on facebook for a laugh, and everyone thought it was true. [laughter] this is one example of how falsehoods can be perpetuated within this cloud of information and theorizing about chemtrails. monte: even corrections can perpetuate the falsehood. there iso much information and theories about this, that it is

rife with inaccuracies and misinformation. this is from a scientific study done abouthis. this is in the new scientist publication that goes back to 2016, citing research done by the university of california irvine and the carnegie institute. they surveyed hundreds of experts in chemtrails. 77 scientists reported back and 76 out of 77 said they had come to no evidence of a chemtrails program. one dissenter. that would seem to indicate that almost total agreement about this being nonsense. one examplef a theory, one example of chemtrails being proven in this instance as, false is something the observer has been looking into. catherine bennett, has one example that the observers team has proven to false.

♪ reporter: a pilot accidentally releases chemtras while he is still in the airport. hello to everyone who still thinks chemtrails are just conversation. this person posted thivideo on facebook in september saying that it shows a chemtrails streaming out of a plane that is still by the airport gate. it was seen thousands of times on facebook, twitter, and on the russian social media platform vk. so, what are chemtrails? you know the trails that planes leave behind them in the sky? conspiracy theories say that they are made up of toxic chemicals, and governments are putting these chemicals into the atmosphere to change the weather, and even to control the population. now let's go back to the video. if you look at the tail of the plane, you can see the red logo of japan airlines. on another better-quality version of the video, you can see the aircraft's registration number ja8985.

that can tell us where the plane is from, and even the flight system. that when and where was th video filmed? with the reverse image search, we found the video on the japanese youtube channel. so we know it was filmed in 2016 or before. we also know that this particular aircraft stopped at tokyo international airport in 2016, according to the plain's flight log onle. and if you look at photos of the airport on google, we find this photo taken from inside the terminal which shows exactly the same view. so we know where the video was filmed and that it dates back to least 2016. . but what's the deal with all the smoke? ? we spoke tthe ceo of the french national council of -- experts in aeronautic and space to ask him what is happening in the video. >> [speaking i french]

reporter: japan airlines told us at the time, and they so toldd fact checkers in the belgian media that it was possible there had been a minor technical fault in the turbine engine. so the video does not show a chemtrails, but a fairly common site of smoke coming out of the exhaust of the japanese airplane. james: so that is one example that has been disproven by the observers. monte: great work there. thanks, james. that's it for now. stay tuned for more world news here on france 24. ♪ >> >> in iraq, the militias reigned supreme.

the war against the islam state has on strengthened their power. >> [speaking foreign language] reporter: since 2019, they are accused of stifling the october revolution which swept through baghdad and the south. >> [speaking foreign language] [shouting] >> fear pervades the movement, as the leaders of the protests are assassinated one by one. >> [speaking foreign languag >> [speaking foreign language] >> reporters plus, iraq: revolution murdered, on france 24 and france24.com. ♪

♪ amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i don't see where i did anything wrongith this matter. i am lost for words. it was totally humiliation. amy: clifford owensby says dayton police violtly arrested him last month