♪ >> welcome back to france 24. you are watching "live from paris." these are our top headlines at this hour. dozens of migrants drowned in the channel near the french port of calle. rescue operations are still ongoing in what is being described as the biggest migrant disaster in the channel on record. justice for the arbery family after the three men involved in ahmaud arbery's murder are found guilty. they are due to be sentenced and can face life in prison, marking the end of a painful and racially charged case in the united states.

and olaf scholz holds his coalition government as germany turns the page on the angela merkel era. three parties are set to govern europe's largest economy, including the green party, hoping to take germany towards a more sustainable future. ♪ thank you very much for joining us in the newsroom. 27 people have died in the channel after a failed attempt to reach the u.k. french authorities reported that a vessel sank near the port of calais. rescue operations are currently ongoing in a bid to find survivors. crossings have increased in the last 12 months, but this is known to be the biggest disaster in the channel since data started to be collected in 2014.

emmanuel macron has called on the european union order agency to be reinforced. let's hear now from boris johnson. >> of course, we have to work with our french fragment with our european i say to our partns the channel, now is the time for us all to step up, to work together to do everything we can to break these gangs who are literally getting away with murder. >> those primarily responsible for this despicable situation are the traffickers. these criminals, for a few thousand euros, smuggle human beings from iraq, afghanistan, and asia and africa, to cross the channel into great britain. it is them we must fight against. simon: earlier, the coordinator of the calais branch of the

utopia 56 association spoke to my colleague, james. guest: it is a tragedy. . for the moment, 31 people died in the chael tonig. only two people are still alive for the moment. it is a real tragedy. what we want to say is that it is always about the politics. than welcome politics and the border here. people leaving terrible conditions and militarization of the border -- it makes them feel like they're in the dungeon when they try to go to the u.k. >> were you there when the so-called jungle camp was

dismantled, which i guess you would agree did not solve the problem, it displaced the problem? >> sure, it displaced the problem. they were trying to go to the u.k. because they did not find solutions in other countries in europe, they will go anywhere because maybe their family is in the u.k. they are forced to go to the u.k. so displacing the problems and trying to say we will protect the border, we will make the people move with evictions, anyway, they will try to go to the u.k. it is only putting them in danger to protect the border as it is done on t beach. simon: we will be keeping you up to speed on that story as developments,.

the political deadlock in germany seems to be at an end as olaf scholz et cetera take over the mantle from angela merkel as german chancellor. he announced three parties had agreed on terms of a coalition. this is a return of the social democrats power for the first time in 16 years. reporter: two months after olaf scholz' social democrats narrowly defeated angela merkel's conservative alliance at the election, they announced a coalition deal on wednesday. >> we are united by a belief in progress and that politics can achieve something good. we are united by the will to make the country better, to move it forward and to keep it together. we are not about lowest, denominator politics, but about high-impact politics. reporter: the agreement will install the country's first federal coalition between the center-left, spd, the liberal democrats, and the greens. at a press conference, the three parties acknowledged their

differences said consensus had been, reached allowing them to move ahead with their plans. high on the agenda -- bringing an end to the pandemic, phasing out of the use of coal fueled by 2030, while expanding the rollout of renewable energy, and sticking to germany's strict constitutional that break, designed to prevent public debt from skyrocketing. this comes back into effect in 2023 after being suspended during the pandemic. along with strengthening european sovereignty and immigration reform. as the cabinet positions, that green leader will become the foreign minister," leader of the party robert, will take up a new created post on environmental policy. the leader of the spd will become germany's new finance minister. the ministries of the interior, defense, construction, health, and labor will go to the spd. members of the three parties are expected to give their blessings to the deal in the next 10 days.

simon: moving onto another of our top headlines, the three men who pursued ahmaud arbery whilst he was jogging and fatally shot him have all been found guilty. travis mcmichael was found guilty on all counts. his father, greg mcmichael was found guilty. and his neighbor, william bryan, who filmed the video, was guilty of the part he played in a murder. they will now be subject to sentencing and could face life in prison. the verdict was met by cheers from supporters of the arbery family. >> you can imagine it was a very tense moment in court as the jury returned. the judge read the verdict and all three men in these case were guilty of murder. ahmaud arbery's father let out an exclamation in the court. his mother looked very somber and was weeping. the three men remained expressionless. they will now await sentencing at a later date.

georgia does carry the death penalty for murder, but the persecution was not seeking that in this case. there were also shouts and celebrations outside the court, with many activists, black-and-white, hoping what they saw as justice would be done. they were later addressed by an activist who has been following the case, rev. al sharpton, a veteran of the civil rights movement, who said that this jury, which controversially was 11 white people and one black person, even in an area that is all but half the black population, was shocked and said that those 12 jurors had proven today that black lives matter and that this was a historic day that would be remembered. that was also praised by

arbery's family, who said they had conquered what was a modern-day lynching by a lynch mob. also just tremendous sense of relief that justice was done. simon: covid infections continue to rise in france, with 33,000 cases reported in the last 24 hours. the spike has prompted the french government to confirm that new restrictions will be put in place. the government spokesperson declined to specify what those would be. >> mask-wearing is officially very important, even for vaccinated people, because we know vaccines can significantly reduce the risk of transmitting the virus or getting infected. that it doesn't stop the risk completely. we want to reinforce the key tool. we will have an announcement thursday. simon: the government did say they hoped not to enforce restrictions on public life but

rather, reinforce existing preventative measures such as vaccine boosters and the green pass. in martinique, tensions over the pandemic continue to rise as there are now daily clashes with police forces over the response to covid-19. >> for a second night in a row, gun shots ring out on the french island of martinique. local authorities said the shots were fired by protesters at police. in other neighborhoods, young people clashed with security forces. [gunfire] cars were set ablaze. like a guadalupe and other french islands, martinique has been rocked by protests against covid-19 measures imposed by paris, which descended into violence. reacting on wednesday, the french finance minister did not mince his words. >> public order is not

negotiable. the return to order is the absolute priority. these scenes of looting, violence, and barricades are unacceptable. reporter: some of the barricades that have been set up on highways remained on wednesday, and cars were trapped across the island. protesters and those partaking in the general strike are calling for an end to compulsory vaccinations for health care workers. >> everyone is free to choose. but as soon as things are being imposed on us, people in all professions getting fired under the pretext that they are not vaccinated, i don't agree. reporter: while covid-19 rules are at the heart of the protest, there is anger over rising fuel prices and roger economic and social inequalities. and implementing overseas regions of france is higher than in the mainland. simon: tigray rebels are closing in on the if you print capital of addis ababa, with battle lines are drawn. foreign nationals have been advised to leave the country particularly by the french

government. to analyze the latest developments further, i am pleased to welcome my guest, a senior lecturer. thank you very much for joining us alive here on france 24. first and foremost, what can you tell us concerning the latest on the ground in ethiopia? guest: the conflict is still ongoing since the dramatic announcement yesterday by the ethiopian prime minister to personality leave his palace and going to the battlefront. there are reports of confrontation and fighting in the northern region. the military momentum, until very recently, seems to be on the side of the tigray defense forces or liberation army, but we don't quite know what the

thinking of the prime minister is. we know that there are reports of weapons shipments. some leaders in the government suggested these are high-tech weapons that are convenient, especially in this part of the country where the conflict is taking place, but it is not clear whether this will reverse the military advance. simon: some of the big news today is that olympic heroes, said they were ready to join the front to fight the rebels after abiy ahmed's announcement that he would be doing so as well. is that what the prime minister wanted? to inspi people to fight? mr. allo: certainty. i think part of the calculation behind the prime minister declaring to personally go to the warfront t command the armed forces is to rally the

base, to ph one more time. there are several calls for people to rise up and defend the country. none of those have led to anhing significant by way of a military breakthrough for the government, and i think this is certainly a strategy on the part of t government, to appeal to people. now we have this high-profile individuals such as athletes a businessmen making these promises. i don't think thendividuals are gog to fight, but this is mainly to rally up the base and encourage people to go to the battlefront. but the problem is that when you call on ordinary people who don't even know how to use weapons, who have never been anywhere close to weapons, without any training, that is not going to change anything except sacrificing people's lives.

simon: thank you very much, sir, for that analysis on the situation there in ethiopia. thank you. libya's election commission ruled that the son of the former ctator muammar gaddafi is ineligible trun for president of libya, adding more attention to the elections. the commission said the ruling s made because he had be coicted of a crime. the international community is still trying to put an end to a decade-long war between different libyan factions following the fall of the qaddafi regime. just a reminder of our headlights at this hour, dozens of migrants drowned in the channel near the french part of calais. rescue operations are still ongoing in what has been described in the biggest migrant disaster in the channel on record. justice for the arbery family, after three men involved in the murder of ahmaud arbery were found guilty. they are due to be sentenced and could face life in prison.

the verdict marks the end of a painful and racially charged case in the united states. and olaf scholz hose his coalition government, as germany turns the page on the angela merkel era. three parties are set to govern europe's largest economy, including the green party, hoping to take germany to a more sustainable future. ♪ time now for today's edition of truth or fake. i am joined by catalina. hi. two div will be talking about fake profiles on social media. catalina: there is fake social media profiles. 80 profiles flag across twitter, facebook and instagram. these accounts, people were claiming to be sick and promoting divisive and pro-indian government narratives to undermine this community. just a bit of background, the

sikhs are the fourth largest religion in india and considered the minority. the political motive of these accounts started five years ago -- five days ago when the indian government repealed farm reforms. many of those who opposed the farm reforms were from the sikh community. now there are fake accounts controlled by real people, making it more credible. these fake profiles are using the #realsikh to discredit the community. many also used high-profile pictures of celebrities spread out throughout various platforms. here are some examples of fake accounts that have been flagged and blocked on social media. what is important is that it is a huge, coordinated operation to

discredit this minority group. simon: staying with the fake profile theme, the observer introduced a man who explained how to identify these fake profiles on social media. catalina: exactly, there are so many fake profiles on social media try to show a real identity. we do have some tips on how to flag these fake social media codes. for instance, there is this website called "this person does not exist." each time you click on it, it creates a new profile picture generated through artificial intelligence. here we are going to show some examples. each time you click, it creates a new profile picture. these are not real people. it is actually created through artificial intelligence. but our tech expert will explain how to flag these fake profiles in more detail. >> [speaking in french]

catalina: yeah. here we can see more examples. you can see, as he described, the pupils are triangle, not completely round. there are many examples that you can see each time you refresh the page. this could turn out to be very

dangerous. . it is a crystal-clear example of how social media can be used spread manipulative narratives, simon. simon: something we should all watch out for. catalina, thank you so much. i will cross over now to kate moody for business. the business world in france is being shaken up once again by another case linked to the affair. kate: the case that never ends, shaking the political and business world for over a decade now. the chief executive of french telecoms giant orange is stepping down. he was handed a one year suspended sentence today, overturning a lower court ruling. judges found him guilty of complicity in the misuse of public funds in the case of a 400 million euro state payout to a business tycoon in 2008. at the time, richard was chief of staff to the french finance minister christine lagarde. richard is appealing the ruling, but he submitted his resignation

to the board of a wrench in an emergency meeting this wednesday. the board said it would appoint a replacement by the end of january. china has confirmed it will join the u.s., u.k., japan, india, and south korea in releasing oil from their strategic reserves. leaders are hoping to cool high oil prices which have particular to a spike in inflation. prices remained relatively stable on wednesday. brent crude closed at just above $82. investors and analysts are unsure of out the effect these coordinated moves will have been the medium to longer term capital economics. it could prompt opec and other producers to further slow their pumps. those producers have rejected calls from the u.s. and others to boost their output. strategic oil reserves were set up in the wake of the 1970's oil crisis to ensure energy supplies an political or financial

crisis. there have been three coordinated releases in the past, but never before as a result of a price crisis. hello correspondent has more. reporter: it is america's national energy safety net. the strategic petroleum reserve was set up in the aftermath of the arab oil embargo of the 1970's, which caused the price of a barrel of oil to quadruple in the course of the year. the spr currently holds 610 millionarrels, but it can hold up to 714 million barrels. in the event of a severe energy supply interruption that threatens national security or the economy, the president can order a full drawdown. up to 30 million barrels can be released to counte domestic or international energy supply shortage of significant scope or duration. despite sitting on a mountain of oil, the u.s. has only tap its reserve a handful of times, mostly in the wake of natural disasters such as hurricane katrina. >> the problem, in my view, with

strategic reserves, is that they have been built in the past to address supply problems. we don't really have a supply problem right now, we are not in the ddle of a rricane. we just have very high oil prices. spr was not built with the idea of saving the american consumer few dollars. reporter: thanks to america's domestic shale boom, the u.s. exports more oil than it imports. but this is no match for opec and can only be kept up in the short-term. kate: let's check in on the days trading action. it mixed close for the european indices. a new coalition in germany emerged. finance minister olaf scholz is going to be the next chancellor.

on wall street, the s&p 500 and nasdaq managed slight gains by the closing bell. new data showed the u.s. economy grew 2.1% in the third quarter, ever so slightly higher than estimates. the number of new unemployment claims in the u.s. dipped sharply last week, 199,000 applications recorded across the country. . that is the lowest level in 52 years. claims have been dropping steadily since late september as employers added more jobs. they are still 4 million fewer jobs in the u.s. compared with february of 2020. many people have dropped out of the workforce for fear of infection, or because they don't have childcare, another sign that although the labor market is recovering from the worst of the pandemic, it has also exposed a lot of weaknesses in the american economy. simon, these weekly figures normally come out on thursday. we are getting them a day early

because the united states will be celebrating thanksgiving tomorrow. simon: congratulations to everyone who's celebrating thanksgiving including you, kate. kate: happy turkey day. simon: thank you very much. time for us to take a little break. we will be back in a few minutes. ♪ >> if you want to really understand what's going on in the world, you need to follow the money. >> in people and profit, we tackle the biggest stories in the economy and break down why they matter to you. >> from mega mergers to market crashes, and business ideas that could change the world. >> it is the show you can't afford to miss. >> join us every week for your essential business briefing. >> people and profit, on france 24 and france24.com. >> consider me your code breaker. day after day, i am ready to go on air at any moment, to help you make sense of the news we report. >> i am here to go live on set with analysis of the most important events of the day

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11/24/21 11/24/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! a federal jury in virginia has ordered a group of white supremacists to pay over $26 million in damages for their role in organizing the deadly "unite the right" rally in charlottesville in 2017. we will get the latest from -- i look at the trial in georgia of the three white men who killed ahmaud arbery.