>> hello. it is "live from paris." your headlines tonight. angola is joining the growing list of countries with travel restricted to southern afrin nations. omicron carries a high level of infection but no deaths have yet been linked to theariant. chinese president xi jinping pledges more money and more vaccines for africa at the china africa forum. infrastructure and health are at the top of the agenda. and the ballon d'or prizes are

back. messi has been crowned king for the seventh time in his career. ♪ >> let's start the show with the latest on the new covid-19 variant. more precisely on the fallout since its discovery. the fallout of travel bands continues. angola and rwanda joining countries such as france and the u.k. banning flats from southern african nations. the preventative measure goes against the who advice and has been criticized by the south african government. scientists there were the first to find the variant named omicron. james has the story. >> more travel bans as southern african nations bear the brunt of the world's fears and the

spread of the omicron variant. the u.k., u.s., and eu nations are among more than 30 to have slammed shut their borders, mounting accusations of and afro phobia. now some african nations have begun to follow suit. >> we need to resist unjustified as well as unscientific travel restrictions that only serve to further disadvantage developing economies. >> in addition to south africa, the international travel bans target nine countries, including botswana, mozambique, namibia, and zimbabwe. the world health organization urged the world to follow the science rather than imposing flight bands. >> the emergence of the highly mutated omicron variant underlines just how precarious our situation is.

south africa and botswana should be thanked for detecting and sequencing and reporting the variant not analyzed. >> the new coronavirus variant has posed a spike in infections in south africa with over 200 cases on sunday, down from a daily average of 500 the previous week and the week75 -- and 275 the week before. we have to wait to see how infectious it is and how severe the new cases are. yena: as you just heard, the united states are one of the countries that has restricted travel from south african states. president biden said while it is concerning, it is too early to panic. president biden: this is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic. we have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists, and we are learning more every single day, and we will fight this variant with scientific and

knowledgeable actions and speed, not chaos and confusion. yena: the health ministers of the world's biggest economies on monday said omicron requires urgent action and also praised south africa is quite exemplary work detecting the new strain. the u.k. currently holds the rotating presidency of the g-7 and was one of the first countries to impose strict restrictions on travelers flying in from south africa and neighboring countries. chinese president xi jinping has pledged another one billion coping vaccine doses for africa. he made the announcement during the opening speech of the corporation, adding he will encourage chinese companies to give money to the continent in three years. the relationship between china

and african states has had its ups and downs. >> china and africa once again holding a summit, pledging mutual cooperation. it is the eighth such meeting. but this year for the first time, the chinese president has stayed home. instead, his ministers are in charge. the official reason, president xi jinping does not wanto travel during the pandemic. but unofficially, it reflects a cooling-off between the partners. over the past 20 years, china has expanded its role in africa, now becoming its biggest trading partner. but only where it suits beijing's interests. for example, in nigeria, because it is a major oil producer, and for can for infrastructure projects. $10 billion to around $200 billion with a record set in 2013 thanks to investment in its vast adult and wrote initiative.

bridges, ports, highways, and dams. today, one in three construction sites in the continent our chinese. but it is a presence that comes at a price, including accountability and financial dependence. china is africa's main donor. over the past 20 years, beijing has led african countries more than $172 billion. sometimes the loans are repaid in natural resources such as oil or cobalt. over time, this dependence has created mistrust towards beijing. in 2018, china's presence in zambia sparked demonstrations. beijing's political agenda has posed problems for some after severa african countries aligned their position with that of china's at the u.n. still others point to corruption and labor laws. amid the rising discontent, china's level of investment in africa has plunged along with its loan amounts.

officially, the pandemic is again being blamed come about china started to pull back in 2018, well before covid-19 struck. yena: as you just saw there, the china africa forum is taking place in senegal this year. at the start of the event, the host nation's foreign minister asked the chinese counterpart if beijing would be a strong voice in the west african region where france is known to be fighting jihadism. suspected militants killed 4 soldiers in a province on the border with mali. 10 suspected terrorists were killed in the assault. there has been an insurgency for some four years now, killing thousands of people. last weekend, protesters took to the streets angry at the security situation in the country.

the convoy that had been traveling under attack last week but now arrived at its destination in mali. >> we began our convoy sunday, november 14. we were met with the first demonstrations, aggression, and intimidation. the protesters were quite determined. we were blocked for the first time from determined demonstrators, which meant we had to wait for the situation to calm down before crossing. then we faced a second blockade in niger on saturday morning. this time, the blockade was much more this time, the -- this time, the blockade was much more organized. yena: diplomats from iran, the

eu, and russia are back at the table in vienna to discuss a nuclear deal. representatives are trying to rehash the 2015 agreement that saw tehran's nuclear program drastically curtailed. it is their first meeting in five months. the u.s. is on the sidelines due to donald trump's withdrawal. >> talks are resuming in vienna over iran's nuclear ambitions. five months after discussions came to a halt. representatives of china, france, germany, russia, and the u.k. are meeting with iran to get the islamic republic back on course with the 2015 nuclear deal. the united states is taking part in the talks indirectly after having lost a seat at the table when the trump administration pulled out of the deal in 2018.

>> [speaking non-english language] >> following their exit, the u.s. slapped crippling sanctions on tehran. and in return, iran has violated key commitments. joe biden has said he is willing to lift the sanctions if iran reverses the breaches. but for tehran, the first move should be made by washington. >> iran has not let up on its efforts to expand its program. i think their strategy or approach is pretty clear. i think it is a misguided one but it is to build up the nuclear program in order to build more leverage and try to get a better deal under the guise of the jcpoa. >> since 2019, iran has drastically increased its stockpile of uranium and

international observers have had limited access. some experts say the country is mere weeks away from having enough 90% enriched uranium necessary to make a nuclear bomb. iran insists that its enrichment program is peaceful. yena: next, it is a huge night for footballers and their fans. the most prestigious awards in the sport are being awarded in paris tonight. argentinian player lionel messi has received the ballon d'or best player award. more on them and the other winners so far. let's go to james. james, tell us more about the winners tonight. >> yes. it is official. lionel messi winning his seventh ballon d'or, extending his own record by that. and very much well-deserved.

winning with barcelona before he moved to psg, but especially the coca america -- copa america. argentina picked up a win as they beat brazil over the summer 1-0 in the final. lionel messi of course, when we think about the last 13 years, the title has been shared between three players, notably two, messi and ronaldo, showing you the caliber of this player. did not quite make such the impact may be he was thinking he might be able to. ronaldo has been struggling in his performance with manchester united and finished sixth in the list tonight. lewandowski, who we were hoping would be able to pick up a long overdue award, finishes at

second. he beat the record in terms of goals in the bundesliga and continues to shine with bayern munich. he missed out on the award last year because the ceremony was canceled because of covid. covid of course affected sports and football and seasons were drawn to a wrap closer. a lot of games being played inside empty stadiums. quite controversial. of course, lewandowski at the age of 33, will he be able to pick up a ballon d'or one day? we have yet to see but he walks away with the best striker award tonight. pedri, the young player award for him with barcelona and spain over the euros.

it is the third time on the women's side. now a bit further down on the men's, jorginho comes in third. a midfielder winning the ballon d'or, will it be happening at some point? who knows? let's see. for now, the strikers are very much up there. the best goalkeeper was absolutely outstanding for italy. the theme that goes on to win the tournament is a team that has a good goaltender and he set out for them. yena: james reporting on the winners and losers at this year's ballon d'or. time now for business with kate moody. u.s. president joe biden has a

meeting with the heads of major retailers on monday. kate: he is addressing two of the major issues affecting the economy at the moment, inflation or high prices and descriptions to google supply chains. the chief executives of walmart, cvs, best buy, and leading supermarket chains are attending this meeting either in person at the white house or by video link. there are only limited options for the white house in tackling the twin problems. lastly, biden said he would -- last week, biden said he would release some of the oil stockpiles. investing $4 billion in construction at ports. earlier this year, the administration announced a $52 billion plan to invest in a semi conductor many factoring facility in the u.s. the lion's share of the tiny chips are produced in asia. the global shortage began last year and was one of the first sides of the supply chain issues.

legislation on the semi conductor industry was approved by the senate in june. this monday, the commerce secretary urged the house of representatives to pass that so-called chips act quickly in order to boost domestic production. the u.s. holiday shopping season officially began the day after thanksgiving. the retail blitz known as black friday. crowds turned out in person. data suggest for traffic at stores was 47% higher than a year ago when the pandemic kept many at home, but it was still 20% lower than 2019 levels. meanwhile, online spending dipped slightly for the first time. adobe analytics set online shoppers spent $8.9 billion this year. that is just shy of last years $9 billion total. because of the pandemic and concerns about supply chains, sales started earlier this year and that may debt the impact of what used to be a one-day event.

the chief executive of twitter is stepping down 15 years after he cofounded the social be a platform. jack dorsey confirmed the rumors, where else but in a tweet, and a letter to his employees which he later published on his account. he said he was sad but happy with his decision and expressed confidence in his successor, becoming chief technology officer. jack dorsey's leadership style has been questioned by investors. his decision to ban donald trump start of this year thrust the company into a political firestorm. twitter shares surged as much as 11% earlier before being briefly suspended. let's check in on the rest of the day's trading action after friday's sharp selloff. global markets have settled. u.s. president joe biden said he did not think more lockdowns were needed for now. the s&p 500 closing up 1.3%.

the nasdaq not far from 2%. the major european indices closed higher as well. the london ftse 100 up nearly 1%. concerns about the omicron variant of covid-19 could do real markets. travel stocks in particular with indications about potential restrictions. >> [speaking non-english language] kate: uncertainty over the variant has cast something of a shadow to the start of france's ski season. slopes have reopened with requirements including masks and proof of vaccination against covid-19 or a negative test in order to use ski lifts. occupation rates at ski stations are already around 43% for the

coming winter, as nearly as high as pre-pandemic levels. consumers expect an billion euros on winter sports brixon 2019. the industry is hoping to make up for last year's o lost season. canada is tapping into emergency supplies of a stew -- of a sweet but sticky natural resources of maple syrup. the opec of the street is releasing 50 million pounds from its stockpile, which cre was crd two decades ago. that is the case this year. a short and warm spring affected output while sales have jumped during the pandemic. newly three quarters of the global supply of maple syrup comes from quebec. the local industry is worth over $430 million. sales were up by more than a third in 2020 as more people looked for something of a sweet treat. plenty of money at steak

here. maple syrup was with 20 times a barrel of crude oil in 2013. very high-stakes for the industry and breakfast lovers. yena: two new canada had a major supply of maple syrup? thank you for that count on business -- thank you for that roundup on business. catalina, you will start by taking a closer look at some of the videos of russian president vladimir putin that have been deliberately edited. >> yes. many photos and videos of president putin doing manly or macho things like riding horses. he loved the strongman image of him. sometimes they use it to spread misinformation. in this case, we haven't edited video of him. let's take a listen to the video. >> [speaking non-english language]

>> so you could see in the video he was supposedly condemning a worldwide plan to eradicate the world population. this video was posted in italian in october. in march, it was posted with french subtitles as well. and it was also posted in spanish in 2017. but we found the speech actually took place during a ceremony on may 9, 2016, as part of a speech celebrating russia's victory day. so not talking about a global conspiracy at all. this is not the first time. here we havenotherxample of another post where president putin supposedly snubs mron's hand-check.

the user says this guy is so charismatic and what a snub of macron, but let's take a look at the edited video. ♪ >> ♪ been spendingost of o lives livingn the gangsters paradise en spending st of our lives living in the gangsters paradise ♪ >> so this video actually took place during an armistice day event on november 11, 2018. we are going to show you an example of the realvideo where you can see he is actually giving macron a hand-check. that a handshake -- you can see he is actually giving macron a handshake. you can clearly see the

handshake. shaking the hands of trump and merkel. this is not the first or last time one of these videos will be edited but definitely make sure to take a look at the original video. yena: indeed a good tip. fake news swarming around electric cars in the united states. >> yes. there have been a lot of photos and videos floating around, spreading misinformation on electric cars in light of president joe biden's bill back in her agenda, passed on november 19, a $1.75 trillion social and climate spending bill focused on reversing the effects of climate change. there has been this post since the river 24 cleaning these are coal powered calls, not a lecture, saying coal powered electric cars, helping liberals pretend to solve a neatly crisis. poking at democrats and a climate change agenda. this photo was shared many times

since. this was a photo from a publication from "wired" from 2014. the photo was another vehicle charging station -- an electric vehicle charging station in the global electric headquarters in new york. these were actually artificial intelligence. but there are more examples. there is this video of jill biden that has been manipulated also -- joe biden that has been many pleated also to spread misinformation about electric cars. let's take a look at t video. president biden: you buy an electric vehicle, you go all the way across america on a single tank of gas. [laughter] > so, yeah, clearly they are making fun of him since he is supposedly saying electric cars use gas when we know they don't. this is actually a clip from a biden speech from october 20 8,

20 21, where he is detailing the plans for this bill back better -- october8, 2021, where he is detailing the plans for the bill back better agenda. he himself says he was figuratively speaking when he mentioned the gas, not electricity. finally, we have another example from august 8. this is a tiktok montage where someone is explaining why they will never buy an electric car. you can see there is an electric car burning. you can also see the gas filler right there so it was not even an electric car. it is actually a jeep cherokee from 2016 that uses gas, not electricity. there are many examples of this online. a bit of skepticism around the electric vehicles still. yena: healthy bit of skepticism. thank you very much. that is it from all of us here at france 24. more international news coming up after the break.

>> may 13, 19 85, philadelphia, the cradle of american independence and freedom. a police helicopter drops a bomb on a group of activists advocating the return to nature and the end of capitalism known as the move. that day, 11 people were killed, including five children. >> like we were in a war zone. it was terrible. >> never held accountable or charged for murdering our family. trust me, it is murder. it was not an accident. >> 36 years later, the philadelphia police denie the events -- deny the events. more on france24.com. ♪

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11/29/21 11/29/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the emergence of the omicron variant should be a wake-up call to the world that vaccine inequality cannot allowed to continue. until everyone is vaccinated, everyone will continue to be addressed -- at risk. amy: scientists across the globe are scraling to learn more about the newly discovered omicron coronavirus variant,