anchor: welcome to live from pairs,-- paris. i mark owen. women's rights eroded in the u.s. as the supreme court signal support for a law change in mississippi limiting abortion to 15 weeks. mandatory vaccination. the european commissioner ursula von der leyen has suggested this might be part of the next stage in the combat against covid-19. on world -- world aids day, u.s. president biden was set uplans

redoubling efforts to confront the hiv aids epidemic. the target is a 75% reduction in new infections by 2025, and a 90% reduction by 2030. this is life in paris. ♪ thank you very much for being with us. members of the supreme court's conservative majority are suggesting they may make sweeping changes to abortion rights in the united states. this comes as the state of mississippi moves to reduce the time limit for termination to 15 weeks. if the supreme court supports this, it calls into question the roe v. wade ruling that established the current law on abortion and women's rights. let's get views from both sides of the argument. >> i think you are going to see

thousands of people here, because the stakes are very, very high. this is the greatest challenge to roe v. wade in decades, and our rights, our reproductive rights, are at stake. >> i have never had an abortion myself, but there is a chance i might need one one day. >> i do hope roe v. wade will be overturned. i think abortion is kind of barbaric. >> i'm hoping that in this case the justices choose life, she's to uphold the mississippi law. mark: everyone has a personal opinion, but this will actually change the law in how a woman can choose. let's bring in our correspondent in washington. a very good evening to you. the ruling won't be known for some months, we have an indication of how the justices may see it. >> there is not much doubt that the justices, especially this 6-3 conservative majority in the supreme court, will move to at

least change a little bit those abortion rights, to limit those abortion rights. the question really is how far will ty go. it is very likely, given the type of questions that those conservative justices asked during the two hour long hearing that they will uphold the mississippi law. the question is will they simply uphold that mississippi law, or will they go the extra step of actually overturning roe v. wade, that landmark 1973 ruling that really established the right to an abortion. the question for those conservative justices will be about fetal viability. right now, under the current situation, that fetal viability is at around 24 weeks -- later than the 15 weeks in that mississippi law. and some justices, including

chief justice roberts, really questioned whether this viability threshold actually made sense. there is a possibility that chief justice roberts for example, could go in the direction of upholding the mississippi law, saying a 15 week band does not prevent anyone from getting an abortion. it simply restricts it, but not enough to make it unconstitutional, without going to overturning roe v. wade. some of the more conservative justices like justice alito or justice thomas hinting at wanting much more. they are proponents of completely overturning roe v. wade. the question will be which side of the conservative barrier, if you will, will win that disagreement? will they go with the more conservative, or will they go

with the compromise, which is restricting a little bit abortion rights, but not overturning roe v. wade? mark: spell out for us what happens if roe v. wade is overturned. what would that mean for abortion rights within the united states? analyst: well,t would completely transform access to abortion in the united states. of course, we are tking about a misssippi law, but this will have repercussions across the country, starting th these 1 states that have so-called trigger laws. what are these trigger laws? they are laws that are already on the books in these states that are usually mostly republican-led states, and they really spell out that if the supreme court would overturn roe v. wade, these laws would automatically come into action, and automatically virtually ban almost all abortions in those

states. 12 stas. that is a pretty big number. and then you have other republican-led states that say that they are ready to start preparing new restrictive laws if roe v. wade were to be overturned. so you have almost pretty much half of the states in the u.s. that could restrict very highly access to abortion, in the case of an overturning of roe v. wade. on the others of the spectrum, you have more liberal states that are fighting to try to protect access to abortion. 14 states and washington, d.c. already have laws on their books that specifically protect access to abortion in the case that roe v. wade would be overturned, and there was one advocacy group that sort of calculated what would happen if those 12 states actually implemented those trigger laws.

they came to the conclusion that if roe v. wade is overturned, the situation in the u.s. would mean that about a third of americans would live about 200 miles, more than 300 kilometers, from an abortion clinic, so they would have to travel more than 300 kilometers to try to get an abortion. that would be the situation in the u.s. thank you for -- mark: thank you. bring as the developments as they come. thank you very much for joining us. next here live from paris, a call for mandatory vaccination coming from the highest level in president of the europeanyen, union's executive arm, the european commission, who said that e.u. nations should consider making covid-19 vaccinations mandatory, she says, because too many people still refuse to get shots voluntarily. the e.u. vaccination rate stands at 66%, and unexpectedly high

case urges through much of the 27 nation bloc has led many member countries to renew masks and testing requirements and to take other steps to try to curb infections. reporter: as pandemic was fiction's like indoor mask wearing were reintroduced in portugal, long lines at vaccination centers also returned. the country is ramping up efforts to jab the few people who have not had their shot, as well as give vaccine boosters. >> it is just one more. if we need another, i will take it. what we need is vaccines for everyone. reporter: almost 80% of particles population is fully vaccinated, yet it has seen a constant rise in covid-19 cases over the past two months. it is a trend in many european countries, one that could worsen with the presence of the omicron variant. urging company -- urging countries to remain vigilant, the e.u.'s top official also

engaged in discussions on making vaccines compulsory. >> one third of the european population is not vaccinated, 150 million people. this is a lot. i think it is understandable and appropriate to have a discussion now of how we can encourage and potentially think about mandatory vaccination. reporter: austria has already said it will make covid-19 jabs compulsory next february, while germany is considering following suit. >> under these circumstances where we have enough vaccines, it is more than justifiable to say that in order to protect some of us, everyone should be vaccinated if possible. reporter: on wednesday, france lifted a ban on flights from 10 southern african countries, but said only french and e.u. residents will be allowed to disembark. upon arrival, the passengers must take a covid test and go into quarantine for seven days -- 10 days if the result is positive. mark: the latest figures here in

france show that the fifth wave of covid is arriving in force. over 49,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. 50,000 rounded up as you say. the death toll has been increasing during that period. an additional 96 people losing their lives to covid. meanwhile, francis confirmed there were already 13 cases of the new covid variant, omicron. in france, the vaccination rate is over 88%. the health minister says compulsory vaccination here is not on the table. president joe biden of the u.s. will mark world aids day this wednesday with a speech laying out his vision of ending the epidemic in the united states by 2030. the target is for a 75% reduction in new infections by 2020i've, and that would be 90% by 2030. in africa, the aids story presents the most devastating face.

69% of all people rldwide living with hiv are in sub-saharan africa. 91% of hiv-positive children in the world live in africa. a million people die of aids related illness in africa each year. to talk more on this, we are joined by a unicef advisor on hiv and aids across west and central africa. thank you for being with us. it is the fight against hiv and aids being one? the statistics in africa are awful, but do you feel the battle has been one? -- won? guest: we can say as we mark world aids day this december that 40 years in this pandemic, the children are the ones who are paying the highest price in this pandemic. we can record significant

progress in access to hiv prevention and treatment services for others. we cannot record the same progress for children. i think if the battle is win -- won, it has to be one for children first. mark: there is a gap between the rich countries and the poor countries. in a rich country, someone can have the right call tell -- cocktail of drugs that can give them an untraceable level of virus. in a poor country, that will not be the case, and the children will get the worst deal of all. guest: yes, mark. take for example the situation in southern africa. central africa, we have a clear divide between children and adults. today, when it comes to children, only a third of all the children's needs of

treatment are met in central africa. we cannot claim that we are winning this battle if we cannot ensure that all the children living with hiv, in need of treatment, are receiving it. this has to start with treatment. mark: what you are saying is sobering, and it is overwhelming to think of somebody children living with and being affected by this horrific illness. how has covid-19 and that pandemic affected matters? guest: mark, we areefinitely in a symony of a collision between hiv and covid at the global level. it was one of the rare times in public health when we are dealing with two pandemics.

in many countries, there was already a system. but covid has led to challenges in access to social services, including child services on hiv-aids. mark: it has added pressure. it has crated more difficulties. it has made the delivery of the right kind of treatment, the right kind of support, less and less possible. to round up, what would your message be this world aids day? what would you say to those in power, those who control the budgets, those who control the medicine supplie what would your message be to them, this world aids day? guest: the first message is that there is hope. there is hope that by the end point of 2030, when the world has committed to achieve the end of aids by 2030, there is hope that as we brace for the

covid-19 pandemic, if you want to succeed success against aids, and the covid pandemic. the world is moving toward dealing with two pandemics, and we have to learn from the hiv pandemic to confront the covid pandemic, as well as we need to live with the opportunities that countries are having now confronting the covid pandemic -- increasing access to technology for diagnostics for covid to increase also access to services for curing, because the biggest challenge in our countries now is access to diagnostics for children. think that moving forward there is an opportunity in the fight against covid to also increase access to services for aids. the second point is that by the

end of this interview, we wil have four more infections in sub-saharan africa. we need to make sure we stop the infections. we know what works. we neequality access to those services. mark: thank you very much deed, sir, for sharing your services on this important occasion. can you assure all of us here thatou will keep up the very good work you are leading in senegal? dr. landry sent donald from unicef, services across west and central africa for unicef. joe biden saying he wants to reduce by 90% the infection rate in the west. in africa, the situation is far worse, and more needs to be done. let's bring you the latest on the fishing row between the e.u. and the u.k.. guernsey has issued fishing licenses to some 40 european union boats, the latest move

over post brexit access rights that see paris and london at loggerheads. france is angry that britain's channel islands have not issued some french boats, the fishing fleet, with licenses to fish in the waters after brexit. it seems like a good time to go to business. joining us the one and only kate moody. great to see you. you have major new global investment plan, james to rival china's global interest. kate: the e.u. global gateway project will focus on green energy, health, and digital development. for nearly a decade, china has been pumping money and resources into infrastructure project and mostly poor countries around the world, expanding its sphere of influence. brussels is painting its

investment as a more transparent value-based alternative to help economies become more sustainable. reporter: as china continues to extend its influence to all four corners of the world, the european union has decided it is time to respond. >> local gateway will mobilize 300 billion euros to 2027. it will invest around the world to support our priorities -- that is the green and the digital transition. reporter: the six-year plan to strengthen the e.u.'s supply chains through infrastructure projects on investing into the energy and digital sectors. in essence, global gateway is designed to counter china's belt and wrote initiative, by beijing is building ports, rail, and roads networks across the world. the attorney first century version of the countries silk road taking china to europe, africa, and the rest of asia. while the president of the european commission did not state the scheme by its name,

she made clear the e.u. wants to differtiate itself from beijing's strategy. >> we want to take a different approach. we want to show that a democratic, value-driven approach can deliver on the most pressing challenges. reporter: china has been pushing developing countries into further debt. africa, one in three building sites is chinese, with payment sometimes in natural resources such as oil and cobalt. over 2.5 thousand projects have already been laid out with a combined value of $3.7 trillion. kate: u.s. lawmakers are again facing an end of week deadline to avoid partial government shutdown. a stopgap spending measure reached in september find us government agencies until midnight this friday. senate majority leader chuck schumeraid owednesdayhat

good progress was being made toward a new bipartisan agreement, although a group of hard-line republicans have threatened to block any plan which would allow for vaccine mandates. congas also has to onc again tackle the question of raising america's borrowing limit. the treasury department has said it may not be able to meet its financial obligations after december 15 if the debt ceiling is not lifted or suspended. on today's trading action, another very volatile day for global stock markets. wall street had been trending higher, but saw a sharp reversal after the u.s. reported its first confirmed case of the omicron variant of covid-19. the dow jones dropping 460 points. the nasdaq down by 1.8% at the closing bell after being up by as much earlier in the session. major european indexes did close higher, gains of over 2% in paris and frank for it. new data show a slight but steady uptake in manufacturing activity in the euro zone.

as governments around the world grapple with the implications of re-imposing travel restrictions, fiji has opened its borders for the first time in more than 600 days. the first international holidaymakers arrived on the pacific island, welcomed by traditional dancers in grass skirts earlier on. tourism accounts for around 40% of fiji's economy. other countries are worried about the impact of the omicron variant. the head of the human tourism agency said blocking travel is not the answer. >> i also repeat i will call for restrictions on travel to be less and for all governments to follow guidance which advises against such measures in cases like this. kate: america's labor market has been dealing with a shortage of workers, and it is a problem that has trickled into the seasonal occupation of being santa claus. the agency highersanta.com has

seen a 101% increase in the number of people or businesses hoping to hire a santa look-alike this holiday season, but it says it has at least 10% fewer entertainers available. that is partly because the jelly persona tends to look for older, overweight men, who are at much higher risk of severe illness if the contract covid-19. many of them are taking the year off or have retired during the pandemic. we have to hope that these labor issues in the global supply chain disruptions won't make it up to the north pole this year. mark: as regards the corpulence, i will say it is mostly muscle. with the beard and all that stuff. you know all about it. kate: casting agencies are looking for more, mark. mark: i work cheap. kate with the business. fantastic.

is it truth or is it fake? we cannot tell you. great to see you. starting with a story regarding this information about the drought in kenya. reporter: the drought in the country a natural disaster. it has put the life of millions in danger. that affects everyone's morale, especially with all of the entered -- the images we see of people starving and animals dying. there is this post saying i am so sorry how my community in kenya is experiencing the wrath of climate change. this person posted the images in support. looking at it, you would believe all these pictures belong to the drought this year. in fact, one example is this picture of the donkey. this picture was actually taken in november 2020 by this photographer in yemen. our second example is this post in spanish of dead cattle.

one of the pictures here, this one, it is from a publication at emory university, published in 2011, and the details of the picture -- it was taking in the drought in southern if the opio. another example was this picture here. it was actually taken in the drought in kenya in 2006. this one as well. this person posted more dead cattle, and it was taken in 2006. but what is true are these pictures of giraffes. this post by the wildlife conservancy -- they have confirmed they have lost 11 of their giraffes in the week of november 11, due to the drought. this was confirmed by the canyon star. -- "the kenyan star." sad news and shocking images

coming out of kenya. but it is a perfect example of what we call positive disinformation, where people post these pictures in good faith, but the problem is that it is misleading and opens the door to conspiracy theorists that use this type of misleading information to support their theories. mark: i'm looking at the picture of that poor giraffe. it is incredibly sad. let's try to make sure we can sort out the truth of a terrible situation in kenya. there is a 10-year-old challenge campaign that has popped up on social media related to climate change. tell us about that. reporter: i don't know if you participated in this challenge. it was a popular online game in 2019. it highlights the issue perfectly, since climate change awareness campaigns are recurrent online. the idea was to juxtapose to images taken 10 years apart. the problem was that many people

shared misleading images. for example, there is this post right here, supposedly showing images of the melting polarized caps in the arctic, and the photo labeled 2008 shows a massive glaze here. this photo was taken in 2016 and the goetz ice shelf in the end arctic ocean, by a scientist sent on a nasa mission. in the picture on the right from 2008 -- on the left -- no, on the right, from 2018 -- this picture is indeed what it suggests, but the locations are completely polar opposites from one another, which does defeat the purpose of this challenge, which was to take a picture in the same location but 10 years apart. mark: it would be nice to get hold of him and asked him why he posted this. perhaps it is not his fault, that i think sometimes you have to take response ability for what you post. reporter: it is easy to miss lead this positive disinformation. it is a fact that the ice in the

arctic is melting six times faster than years ago, but these pictures in comparison have nothing to do with one another. mark: the final story, a movie from 1963 -- that is when i was born -- which predicted the omicron variant. [laughter] love it. >> this movie poster is going around on social media, confirming that a film from 1963 predict did the omicron variant. as you can see the movie poster, it says the day the earth was turned into a cemetery, the omicron variant. it is very suspenseful. there is a post on facebook detailing the movie and how it predicted the omicron variant. this other user comparing it to how the simpsons's predict the news in the world. anyway, this was photoshopped from two real movies that turned into a fake one. here is one of the original

movies in spanish from 1975, a movie about arizona ants that take over the world. the second movie was called omicron and is from 1963, and it is a movie about an alien that takes over the body of an earth man to take over the world. here is the original movie trailer as well. anyway, granted, some humor, but we cannot get to carried away with the fear factor around this variant. mark: catalina, thank you very much. i will watch that trailer later tonight. kate with the business truth straight down the middle as ever. more news to come. stay with us. ♪

12/01/21 12/01/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i, senator purnell, sam, do swear that i will truly serve in the office of president, so help me god. amy: barbados has become the world's newestepublic, breaking ties with queen elizabeth 55 years after it became an independent nations.