♪ >> u.s. and russian diplomats begin crucial talks in geneva. the two countries making little progress over the situation in ukraine. we will speak to gulliver cragg in just a moment. the economic and political isolation of mali continues to deepen. western african nations impose stringent sanctions and close their borders. fans of senegal are breathing a sigh of relief after their team

manages a last-minute victory over zimbabwe. we will have the latest on day two of the african cup of nations coming up. thanks for joining us on "france 24." u.s. and russian diplomats are in geneva to hold a series of talks. at the top of the agenda is the situation in ukraine. both countries have said they will work together to avert war in the region. russia wants assuranceshat ukraine will not be allowed to join nato. the u.s. says that is a nonstarter. gulliver cragg joins us from the city of -- how are ukrainian authorities dealing with this, what they are saying, is a growing threat of russian invasion? >> there is nothing coming out of today's talks to make them feel any more reassured than

they were this morning. russia's position remains intransigent. they want a guarantee that the ukraine will never join nato. ukraine is saying that's absolutely unacceptable. russia cannot have a veto on what countries are allowed to join the alliance. the ambition to join nato is written into ukraine's constitution. as long as russia is making this demand, which seems unreasonable to key have -- kiev, naturally, people here are worried. a lot of people think vladimir putin would have a great interest in taking the bluff as far as he can, trying to win concessions from the united states and ukraine's other

western allies, but not much interest in actually going through with an invasion. there's a question about whether we are talking a land incursion, airstrikes. there are questions about what vladimir putin's intentions are. another question which seems crucial, but people have a lot of different answers, just how important is ukraine in all of this. a lot of people are saying, for what -- for russia, what matters is european security, forcing nato out of countries in central and eastern europe. a lot of people in ukraine think that the real question is actually ukraine itself. without influence over ukraine, russia cannot claim to be a great power. the fear is that vladimir putin has realized the ukrainians are

never going to elect a pro-russian government again and not force is the only way for him to win back control over this country. whether or not he could do it by force is an open question, but if he thinks he can, that is a reason for ukrainians to be worried. >> we talked about the american and russian diplomatic perspective. what is ukraine's position here? gulliver: the ukrainians want to be at the table. i think they will be later this week. the ukrainian representatives are being invited. there have been no official reactions after the talks in geneva wrapped up. we know that diplomatic activity is going on behind the scenes. ukrainian advisors met with advisors to the french president, emmanuel macron. france is also a member of nato. >> gulliver cragg.

thank you very much. mali's military ruler has called his cabinet for an extraordinary meeting 24 hours after western african regional bloc ecowas introduced sanctions. the move comes after mali canceled next month's planned election. >> tit-for-tat measures from mali's military junta. >> [speaking in foreign language] >> [translating] mali has decided to close its borders with the states concerned. >> the country's military regime expressed outrage at the decision, made a few hours earlier by the leaders of the economic community of west african states to slap sanctions

on mali. ecowas has decided to recall its ambassadors in close borders with the country, suspend all trade, with the exception of basic necessities, stop all financial aid, and freeze the country's assets held in the central bank of the west african states. a travel ban all members of the junta and their families will remain, their assets frozen. the head of the military junta seized control in august 2020, pledged to return to civilian control by early 2022. elections were promised to be held next month, but the army has backtracked, now saying it plans to remain at the helm for another four years. that delay condemned by ecowas. >> the authority is totally

unacceptable. this means that an illegitimate military transition government will keep them mullion peopl -- the malian people hostage for the next five years. >> the colonel has decided the security situation in the country and says the vote cannot be held until the army tames the conflict with jihadist fighters. >> meanwhile, for several weeks, there have been reports indicating that russian mercenaries had traveled to mali to help authorities in their fight against extremist groups. the ruling junta has denied those claims several times. we claim -- gained exclusive evidence that shows there are russian mercenaries operating in the country. >> it looks like there is proof of this open secret.

the rumors which have been spreading for months now about the presence of these mercenaries. what is extremely new, it would be the first pictures of the paramilitary, about 200 people, about 200 km away from bamako. these pictures go back to 10 days ago, when the first statement at the end of the year was denouncing very officially for the first time that they were not here. they will be part of a larger contingent, which is spreading all around this area, central, southern mali, about 400, 450 strong.

these are the first pictures we do have. we have the location. we can see there is no sign of anything regarding russia. we don't have any other white western military in this area. they are russians. there are no flags, nothing whatsoever. for people getting used to these paramilitary forces, it's clear what we are talking about. >> a court in myanmar has sentenced aung san suu kyi to another four years in prison. she was convicted for the illegal import of walkie-talkies and of breaking covid-19 rules. she denies the charges. the u.s. state department because decision an affront to justice, calling on the military

junta to immediately release all of those unjustly detained. novak djokovic is back on the tennis court after a judge decided to reinstate his visa. he is now training for the australian open, but the immigration ministry could still decide to support him. -- deport him. >> novak djokovic is free. adoring fans surrounded a car believed to be driving the tennis star from his lawyer's office after he spent four nights in a hotel under immigration detention. on monday, a judge temporarily reinstated his visa after djokovic was stopped at the melbourne airport as he tried to enter the country to compete in the australian open. officials said he couldn't get in because all noncitizens have to be fully vaccinated against covid-19. his lawyers argued he should be granted an exemption since he has recovered from the illness,

even though documents show he has not been inoculated. at a news conference, djokovic's brother made the announcement of the tennis star's release. >> obviously, we all know what kind of player novak is. i'm sure he's going to put his best foot forward. >> monday, he tweeted a photo of himself and his team, saying, "i'm pleased and grateful the judge overturned my visa cancellation. despite all that has happened, i want to stay and try to compete in the australian open." the judge ruled temporarily in djokovic's favor. the country's immigration minister could still decide to deport the nine time australian open winner. the tournament begins on january 17. >> day two of the african cup of nations group d -- b.

senegal claiming a late victory over zimbabwe. guinea prevailed over malawi. in group c, morocco got their three points by defeating ghana. the other group c game saga bone -- saw gabon get the edge. tomorrow, algeria will make their debut. we have more on that. >> is the fir time in 50 years ey have hosted this showpiece of african football, the biggest event the country has ever held. it's only the second time that those 24 teams, 52 matches, in five cities, six venues -- a lot of investment has gone into this tournament, new stadia. i would say it's probably the toughest international football

event to organize, may be the history of the sport -- maybe in the history of the sport. we are ithe middle of a covid epidemic. 5% of the population is vaccinated. several plers have already tested positive. there is all of the covid stuff, which means reorganization and extra costs. cameroon is in the middle of a severe ethnic conflict, which has been dragging on many years, which adds to e security side as well. this is a tough competition to organize. it's going to be a tough job. >> the last seven years were the hottest ever recorded on our planet, according to a new report released on monday.

the yr 2020 one hasoined the uninrrupted reco warm stak that h been obrvedince 2015. la year's annual average temperature was between 1.1 and 1.2 degrees celsius above preindustrial levels. that's the latest news. your next update is in just over 15 minutes. see you then. ♪ ♪

>> that was a quartet that, for over a decade, has been pushing boundaries and reinventing the link between past and future over a dozen albums. well-regarded in the world of contemporary music, the quartet has worked with composers around the world and performed in prestigious venues. these trailblazing pioneers are releasing a new album. to find out more about it, i am joined by the viola player. thank you for being with us today. this is your third season with the quartet. before we talk about your new album, can you tell us more about the origin of this quartet and where your name comes from. >> sure. the quartet has been playing together for 11 years now.

we perform a variety of styles of music. we try to appeal to as wide a variety of listeners as possible. beethoven, bartok. the name goes back to a trip at the very beginning of the quartet's existence to madagascar are, to perform for children there. the capital of madagascar is, understandably, known by its nickname, which is also a ne syol for the quartet with its four letters. we find out over the years that it has a variety of different sort of serendipitous meetings in other -- meanings in other languages. in sanskrit, it means to play together.

we liked that coincidence, too. >> the planets aligned with that name. you play alongside the brother sister team -- brother-sister team as well as the second violinist. what is the advantage of the string quartet over other classical music formations? it must require incredible synergy and communication. >> absolutely. because there's no conductor, we have to be tightly connected, visually in terms of -- as well as in terms of listening. it's been around since the 1700s. the repertoire is extremely well developed, so we have a lot to choose from when it comes to choosing pieces that we want to share with audiences. >> let's listen to you guys in action. it's a clip from your new album. let's take a listen.

[string quartet playing] ♪ ♪ that was an extract of the latest album by the tana quartet. that piece was written by american composer philip glass for a broadway performance of "king lear" by william shakespeare. what drew you to that piece and made you want to record it? >> our collaboration with philip glass goes back quite a few years now. we released his first seven string quartets five years ago. at the time, those were his complete quartets. now this brand-new ninth. when he released the album just recently on streaming, we found

out about this quartet that he had written for broadway and it piqued our interest. this new version is -- this is written to standalone on stage as a musical narrative. i am not a huge shakespeare buff, but i do love the way that this quartet tells the tragedy of king lear. that's from the end. it is depicting the storm scene, so turbulent. >> for people who don't know term -- no philip glass -- for people who don't know philip glass, what attracted you to his musical universe? >> it's so unique. as you mentioned, he is a huge

figure in today's music. he is well loved. he is coming to be more well-known in europe. he has such a unique voice, the minimalism, also known as music with repetitive structures. he will take a small unit of music and repeat it and have it undergo rhythmic changes and harmonic changes and it's a really unique musical style that's been so influential in film music and influenced so many other composers. >> as a string quartet, you are attached to traditions and this very classical formation, but you are also eager to push boundaries and to go into more contemporary creation. is it hard to stay in modern as a classical formation? is that a hard thing to do?

>> it can be hard. today's music is so varied. there are so many different voices coming out of different conservatories today. it can be hard to to keep up with all those. it's really exciting to see what various emerging composers are doing. it keeps us on our toes, certainly, in terms of staying up-to-date. it's very rewarding. >> it sounds very exciting to be exploring all those different channels. we are going to stay with classical music, with the paris philharmonic, holding its string quartet b and ali -- quartet biennale. his quartet competitions will be

showcased. we will listen to a little clip from screen -- a string quartet number three, melancholy. [string quartet playing] ♪ >> the paris philharmonic does tremendous work in trying to bring classical and contemporary music to a broader audience. your quartet has also done this. you've worked with the french ministry of culture to bring your compositions to unusual places, like supermarkets or retirement homes, hospitals. what inspired that move to reach a broader audience? >> that is so important to us. we are aware that classica muc can be difficult to access

for certain listeners, and we wanted to bridge that gap. it's really important to us to do those performances, often in rural areas and in places that are rather unconventional. just this pa fall, we did some performances in retirement homes , community for people with disabilities, special school. it's rewarding for us to bring music to those audiences. >> it's such a great initiative. we are going to move on to some other music news. the weeknd has dropped his fifth album, surprised release. the 16-track record has a references to michael jackson

and daft punk, as well as some guest features, including jim carrey. it's a dance pop album, certainly in line with his previous release that dropped at the beginning of the first covert confinement in -- first covid confinement. >> ♪ [the weeknd singing] ♪ it's like a dream suddenly, baby, take my breath away and make it last forever do it now or never take my breath away ♪ ♪ >> finally, band of horses are

back in the saddle after nearly five years of distal graphic silence -- of silence. a six album brings them back to their original, rough sound. before we go, i want to thank my guest from the tana cortes. thank you -- tana quartet. thank you for being with us. be sure to check out their new album. for more arts and culture news, head to our website. more news is coming up after this song by band of horses. >> ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> [speaking in foreign language] >> this public prosecutor is one of italy's most threatened citizens. he represents the government and its massive case -- in its massive case against italy's most powerful mafia. >> [speaking in foreign language] >> its modus operandi includes blood baths. >> [speaking in foreign language] >> our investigation exposes the underbelly of the mafia. tdecember 25, 1991, marks the

dissolution of the soviet union. it broke up into 15 independent states. we visited three former soviet republics that are now at the center of a new cold war between europe and russia. >> [speaking in foreign language] >> 30 years after the collapse of the ussr, a new geopolitical battle is raging, fought with propaganda, tanks, and hackers. >> cyber attacks can be as serious as physical attacks. >> don't miss the ussr■ú■x■x

01/10/22 01/10/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i have negotiated with russia before. i know it is possible to make deals with russia. amy: u.s. and russia began talks as nato calls on russia to remove its forces from ukraine and russian troops help suppress daily protests in kazakhstan. we will go to moscow for an update. then to australia where a judge